by Sonja J. Keith

While they come from different states with varying backgrounds, five Fairfield Bay men share the distinction of serving in World War II and being a part of what has been called “the greatest generation.”

The five gathered recently at Fairfield Bay City Hall to share their experiences with each other and 501 LIFE.

“What an extraordinary opportunity to sit down with five World War II veterans and listen to them open up and share their experiences,” said Fairfield Bay Mayor Paul Wellenberger. “The full range of stories from sad to the extreme joy when it was over. They truly are the greatest generation.”

Jim Hookman

Originally from Chicago, Jim was drafted and served 18 months in the Army and was stationed in Japan during the U.S. occupation. He was a section leader for a heavy machine gun unit, with two under his command. “I drove a tank before I drove a car,” he said, explaining that he underwent training to drive tanks but was sent to Japan where there weren’t tanks. 

“There are a lot of people who think the atomic bomb was not a good thing to do, but I wouldn’t be sitting here if they hadn’t.”

Jim moved to Fairfield Bay in 1987. “We had been coming for a year or more on the weekends and holidays,” he said, adding that he and his wife fell in love with the area and she credits the Bay with how active and young looking he is. “We just enjoyed it.”

Bill Paar

Originally from Dubuque, Iowa, Bill enlisted in January 1944 and served in the Army Air Corps. He served until 1947. Later, he served in the Naval Reserve during the Korean War.

Bill has lived full time in Fairfield Bay for 25 years, having visited for many years prior. 

Bill recalled after basic training, he became a “pencil pusher” in the military, in charge of payroll and service records. One of his memories of his time in the service was bayonet drills in the hot sun in Texas and “eating salt tablets like they were candy.”

After he left the military, Bill worked primarily in sales and was later a real estate agent with a broker’s license before his retirement.

Frank Johnson

A Fairfield Bay resident for 40 years, Frank is originally from north central Illinois. He was drafted at age 18 and served in the U.S. Army Infantry. Later, he transferred to the Air Corps and worked in military intelligence. He served July 1945 until February 1947.

After his military service, he worked in farming for 10 years before going into and owning his own mechanical business, which he sold in 1979 when he moved to Arkansas. He volunteered for 20 years as an EMT at Fairfield Bay.

Larry Luxon

A Detroit resident originally, Larry has lived in Fairfield Bay for 21 years. He served 34 months in the Navy, primarily in the Southwest Pacific. 

Larry started as a diver, which he enjoyed, but developed a painful eye infection in New Guinea, which cut his work short. He transferred to a Seabee outfit, which he said was a new branch at the time. “I did that until the end of the war,” he said. “That was hard work.”

After a year and a half in college, he worked for 27 years in manufacturing. He moved to Fairfield Bay in October 2001. “It’s a great place to live.”

Bob Worden

Born in 1925, Bob grew up in Milwaukee. He was 18 when he was drafted and began serving in the Army and was a member of the 112th Cavalry. An assistant squad leader, he served in the Philippines. 

In 1945, he “caught a lot of shrapnel” at “Hot Corners,” which earned him a Purple Heart. “At base hospital, the doctor said I had some 23 some odd holes, ins and outs. The ones that stuck and the ones that just grazed.”

He was discharged in 1946.

Using the GI Bill, he went to radio broadcasting school. He and his wife moved to Fairfield Bay in the early 1970s.

GOING TO WAR

The five men were in their early teens and attending school when the war began. After Pearl Harbor, they knew chances were good that they would be called to service.

Jim recalled that his high school class president wasn’t at graduation. He had been drafted and was already serving in the military.

Bill had three older brothers and one by one they joined the military during the war.

Like many historic events, the veterans recalled where they were when they heard the news that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor.

Jim was at a professional football game at Comiskey in Chicago. “Nowadays if something like Pearl Harbor happened, they would interrupt (and make an announcement). We knew nothing about it until the game was over and we came out and they had an Extra (newspaper) on the street that Pearl Harbor has been bombed.”

Larry had been to see a movie and when he returned home, his dad met him at the door. “He said, ‘We’re at war.’ I was 15 I think.” Larry said he lost three uncles in World War I and was an only child. The news that he had been drafted and would be serving in the military was especially difficult for his mother. 

Bill recalled that his church cancelled a rehearsal for a Christmas Eve service when news of Pearl Harbor hit. “When you’re a kid, you don’t really think about things. It’s hard to think about the seriousness even,” Bill said. 

WAR STORIES

Reflecting on their military service, the men shared their thoughts and some of their memories.

Bob recalled that he was on the Philippine island of Leyte and it had been taken completely before Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s famous return. Bill said he had always heard that it took three tries for photographers to capture the iconic photo of MacArthur wading ashore. “I heard stories that he actually went in dry and the news people were so adamant that he should come wading ashore, that he went back out and came in wading three times,” he said.

“I was there. I saw him,” said Larry. “He jumped in the water and waded to about here, to his knees. One of the photographers said, ‘We didn’t get this right. We need to do it again.’ And he did it again. He did it three times.”

Jim added that after the war MacArthur’s headquarters was in a building in Tokyo. “I got a one-day pass to go up to Tokyo and I’m walking along the street and come to this building and there’s this crowd of Japanese with two MPs standing at the door. I said, ‘What’s going on?’ They said, ‘They are waiting for MacArthur to come out. They do this every single day.’ 

“They worshipped him.”

Larry said one of his special memories was from when the war ended. “The guys were all screaming and running around. It got dusk and we ran into the ammunition area and grabbed all of the skyrockets, the parachute lights. We had a pipe and we would stick them in the pipe and hit it with a hammer. 

“We were shooting these things up and the skipper was having a good time with us, otherwise you wouldn’t dare do that.” Unfortunately, one of the rockets spun around and hit the officers’ quarters and burned it down.

Bill had a “sour moment” that he shared. After he was discharged from the Army Air Corps, a friend encouraged him to join the Naval Reserve to help with clerical work. After the Korean War broke out, he was ordered to active duty. “It hit my wife like a ton of bricks and I didn’t like it either…That feeling passed after a while.”

Jim said at the time of his discharge the military tried to get him to re-enlist but he declined. “The best thing I did was say no,” he said. “When the Korean War broke out, they (the 24th Infantry Division) were the first ones in Korea and they got wiped out completely.”

‘GREATEST GENERATION’

The Fairfield Bay veterans agree with the description the “greatest generation” in describing those who served in World War II, in particular those who made the supreme sacrifice and did not return home.

“They earned it. We had Marines with us all the time,” Larry said. “It was bad, bad. Poor guys. We would bring them ashore … they would go in and they would just get wiped out.”

Bill said times were different when WWII veterans were younger. “Today, anything goes. I don’t care for some of the things that go on today. Back then, I thought there was an awful lot more respect shown.

“The saddest thing of World War II was the buddies that I played basketball and football with that didn’t come home. That’s the hardest part.”