Veterans of Bucks County

Al Cordisco

2009-11-18T12:43:00.002-05:00

Bristolian was a hero for his country and his community.

By Tim Chicirda, BucksLocalNews.com

Not only is Alfred (Al) Cordisco a member of the Bristol High School Class of 1940, but Air Force Staff Sergeant Al Cordisco has served for this country, while serving his community as part of a plethora of different organizations.

Cordisco is a 6-year member of the Robert W. Bracken Post No. 382. In fact, he has committed a total of almost 20 years, including his tenure in the National American Legion Organization.
The Robert W. Bracken Post, No. 382, formed September 28, 1919 with 62 ex-servicemen members, is a supportive group, a social club and a type of extended family for former service men and women.

In addition to organizing commemorative events, such as Flag Day, and marching in the Borough parades, manning a booth on Bristol Day and other volunteer activities, Legion members are active in U.S. politics.

The primary political activity is lobbying for the interests of veterans, including support for veterans benefits such as pensions and the Veterans Affairs hospital system.

One of the signers of the original charter was 1922-23 Commander/ Finance Officer, Jacob C. Schmidt, Jr., the grandfather of Horace P. Schmidt, Jr., owner of Schmidt’s Flowers. Also, Al's late cousin, Vincent Cordisco, directed the Bracken Cavaliers from 1944 to 1946.

Meanwhile, the American Legion was chartered by Congress in 1919 as a patriotic, mutual-help, wartime veterans’ organization.

Cordisco was born the fourth of six children, raised on Lincoln Avenue by his parents from Italy. Father John, a carpenter, married mother Assunta Pascuillo.

Al retired as a mechanic who possessed many skills in technical, electrical and electronic areas.
Cordisco and his late wife, Tullytown resident, Frances (Cuchineal) worked together at Keystone / Kaiser. Their courtship began after meeting at a Fifth Ward dance.

Al had another special bond with the Fifth Ward, as he held terms as both President and Secretary. He also co-founded the club in 1937.

(It merged with the Italian Mutual Aid in 1954 and is now know as the Italian Mutual Aid-5th Ward Association.)

Despite Al's many pre- and post-war accomplishments, one of his greatest life moments came while in the Air Force in the 1940s as the right waist gunner on a B-17 Flying Fortress, the “Feather Merchant,” with a .50 caliber machine gun.

Waist gunners held a very difficult position in the Air Force, as waist windows on the B-17 were open to a 200 m.p.h. and -50 degree slipstream of air. Exposure to this extreme cold for even a few seconds could leave one with a mild frostbite and this cold would also cause ice to form in the oxygen masks of the gunners.

Depsite these difficulties, Staff Sergeant Cordisco was credited with destroying enemy aircraft over Augsburg, Germany. He was awarded an Air Medal with four oak leaf clusters and a Distinguished Flying Cross by General Ira Clarence Eaker of the 8th Air Force High Command, for heroism and extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight.

During Cordisco's European Theatre of Operations duty, he was based in Rattlesden, England in the 8th Air Force and flew missions over Germany and France. Here, he partook in a raid over Berlin’s military and industrial targets on March 6, 1944.

According to Al, “I just did what I had to do.” Flight crews had a set number of missions, usually a tour of 30. Al is one of the fortunate 447th Bomb Group, self proclaimed “Lucky Bastards Club,” who rallied forward and returned no less than those 30 times.

But, like so many veterans, Al unsentimentally ventured back to his life after the war, marrying and raising a son, the late BHS grad, Michael Alfred. He also raised a daughter, Wal-Mart employee, Patricia Kervick, who has a son, BHS grad, Michael who currently resides with him.
He is also a member of the Knights of Columbus Council #906.

Al also served as Sixth Ward (East Ward) Borough Councilman from 1956 to 1963. He has been a Democratic Committee Person for the past 25 years and has held Chairman positions on both the Police and the Street and Highway Committees.

Al Cordisco is truly a Bristol Borough legend, devoting his entire life to his country and to his community.

--
Cate Murway contributed to this article.

Gene Lioy

2009-11-11T13:27:00.002-05:00

“Flying Fortress” gunner recalls harrowing missions.

By Jeff Werner, BucksLocalNews.com

At the age of 84, Bucks County veteran Gene Lioy still shudders when he recalls his harrowing missions over Germany, France, Belgium, and the Balkans during World War II.It was D-Day plus one when then 19-year-old Lioy took off in a B-17 from an airbase in England on the first of what would be about 30 bombing runs between 1943 and 1945.

Their mission was to bomb out ahead of the troops as they swarmed across the French countryside.But his first flight with the 544th Bomb Squadron of the 384th Bomb Group never made it to its destination. Lioy and his crew were forced to turn back when two of the plane’s engines failed.

The plane barely made it home, dumping its bombs into the English Channel before setting back down in England.Subsequent missions into an almost endless barrage of flak would change Lioy’s life forever. Up until that moment he felt invincible.

That changed when the realization of war came rushing home, stealing his youthful innocence away.“It was horrifying,” he said. “I was scared. We all were. I saw planes in front of me blow up with friends aboard. They were gone in an instant -- that’s all, that was it. The flak was exploding all around you. And you never knew if you’d be next.”

As the top turret gunner, Lioy had an almost unobstructed view of the sky, as German Focke-Wulfs and Messerschmitts flew around the aircraft with one mission in mind - to shoot he and his crew from the sky.

Just a year earlier Lioy had been a high school student in the western Pennsylvania town of Altoona, more concerned about girls and teen life than being killed. He graduated from high school in June 1942 at the age of 18. Six months later he was drafted into the service of a nation at war.

The day he left home was emotional. His mother was in tears as her second son prepared to leave for war.

“I will never forget that,” Lioy said. “My mother and grandmother were sitting in the kitchen and there I was - I was going away to war,” he said. “I can still see them crying. It was hard for them to take that. It was hard for me.”

When Lioy entered the service, he was assigned to the air force. For about a year he trained as an airplane mechanic, attending engineering school in Oklahoma and working briefly at a Boeing Aircraft plant where he learned about engines and how they’re put together.

“The next thing I knew, no more mechanic,” said Lioy. “They needed air crew. So there I go - over to Las Vegas where I learned air gunnery. The next thing you know I’m in Oklahoma again where I trained with the crew.”

From Oklahoma, the crew flew to Georgia to pick up a new plane. After a one-day stop over in New Foundland, they were bound for England and the war.

“We were having a good time,” recalled Lioy of those training and pre-war days. “In our minds we never thought of what it could be like. Now when I think of what we did, I’m really scared. But back then you weren’t. You just did what they told you to do,” he said.

Lioy and his crew flew campaigns over Normandy, Northern France, the Rhineland, Ardennes, and Central Europe, dropping bombs on strategic targets -- submarine pens, oil fields, cities, and factories. Their longest mission was to the Balkans, near the Russian border, where they dropped a load of bombs on oil refineries.

Lioy credits the B-17, affectionately known as the Flying Fortress, with saving his life on more than one occasion.

“That was the best plane they ever built,” he said. “The fire power of it was great. It was protected all over, better than the B-24.”

Following Germany’s surrender, the B-17s were transformed into transport planes and Lioy, then stationed in France, helped fly troops home from Germany.

“We took all the guns and bombs out of our planes and it became a troop transport,” said Lioy. “We brought the boys out and dropped them in Marseilles. That was my job until I got out.”

During those transport missions, Lioy saw the damage wrought by the allied bombing campaigns.

“I can never forget Leipzig - just totaled. All you could see was rubble all over,” he said. “It’s a shame we had to go over there and do that. But if we hadn’t of stopped Hitler at that point, the world would be in a very different position today,” said Lioy.

For his participation in World War II, Lioy received the Air Force Medal with two clusters, Good Conduct Medal, America Theatre Service Medal, European, African and Middle Eastern Service Medal and five Bronze Stars.

Following the war, Lioy met and then married his wife of nearly 60 years, Henrietta, in 1951. They made their home in Clifton, N.J., for 32 years, raising two daughters, Janet Lioy, of Upper Makefield, a physician at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and Linda, a Registered Nurse from Wayne, N.J. Ten years ago, the couple retired to Buckingham Springs.

“At first I never thought too much of it,” said Henrietta, of her husband’s service. “The older I got the more I realized what he went through. And it was hell. “Communism under Hitler’s regime? It would have been horrible,” she continued. “Our life would have been horrible. My husband and the men and women who went over there fought for our freedom and made the ultimate sacrifice. How can we ever thank them?”

Sanford Kaplan

2009-10-21T13:19:00.002-04:00

A teenage aviation hobby turned into a military profession.

By Petra Chesner Schlatter, BucksLocalNews.com

Warrant Officer 2 Sanford “Sandy” Noel Kaplan, 70, served in both the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. He flew helicopters in the Army, but surprisingly was not permitted to fly aircraft in the Air Force because he did not have a college degree. However, he was a trained pilot.

Ironically in the Air Force, he taught the use of full pressure suits (space suits).

Kaplan started flying when he was 13 in the early 1950s. He said in those days, you could rent a plane for $35 and your age didn’t matter. He was designing model aircraft before that. Flying was in his blood. It still is.

In his retirement, he spends countless hours in his basement meticulously constructing large model aircraft from as early as the World War I era.

In 2002, Kaplan retired from Dow Jones. He made a career as a professional pilot. “I became their chief pilot and general aviation manager,” he said, noting he flew 26 years and was chief pilot for 13 years.

Today, he prides himself as being a member of the motorcycle group, the American Legion Riders, and part of the committee to build a veterans’ monument in Lower Makefield Township.
In fact, two of his model aircraft will be auctioned to benefit the monument and park at Makefield Highlands Golf Course on Saturday, Nov. 7 from 7 to 10:30 p.m.

The aircraft, a Mohawk and a Sky Raider, are both hand-painted by Kaplan in Vietnam color and markings. Other models constructed by Kaplan were donated to museums. The first model he donated was valued at $10,000.

Looking back, Kaplan said he enlisted in the Air Force “to avoid the draft.” He was with the Air Force for 2 1/2 years. “My profession was physiological training instructor,” he said. “You teach essentially space suits, ejection seats, parachutes, oxygen equipment, low pressure chambers and hyperbaric chambers.

“One of my students was a general in the Army,” Kaplan said. He knew of Kaplan’s flying experience, and that he had all of the credentials and certification prior to the Air Force.

The general offered Kaplan a “job” in the Army as a pilot. “One day I was an Airman 2nd [with two stripes] and the next day I was in the Army as a warrant officer,” he said, chuckling. “Specialized officers have only one specific job. In my case, it was Flying/Warrant 2.
“I flew helicopters when I was in the Army,” Kaplan said. “I [had told the Air Force that] I was an airplane pilot, but they ignored that. That’s typical military stuff.”

He had joined the Air Force “to stay away from what they called the grunt army which was infantry – carrying a rifle.

“I agreed in doing whatever they told me to do,” Kaplan said. “All I knew was I wanted to fly...Essentially, I volunteered in the Army under the direction of this general.”

Kaplan remembers the Battle of Ira Drang Valley in November 1965. “It was probably one of the first large battles that we encountered the Vietnamese army,” he said. “That was probably the most notable battles that they had in Vietnam. The 1st Air Cavalry was interested in getting into battles. They made a mistake going in prematurely.

“The 52nd Aviation Batallian had to rescue the 1st Air Cavalry and in short we got our butts shot off,” he said. “That battle is when I received my order that I could go back to the United States. We were all required to serve 12 months in Vietnam and mine was completed in ‘65.

“When I first went into Vietnam, we were doing one combat mission a day,” he noted. “When I completed my tour in Vietnam, we were doing three a day — all kinds of ground fire. The activity picked up substantially.

“We did what we were supposed to do — either single ship missions or full-company which was 25 helicopters,” he continued. “We brought troops in. We used armed helicopters...We shot up the ground.”

The enemy, the Viet Cong, “kept their heads down...They wouldn’t ‘raise their heads’ to shoot back at you.”

From time to time, Kaplan flew as a Medivac pilot. “Just bringing out the wounded and dead Americans was not only very sad, but it made you feel like you were accomplishing something,” he said.

Kaplan said he is “absolutely” patriotic. “Part of it is I was in the military and you form relationships,” he noted. “They call it comeraderie with other pilots or GIs. Because of the threat of harm each and every day, it’s a very special relationship. You feel very proud to be one of the group who serves their country.”

