Veterans get a lift sharing memories with others who 'know what you went through'

Ed Mikush couldn't figure out why he still felt terrible.

The Navy radio operator had been seasick on the voyage from San Francisco but thought he would feel better upon arriving at New Caledonia in the South Pacific.

Turned out he had a bum appendix. A military surgeon performed emergency surgery in a Quonset hut. 

"Did you have a female nurse?" asked Jerry Stern.

Mikush's eyes sparkled and he grinned broadly. The 92-year-old West Allis man was momentarily back on a Pacific island in World War II, the still vivid scene unspooling in his memory.

Yes, and she was blonde — the only woman he'd seen in a long time.

"She said: 'How are you feeling?' I looked up at her and I said: 'Well, I could use a cold cloth on my forehead,'" Mikush recalled.

The other World War II veterans drinking coffee with Mikush nodded and smiled.

They knew.

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More than 16 million Americans served in uniform during World War II; an estimated 620,000 were still alive last year. Many are widowed and have outlived their peers. For them, Memorial Day can be particularly poignant.

Stars and Stripes Honor Flight officials noticed many of the men and women who travel on the free one-day trip to Washington, D.C., said the best part of the trip was meeting other veterans. But after the trip is over, it's difficult for the veterans to stay in touch.

So on a Saturday morning this month at Wisconsin Lutheran High School, Stars and Stripes Honor Flight organized an informal get-together for 26 World War II veterans from southeastern Wisconsin. They spent a couple hours meeting each other and chatting over coffee and pastries donated by Sendik's, served by student volunteers. 

"We noticed a need for World War II veterans to get together," said Stars and Stripes Honor Flight spokeswoman Karyn Roelke. "We could just see they were most animated when they were together."

Roelke said Stars and Stripes Honor Flight might organize more informal gatherings for veterans to meet and reminisce.

Many of the men wore hats signifying their military branch. Iwo Jima veterans Clayton Chipman, 91, of Brookfield and Willie McLain, 91, of Mount Pleasant were joined by Erwin Long, 99, who brought his sea bag adorned with the hand-lettered names of every place he served in the 2nd Marine Division including Nagasaki, Japan, after the atomic bomb was dropped.

"It's a trip to the past," said Chipman, who still has the uniform shirt he wore when he was wounded in the shoulder on Iwo Jima. "You can talk to these people because they know what you went through and can relate to you."

McLain was living in Mississippi when he was drafted into the Army and then chosen for the Montford Point Marines, the first African-American unit in the U.S. Marine Corps. The Montford Point Marines were originally intended to play a supporting role in the Iwo Jima invasion but were quickly thrust into battle, fighting alongside white Marine units.

McLain remembers seeing many casualties on the beach when he landed on Iwo Jima in February 1945.

"It just made you mad. You wanted to get to it as quick as you could. I was glad to be a part of it," said McLain, who loved meeting fellow World War II veterans on a recent Honor Flight. "I like talking to people who have been there and know what you went through. Marines are tough guys."

Tony Padorano, 91, of Milwaukee wore a POW/MIA cap as he drank coffee with Gene Ciechanowski, 92, of Waukesha, who served in the Army Air Corps.

"If we got all our heads together, we could write a book about all of our experiences," said Padorano, scanning the room.

Padorano was in southern France in January 1945 when his Army unit was captured by the Germans. He was sent to several prisoner of war camps until the war ended in May.

"If you want to lose weight that's the place to go. I was down to 92 pounds. Conditions were horrible," said Padorano.

Stern, 89, served on a destroyer in the Pacific shortly after World War II ended. The retired Brookfield East High School principal joined the Navy because he wanted to fly Corsairs, but the war ended while he was still training. Given the choice of either destroyers or submarines, Stern chose to stay on the water's surface.

When Stern told veterans who sat at his table he was a tin can sailor, he didn't have to explain the nickname for those serving on destroyers.

"If I really want to get into the nitty gritty of it, these guys know what the hell I'm talking about. It's a rewarding experience because they lived it and understand," said Stern.