WWII memorial pleases area veterans

Lawrence’s World War II veterans will never forget their sacrifices, and they are glad others are remembering them, too.

Saturday, several veterans stopped by the American Legion Dorsey-Liberty Post No. 14, 3408 W. Sixth St., to eat pizza and watch a big-screen television carrying the dedication of the National World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.

“This is fine, but the idea of a memorial just never occurred to anybody,” said Ross Wulfkuhle, 88, as he recalled serving with an Army anti-aircraft battery stationed in the Aleutian Islands and later in Burma.

Wulfkuhle returned safely, but his brother, Leo Wulfkuhle, did not. A tailgunner on a B-17, Leo disappeared on a bombing mission.

“We think he went down and nobody could find him,” Ross Wulfkuhle said.

Alan Fisher, 82, wanted to go to the memorial dedication, but a chartered bus he had planned to ride was canceled.

“I’d like to be there,” said Fisher, who served with the Army’s 104th Infantry Division in Europe.

Jack Jewell wants to visit the memorial sometime after the dedication crowd is long gone. Maybe his old unit from the Ninth Infantry Division, which crossed the Remagen Bridge over the Rhine River the day after it was captured, could have a reunion there, he said.

“I don’t go for that, but I’m glad people went to it,” Jewell said of the dedication events. “It’s a wonderful week. This is something for people who don’t know much about the war.”

Memories of the horrifying wounds soldiers suffered during the war are still fresh in the mind of Judith Robison, who was an Army Air Corps flight nurse. She rode with the wounded when they were flown from Europe to the United States.

World War II veterans Ross Wulfkuhle, left, and Alan Fisher discuss their views on the National World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. Lawrence veterans gathered Saturday at the American Legion Post No. 14, 3408 W. Sixth St., to watch a broadcast of the dedication of the memorial.

“It was difficult then, but you just do your job,” said Robison, 85, who later worked as a nurse in the Lawrence office of her husband, Dr. Corbin Robison.

Robison also hopes publicity about the dedication brings more public awareness to the plight of troops in all wars, including those now in Iraq.

“I don’t think people treat the soldiers as well as they should,” she said. “They don’t know what they went through.”

Also watching the dedication was Margaret Middleton, a member of the post’s auxiliary. Her late husband, John, fought with the Army in Europe while she stayed at home and had the couple’s first baby. Margaret Middleton recalled riding a bus to work in Chicago and seeing other people holding rosary beads.

“You were always on edge, but everybody had someone who was involved in the war,” she said.

John Weatherwax still sheds tears when he starts thinking about the men he led into battle as an Army second lieutenant on little-known islands in the southwestern Pacific and in the Philippines. So many of his comrades didn’t come back, he said.

“You come out of Ranger training and you think the Japanese can’t make a bullet that will stop you, but it’s kill or be killed,” he said.

Weatherwax also welcomed the national memorial, but said he looked forward to seeing the completion of the memorial planned for the Lawrence Visitor Center, 402 N. Second St. The memorial will recognize military veterans and public safety officers.

“That, to me, is more intimate and personal,” Weatherwax said.