Larry Kerwood

2009-10-14T13:43:00.001-04:00

Penns Park man trained Afghan soldiers to fight against the Taliban.

By R. Kurt Osenlund, BucksLocalNews.com

Photo courtesy of Larry Kerwood.

Larry Kerwood is a fine exemplar of “practice makes perfect.” Or, at the very least, “practice makes effective.” After enlisting in the National Guard in 1982, the Warminster-born, William Tennent High School grad spent roughly 20 years serving in a handful of infantry units and bouncing around to various army bases along the East Coast. During his regular Guard duty (which typically consists of one weekend per month and two weeks per year), Kerwood frequently trained with active duty units at Fort Indian Town Gap in Lebanon, Pa., and engaged in what he calls “Army hand-me-down stuff” like running training modules with limited resources. While climbing the ranks from his initial status as an E1 private, Kerwood participated in his fair share of flood, hurricane, and snow storm relief efforts, but never saw any real military action. That is, until Sept. 11 arrived and changed the world.

“For the first 20 years of my military career, it was like practice,” Kerwood, 45, says. “Then, after 2001, I was ready for the big game. My superiors had always tried to instill in me how important my training was, but (Sept. 11) was when I truly realized it had been for a reason and that it was time to put it to use.”

In 2002, Kerwood, who'd been busy conducting the training programs designed by his commander, was put on active duty in Philadelphia, assigned to run a family assistance center for soon-to-be-deployed soldiers and their loved ones. For two years, he helped to support troops headed for Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan, while also providing their spouses, significant others and children with comfort and counsel. Kerwood says that during his stay, the center offered assistance to families dealing with anything from financial hardships to relationship issues, and also helped soldiers find or reclaim jobs upon returning to the U.S.

“Any problem you could think of, really – we were there to help,” Kerwood says.

That desire to help would soon become a running theme of Kerwood's military service. In 2004, an opportunity arose for Kerwood to go to Afghanistan. He seized it and volunteered. By that time, he'd become the superior to other troops and enlistees, and his lack of overseas field experience wasn't sitting right with him.

“I thought, 'it's my turn to go,'” Kerwood says. “If I'm leading troops, I should have the same experience in the combat zone. I planned on staying (in the service), and I couldn't be a leader without leading from the front.”

Kerwood's mission landed him in an Embedded Tactical Training (ETT) team, a small group of soldiers who were charged with training members of the primitive Afghan National Army on how to effectively combat a common enemy: the Taliban. Only in its second year of existence at the time, the ETT program required that the American soldiers live among the Afghanis in remote, dangerous places like the Herat Province and Kandahar, both of which Kerwood inhabited. There was no military base. No sanitary conditions. No runnning water. The only things the Army gave to Kerwood and company were M-16 ammunition and money to purchase food, fuel and other supplies.

“The Army told us, 'as far as you're concerned, you're part of the Afghan army now,” Kerwood says.

Supporting themselves and living in mud huts, Kerwood and his fellow soldiers – including two interpreters – began teaching the Afghanis hygiene, discipline, marching, weapons usage, you name it. Kerwood says he was mainly the mentor for the local military's Command Sgt. Major, and as he and his men moved from unit to unit, he also worked with the the army's battalion commander, medical officer and supply officer.

One of Kerwood's first responsibilities after arriving in Afghanistan was to help break up a tank battle between two warlord groups, who were successfully appeased. He also trained the Afghan soldiers on how to conduct weapons searches, find smuggling routes, raid villages and look for Taliban terrorists. He'd then accompany the soldiers on their missions as an advisor. In addition, Kerwood and his ETT team members presided over weapons collection sites, where “acres” of found and surrendered guns and ammo would be gathered to be destroyed.

Kerwood says that by the end of the year he spent in Afghanistan, he saw a huge improvement in the Afghan army.

“When we got there, they didn't want to wear their uniforms,” Kerwood says of the Afghan soldiers. “When we left, they were proud to wear them. We kept increasing their abilities to conduct themselves as soldiers within a unit, and then a unit within an army. A lot of them joined to see change because they hated the Taliban. This was their way to change something. We felt as though our mission had been accomplished.”

Kerwood's tour ended in late July of 2005. He came home, and not long after, as his 25th year with the military was approaching, he retired. He still follows the progress of the army training in Afghanistan, as other ETT team members have followed in his footsteps. He's able to devote more time to his job as a medical researcher with Bristol Myers-Squibb in Lawrenceville, where he's been employed for the last 18 years. He's able to see more of his wife, Sandra, to whom he's been married for 24 years. The couple has two sons, Andrew and Sam, who are both off at college.

Throughout his time in the military, Kerwood was awarded a Combat Infantryman Badge, a Bronze Star (for a rocket attack rescue), Army Commendation with Valor, a Meritorious Service Medal, an Afghan Campaign Medal, a Global War on Terrorism Medal, a Good Conduct Medal and a Humanitarian Service Medal, which was earned for his volunteer involvement with a Hurricane Katrina relief operation in a city just north of New Orleans.

Shortly after retiring, Kerwood says he considered returning to active duty, and then, he reconsidered.

“I thought about re-enlisting,” he says, “but I also thought, 'I like being home.'”

David Wood

2009-10-07T14:13:00.002-04:00

Army sergeant returns home after three tours of duty in Iraq.

By Matthew Fleishman, Yardley News Editor

After finishing up his third tour of duty in Iraq, Sgt. First Class David Wood was welcomed home with a gathering of family and friends at the VFW Post 6393 on Sunday, Oct. 4.

For the previous 13 months, Wood was part of an 11-man Military Transition Team (MTT), which had the job of training the new Iraqi military force on how to protect their country from insurgents.

While Wood has seen action all around the world, and made 93 paratrooper jumps, he said that “dumb luck” was the reason he was able to make it home to his family this time.

“There was a 10,000-pound truck full of explosives that got into the camp that morning,” said Wood. “It came through the gate and wouldn’t stop. Rounds were fired at the truck to stop the driver, but the explosives were on a timer and exploded.”

Wood said that five Americans and nine Iraqi trainees were killed, and three buildings were completely leveled in the explosion.

“Our 11-man team was supposed to be there that morning,” said Wood. “It was just dumb luck we weren’t there because we had to do maintenance on our vehicles that morning so we decided to do the training in the afternoon. It blew up right where we would have been.”

Wood’s first tour of duty in Iraq occurred during the first Gulf War, in which he was assigned to work convoy security, helping protect convoys heading from Saudi Arabia to Kuwait.

In the second tour of duty, Wood made a jump into Iraq on March 26, 2003, less than a week into the invasion.

“I had just completed jumpmaster school, and we got the alert,” said Wood. “We didn’t know if we were going to make the jump because of a storm, but there was a two-hour window and we made the jump into Northern Iraq to seize an air field. We were supposed to be there for 30 days, but it wound up being 14 months.”

In between his first and second tours of duty in Iraq, Wood made a jump into Kosovo to seize and air field near the Serbian border.

“We jumped onto a snow-covered mountain, did our job, and then jumped on a helicopter and were sent out on patrol on a different mountain,” said Wood.

In his most recent tour, Wood and the rest of his MTT unit were supposed to be stationed in Baghdad, but because of the improvement in safety in that area, and the increase in violence in Mosul, the unit was sent to the area with the greatest need. Wood’s unit taught the Iraqis how to properly clear buildings, search vehicles and plan out operations.

“When we got there, there would be flare-ups four or five times each day,” said Wood. “It’s now once or twice per day. The police are doing a much better job because of our training.”
Now that Wood is home, his family could not be happier.

“It’s awesome!” said Colleen, David’s wife. “We’re truly blessed to have him back once again. He returned to us mentally and physically sound, just as when he left.

“It’s been very hard for us,” continued Colleen. “The one part that has always made it easier is that no matter what he was doing or where he was, he has never missed a birthday or holiday because he always sent us a card to tell us that he was okay.”

After 17 years of marriage, David and Colleen, along with their three children, are going to be stationed near their families, at Fort Dix, N.J. The family has lived in Italy and Germany, in addition to having been stationed around the United States.

“This is the first time they have been close to home,” said Bob Baxter, David’s father-in-law. “Having them at Fort Dix is wonderful.”

Now that Wood is home, he is hoping he won’t have to go on another tour of duty overseas, but due to a potential promotion, he might have to make one last tour. In the meantime, he said that he is enjoying being with his wife and their three sons.

“It’s incredible!” said Wood. “After being away from them for almost 19 months, it’s great to be back. It’s also great being stationed up north. I was able to have a long visit with my dad for the first time in nine years.”

Joseph Cuttone

2009-09-23T13:10:00.002-04:00

Bristolian finds new calling after Naval discharge.

By Tim Chicirda, BucksLocalNews.com

One of the most impressive things about many of the veterans profiled on this page over the past years is the fact that many of them did not let their military career define them.

These noble defenders of freedom eventually all come back to being a regular "civilian" sooner or later. And, making that transition from the battlefields to the business and/or working world should truly be applauded.

Soldiers need to adapt back to normal life and no one has done so with more success than Bristol Borough's own, Joseph Cuttone.

Cuttone's military career was very short. In fact, in the early part of the second world war, Cuttone was a turret lathe operator, which is a form of metalworking lathe that is used for repetitive production of duplicate parts, at the Hunter Manufacturing Company.
There, he also performed the duties of staff photographer for their newsletter, the “Hunter Projectile.”

Joseph was drafted in 1943 to the Navy Seabees, the Construction Battalions of the US Navy, and was sent to Williamsburg, VA.

This is where his military career outlook became very bleak. As Cuttone entered the service, he no sooner entered then he had to leave.

Joseph received a medical discharge from the Navy because his “eyes were not good enough” and it prohibited him from performing some of the required duties.

While the armed forces were sad to see him go, the Bristol Borough community were thrilled to welcome a future local staple into town.

The 92-year-old Cuttone remembers his early days in Bristol, a town that barely resembles the modern version that we are all accustomed to seeing today.

“When I was a kid, Bristol was not what it is today, there was lots of open land," said Cuttone. "I was raised on goat’s milk and most of the food that we ate was raised in our yard.”
Joe’s dad, Andrew, was a farmer and his mother, Francesca, worked at the [Keystone] Steel’s Woolen Mill. Cuttone helped his parents, by kneading the bread and collected eggs from the hen house and picking the best good green grass for the goats so the milk was richer.

“When my dad said something, I listened.”

Right around the time Cuttone's life was uncertain with his military, something great happened: Joe met his wife, Catherine R. Vitale, at a picnic in New Jersey. Their first date was sharing a sundae in an ice cream parlor in Camden.

Catherine died just last year, only a month before her and Joseph's 66th wedding anniversary.
So after marriage, Cuttone attempted to enter the political world. Joseph ran for public office as Fourth Ward councilman, five times. He also for the School board and as tax collector. His cousin, Anna Bono Larrisey, is the current Borough tax collector. Anna’s grandfather and Joe’s grandmother were brother and sister.

But, Cuttone's true calling was yet to come.

Joseph now runs an old-fashioned barbershop.

Barber Cuttone learned his trade in Brownie’s Barber School in Trenton. He cut Senator Joseph Ridgway Grundy’s hair there, in fact. This has now been his career for over three quarters of a century.

Joseph has been barbering for almost 75 years and continues to do what he loves.

So much for that eye problem, as Cuttone has continually performed a great service to many generations of Bristolians.

Cuttone also gave much of his time back to the community in other ways.

"Joe was on the committee of the Columbus 500 organization and we did several projects together," said local sculptor Joe Pavone. "We produced an Italian Immigration documentary film and Joe played a very important part, very verbal and such a keen memory. He is really a Bristol Borough character."

***
Cate Murway contributed to this piece.

Cora Wehmeyer Henderson

2009-09-16T13:46:00.002-04:00

Newtown woman was a pioneer during World War II.

By Petra Chesner Schlatter, BucksLocalNews.com

U.S. Air Force Senior Master Sergeant Cora Wehmeyer Henderson of Newtown was one of the first women to enlist in the Armed Forces at the time of World War II.

At age 90, Cora thrives on being independent. As she talks about her time in the service, Cora does so with great detail. She sits at her kitchen table, showing vintage photographs of her as a WAC (Women’s Army Corps.) Before the WACs, she explained, there was the WAAC (The Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps).

“I’m probably one of the only ones who are still alive,” Cora joked.

