TYRONE GLEANINGS Volume 29 Issue 125 Oct-Nov-Dec 2015 Ione s Community News: Autumn has arrived. It s my favorite time of the year. Having four seasons makes Michigan a really grand place to live- always enjoying and looking ahead to the next season. This is coming from a Wisconsin native. I do love where I live! During the annual Kent City Fall Festival the museum was open to the public and it was well attended. If you would like to make an appointment to tour the museum outside of our regular open hours- please contact Nita or myself. I would like to sincerely thank those who have worked tirelessly the past few months in our museum. Thank you Katrina Marks for the volunteer time that you gave to our group making the exhibits, maps and various projects. She was helped by Karen Seites who made more exhibits for our museum. Amy Veenendall continues to work on the museum website check it out at kentcityareahistoricalgroup.com and Ed Morgan who provides a ton of history of our area. To all who have helped- Thank You! Nov. 11 th is Veteran s Day. Do you remember when it was called Armistice Day? It was termed that to mark the armistice signed between the allied nations of World War l and Germany. However, on June 1, 1954 less than a year after America came to a stalemate with North Korea, the congress changed the name of Nov. 11 th to Veteran s Day out of respect and reverence for all veterans. In 1997 our high school Principal, Fred Groenke, felt the need to recognize the service of the veterans of our community. With (3) other veterans- Bob Brott, Lynn Lewis and Oscar Andersonthey setup a program inviting all of the vets from this area to gather at the high school. It was a great program to which the entire student body was invited. It has continued on for the last 17 years. Even if you are not a veteran you are welcome to come and help honor our veterans. This is always held in the Kent City High School gym. We have (3) veteran memorials in our area- (1) in Casnovia & (2) in Kent City. There are pictures and histories on the following pages. We are pleased that our community honors and respects our veterans. Please mark your 2015 calendar for the following meetings at 1:00pm Oct. 13 th, Nov. 10 th & Dec. 8 th at 12:00 noon - Annual Christmas Luncheon
Located in Casnovia The Veteran Memorial (shown at left) is located in Leaver Park in Kent City. This memorial was dedicated Nov. 11, 1995funded by local people and the Historical Society. Located at the Kent City High School
The following excerpts were taken from an interview that Andrea Omans had with Robert Brott about his service during WW2. Wouldn t want to go through it again, but it was certainly an experience. He served as part of the 43rd Cavalry RCN Squadron Mechanized, Troop E. It was the Calvary s job to go on ahead of everyone and make sure that it was safe. They would check out all the towns and make sure that the bridges were intact and they would radio what they found back to headquarters. Many times he found that his regiment would be right on the heels of the Germans. They were the eyes and ears of the army. He left for Europe on the April 7, 1943 when he was 18 years old. His job was to run the assault gun, which is very similar to a tank although unlike today s tanks, it could not fire while moving. He was the loader then was promoted to the gunner. When asked, What do you remember most about the war? He said, Probably just being away from home and having to do what you are told. He also did not want to eat Spam again. While in France he said that the people would stand on the edges of the street and hand them flowers and wine, but Germany was a different story. Enter Germany and Die was a saying wrote on a brick wall as they entered the cities. In a fire attack, when they were under attack by machine guns, he was trying to fire his gun, when it jammed. He & his fellow private couldn t get the shell back. So he jumped out of the tank, while being shot at and used a tool to push the shell back to his partner, who caught it and then they shot it again. He was not hit and received a bronze star for his act of bravery on that day. When you re 18 or 19 years old you don t think like you do when you re 70 or 80. I did what I had to do, because it is what I had to do. N Y B L A D E
Nov. 2, 1942- Army Air Corps served in combat missions over Germany. Received Air Medal w/2 Oak Leaf Clusters; Purple Heart. Killed in Action March 22, 1944.
Tech Sgt. Loren F. Dudley Chief radio operator in WW2 103 rd Signal Co. Sicily, Naples-Foggia, Rome-Arno, Southern France, Rhineland, Central Europe. Supervised 5 to 56 enlisted men in the field in the transmission of messages. Received Good Conduct Medal, American Defense Service Medal, European African Middle Eastern Service Medal w/6 Bronze stars & Bronze Arrowhead. Served in the US Army 10/15/1940 9/22/1945. Also a member of Michigan National Guard. Veteran s Memorial Buy-A-Brick Program The Kent City Casnovia Community Foundation is undertaking a Veteran s Memorial park located at Kent City High School (picture on page 2). Part of that memorial park includes a plaza consisting of bricks that honor the names of veterans that have served in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines or Coast Guard during wartime or peacetime. The honored veteran is not required to be a citizen of Kent City. All veterans are welcome. Contact kcccfoundation@gmail.com with questions. John J Black Jack Pershing was a General in the US Army who led American Expeditionary Forces to victory over Germany in WWl. On the next page is a copy of an actual letter that was sent to Harold Saur who was in the army during WWl. He was with troops in Battle of the Argonne Forest that lasted 47 days. It was reported as one of the bloodiest battles of the war and left over 26,000 dead.