Telling Their Stories ~ Honoring our Veterans

 

K. Michael (Mike) Ware

What an honor it is for me to write the stories of American’s unsung military veterans.

For the last decade while volunteering with Diane Hight’s Forever Young Veterans Organization, I spent hundreds of hours listening to the personal war stories of the ‘average’ soldier, sailor,airmen, Marine and Coast Guardsman.

I escorted WWII, Korea and Vietnam veterans to Europe,Washington DC, New Orleans, and Pearl Harbor. I visited with them in their homes, in managed care facilities, and during honor ceremonies. 

In many cases, I listened as they reminisced about their life as they entered end of life care. In the latter, I became aware their stories were disappearing at a rapid rate and needed to be recorded for future generations.

I soon found writing their stories was a daunting task, especially with a word limit for their significant life events were many. Foremost, my words needed to tell their true story and honor their sacrifice for our great nation. I strived to tell the story through their eyes—the hardships, the glee of comradeship, the fear of battle, the taste of death be it a fellow comrade
or an enemy, and their challenges of transitioning back to civilian life. I wanted to make the veteran proud of his or her accomplishments and the world to recognize the debt we owe them for their unselfish service to the cause of freedom. 

I found myself immersed in their world and wondered if I could have served so gallantly.

A daunting task…but one worth every second spent in their presence be it listening to their words in person or pounding the keyboard at home. I am a far better citizen.

K. Michael Ware is a retired Air Force fighter pilot and airline pilot. He is a published author and motivational speaker. His passions include volunteering, writing, and golf. He and wife Suzanne have been married 45+ years, have three married children and 10 grandchildren. He resides in Travelers Rest, SC.

Writing My Story for the Forever Young Veterans’ Book

Janet Wertz

Janet Wertz is one of the authors who volunteered to interview and write some of the veterans' stories about the war.

Janet is sharing that day with us.




The day I went to meet my assigned veteran, Mr. Irwin Rumler, (1st Lieutenant) I had a digital voice recorder, a Flair pen, and two tablets of legal sheet paper, one for my notes, the other for me to write questions for Mr. Rumler, as I’d been warned he was hard of hearing. I’d arranged for us to meet at the Lichterman Nature Center near his home. Covid Rules were in force, closing the Center’s café.

A very spry WWII veteran strode in. Within minutes, he began telling me his story in the empty cafe, bringing the days he had flown a B24 out of England, over the Channel and into the Reich to life, as if those days had happened yesterday. What he observed the days he flew over the D-Day Invasion beaches was heart rending. His having seen so many young men trying to land on those beaches, while enduring terrible losses showed on his face.

About a week later, I interviewed Bill McGrath (Colonel) in his home as his wife listened in on the stories. Another B-24 pilot, he had flown out of a base in India, and over the ‘Hump’ of the Himalayan Mountains. Some were light and funny as he told of a crew mascot monkey named George. Others less so, as he told of friends whose aircraft had exploded in fireballs.

Before he died, Dad, Paul L. Wertz (Lieutenant Colonel) left plenty of notes behind about WWII and the time he spent working in support of the B-29s, mostly in Karachi, India.

Aside from all being in the Army Air Corps, these veterans had one thing in common. To a man, each said he did not consider himself a hero. He was an American in the military just doing his part to defend the country he loved. Nothing more. May this country never run out of such people willing to defend it.

I would like to thank Forever Young for giving the writers of CCW the opportunity and privilege of contributing to this anthology.

Janet G. Wertz. Published in anthologies for the Museum of the Military Family, a contributor and editor of the cookbook of recipes and memories and published in anthology books with the Collierville Christian Writers Group. She is living her dream of being a writer and a photographer, published in magazines and the newspaper. Growing up an Air Force Brat, she heard many of her father’s stories. She is a member of the Collierville Christian Writers Group.