What strikes you about Cora is her keen memory. People find her to be witty and intelligent. She has been described as “a remarkable woman.”

Cora made a career of the Air Force, serving more than two decades and retiring as a Senior Master Sergeant.

In her collection of memorabilia, Cora has a copy of a 1951 Parade magazine cover. She is one of four in uniform, along with three other women, each from a different branch of the service.
“I was with the first group of enlisted women,” Cora said. She was working at the former Budd Company’s Wheel and Locomotive facility in Philadelphia. Budd later became a defense plant.
“We were painting Bazooka guns. You wore a mask and overalls. I worked the swing shift – 3 to 11,” she said.

Cora had read in the Philadelphia Bulletin that an organization for women in the military was forming. “The first day you could apply, I was down there,” she recalled. “People thought I was crazy. My pay was $21 a month in the service.”

She went in as a private first class. The women officers, who had gone to college, went to training first. “They had to train us,” she explained. “We were sworn in September, 1942.” Basic training, which took four weeks, was in October 1942 in Des Moines, Iowa.

During her first assignment, she lived in a hotel in Miami, Fla. “We were with an aircraft warning service in November 1942.

“In March 1943, we went to Orlando to the Army Air Corps Base where the work had to do with training fighter pilots,” she remembered.

Next, it was overseas to England with the 8th Air Force until V.E. (Victory in Europe) Day in May 1945.

“I was in communications,” she noted. In a picture, she is sitting with three other “operators.” These women were connecting teletype machines with the bomber bases in England.
She worked in an underground facility right outside of London. She described it like a switchboard. There was another one for the Prime Minister. “We were in the one at High Wycombe,” she said. Her shift started at 11 p.m. and ended at 7 a.m. “We kept rotating,” she noted.

Cora would later become the base chief operator at the telephone exchange at Eglin Base in Florida because she had some practice on a switchboard.

One of her favorite pictures is of her receiving a commendation medal. “They gave me a review,” she said. “I was escorted up to the presenting officer.” A general pinned the medal on her.
“After we won the war, I was shipped to Germany. The only way we could stay in was civil service. Six months later, they wanted us back in,” she maintained.

“They needed help with the demobilization [in 1945] – that’s why I went back in,” she said. She worked in administrative training and recruiting.

For four years, Cora worked at the Pentagon as an administrative assistant to the director of the Women in the Air Force (WAF).

She continued climbing the ladder. One of the rungs was working in Baltimore at the Third Army recruiting headquarters. She served there from 1948 until 1950 and later transferred to Philadelphia as a recruiter, where she was stationed until 1952.

Next stop was Weisbaden, Germany and in 1954 she went to San Antonio, Texas. Then, it was time to head back to Pennsylvania where she could live in Hatboro to be with her mother.
The next assignment took her to McGuire Air Force Base. Going there was a major turning point in her life, Cora noted. “I met John,” she said of her late husband. They were married in the chapel on the base. Three hundred people attended.

Cora is a charter member of the Women in Military Service for America Memorial, which is located at the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery.

When the memorial was dedicated in 1998, people came from all over the country. “It was quite an event and I was lucky to be there,” Cora said.

Because of the memorial, people will be able to see her military history on the computer for years to come.

She likes that idea.

Joseph Swerk III

2009-09-09T13:31:00.002-04:00

Former Honor Guard member is well aware of his good fortune.

By R. Kurt Osenlund, BucksLocalNews.com

U.S. Army veteran Joe Swerk could have very easily been sent to Vietnam, a place where many of his friends ended up and a place he was all but sure he was headed given the time in which he was drafted. But Swerk, who’s fully aware and appreciative of his good fortune, wasn’t thrown into the fray. Instead, the laid-back Newtown resident was assigned to the Army’s Honor Guard in Washington, D.C., a relatively classy gig that, among other things, came with the responsibility of watching over John F. Kennedy’s grave. Ironically, Swerk’s military service, which often required him to stand at attention for long stretches, was followed by a life that, in more ways than one, has been the antithesis of standing still.

Swerk was born in Darby, Pa. in 1947 to parents Nina and Joseph II, but he grew up in and around the Newtown area. He, his parents, and his older sister, Gay, moved in to a home on East Holland Road when he was three, and the family also lived in Wrightstown and Newtown – just a stone’s throw from where Swerk resides today. He graduated from the old Council Rock High School – which is now Newtown Middle School – in 1966, spent a short time at Cambridge School of Broadcasting in Boston, then returned home to study liberal arts at Bucks County Community College.

“That wasn’t going so well, so I decided to join the Navy,” Swerk says, explaining that he signed up for a “120-day delay plan,” which, as described, involved a four-month waiting period prior to active duty. During that period, Swerk was working full-time at an industrial quarry in Wrightstown. While on the job, he broke his leg, an injury that would make him ineligible for Naval service.

“At the time, I was thinking that I was in pretty good shape,” Swerk says. “I had received a medical discharge and thought the time served with the Navy was done. Then the Army sent me my draft notice.”

Swerk was drafted in October of 1967 and, just after the following Christmas, he shipped out to Fort Bragg, N.C. for basic training. Following the advice of an older vet, Swerk “never volunteered for anything, because, usually (according to the old-timer), what you’d volunteer for wasn’t what you’d get.” (Swerk offers the example of a drill sergeant asking which soldiers have driver’s licenses, and then telling those soldiers who stepped up to “drive brooms” all across the floor.)

Advanced infantry training followed at California’s Fort Ord, where Swerk spent eight weeks.
“That was during the height of the Vietnam War,” Swerk says. “We were all pretty much convinced that we were going to Vietnam.”

Some did. Some went to Germany. Not Swerk. In 1968, he and nine other men from his company were sent to Fort Myer, Va., a base that surrounds the outer edge of Arlington National Cemetery and houses the guards of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. (Swerk says he was initially interested in taking a job as the guards’ driver, but since he’d never volunteered for anything, he lacked the required military license.) He soon learned that he’d been pre-selected for permanent duty with the Honor Guard (of which the guards of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier are a division). Back when he’d first reported for basic training, Swerk’s specifications – height, weight, background, etc. – were found to match the requirements of Honor Guard members, and his future was basically decided for him.

Within the ceremonial unit (which presides over all presidential and official affairs in D.C.), Swerk wound up in the (now disbanded) JFK platoon, whose job it was to guard the fallen president’s grave site. During his time with the Honor Guard (which lasted until September of 1969), Swerk also took part in the funeral services for Robert Kennedy and Dwight D. Eisenhower, and crossed paths with the likes of John Glenn, Andy Williams and Peter Lawford. It was Swerk’s responsibility to ward off mobs and photographers, in addition to being put on alert in response to the Martin Luther King-related riots that were igniting the city at the time.

“The stories he’d tell me were incredible,” says Judy, Swerk’s wife of nearly 41 years who was living with him in D.C. while he served with the Honor Guard. “And one of the things that made (his service) so interesting was how many famous people he came in contact with.”

“It was good duty,” says Swerk, who cites “discipline” and “decorum” as the two most valuable lessons he learned during his military tenure.

Once Swerk was discharged, he and Judy – who first met as children playing in the same Newtown neighborhood (“first friends, then best friends, then married,” she says) – returned to the Bucks County area and lived in Levittown for a time. While waiting to be accepted into a veteran’s program at the Rochester Institute of Technology (R.I.T.), Swerk put in a short stint as a police officer in Newtown Borough. When he was finally accepted to R.I.T., the couple moved to Rochester so he could complete his degree. Through the years they’ve also lived in Flemington, N.J., Maryland and, of course, Newtown.

Swerk has worked for a photography hardware company for whom he traveled across the east coast; opened (and later closed) a line of fast food restaurants with a friend in the ‘80s; sold cars at the Faulkner dealership in Trevose; served as a mortgage broker; and all the while remained consistently active with the Newtown Ambulance Squad, an organization with which he’s been somehow affiliated since the age of 16. Swerk is now the president of that organization, and is also the sergeant-at-arms of Newtown’s American Legion Post 440. He has two children, Jill and Joseph IV, two grandchildren, and two other babies: his fishing pole and his motorcycle.

“I’ve been really lucky,” Swerk says.

Tom Yaegel

2009-09-02T12:55:00.001-04:00

The U.S. Army opened doors for this Vietnam veteran

By Tara Fatzinger, BucksLocalNews.com

When he looks back on his life, retired 1st Lt. Tom Yaegel remembers, with a chuckle, a childhood desire to attend West Point and join the United States Army.

Eventually a bachelor’s degree in accounting, the guarantee of a secure post-college job and visions of a future with his long-time sweetheart pushed his inner soldier aside.

Then in August 1969 – just three months after Yaegel graduated from St. Joseph’s College – the draft notice came. With that one little piece of paper, everything changed and Yaegel knew his life would never be as he originally planned.

“At first it was like I was dealt a lousy hand but in hindsight it was one of the best things that happened,” he said. “It all worked out just great.”

He ultimately decided there were only two choices; he could either accept the inevitable, serve in Vietnam and be done after two-years or he could turn the draft into an opportunity to apply his college education while serving in the Army.

“It was not an easy choice to make,” he said. “I talked to a recruiter and after much soul searching I said, ‘well, OK, if I’m going to do this I’m going to do it the best way I know how’ and that was to try and get a commission.”

So it was off to Officer Candidate School for Tom Yaegel. After a grueling 10-month process at Ft. Belvoir, Va., in July 1970, he was pinned as a 2nd Lieutenant for the United States Army.
He married his sweetheart, Ann, a week later and together the young couple embarked on an adventure neither would soon forget, one that would eventually shape the rest of their lives.
“We packed up a little 4 by 6 U-Haul trailer and moved off to Ft. Benning,” Yaegel said with a laugh. “We really enjoyed that first year.”

But in May 1971 the young couple’s newlywed bliss living among the structured, neatly manicured grounds of Ft. Benning came to an end when Yaegel received his deployment orders to Vietnam.

He was set to depart that August.

Ann, Yaegel said, was obviously concerned but she refused to allow his absence to consume her. She returned to work full-time as a nurse in order to keep herself busy and help her husband build a healthy savings account.

“She was really great,” Yaegel said. “We used it (the deployment) as an opportunity to save some money.”

When he arrived in Vietnam, Yaegel, who was trained as an Army engineer, chose to work as the camp engineer and finance manager for the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam-Studies and Operations Group, better known as MACV-SOG.

The men of MACV-SOG are among the most highly decorated soldiers of the Vietnam era, having collectively earned nine Congressional Medals of Honor and 23 Distinguished Service Crosses. Yaegel was eventually awarded a Bronze Star for meritorious service as a member of MACV-SOG.

The unit was established on Jan. 24, 1964, as a highly classified multi-service Army special operations unit, the function of which was to conduct covert, unconventional warfare missions before and during United States involvement in Vietnam.

MACV-SOG spent much of its time in Vietnam embarking on strategic reconnaissance missions in North and South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, captured enemy prisoners, conducted rescue missions for downed American pilots and to retrieve allied prisoners from war camps throughout Southeast Asia. The men were also ordered to complete covert activities and psychological operations.

“This unit had to bear the brunt of the war,” Yaegel said.

To complete these missions MACV-SOG employed and trained Montangard tribesmen of Vietnam’s Central Highlands as soldiers, he said, and were divided into three different operating units; Command and Control South, which was based near Ban Me Thout; Command and Control Central near Kontum and Command and Control North just outside Pleiku.

“They placed me with Command and Control South,” Yaegel said.

During Vietnam, Congress had forbidden American soldiers from operating in neighboring countries Cambodia and Laos but the Hochiminh Trail led through both countries and one of MACV-SOG’s many functions was to run reconnaissance missions into the two nations in order to identify targets that could be attacked from the air, Yaegel said.

Since Cambodia and Laos were technically forbidden lands, MACV-SOG was ordered to change the official coordinates to make it appear as though their operations were completed within Vietnam’s borders.

“We would train the mercenaries for cross border operations,” Yaegel said. “We would send them across the border to keep the enemy at bay. They (the Montangard tribesmen) were under our command. These operations actually saved a lot of American lives.”

The final offensive that caused the fall of Saigon, ultimately ending the Vietnam War, came through Ban Me Thout in March 1975, three years after Yaegel completed his tour and MACV-SOG was disbanded.

“We were just sitting there staving it off for as long as we could. We had everything under control. All we had to do was leave some troops behind to maintain air control” and give the people a chance to find a strong, just leader to send them on their way to political and economic freedom, he said.

