Honoring Her Family Members On Veterans Day

PHOTO: My Father with my brother wearing his Special Forces uniform.

Many of us have family members who are U.S. veterans, whether in wars past or serving this country in present day. There are certainly many stories that can be told, but never enough space on these pages to honor them all. The following article tells of the service of members of one family. We present it with our thoughts for all who served. —ed.

by Dolores Beal Stephens
Contributing Writer

It was World War II. Everyone wanted to to do something to help win the war. It might be knitting khaki woolen socks, donating blood at the Red Cross Blood Mobile, signing up to watch for airplanes at the lookout tower at the high school, buying War Bonds, or volunteering to serve in some branch of the military.
It was in our small village of Brewster, New York where we knew so many people who had sons or fathers in the military. Because Brewster is the only village in the Town of Southeast. The beautiful Honor Roll is located there. There were seventeen in our township that did not return home. One veteran had been a prisoner of the Germans and others had been wounded.
They served their country well.

My Father
My 45 year old father was a partner in the family water well drilling business, and like so many when WWII started, he wanted to do what he could.
So with his brother’s approval, he went to the Pentagon to volunteer. Even though he had served in the Navy in WWI, the Navy was not interested, and he was then interviewed at the Army desk.

He was commissioned a Captain in the 401st Corps. of Engineers Water Battalion. In 1942, Captain Beal was in the second convoy landing at Casablanca, French Morocco. The British and American troops would soon have fresh water from the many wells that would be drilled using the drilling machines and tools coming off the ships.
His orders came from General George S. Patton.
He served his country well.

My Sisters
My sister wanted to join the WAVES and wrote to my father about her wishes. He was still in Sicily and wrote to her asking that she wait until he returned home. She honored his request.
As soon as he was back home, she enlisted doing her boot camp and training as a Corpsman at the Great Lakes Naval Station.
She spent several months at St. Albans Naval Hospital on Long Island and was later assigned to the Alameda Naval Hospital in California continuing her nursing duties.
She served her country well.
My eldest sister worked in a lab in Manhattan where the new fabric Nylon was tested for making parachutes.
She served her country well.

My Brother
It seems that my younger brother was destined to become an “Army man.” When my father was stationed at Fort Belvoir, soon to be retired, we lived on the edge of the drill field. My five year old brother found his way to the Army barracks. One day my mother and I looked out as the troops marched past our house, and at the end of the line was my little brother dressed in his khaki uniform carrying his wooden toy rifle.
After graduating from our Brewster High School, he entered Norwich University in Vermont graduating second lieutenant. When the war was taking place in Vietnam, my “little” brother was in the Special Forces. He was injured during combat and was returned to the states to recover. He spent four months with the Montagnard tribe.
After retiring from the Army he and his family moved to the Vermont that he loved.
He served his country well.

My Cousins
One cousin tried to enlist in the Army several times but was turned down because of flat feet. He was eventually accepted and was sent to Amchitcha Island in the Aleutian Islands. He became a partner in the family well drilling business.
His older brother was an Ensign in the Navy on an LST for the invasion of Okinawa. He was landing Marines when a Kamikaze (suicide plane) came down headed for his LST. Luckily it crashed on the ship next to his.
This cousin was a scientist who was responsible for the development of Hydrocortisone.
There was a second cousin who became an officer in the Navy and another cousin from another town who was in the Navy. He became a Junior Exec at Mobile Oil.
Another cousin spent his career in the Navy. He was on a ship very close to Vietnam during the war there.
They served their country well.

My Nephew
The son of my sister, who had been in the Navy WAVES, joined the Air Force Pararescue. As a P J his job was to rescue and medically treat downed military pilots. He is now flying Navy Seals trainees.
He serves his country well.

My Husband
My husband was doing his Medical Residency when he was called to serve in the Army. He was commissioned a Captain and had to go through combat and medical training at Fort Sam Houston, Texas to serve in the Medical Corps.
He then served at the Walter Reed Institute of Research at Fort Detrick, in Maryland. This was a medical research center and not the usual combat training camp. He found this research very interesting.
The Korean War was over, but there was a Suez crisis at the time. He served the required two years, then returned to his residency.
He served his country well.

My Son
Having graduated from college, our son’s thoughts turned to joining the Army. He enlisted 11B which is the Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) for infantryman. After basic training he stayed on at his training battalion as an Armorer while applying for Officer Candidate School.
After OCS he attended Air Defense Officer Basic, Chapparal/Vulcan Qualification, Airborne, and Ranger Courses. From there his first assignment was at Camp Casey, Korea as a Vulcan platoon leader.
After a year in Korea he was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, NC as a Stinger Missile platoon leader. He separated after 3 years of service.
He served his country well.

My In-Laws
My husband’s older brother was a pilot and early in World War II he joined the Army Air Force (not yet called the U. S. Air Force). His assignment was to retrain the pilots of large bombers,vso that they could fly the faster, small planes.
He served his country well.
My middle sister who had been a WAVE married a man who had been in the Navy in World War II. Several years after the war, he became an Army officer and spent over twenty years serving.
He served his country well.
My eldest sister married the Brewster High School Industrial Arts teacher. During World War II this soldier was in the Battle of the Bulge, that German offensive in the Ardennes.
He served his country well.

Dolores Beal Stephens is the author of the book “Water For The Troops – Evacuation Hospitals And Airfields 1042-1944.”