Veterans Chronicles

Frank Pomroy joined the U.S. Marine Corps and fought in two of the most critical battles in the Pacific theater of World War II. In this first of our two-part feature on Mr. Pomroy, Frank takes us inside the battle for Guadalcanal. Pomroy describes the horrendous living and food conditions he suffered through as well as the intense fighting against the Japanese, the difficulty of getting American...

Robert Owens joined the U.S. Marine Corps at age 16 by telling recruiters he was 18. Soon he would be joining the other young black men as part of the Montford Point Marines, a unit that was created after an order from President Franklin D. Roosevelt but still kept U.S. Marines segregated. In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," Owens discusses why he joined the Marines at such a young age, why...

Oliver Nickle originally intended to join the U.S. Navy but ultimately enlisted in the Marine Corps at the age of 17 after his parents gave their approval. He served as a weapons company man in the 5th U.S. Marine Division but perhaps his most vivid memories are of the frigid cold and snow. After deployments to Naples and Okinawa, among others, Nickle served as operations chief of the 3rd Marine R...

John Billings was hooked on flying when he was three years old, so when it came time to serve in World War II, the Army Air Forces was a natural fit. He came a B-24 bomber pilot but later served on clandestine missions for the Office of Strategic Services, the precursor to the CIA. In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," Billings describes his bombing missions, getting recruited for the OSS, how...

A member of the 101st Airborne Division, Kayla Williams was among the very first American forces to enter Iraq in 2003 and roll from Kuwait to Baghdad within a matter of weeks. While serving there she also met her future husband, Brian McGough. In the fall of 2003, Brian's convoy was attacked. At first, doctors did not expect him to live and then they doubted his ability to care for himself. He pr...

Mathias "Matt" Gutman came from a military family and joined the U.S. Navy shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He became a coxswain on LST 553, delivering men and equipment under fire on several amphibious landings. In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," Gutman takes us through his first landing at Peleliu all the way to Okinawa and beyond. He also describes what it's like to lan...

Lewis Varvel joined the U.S. Navy because he didn't want to be in the Army, but his service during World War II would still be harrowing and consequential. Varvel enlisted prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor and was sent to Norfolk, Virginia, to be part of the original crew aboard the aircraft carrier USS Hornet. After arriving on the west coast, Varvel and the Hornet headed into the Pacific to pl...

Jack Holder joined the U.S. Navy fresh out of high school in 1940. He arrived in Pearl Harbor in December of that year. Twelve months later he was diving into a ditch to avoid the strafing of Japanese pilots. He remembers thinking, "God, please don't let me die in this ditch." In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," Holder walks us through his memories of the horrific Japanese attack on Pearl Ha...

On January 16, 2022, retired U.S. Air Force Brigadier General Charles McGee died at the age of 102. His story is one of profound courage, excellence in service, and inspiring personal character. McGee joined the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. At the time, however, McGee and the other black pilots were deemed unworthy to be in units with their white counterparts. In this edition of "Veter...

Yoshio Nakamura grew up working on his family's farm in California. Despite the Great Depression, it was a good life and Nakamura had many friends as a teenager. But his life changed drastically after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Less than three months later, President Franklin Roosevelt ordered Americans of Japanese descent on the west coast into internment camps out of f...

Fred Clifton Berry, Jr. joined the U.S. Force in 1948 due to his interest in radio and airplanes. He soon found himself in Germany and in the middle of a major international drama - the Berlin Airlift. Berry tells us about the critical importance of quality air traffic control during that ordeal both in delivering goods and in protecting pilots from their Soviet adversaries. Berry later left the A...

Ned Connor was planning to join the ground forces of the U.S. Army Air Corps in World War II. But he soon found out he wasn't going to make that decision. After ending up in the Navy, Connor was assigned to the Seabees. In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," Connor shares his story of service in the Pacific Theater, mostly on New Guinea, as a winch operator loading and unloading cargo ships. He...