“We just didn’t allow enough time and I feel bad and guilty about it to this day,” Yaegel continued. “I became close to many of the tribesmen and when it was all over they were the ones executed by those in control because of who they sided with (MACV-SOG.)”

After Yaegel returned he was “basically laid off,” as he likes to say, by the Army because of massive military cutbacks. “I had grown to like the Army,” he said. “I was comfortable with my job and got a nice paycheck so it wasn’t an easy transition back.”

But, as with everything else in his life, Yaegel made the most of it. He earned his master’s degree in Business Administration from Temple University and went on to work for Arthur Anderson and Co. as an audit manager and eventually became the senior vice president.

“That was where I really got to use my military experience and take charge in certain situations,” he said.

In 1982 Yaegel purchased the Richboro Swim Club and, in the meantime, continued to work as a banking consultant all over the U.S.

Today, Yaegel still runs the swim club, an advertising agency, a small travel agency specializing in Virgin Island vacations and – after the swimming season is over – the wildly popular Valley of Fear haunted hayrides.

And when it comes to his military experience as a whole Yaegel has no regrets. In fact, he credits the Army for giving him the strength, skills and courage to turn his life into the successful venture it has been.

“I’ve had the blessing of doing a lot of interesting things and I thank the Army for that. It all started with the Army,” he said. “I got to see a lot more of what went on at a higher level than the average 1st Lieutenant. It was a great educational experience for me. I had the chance to work with a lot of Special Forces troops and I feel fortunate for that experience.”

John T. Jim

2009-08-26T13:35:00.001-04:00

Korean War veteran was stationed along the 38th Parallel

John T. Jim was drafted in July 1952, from Syracuse N.Y. to Indiantown Gap, Pa. The time he served in Korea was just one example of his life-long dedication to civic ideals and community involvement.

After 16 weeks of basic training and eight weeks of leadership school, John received his orders for Korea. He traveled to San Francisco via troop train, and then to Pusan, Korea by ship. After reaching Korea, he was sent to the infamous 38th Parallel as a member of the 5th Regimental Combat Team (RCT), which served as reinforcements to the front lines.

His duty as a member of the 5th RCT was for blocking. Blocking is taking a position just behind the frontline troops and going up to the front line to replace the troops that were killed or wounded, as well as to provide extra protection if the enemy broke through the front lines. Every night, the enemy shelled these lines, killing and wounding soldiers. The 5th RCT continuously was called upon to replace the wounded soldiers along the 38th parallel.

During his time in Korea, John served as a rifleman, assistant machine gunner, communications chief for Fox Company, and Fox Company staff sergeant.

John’s recollections are detailed and somewhat dispassionate. There was a job to be done - distasteful or not, responsibility for a greater cause was a part of life.

“One experience I will never forget, we took positions early in the afternoon and my friend Gus Lotito, also from Syracuse, dug our foxhole,” said John. “Nearby a small tent was erected for officers and the communications gear. We kept an open line with the battalion 24 hours a day.”

John went on to relate how he was assigned communications duty that evening from 7-9 p.m. After a quiet shift, his replacement arrived; John briefed him on the equipment operations, and returned to his foxhole 20 feet away. Ten minutes later all hell broke loose.

“We started to get shelled with mortars and larger artillery,” said John. “There was a direct hit on the tent; two soldiers were killed instantly, my replacement, Parker, and one officer. The minute the tent was shelled the company commander, Murphy, ran to my foxhole, which was dug out for two, and stayed there while the shelling took place for hours.”

After the shelling stopped, the Red Cross medical personnel were called up from the bottom of the valley, about a mile away, to treat the wounded and collect the dead bodies, which were transported down the hill.

“Our position was at the top of the ridge,” said John. “Word came up that they needed to have the bodies identified at once. We were still being shelled in the middle of the night when Captain Murphy ordered the buddy of the man who replaced me to go down the hill and identify him. He refused, and said he didn’t know either man.”

Captain Murphy then turned to John and ordered him to identify the bodies, since he was the last man to see them alive.

John traveled from the ridge down the hill, which were still being shelled, to the medical tents. “I was not happy at this to say the least,” said John, “but I grabbed my rifle and went down the hill in the dark through the shelling, identified the bodies, and filled out the paperwork. After I did my duty, I spent the next few hours in a slit trench (a trench that is just wide enough for soldiers to fit in) during the shelling until dawn. Then I walked back up the hill to the ridge to report back to Fox Company.”

When John returned from serving his country in Korea, he earned his degree from Syracuse University in 1958, with the help of the G.I. Bill.

John moved his family from Pittsburgh to Bucks County in July 1969. He worked as a successful salesman of products for the United States Rubber Company, managing a multimillion-dollar territory, encompassing four states. However, it is his family and community involvement during the last 40 years in Northampton that have given him pride.

John and Joann, now married 55 years, have three children, Karen Jim, of Northampton Township, who works for Merrill Lynch; John D. Jim, of Chalfont, a senior financial advisor for Ameriprise Financial; and Jeff Jim, of Northampton Township, who has run a small business in Northampton for more than 25 years.

For the past 40 years, John has remained dedicated to the community of Northampton, and to the civic ideals of leadership and involvement. He started the civic association in his neighborhood, volunteered for various projects, worked at the Grange Fair and Northampton Days, and volunteered for clothing and food drives for the less fortunate. His elected positions have included serving as a local Committeeman for many years, and serving on the Northampton Municipal Authority Board for eight years.

The Jim family has seen their share of Pennsylvania and New York, moving seven times over a ten-year period. But for John Jim, Northampton Township has been the place to stay. “I have always told my children that our last move was our best move. We’ve grown up and grown older in a great place to live.”

John has had the pleasure to meet or work beside many great local people who live, work, volunteer, and serve the residents - county Judges, commissioners, and other elected officials in Northampton Township and Bucks County - as well as many of the Pennsylvania legislators, senators and congressmen, and even presidents of this great nation. That involvement starts at the local community level.

According to John, “We’ve been fortunate to contribute to the quality of life here in Northampton Township all these years. It’s a great place to live and raise a family.”

Stanley D. Mathews

2009-08-19T12:57:00.001-04:00

Navy veteran was in Tokyo Bay as World War II was ending.

By Matthew Fleishman, BucksLocalNews.com

Stanley D. Mathews wanted to serve his country so badly that he enlisted in the Navy at age 17, which meant that his father had to sign him up for duty in World War II.

“My father was a Navy veteran, and he had to sign me up,” said Mathews. “At that time, almost everybody was signing up. It was the thing to do.”

While Mathews enlisted in the Navy, his first thoughts were about serving in the Army, but he started training while in high school, and a series of exercises in the rain and mud changed his mind.

“After those maneuvers in the mud, I said ‘the Army is not going to get me,” said Mathews.
After enlisting in September 1944, Mathews spent 16 weeks training in Maryland and then four more months in gunner’s school, before being assigned to the U.S.S. Ordronaux in May 1945. The Ordronaux has just come back from France and was equipped with anti-aircraft weaponry because it was being reassigned to the Pacific Theater.

“Nobody knew exactly where we were going, but we all knew that we were heading for the Pacific,” said Mathews.

On the way to Japan, Mathews and the rest of the crew passed through the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and all said “Be back in ‘49,” because that was how long they figured it would take to end defeat the Japanese.

When the Ordronaux arrived in Hawaii, Mathews’ first sight was a badly damaged destroyer.
“We wondered what we were in for,” said Mathews. “We were really scared when we saw that ship.”

After leaving Hawaii, Mathews’ destroyer was assigned to protect the U.S.S. Pennsylvania, which was heading to Japan. On the way, Japanese fighter planes spotted the group of ships, including the Pennsylvania, so Mathews and the rest of the men on the Ordronaux used smoke to try to shield the sight of the battleship.

Twenty men died on the Pennsylvania, but it could have been much worse if not for the work of the Ordronaux.

By the time Mathews made it to Japan, the war was basically over.

“We convoyed into Tokyo Bay, and arrived right before the signing of the surrender agreement,” said Mathews. “The first thing I saw on the dock was a Chevy truck. I knew things had turned in our favor.”

Despite the war nearing its end, Mathews had dangerous times ahead of him, as the Ordronaux was given the task of clearing mines out of a Japanese river so that ships with high-ranking military officials could get through.

Then, after leaving Japan, the Ordronaux was caught in a typhoon. During the storm, the crew of the Ordronaux rescued a man who had gone overboard from another ship.

“That is quite an experience,” said Mathews. “The destroyer was kind of small, so we had to go right into the typhoon or we would have been snapped in two.”

After a long journey back from Japan, Mathews and the Ordronaux made it back to San Francisco several years sooner than their prediction.

“We went under the Golden Gate Bridge way before time,” said Mathews. “I’m quite proud of my services, but there were a lot of guys who got in sooner and saw quite a bit of action, but I only got a taste of it.”

After leaving the Navy, Mathews married his wife, Helen, in 1949, and the couple has spent more than 60 years together. They live together in their home in Upper Makefield Township, which was build by Mathews over a two-year span. Mathews has two sons, five grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. One of his granddaughters is married to a Lt. Commander in the Navy.

“Besides my family, my time in the Navy was the highlight of my life,” said Mathews.

For Mathews, his Navy career came full circle in 2001 when he received his high school diploma from the Council Rock School District. The state legislature and the governor authorized Pennsylvania school districts to award diplomas to students who dropped out of high school to defend the United States in World War II.

“It was quite a thrill,” said Mathews. “They played it up real big for us.”

*****

During his time in the Navy, Mathews earned four medals:
*American Campaign Medal
* Asiatic-Pacific Medal
* World War II Victory Medal
* Navy Occupation Service Medal

Robert Patrick

2009-08-19T12:44:00.002-04:00

Purple Heart winner achieved even more in Bucks County.

By Tim Chicirda, BucksLocalNews.com

Robert Patrick is not originally from Bristol Borough. In fact, he has only been a resident on Radcliffe Street for just over a decade, but Bob has completed a lifetime of service to the small Bucks County town.

Patrick's life journey began on South Mountain in Bethlehem, Pa., where he was born under the 81-foot electric “Star of Bethlehem” to Stanley and Agatha Patrick.

Bob went on to attend Hellertown High School (now Saucon Valley High School), just outside of Bethlehem in Hellertown, Pa.

Here, Bob took on numerous activities, including wrestling and announcing football games as a member of the AV Club. Bob also played drums in a band called “Magic.”

During Bob's junior year of high school, he joined the Navy Reserve, attending Hospital Corpsman School in Great Lakes, Illinois.

Bob became a flight deck corpsman with the United States Marines. Specifically, Bob's title was Hospital Corpsman II Robert Patrick.

A Hospital Corpsman is someone who serves as an enlisted medical specialist. They perform duties as assistants to prevent and treat disease and injury. They also assist health care professionals, providing medical care to Marines and their families.

In Bob's case, a flight deck Hospital Corpsman would help with emergency medical treatment, including initial treatment in a combat environment.

For Bob's noble efforts with the Marine Corps, he was awarded a Purple Heart, which according to the order given from the U.S. Government is for one who “has given of his blood in the defense of his homeland and shall forever be revered by his fellow countrymen.”

Bob left the Marine Corps in 1971. After jumping back and forth from various jobs, Bob was hired by Aramark in 1974. Aramark Limited has a plethora of different specialties, including being a food, facilities, and clothing provider. They help supply businesses, courts, educational institutions, the armed forces and health care providers. The health care aspect of Aramark is where Bob focused his time, until he was laid off in 1995.

This is when Bob moved to Bristol Borough, according to him, “through the blessing of God,” amidst a very tough financial situation.

While dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Bob still had the presence of mind to start a wonderful non-profit organization called Operation Pay It Forward, which is owned and operated by Patrick, who is a Service Disabled Vietnam Veteran. He is a cash flow specialist broker, an alternative to banks, working with doctors, group practices and medical equipment suppliers.

“Bob has done great service in the area with his concern for homeless veterans,” says Bucks County Director of Veterans Affairs and Marine Corps vet Daniel H. Fraley.

Bob humbly adds: “That which we make important, we make happen.”

And, his charitable work does not end there, as Bob is a vital part of the Bristol Borough Community Partnership (BBCP), a local organization that organizes community events in Bristol.
Bob was instrumental in the “Oral History Project” in Bristol Borough, which helps youngsters grasp their roots through stories told from the elder neighbors.

