Veterans Day: Remembering the fallen

Living History Day at Milwaukie High

By Ellen Spitaleri

The Clackamas Review, Nov 10, 2009

ellen spitaleri / clackamas Review

Merrily Hewett pauses before entering Milwaukie High School for Living History Day. Hewett was stationed in Hawaii in 1944.

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For Bill Holloman, the only Tuskegee Airman to attend this year’s Living History Day last week at Milwaukie High School, the event serves one purpose: education.

“The curriculum leaves out history – young people and older people need to know that people shed their blood for freedom. Freedom is not free,” he said.

“Every American should serve sometime – if not in the military, maybe in the Peace Corps or donate their time to help society,” Holloman added.

The Tuskegee Airmen enlisted during World War II to become the country’s first black military men, and trained as pilots at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Tuskegee, Ala.

Holloman, who now lives in Seattle, was a lieutenant in the Army Air Corps; he went over to Europe in 1945, “to end the war,” he said, adding that he flew 19 combat missions.

As Holloman talked about his experiences, veterans from other wars came over to pay their respects, including Ken Deacon, who was on Landing Ship Tank 472 when it was hit by three suicide planes in the Philippines in November of 1944.

Although LST 472 sank, Deacon was rescued and put on board another LST in the area, he noted.

Women in war

Women veterans were in attendance at the event, and also eager to share their stories.

Merrily Hewett was a Navy first class storekeeper, who was stationed in Hawaii for 14 months late in 1944. She joined, she said, because her father was in the Navy and he told her it was okay for her to serve.

Fellow Navy vet Diana Parkison served during two different wars: Vietnam and Desert Storm.

She spent six weeks in Saigon, from Sept. 1965 to March 1966, as part of the Naval historic preservation unit. She was recalled in 1974 and was assigned to the commander in chief in the Pacific – the counter terrorist tactics unit. She was based in Hawaii, but served all over the South Pacific, she noted.

Parkison has since retired from active duty but is a member of an organization called Women of the Sea Services, and is president of WAVES National – Columbia River Ripples.

“I try to get all women [vets] to come to Living History Day, because the kids need to learn what we’ve done and they need to understand history – that some women go into combat,” she said.

Colonel Leah Sundquist attended the event to pay respects to “all the wonderful vets and WWII survivors,” and because there is “a wealth of knowledge” represented by the attendees, she said.

Sundquist, now in the Oregon National Guard, was in the regular Army in 1987 to 1991, stationed at Fort Lewis, Wash., in the 35th Air Defense Artillery unit.

She also spent 12 months in Afghanistan, during Operation Enduring Freedom, working with International Security Assistance Forces and was the liaison for Task Force Phoenix.

A vivid memory for her was “setting foot in a war-torn country, trying to figure out our roles and responsibilities. It is a beautiful country and the Afghans wanted us there and still want us there,” Sundquist said.