Andrew Faltum started as a detective for the Chicago Police Department but by the early 1970's he decided it was time for a change. Faltum joined the Navy in hopes of becoming an aviation officer but a medical evaluation forced a change in plans. Instead he became an intelligence officer while on active duty and for another two decades in the reserves. In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," Fal...

Michael "Mickey Ganitch" Ganitch grew up in Ohio and joined the U.S. Navy in early 1941, as he puts it, to dodge being drafted into the Army. Less than a year later, he had a front row seat for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor while in the crow's nest aboard the USS Pennsylvania as it sat in dry dock off Battleship Row. In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," Ganitch describes the attack in d...

Frank Emond joined the U.S. Navy in 1938 after learning it was looking for musicians. Three years later, Emond was standing on the deck of the USS Pennsylvania and watched in horror as the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor began. Eighty years after the day of infamy that triggered the U.S. entry into World War II, Emond shares what he saw during the attack, how he and the other sailors aboard the US...

David Devaney enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1983. After surviving boot camp, he soon pursued the opportunity to become a U.S. Marine sniper and was part of the early invasion of Iraq in March 2003. In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," SgtMaj Devaney shares his memories at Parris Island both in training and as a drill sergeant. He also talks about what it takes to become a sniper, deali...

Charles Strange didn't initially want his son, Michael, to join the military. But when Michael turned 18, he joined the U.S. Navy and soon became an expert in cryptography, serving alongside Navy SEALs in Iraq and Afghanistan. Michael Strange was part of the mission that targeted and killed Osama bin Laden in May 2011. But just three months later, Michael and dozens of other elite forces were kill...

Douglas Dillard joined the U.S. Army at age 16, determined to help the U.S. win World War II. By the end of his military career decades later, Dillard had parachuted into combat, fought in one of the fiercest battles on the western front, and eventually became one of the Army's critical leaders in military intelligence. In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," Dillard describes jumping into south...

Eugene Groves joined the U.S. Marine Corps when he was 17, in part to get out of his racially charged town. Groves then trained at Montford Point at Camp Lejeune, where the USMC first began accepting black Marines just a few years earlier. In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," Groves details his service in the Korean War, how he and the other Montford Point Marines responded to discrimination...

David Bellavia grew up hearing his grandfather's stories of fighting in Normandy during World War II. Sixty years later, Bellavia would be fighting urban warfare in the streets of Fallujah in Iraq and his actions in November 2004 would earn him the Medal of Honor. In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," Bellavia shares what house-to-house fighting was like in Iraq and the mindset needed to do it...

Retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Daniel Gade graduated from West Point and eventually served as a tank company commander as part of the Second Infantry Division in Iraq in 2004-2005. While serving there, Gade was wounded twice. The second set of injuries nearly killed him and did lead to the amputation of his right leg. Exactly one year after that horrific attack, Col. Gade began graduate school and bec...

Frank Athanason wanted to join the Navy in 1945, but when the two men in front of him passed out from receiving shots in the arm and he didn't, he was assigned to the Army instead. Over the next 32 years, Athanason would serve in three wars, be deployed to Korea and Vietnam and have critical roles in two other international crises. In this edition of "Veterans Chronicles," Col. Athanason takes us...

After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the U.S. Marine Corps set out to create the first two battalions of Marine Raiders. These well-trained, elite commando units quickly proved themselves better than the best Japanese troops on Guadalcanal and on the surrounding islands known as Tulagi and Makin Atoll. Two more battalions were soon created but the raiders were disbanded when...

Last week, we presented our first interview with retired U.S. Army Green Beret Lt. Col. Scott Mann to discuss his military service, including several years in Afghanistan. Several weeks ago, Col. Mann was also part of a determined effort to rescue Afghan friends and allies while evacuation flight were still available at the airport in Kabul. This private effort was dubbed "The Pineapple Express."...

Scott Mann knew he wanted to be a Green Beret when he was 14 years old. It would be another 10 years before he could realize that dream. A few years later, our nation suffered the 9/11 terrorist attacks and, like thousands of other American service members, Scott Mann would be headed to war. In this first half of our profile of Col. Mann, he takes us into the life of a Green Beret and how it is di...