“Bob is invaluable. He is constantly helpful and sharing with his time and ideas ... Bob has helped advance the mission of the partnership,” said Loretta M. Vasso, Community Mobilizer for the BBCP.

And, there's more. Patrick devotes even more of his time to the area, working with the Borough's “Home Again” initiative, which helps find a “way home” to homeless people in Bristol Borough.
Bob is also a member of the VFW, American Legion, DAV, Lower Bucks Chamber of Commerce and the Historic Bristol Borough Revitalization Task Force (RTF).

In 2009, Bristol High School student Samantha Kasperitis took part in the “Adopt-A-Marine” program. Kasperitis said at the time: “He is an intelligent man with great ideas.”

But, Bob is not only full of great ideas, but great passion and drive for his community, as he took his prestigious military career and spawned it into a grand life of charity in Bristol Borough and Bucks County.

Cate Murway contributed to this article.

Richard W. Gresko

2009-07-29T12:33:00.002-04:00

Marine threw his body on a grenade to save his comrades.

By Petra Chesner Schlatter, BucksLocalNews.com

Having served during the Vietnam War, U.S. Marine Sgt. Richard W. Gresko of Newtown received the U.S. Navy Cross for throwing his body onto a North Vietnamese hand grenade. His action was an attempt to save the lives of three of his comrades.

Gresko, originally from Philadelphia, was 19 at the time of his heroic act. He was on a nighttime ambush on March 11, 1970 in Vietnam. Absorbing the impact of the explosion, Gresko somehow survived. He sustained life-threatening wounds to his legs and torso. Today, he has chronic neurological problems because of the grenade blast.

“I believe that the action I did that night — if it had been another Marine with the exact same thing, I think they would do the same thing. That action I did that night I did to protect the men. Believe me, you know what you’re doing. I did it to save my men.

“I’m here by the grace of God, Jesus. I did what I did. I guess I shouldn’t be here, but I am,” he said.

“If I had it to do all over again, I would do it all over again,” he said. “Sometimes the whole is more important than the one. That says everything.”

That goes not just for Marines, he asserted. “Not just Marines die, a lot of people do things to protect people. I love the country.”

It was tough in the hospital. “There were so many of us back then,” he said. “When I first got there, I was in the hallway. A lot of us were on gurneys. The wards were so full. I didn’t know that — Katey told me.”

Gresko said one of the best things he ever did was to marry Katey on March 29 1969. When Gresko came home wounded, she went to the hospital every day.

Though there were a lot of suffering soldiers in the hospital, they stuck together. “We call it esprit du coeur - it’s very tight comradeship. The highest compliment is to say you have that drive. Everybody thinks alike and everybody looks out for each other,” he said.

Discharged in June 1971, Gresko was in the Philadelphia Naval Hospital for 15 long months.

A big burly man with a raspy voice, Gresko limps and uses a cane. He laughs when he won’t divulge is age. His personality is a bit gruff, but humorous. There’s always a joke when he talks.

The fact that he saved his buddies’ lives is a major part of his life. Respect and love for his comrades has helped him cope with his injuries.

Gresko had been in the 1st Marines division, 3rd battalion, 5th regimen and India Company, 3rd platoon. “I was a rifleman. We called them grunts. Then a special unit was formed. There’s a unit called combined action platoon (CAP). What their job was — they would fence in the villages at night with barbed wire.

“Everything is around the village. It’s community.”

The Marines would go out with them to farm. “They were peasants. All they wanted to do was farm — to be free — not what we know as freedom, but what they knew was their freedom.” Gresko said the enemy was “really brutal.”

The villagers worked hard out in the rice patties. If there were rivers near them, they went fishing.

“I believe that a person should be free,” Gresko said. “I believe when I was in Vietnam, I was visiting. I was protecting them.

“We lived with the people,” Gresko continued. “You respect the elders and the religious shrines. We were CUP — combined unit pacification program. I was still with the 1st Marines Division. We had two or three villages.”

The villagers trained with the company. “We’d set up ambushes — killer teams with sometimes four or five,” Gresko noted. “If you have an ambush, they come to your aid. We’re in support of each other. There was no artillery fire — no air support. We could get choppers and medevacs.”
People working with them, who gave the Marines information, were on the hit list. “They went after them. Our job was to protect them and work with them. Sometimes you trained your enemy. They don’t hang a sign around their necks,” Gresko said.

When asked if he has any stories to tell, Gresko talked about being in the Highlands. “We couldn’t get re-supplied during the monsoon. It was about two days that we did without. It was so cold. (You would) wrap up together. You ate out of a box. Rations had a can full of peanut butter. It’s real small.

“For two days, we opened it up,” he recalled. “We each took a finger tip amount. We split that for two days. Now, that’s pretty outstanding.”

Harry C. Niemann III

2009-07-22T11:21:00.004-04:00

Former air traffic controller learned how to keep his eye on the target

By R. Kurt Osenlund, BucksLocalNews.com

Harry Niemann is modest about his military service. His tenure overseas was no shorter in length than those of most vets, but he insists he didn't see any action while positioned in Japan as an air traffic controller after the Korean War. But even though his tour of duty wasn't exactly harrowing, this 77-year-old has still done more for his country than most citizens ever will, and he's managed to parlay the lessons he learned in the Marines into an honorable protocol for everyday success. At his home in Holland, Niemann divulges the details of his time served and the prosperous life that's followed.

Born in Philadelphia in 1932 in the heart of the Great Depression, Niemann is the son of Harry II and Helen, who forked over less than $5 in pocket money to pay for his delivery in the charity ward at Jefferson Hospital. Niemann has two siblings: Charles, who now resides in Cherry Hill, and Gloria, who lives in Quebec City in Canada. He graduated from Philadelphia's Olney High School in 1949 with ambitions to attend college, but the horrific state of the economy put a damper on his plans. He took a job with an aluminum manufacturing company – a dangerous, difficult and boring position he immediately describes as “the worst job you could ever imagine.”

After toughing it out for two years, Niemann underwent a major upgrade, enrolling at Notre Dame University in 1952. While attending the prestigious school (from which he'd later graduate cum laude), Niemann joined the Platoon Leader Corps, the Marines' equivalent of ROTC that required he attend two six-week summer camps in Quantico, Va. while completing his education. In 1955, the same year he obtained his Bachelor's Degree, Niemann began basic officer's school in Quantico, an intense program that whittled 1,200 hopefuls down to 750 in a matter of six months. The following year, he finished two months of radar controller training at Tyndall Air Force Base in Panama City, Fla. before being shipped off to Korea.

“I landed there on April Fool's Day, of all days,” Niemann says, “and it was a joke on me, let me tell you. The base was a desolate, horrible place. I couldn't tell if the barbed wire was meant to keep people out or keep us in. It was total isolation.”

Since the Korean War was over, Niemann and the rest of the remaining Marines moved to a Naval Air Station in Iwakuni, Japan after two months. It was there that he would spend the rest of his tour of duty. As a radar control officer in the Marine Air Control Squadron (MACS), Niemann worked closely with fighter pilots, practicing maneuvers and simulating situations in which the aircrafts would close in on enemy targets.

“There was no enemy,” Niemann says. “I never even shot a rifle. But you still never knew when somebody would be coming in on you over there. That's even true today.”

During his time with the Marines, Niemann also visited exotic places such as The Phillipines, Okinawa and Hong Kong, be it for R&R or various training procedures. He returned to the United States in June of 1957 and remained active in the Reserves, eventually earning the rank of Captain.

“I learned discipline, organization and the ability to take orders from a superior without question,” Niemann says of the lessons bestowed upon him while in the service. “Being in the Marines teaches you a lot, but one of the main things it teaches you is that you can't be an individual in combat.”

Niemann notes that the motto of the Marines is Semper Fidelis: “always faithful.” It's a code of conduct to which he's held firm throughout his post-military life. On July 27, he'll have been married 52 years to his wife, Joanne, whom he met in Wildwood, N.J. in 1953 and wed when he returned home from Japan. He and Joanne have four children – Michael, Margaret, Ann and Brian – whom he supported while maintaining a 40-year career in the insurance business. He retired in 1997 as the underwriting vice president of a general accident insurance company in Philadelphia.

Today, the Niemanns enjoy traveling – they've visited nearly a dozen countries over the last 15 years – and spending time with their 11 grandchildren. Niemann also has a full roster of additional activities, which include serving as the vice president of the Liberty Bell Chapter of the First Marine Division Association; being a member of the Patriots Division of the Marine Corps League; serving on the Northampton Township AdHoc Advisory Committee; visiting the Northampton Tennis and Fitnees Club six days a week; and volunteering with Senior Adults for Greater Education (S.A.G.E.), through which he tutors Council Rock students.

“The Marines taught me how to set goals, organize myself mentally and physically, stay disciplined and keep my eye on the target. I applied that not just to business, but to every aspect of my life,” Niemann says, modestly, of course.

David Matthews

2009-07-15T13:06:00.002-04:00

38-year Legion member was drafted but not sent overseas.

By Matthew Fleishman, BucksLocalNews.com

Just a year out of high school, David Matthews saw his birthday selected, and the 19-year-old from Newtown expected to be the second man in his family to serve his country overseas. Luckily for Matthews, a trip to the airport changed his life’s course.

“When I was drafted, I really didn’t realize what I was getting into,” said Matthews. “You didn’t know anything about what was going to happen. What you learned in the past had nothing to do with what was going to happen in the future.”

Matthews’ father served in the Navy on the U.S.S. Trumpeter during World War II, and took him to the bus stop before he headed to Fort Dix for basic training. Knowing that his father had seen the horrors of war, Matthews could see in his father’s face that he was heading into the unknown.

“I could see in his eyes that I could be in for trouble,” said Matthews. “I didn’t know what was ahead of me.”

After going through training at Fort Dix, Matthews was sent to Fort Meade. While waiting for his orders, he received a weekend pass, but instead of going home, he was assigned a task that would save him from going to Vietnam, and also put him in position to find out a secret order that would spare the lives of thousands of draftees.

“I had to go to the airport to pick up a three-star general,” said Matthews. “I was disappointed that I was going to the airport and all of these people were heading all over the world, but I couldn’t go anywhere.”

Matthews said that he and the general did not hit it off immediately, but they formed a solid relationship, which resulted in Matthews heading to West Point instead of Vietnam.
“I always dressed nicely, with a spit-shine on my boots, and this general comes off the plane in dungarees,” said Matthews. “I thought he would arrive in full uniform with all of his medals. It was an uncomfortable ride back to the base, but the next day we went flying in a helicopter and ended up hitting it off. He asked me to be his chauffer.”

Matthews said that he saw this as a great opportunity, but wasn’t sure if he could accept the general’s offer. That’s when the general let Matthews in on a secret that thousands of draftees would have loved to find out.

“I was joking with the general that I didn’t have my orders yet, but he said not to worry about it because he knew that nobody else was going to be sent over,” said Matthews. “I couldn’t tell anyone about it, but he let me know that anybody who was over there had to stay, but the rest of us wouldn’t have to go. You could say I got very lucky.”

Matthews went with the general to West Point, and helped with “sneak attacks” on the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions.

“They were out on training missions, and we would have to sneak up on them as if we were the enemy,” said Matthews. “We actually did catch them off guard a few times.

Matthews left the Army in 1973, and took some of his training home with him. While at Fort Meade, Matthews became part of the firing squad to honor fallen soldiers when they came home.
He has continued this tradition while as a member of the American Legion Post 440.

Matthews has been a member of Post 440 for 38 years, and will take over as the Post Commander in September, a position his father held in the 1950s.

“When I was eight years old, I got the job of raising the flag in the morning and taking it down in the afternoon,” said Matthews. “I’m a 38-year member of the post. The building was built to honor veterans, and I’d like to help keep it alive.”

During his time in the Army, Matthews was awarded the Expert Medal for rifle and grenade training, the Good Conduct Medal, and the Cold War Service Certificate.

Joseph DeFranco

2009-07-08T13:51:00.002-04:00

Korean War Vet had long career in education.

By Tim Chicirda, BucksLocalNews.com

Bristol High School graduate Corporal Joseph DeFranco is truly a jack of all trades.
Upon graduating from high school amidst the height of the Korean War, DeFranco completed a two-year tool and die maker apprenticeship with Fallsington Manufacturing Company, following in the footsteps of his older brother, Fabio.

He confirms, "tool and die makers are a rare breed; I call it the king of trades."
DeFranco then began his two-years active duty, guarding the Wiesbaden Airfield, the home of Headquarters U.S. Air Force in Europe.

Wiesbaden Army Airfield is located southeast of the city of Wiesbaden, Hessen, Germany. It was selected as the site for Headquarters, United States Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) on Sept. 28, 1945, in large part due to its proximity to Frankfurt am Main, where the U.S. Seventh Army was headquartered.

Airmen from Wiesbaden distinguished themselves in support of "Operation Vittles." C-47s and C-54 "Skymasters" of the 60th Troop Carrier Group flew missions daily from Wiesbaden to Tempelhof in the beleaguered city of Berlin. During one day's operations more than 80 tons of food and supplies were airlifted from Wiesbaden.

DeFranco then went on to six years of inactive duty, earning his Army provided training and education, making him skilled in all areas of plastics, woodworking, metals, ceramics and printing.

DeFranco now lives with fellow Bristol High grad and wife Anna in Bensalem. The two are the proud parents of four college graduates.

Their children are church organist and Director of Music Joseph Edward; electrical engineer Judith Ann Mastrocola; Eagle Scout John Richard; and electrical engineer and track athlete Joanna Frances DeFranco-Tommarello, who is a Senior Lecturer of Information Science in the PSU Engineering Division of the School of Graduate Studies.

These four have presented Joseph and Anna with their treasured eight grandchildren ranging in ages from 15 to the youngest, who is two-years-old.

Joe's parents were also a large part of his life, and a huge influence. Donato and Rose DeFranco emigrated to West Virginia from Rosetta, Italy, later moving to Bristol when Joe was seven-years-old. Private Donato was a veteran of World War II, sparking young Joe's path.
Aside from Joe's military career, the veteran had a long career in education.

Joe has been involved in the education field for a half of a century, producing students prepared for the rigors of active citizenship and long-term success. When he finished college, he started teaching in the Bristol Township schools, Lafayette Elementary School, then Woodrow Wilson H.S., including two years of metal shop and woodshop.

He taught a total of eight years and then served in Administration as Supervisor of Vocational Education, a liason to any trade related classes, now called Career Tech, and retired in 1990. Though this was not much of a "retirement," as he has been working for the last 20 years in Career & Technical Education at Temple University.

The Temple Center for Professional Development in Career and Technical Education offers career-long services to Career and Technical Education (CTE) professionals throughout the seventeen counties that comprise the eastern region of PA. Its mission is to facilitate the professional development of all educators who work with career-bound students.

Joe started co-operative education in Bristol Township schools and made presentations to all of the area service organizations.

The Cooperative Education Program provides an opportunity for students to alternate semesters of academic study with semesters of paid, career-related, engaged-learning experience. A basic goal of this experiential-learning program is to help bridge the gap between academic study and its application in professional practice. Teeming with intellect, confidence and charisma, Joe has proven himself to be the main advocate to offer navigable paths and universal access to complete and competitive education.

In 1997, Joseph DeFranco was recognized in Harrisburg as Outstanding Post-secondary educator in the State of PA for his involvement in professional organizations, memberships and activities by the PA Department of Education.

Joe has been a wonderful resident, long-time educator and a brave veteran.

Barry Pilla

2009-07-01T13:59:00.002-04:00

Police Chief served in U.S. Army Security Agency

By Petra Chesner Schlatter, BucksLocalNews.com

U.S. Army Spec. 5 Barry Pilla, 61, serves as the police chief of Northampton Township Police Department.

Forty years ago, Pilla was in Vietnam in the late 1960s. “I have a different outlook — I don’t know why. I was not in a field unit or in a direct combat unit. I was in a support unit.”

He had enlisted in the Army on January 15, 1968 “for a four-year hitch with the United States Army Security Agency.” Basic training was at Fort Dix, N.J. He went to Fort Gordon, Ga. for advanced training in communications.

In Vietnam, he served with the 509 Radio Research Group. “I did a tour and a half,” he noted. “I had the opportunity to work in a joint military unit with members of the Air Force, the Marines and the Navy.”We had a very diverse group. We worked on occasion with our counterparts.”
Pilla returned to The States on March 12, 1970. He then went to Fort Devens, Mass. where there was a training facility for his unit.

He was assigned to an administrative position in his training unit. He remained there until he was discharged in October, 1971. At that time, they were offering an early discharge to take a position in law enforcement.

When asked about Vietnam, Pilla said while some places were beautiful, “it had been ravaged for so many years by war. There were temples and more. That must have been a wonderful culture.
“The people for the most part were suspicious and anxious — and how could they not be after living in a war zone for so many years?” Pilla noted. When you struck up a casual relationship, he said, “They would let their guard down.”

Pilla talked about a picture he has of “two young kids” saluting him. “I saw them just about every day. The kids would be running around playing.

“My unit was associated with a Catholic orphanage,” he said. “We would visit on a monthly basis.” The men would give the children combs, mirrors or toys like paddle balls.
Pilla said his group would have a barbecue and spend the day. They would talk with the nuns and priest. “It was a diversion of what was going on,” Pilla said. “You could hear bombs going off occasionally, but this is what the kids were raised in.”

Pilla continued, “I was young. It made me look at life quite differently. I went over as a 19-year-old kid and came home as a 21-year-old adult. I had a much different mindset.”
The potential of being hurt by an explosive was always there. Pilla said the children would go to school and business was going on “while all this turmoil was happening.”

Pilla said he was “amazed how wonderful the human spirit is. It was quite a show and I had a front-row seat.” His pictures of Vietnam bring back memories, but not particularly bad ones, he said.

“As a young kid, I went over there,” Pilla said. “I really was given a gift. I was permitted to mature. I had the opportunity to serve with some wonderful and courageous people. And I met very courageous Vietnamese people who wanted peace as much as we did.”
Pilla said he went to Vietnam “for the people to be free.”

“As I was preparing to return home from Vietnam, we [soldiers] were all well aware of the dislike for the war,” Pilla said. “Additionally, we also knew that because it was an unpopular war, our return home wasn’t always met with cheers and gratitude for what we had done or been through.”

Despite the anti-war climate in the country, Pilla said he is grateful to his family and friends. He said the love and friendship of family, friends and neighbors meant he had a “wonderful homecoming.”

Pilla’s neighbors in his Bristol Township neighborhood, as well as family and friends, turned the street into a welcome home parade. They had strung banners across the street.
“Folks were standing on their lawns waving flags and some followed my car to our house to meet up with those already there,” Pilla recalled. “We had tons of food and a good time was had by all.”
He was glad to be home and see everyone. What really stands out to Pilla is his mother. She was the “happiest person in Bucks County. She told me that now she finally could stop worrying.”
Pilla and his future wife, Fran, pulled into the driveway of his parents’ home the day of the homecoming. The couple has a daughter, Lindsey.

As soon as he returned home, he interviewed for a police job. Pilla said he has always been a public servant. He is proud to have served in the military and is equally proud to serve in the police profession with “so many unsung heroes.”

He likened being a serviceman to being a policeman. “They are given a mission. They extract themselves. They’re there because they have a mission - that’s their task.”

When asked why he went into police work, Pilla said he always wanted to do. “As a kid, I was either going to be a cowboy, a fireman, a policeman or a disc jockey,” he said. “I love working with people. It just seemed like a natural fit for me.

“I was lucky enough to get into this profession,” Pilla said. “I consider it a privilege. I’ve been involved in this since 1971. I’m cruising in for a landing, but I still have a lot of gas in the tank.”
Pilla had received an early release from the Army and went right from the military into the Middletown Township Police Department in 1971. He was a uniformed police officer through 1974. He left Middletown and went with Northampton Township Police Department as an officer. He worked as a detective for a number of years and then became a lieutenant. He was appointed chief of police in 1994.

Jim Casey

2009-06-17T10:53:00.003-04:00

Former Army postal clerk is a man of the people

By R. Kurt Osenlund, BucksLocalNews.com

Jim Casey calls himself a “people person,” a trait his resume clearly confirms. In one way or another, be it his time as a postal clerk with the U.S. Army, his decades-spanning career as a bus driver, or his more recent deeds as an active member of Newtown's American Legion Post 440, this 69-year-old Newtown resident has long been a faithful public servant, a true man of the people.

Born and raised in Port Richmond, Philadelphia, Casey is the eldest male in a family with seven children. His parents, James and Regina, bore two other boys and four girls. (Casey's brothers – Richard, who passed away last year, and Joe – are also veterans.) Casey graduated from Philadelphia's Northeast Catholic High School for Boys in 1958 and, that same year, he attempted to join the Navy.

“I wanted to go into the Navy in the worst way,” Casey says in an interview at Post 440, “but they turned me down because of a trick knee [one susceptible to locking in place]. It gave out during my physical. So, the Army got me.”

Casey says he ended up in the Army via a “push-up draft,” a process by which one branch of the military adopts would-be soldiers from another. At 19, he headed off to Fort Hood, Texas for basic training. There he was part of the “B Company” of the 2nd Armored Division tank unit, a.k.a. “Hell on Wheels.” After eight weeks he left for Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis, where he attended postal school for a little over a month and received his certification as a military postal clerk.

On October 25, 1959 in Oakland, Califonia, Casey boarded a four-engine, PC-6 commercial airliner that would put him on a path to Korea (he still has his boarding pass, which is scrawled with the sentence: “I'm leaving my country”). It took three days for the plane to arrive at Tachikawa air base in Japan, though Casey says it felt like three months. Following a brief debriefing, he soon landed in Seoul, Korea, home of the 19th Army Postal Unit.

It was Casey's responsibility to monitor incoming and outgoing mail. He and/or his colleagues would take daily, two-hour trips down a dirt road to Korea's Kimpo Air Force Base. There they'd pick up bundles of letters and packages, load up their truck, haul everything back, sort it and pass it on to delivery men for distribution (the reverse process would take place for U.S.-bound items, which would be flown out of Kimpo and into San Francisco). Once a month, Casey and company would also need to pick up “boat mail,” considerably larger packages that arrived by ship at the nearby port of Incheon. Though these jobs included heavier cargo, Casey says the most burdensome deliveries were those of the dreaded “Dear John” letters – break-up notifications from girlfriends back home.

“When guys got 'Dear John' letters,” Casey says, “they'd often come looking for the mailmen. They'd blame us for delivering them. In fact, we used to have a sign on one of the mail trucks that said 'Dear John Express.' The guys would get really upset about it, but (the letters weren't) our fault.”

Another duty of the 19th Army Postal Unit was transporting classified material from Seoul's 8th Army Headquarters to the Kimpo base. Though Casey only did it twice for training drills, soldiers from the postal unit would drive armored trucks containing the sensitive items, which would then be flown out of the country.

When his 13-month tour of duty ended, Casey hit a couple of snags trying to get home. First, the man who was set to replace him didn't show, and he had to stick around longer than anticipated. Then, when he finally got on the USS Mitchell (the ship that would bring him back to the States), it collided with a British vessel not far from shore, forcing it to re-dock and undergo repairs. Casey says if he had stayed in Korea, he would have been given a promotion, but that wasn't enough to persuade him.

“There was no way I was gonna spend a second Christmas in Korea,” he said. “I wanted to get home.”

Getting home took 19 days. Casey got back to America in November of 1960. Waiting for him there was Ann, his grade school sweetheart who's still with him today. The couple got married in 1962, moved to Mayfair, and eventually had three children: Maureen, Jim and Mary Beth. Also in 1962 (three years before he was officially discharged from the Army), Casey got a job as a Septa bus driver, a job he'd keep for the next 38 years.

He and Ann moved to Newtown in 2000. Almost immediately after they arrived, Casey got involved with Post 440. He started as the First Rental Chairman (putting him in charge of renting out the Post hall), moved up to Junior Vice Commander, then Senior Vice Commander, then Post Commander, a position he held from 2005 to 2007. Today, he's the liaison to the Boy Scout troop that meets at the Post; he runs the Post's Memorial Day parade; he hosts a Veterans Day ceremony at Council Rock South; and he's also the president of an association for retired Septa bus drivers. Usually, though, he can be seen poking around Post 440. He's technically known as the head of the house committee, but he prefers a much more serve-the-people-type title.

“I call myself the janitor,” he says.

Morell Smith

2009-06-11T15:21:00.002-04:00

Killed on the battlefields of France, this tragic WWI tale sent his prominent family into a downward spin.

By Peter Ciferri, BucksLocalNews.com

Newtown historian Mike Donovan says it's enough to make a movie - maybe even two.The story behind the death of Morell Smith doesn't end with the tragic tale of a Newtownian felled in the line of duty while serving his country, it continues on with the long and painful story of a prominent family crushed by their loss.

Ninety years ago last October, Smith was declared missing in action and later declared killed on the muddy battlefields of France.

He was the only Newtown resident killed in World War I and his legacy sparked Newtown's then newly-formed American Legion Post No. 440 to be named in his honor - a distinction still held today.

The son of Dr. Charles Smith and Mrs. Ann Smith of Newtown, Morell Smith was killed while patrolling with three other men at daybreak. According to newspaper reports, the volunteer patrol moved through a wooded area "in the cover of dawn," only separated by a few yards when "machine gun snipes opened up."

Three of the men were killed, with the other soldier escaping uninjured with bullet holes in his backpack. Smith's death was "instantaneous," but it would take six years for that message to reach his family and community.When word of his disappearance hit Newtown, Smith's father wanted answers. Devastated and enraged, Dr. Smith went to Washington some months later looking for closure - but all he got was a chillingly brief "mission in action" reply from government officials.

A cable delivered shortly after the visit further elucidated that "he was believed to have been killed and buried by the Germans."

"Lieut. Smith's body may lie on the slope by the foemen, who held the ground for some days, or it may repose at the great cemetery at Romague, nearby among the Unknown Dead," a newspaper article read. "It matters but little in the ultimate."

It would not be until July 3, 1924, after "an extensive and painstaking investigation," that the office of the Quartermaster General would finally report Smith's body was found and could be returned. He was, and is now, buried beneath a solemn boulder situated in Newtown Cemetery.

Just weeks before his death, Morell wrote his family, thanking them for sending "the photo of the Red Cross workers in Newtown" and describing the vibrant Bastille Day activities in France. He affectionately professed that more letters were on the way and championed his role as an American fighter.

But those letters would never come and Smith would never see the end of that fighting. For Dr. Smith, the pain of losing a son to the cold hand of war was too much to bear.

A prominent Newtown physician, Dr. Smith sunk into a deep and visible depression. Newspaper reports speak of him mourning after his son was taken at the hands of Germans.

"Close friends say he never fully recovered from the shock," a Newtown Enterprise story read. Reports also indicated the doctor's physical health also deteriorated.Then, on Dec. 11, 1927, at around 3 p.m., Dr. Smith wrote a note in his office reading, "I am going to see Stacy Brown [a lifelong friend of the Smiths] and then on to the cemetery." He repeated that same message to his wife and left his home never to return.When Mrs. Smith found the note, she called Brown to see if her husband was there.

Alarmed that the depressed man was missing, Brown rushed to the Newtown Cemetery where she found his car parked near the family plots.

She leapt from her vehicle and rushed to the grizzly and tragic scene. There, across a blanket stretched over his son's grave, lay the lifeless body of Dr. Charles Smith. He put five bullets in his heart that afternoon. Ann Smith died in 1945, her life torn by bullets in her son and husband.

Morell Smith's legacy continues to be honored.Each year, a Memorial Day dedication is held at his grave and recently, the U.S. government awarded him a Purple Heart - but the weight his life and death left on his family could never be lifted.

William Golden

2009-06-04T14:56:00.000-04:00

Yardley police officer fought in Baghdad and Fallujah

By Matthew Fleishman, BucksLocalNews.com

After more than two years in the U.S. Army, William Golden was preparing for a return to civilian life, and then he witnessed the horrific acts of Sept. 11, 2001. On Sept. 12, 2001, with less than three weeks remaining on his commitment to the Army, Golden's sense of patriotism forced him to re-enlist.

"I was going to get out at the end of the month," said Golden, who is a police officer in Yardley Borough. "I had already started my transition back to civilian life, but the next day I enlisted again. I have always been patriotic and loved my country, and then 9-11 happened and it was the right thing to do."

During the first two years of his service, Golden was a scout, doing reconnaissance work and training, while stationed in New York. After re-enlisting, Golden was stationed in Germany, and then, in April 2003, all of his training was put to use in Iraq.

"As a scout, you go out and gather enemy intelligence," said Golden. "You look for where the battalions are, how many troops they have, along with cleaning up roadside bombs so the main units could go from Kuwait to Baghdad. Our vehicles had a 25-mm cannon and thermal imaging to find and blow the bombs."

Golden said that this work was important because other than the roadside bombs, there wasn't much resistance between Kuwait and Baghdad.

"When we crossed the border from Kuwait, they had a lot of their tanks dug in, but the weird part was that they were all unmanned," said Golden. "Most of them were damaged from the first Gulf War. The soldiers pretty much retreated when they saw us coming."

After clearing the way to Baghdad, Golden said the missions became harder because of the Iraqi soldiers and the placement of the bombs throughout the city.

"On the way to Baghdad, clearing the roadside bombs was pretty easy," said Golden. "It didn't get hard to do until we got to Baghdad and the bombs were on the side roads and you were getting attacked at the same time. We were in a Bradley, so rifle fire wouldn't do much to us. If it was something you were protected from, you just pushed on and completed the mission, but sometimes members of the Iraqi army would wear civilian clothes and engage you with RPGs while standing next to innocent bystanders."

After a full year in Iraq, Golden and his unit were back in Kuwait, waiting to get on the plane to head back to Germany when their captain came in and told them they were headed to Fallujah to help stop the insurgency, which had just begun in that part of Iraq.

"In Fallujah it was different because that was just straight combat," said Golden. "The insurgents had pretty much taken over Fallujah. We had to go take it back. If anyone engaged you, you engaged them back until they surrendered or, for lack of a better term, exhausted their means of engaging you."

After leaving the Army in 2004, Golden continued serving his country, just at a more local level, putting himself through the police academy, and then working part-time for both the Yardley Borough Police Department and the Bristol Borough Police Department. Golden is now a full-time police officer in Yardley Borough.

"I guess it doesn't matter what branch of the service you are in, but you find things inside you that you didn't know were there," said Golden. "I didn't know they were there, when I got home, I wanted to keep doing it and serving my community."

During his time in the Army, Golden reached the rank of sergeant, and received numerous medals, including the War on Terrorism Medal, the Iraqi Campaign Medal and the Expeditionary Medal.

The Lalli Brothers

2009-05-27T14:44:00.002-04:00

Three Bristol Borough brothers all served in Korea.

By Tim Chicirda, BucksLocalNews.com

Filomeno Lalli, toolmaker and Italian immigrant and wife Anna Ferraro Lalli, a Bristol Borough resident and St. Mark's alum, did not have a son who was a hero. They had three.Ralph, Al and Nick Lalli are all veterans of the Korean War and are all Bristolians.

Ralph

The oldest of the three heroic brothers, Ralph, is the only one who is not a graduate of Bristol High School, graduating from North Catholic High School in Philadelphia in 1950.

Ralph was an Airmen First Class, serving during the Korean War in Fairbanks, Ark. after his basic training in Syracuse, NY. His duties included those of a radio operator in Biloxi, Mich. and he was discharged from Fort Dix.

Ralph met his wife, color guard member Josephine Tosti, a Bristol High grad, while both were in the Bracken Cadets Corps.

Today, Ralph is a retired supervisor from the Nylomatic Corporation in Fallsington, a custom, injection molder that specializes in high quality, close tolerance engineered thermoplastic molding for industrial applications.

Ralph and Josephine have four children, who are all BHS graduates: Raphael, Joanna, Michael and Gregg.

Al

Al, along with twin brother Nick, was born on Dec. 6, 1941, just one day before the Japanese raid on American forces at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.

Al, an Army Sergeant E5 Special 5, spent over a year in Korea before being stationed in Huachuca, Ariz., after basic training in Fort Gordon, Ga.

Al and field hockey athlete and captain of the color guard Sharon Wilga, also a Bristol High grad, have two sons: Albert and Kevin.

They designed their Wood Street home with the cathedral ceiling and skylights that they've lived in for the last 25 years.

Sharon and Al were also part of the "kids of Bristol" who were "sharp as a pistol," dancing to the Dovell's smash hit, "The Bristol Stomp" at the Goodwill Fire Hall.

Al is now employed at Earl M. Jorgensen Company in Langhorne, a leading supplier of Steel and Aluminum Bar, Tubing, and Plate to manufacturing companies in North America.

Nick

Nick's beginnings in the military are very similar to that of his brother Al.

Born on the same day, Nick, E5 Army Sergeant, and Al both spent time in Korea for 13 months and portions of the United States, as described earlier.

Nick had a bit of a different fate during his military career, as the Taft Street resident is now a disabled veteran, breaking his back during his time in the service. He fell from a 45-foot telephone pole.

Nick retired as chief of maintenance from the Nylomatic Corporation.

He has two daughters: Justine and Angela.

Currently, the three brothers are all members of the Robert W. Bracken American Legion Post 382 and have been for nearly a decade. Nick is Commander, while Al and Ralph are Sergeant-at-Arms.

(Correspondent Cate Murway contributed to this article.)

Larry Rubini

2009-05-21T16:38:00.001-04:00

U.S. Colonel worked with Iraq judiciary after retirement

By Petra Chesner Schlatter, BucksLocalNews.com

U.S. Army Reserve Colonel (Retired) Larry Rubini, 62, is diligent and hardworking. He has twice retired from the U.S. Army Reserve, but was called back to work with the Iraq judiciary.He still hasn't retired. Rubini has served as a U.S. Administrative Law Judge for the last 15 years in the U.S. Social Security Administration in the Office of Hearings and Appeals.

Rubini quoted Yogi Berra: "It ain't over 'til it's over!"

In Iraq, Rubini worked mostly out of Bagdad in and out of "The Green Zone" in an old Saddam Hussein palace, which he described as ½-mile long and ¼-mile wide.

Rubini was with the Coalition Provisional Authority. Members were "mentors" to the Iraqis, Rubini explained. He said the idea is that "they'll find their way to Rule of Law."

Rubini said it was strange to work in the actual rooms where Saddam Hussein decided when victims would be executed.

Not long after Hussein's horrific commands in the palace, Rubini and his colleagues worked. There were no living spaces inside and there were very small working accommodations. There were trailers out back to live in. Rubini was grateful for the trailers. The colonel had expected to sleep on the ground.

They worked seven days a week and they were 16-hour days.

Explaining his most recent years in the U.S. Army Reserve, Rubini said he was asked to go back. He had left because of a mandatory retirement date. While he was still retired, the invasion of Iraq happened in the Spring of 2003. He had followed the invasion "very closely."

Rubini worked for Ambassador L. Paul Premer. From September 2003 to February 2004, he was Senior Advisor to the Iraq Ministry of Justice.

He worked with the Iraq judiciary to establish Rule of Law and a justice system.

"Our object was never to impose the American system or culture on them," according to Rubini.

About 25 coalition lawyers (U.S. military and civilian) worked with him. They were from the U.K., Spain and South Korea. About 50 Iraqi lawyers also worked for him.

Rubini coordinated with the Armed Forces JAG and Civil Affairs lawyers throughout Iraq. "JAG" is an acronym for "Judge Advocate General Corps". The U.S. Army Civil Affairs branch was formerly the military government branch of the Army in World War II. Rubini had been a JAG officer and also served in the Civil Affairs branch.

Rubini was in Iraq when Hussein was captured. "When he was captured, they knew the Americans were serious and the Iraqi government was serious that he would not come back. He received a fair trial," he said.

"After [Hussein's] execution, people had more belief in their own government than when he was alive," he said.

Describing the Iraqi people, Rubini said, "They're very bright. They're very smart and cunning at the same time. You're not working in a Land of Oz. You're working in a brutal area - tribes against other tribes. 'He who controls resources, lives. He who does not, dies.' It's an uncompromising type of environment. Only the smart and cunning survive."

Rubini emphasized that there have been many successors since his work in Iraq. "The effort has been ongoing from the day of invasion to the present," he said.

Serving in Iraq was "the most challenging, seriously intense job a lawyer could ever have," Rubini said. "To be responsible for Iraq's judiciary was the most interesting and challenging work.

"It's a sensitive responsibility to grow a Rule of Law for people who have known dictatorial rule," Rubini said. "Iraq is a country of well educated, sophisticated middle class, wanting a better way of life."

Rubini had previously given legal assistance in the U.S. Army Reserve JAG and developed Law of War and Civil Affairs scenarios for joint command war-game exercises. He was legal advisor to Brigade Commanders.

His Civil Affairs duties were: Desert Storm (legal advisor to Gov/Ministry of Justice of Kuwait); Haiti (Operation Uphold Democracy 1994 to 1997); legal advisor to Gov/Ministry of Justice of Haiti; Central America, 1999; Operation New Horizons - Hurricane Mitch reconstruction; and Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom) - senior advisor to Gov/Ministry of Justice of Iraq on the Coalition Provisional Authority.

When he was young, Rubini had thought of a military career and went to a military college - Virginia Polytechnic Institute (VPI).

Rubini's early military career started with an "obligated" period of active duty. Rubini then entered the U.S. Army Reserve, which let him go on to a civilian career as a practicing lawyer which he did for 22 years.

His time in the U.S. Army and the U.S. Army Reserve spanned most of his life. He entered military college at 18 and was commissioned at age 22. He is now 62. He served in the Reserve for 32 years.

Rubini was in Civil Affairs from 1989 to his first retirement from the Reserve in 2000. Rubini said he "unretired" in 2003 and served in Iraq on the Coalition Provisional Authority from 2003 to 2004 and retired for a second time in 2004.

Rubini earned his bachelor's of arts degree in political science from VPI. He entered the VPI Corps of Cadets. He earned his juris doctor from Temple University Law School.

He lives in Newtown, with his wife, Joan, a registered nurse. They have two sons, one who is a lieutenant in the U.S. Coast Guard.

George R. Funk Jr.

2009-05-13T18:32:00.002-04:00

By R. Kurt Osenlund, BucksLocalNews.com

"I would like to thank the United States Air Force for the opportunity to serve my country," George Funk Jr. says at the end of an interview at his Newtown home. The acknowledgment is an addendum to an hour-long string of fond, grin-inducing memories. "I was happy to do it."

Funk is somewhat of an anomaly among war vets - he doesn't divulge a single sad story or haunting detail. Instead, the easygoing 79-year-old recounts his four-year run in the Air Force during the time of the Korean War with a light heart and a peaceful mind.

"I felt obligated to serve," he admits, "and I always wanted to fly airplanes anyhow."

Before he was flying airplanes, Funk was attending Philadelphia's Northeast High School, not far from Kensington and Mayfair where he grew up. When he graduated in 1947, he went straight into the workforce, landing a job as a Bell Telephone lineman. Three years later, the Korean War broke out, and Funk enlisted in the Air Force. He was 21.

He reported to Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, then to Sheppard Air Force Base in neighboring Wichita Falls for basic training. Funk spent approximately nine months at Sheppard, enough time to become an Air Force mechanic and a certified sharp shooter (a skill for which he received a medal but never enacted in combat). He moved on to Chanute Air Force Base in Rantoul, Illinois for advanced training before landing at Westover Air Force Base in Springfield, Massachusetts, where he became part of the 20th Military Air Transport Squadron.

"It was like a 'you call, we haul' type of service," Funk says. "We flew cargo, people and supplies wherever they needed to go."

Funk ended up working on a C-54 Sky-master, a variant of the Douglas DC-4 plane developed during WWII. According to Funk, the plane was part of a 12-aircraft squad, each of which "had problems that were (his) responsibility to fix." On one mission from Westover to a base in Thule, Greenland, Funk's mid-air repair skills impressed a squadron commander who was along for the ride, and when the soldiers returned, Funk was promoted to flight engineer.

He held his position for the next year and a half, serving as an indispensable helping hand on missions to Greenland, Iceland, Africa and parts of Europe (he remembers one trip in which he and his crew flew 48 F-100 pilots into Germany). Though he never set foot on Korean soil, Funk's contributions of maintaining "anything and everything mechanical on the airplane(s)" undoubtedly played an integral part in the conflict.

In late 1953, Funk was transferred to McChord Air Force Base in Tacoma, Washington just below Seattle. He joined the 43rd Air Rescue Squadron and participated in numerous air rescue missions all across the West Coast, a job he describes as "very interesting and exciting." McChord would be Funk's last stop in the service - he left the military in 1954.

"I was married, I had a child and the war was over or, settled, anyhow," Funk says. "I decided it was time to get out. It was best for my family."

Funk had been married through most of his time in the Air Force. He and his wife, Mildred (a "neighborhood girl" whom he met at church just after high school), wed on October 20, 1951 during a ten-day pass Funk had between his stints at Chanute and Westover. The brief window didn't allow any time for a honeymoon, but the couple was happy, and remain together to this day. They became the parents of a baby girl, Lynne, in 1952 and two more children, Kathy and George, shortly after Funk was discharged.

Upon returning home, Funk went back to Bell Telephone, until he eventually became the store manager of one of Mildred's father's supermarkets. Funk turned the job into a 30-year career and, in his spare time, he honed his flight skills as a private pilot, sharing the use of a small plane with a circle of thrill-seeking friends.

"Some people golf, I flew a plane," Funk says of his leisure activity.

In the mid-1990s, Funk served a two-year term as the Commander of Newtown's American Legion Post 440, with which he is still actively involved. He's looking forward to the post's upcoming parade on May 23, which will help to celebrate its 90th anniversary. He and Mildred, who often devote at least three days a week to activities within their church (St. John's Methodist in Richboro), just returned from a vacation in Florida. They also enjoy visiting Mildred's sister in Ocean City, New Jersey, and the Pocono home of their grandson and his family. Funk says he's also a fan of playing darts at the Northampton Township Senior Center.

"I'm busy all the time," he says, his voice calm and carefree.

Michael Brown

2009-05-06T17:46:00.001-04:00

Sergeant talks to family, students from Iraq over web cam

By Matthew Fleishman, BucksLocalNews.com

Despite being 5,000 miles away from home, defending the United States, Sgt. Michael Brown is able to spend quality time with his two children, along with teaching their classes at St. John the Evangelist Church about what it is like to serve in the military.Through the use of a web cam in the school's computer lab, Sgt. Brown speaks several times per week to his two children, Elizabeth and Matthew.

"I'm just lucky that St. John's has a really nice technology setup, and that the students are able to troubleshoot and fix any problems," said Brown over web cam from his base north of Baghdad. "We have a Q and A period so the students can learn what I'm doing over here, and I can learn about what they are doing back home."

For Elizabeth, who is in eighth grade, and Matthew, who is in sixth grade, this is an opportunity for them to stay connected with their father while he serves overseas. They are able to speak with him three or four times per week.

"It's fun for us because we are able to see him and that he's okay even though he's 5,000 miles away," said Matthew Brown.

For Elizabeth's and Matthew's classes, their father has taught them about the culture, weather and geography of Iraq, along with using a web cam.

"This is definitely a rare opportunity for the students to take what they are learning in school and then immediately apply it to a real-life situation," said Sister Joan Irene, principal at St. John the Evangelist. "Too many times, children don't see the relevance of what they are learning in school, and the value it has in the real world."

While this type of setup is not completely ideal, Sgt. Brown said it is far better for communication than the 11 years that he spent on a Navy submarine.

"This is significantly better," said Sgt. Brown. "I can talk to my family a few times each week. Back on the submarine, we couldn't even get snail mail. We went four to six months without communication."

Sgt. Brown first joined the U.S. Navy in 1981, and spent 11 years running a nuclear reactor to make power and steam for a submarine. During that time, he reached the rank of first class petty officer.

"A lot of the missions are still classified, but I can say that I did tours in the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans during the Cold War," said Sgt. Brown.

While he works for CNA Insurance when at home, Sgt. Brown joined the Pennsylvania National Guard two years ago.

"It's a job that somebody has to do, and I'm always willing to volunteer," said Sgt. Brown.

Sgt. Brown has been in a Iraq since January, and in that time his troop has worked on building three schools and helped with water purification issues in the region.

"We are involved in a lot of rebuilding projects," said Sgt. Brown. "We do anything that has to do with making the country and the people safer for when we leave."

Because of Sgt. Brown's connection with the students at St. John's, children at Iraqi schools received 20 soccer balls. Matthew collected the soccer balls as part of a service project for his class.

"It means a great deal here," said Sgt. Brown. "A soccer ball to these kids is like an iPod to our kids. I honestly think that St. John's has been a big part of what we've been able to do here."

In addition to helping kids in Iraq, the students at St. John's filled more than 160 Christmas stockings with toiletries for the soldiers in Sgt. Brown's unit before they were deployed to Iraq.

Sgt. Brown said that members of the National Guard are rarely deployed for more than a year, so next Christmas, he might be able to empty his own stocking with Elizabeth and Matthew.

Jon Guy

2009-04-29T23:52:00.001-04:00

By Peter Ciferri, BucksLocalNews.com

Jon Guy has a message for some of his fellow veterans: "Get off the sidelines, stop just saluting the flag as it comes by, and start marching behind it." The Newtown resident and West Point graduate will be the guest speaker at this year's Newtown Memorial Day Parade, and he says every veteran - himself included - is sometimes guilty of not doing his part to honor the uniform they once wore so proudly.

Guy said a few years ago, shortly after he joined American Legion Post 440 in Newtown, he was one of those veterans who would simply come out and view the Memorial Day Parade. One year, however, after a friend teased him about not marching alongside his fellow man, the message of the day started to have new meaning.

By marching, Guy said, you aren't just honoring those who died in combat, you're honoring every service member who has since passed away. He added that so many people mix up the meanings of Memorial Day (to honor the fallen) and Veterans Day (to honor all who served) that sometimes the events lose focus.

"We all know someone who served and isn't with us anymore," Guy explained. "You don't even have to put on a uniform, or even a blazer and tie, you just need to get there and march with us."

The parade, Guy says, is a special opportunity for veterans young and old to get the respect and recognition they earned.

"It's a moving experience," he reflected of his first time marching. "The people on the side, like I used to be, watch it go by and are affected by one moment. When you march you're affected by the whole thing."

And every other day of the year, the Wilmington, Del. native said vets should "find a way" to get involved with community service - upholding the oath of serving their country they took as cadets.

Guy was a student of the United States Military Academy at West Point. Standing in the shadow of our nation's greatest generals, including Eisenhower, Grant and Patton, he admitted that attending the school can be intimidating at first.

But once you remember that they're all just flesh and blood humans, like yourself, it's easier to gain confidence and succeed at the prestigious academy.

Currently a managing partner in his new company, Gray and Blue LLC, Guy also noted that many of his associates are West Pointers - a testament to the bond these servicemen carry their entire lives.

"I made friendships that are deeper and longer lasting [at West Point] than I think I would have anywhere else," he explained.

After graduating in 1986, Guy spent time leading a Transportation Platoon and an Abrams Tank Platoon in the 2-66 Armor Battalion of the 2nd Armored Division, at that time stationed in Germany.

Though he considers his time "undistinguished," Guy is quick to say that no soldier should ever "disparage another man's service," because even simple training exercises can lead to injuries or casualties.

Case in point: While doing maneuvering exercises with his tank battalion in Southern Germany, Guy's unit was faced with extreme cold, ice and snow while transporting trucks and tanks filled with hundreds of gallons of explosive fuel.

"Army vehicles can't seem to get any traction tanks don't do very well on ice," he said. "It took us five hours to go 30 miles."

Along the way, one of the tanks slid down a hillside and off the road.

As a commanding officer, Guy was astounded to hear his men vehemently talk back at him about moving forward with the mission. But after some negotiating - and a lot of hard work getting the tank out of a snowy ditch - forward action continued and the men finished their assignment as a team.

"Some casualties are not caused by enemy action, some are caused because you're handling heavy equipment that's just plain dangerous," he said. "If you can keep people safe and get out of an exercise without any injuries, you're doing a pretty darn good job."

He won an award for that exercise, the Army Achievement Medal, and while he says it's far from the most prestigious award in the service, it's the one he's most proud of - because of the hard work that came with receiving it.

"You get very close to those people," he explained. "You have a responsibility for them That's the real mission and it's far more important than four tanks or your ammo. They don't make you sign for those 15 people."

Guy left the service in 1990, but the service never left him. Between reunions at West Point, working with fellow Army and Navy veterans with his business startup and the time he spends at the Legion, Guy maintains a level of commitment to that oath of service he hopes veterans of yesterday and today will embrace.

And it all starts on Memorial Day.