thedrifter
12-08-05, 06:01 AM
Survivors' story
Veterans, families gather to pay tribute to survivors, fallen
BY ERIN SIMPSON
Staff Writer
The mournful sound of "Taps" filled the small Blue Room of the VFW on Victory Drive Wednesday, bringing tears to the eyes of many gathered there to remember the dead and celebrate the survivors of Pearl Harbor.
"It brings tears," said retired U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Robert Sellers, who was at Pearl Harbor the day it was attacked. "It makes you remember."
The Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 665 members and guests commemorated Pearl Harbor Day at 8:30 a.m. by placing a wreath at the eternal flame and monument honoring veterans in front of the Columbus Government Center. The group met at 11 a.m. to hear from Medal of Honor recipient retired Army Col. Robert Nett, then shared lunch at the VFW.
"You have served America in peace and in war, in ways great and small," Nett said to the veterans. "Many of you were part of events that shaped our history, and we want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts."
Nett talked about Dec. 7, 1941. He recalled that he was at a speakeasy in Florida having coffee and a danish for breakfast when his group heard over the radio news of the sneak attack on the nation's Pacific Fleet.
"Now, for the first time in our lives, we realized that we were at war," he said.
There was also a bit of levity, with Nett joking that if more Marines had been available, instead of being deployed to the Pacific, his unit could have been able to "go to Europe and liberate the breweries."
Sellers, 83, a veteran of World War II, Korea and Vietnam, was wearing a Pearl Harbor survivors' medal given to him by President George H.W. Bush. His career decision was easy, he said.
"I reckon I was born a soldier. My father was in World War I," Sellers said. "When I went into the Army, I was already a soldier."
And, like many other veterans, he still wants to be, Sellers said as talk turned to the war going on now in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"We're old. We'd love to be over there with them, but of course we can't," Sellers said.
Sellers was stationed in Hawaii as soon as he joined the Army. He saw firsthand the devastation at Pearl Harbor that killed 2,403 soldiers and sailors.
He said his unit had been given the weekend off when the Japanese attacked.
"They hit and we didn't even have any ammo," Sellers said Wednesday.
Then, 24 years later, in 1965, Sellers was part of the advance party of the 1st Cavalry Division under Lt. Col. Hal Moore that was airlifted into the Ia Drang Valley in South Vietnam. The location was later dubbed by some the Valley of Death for the furious fighting that occurred there between U.S. troops and North Vietnam regulars. The conflict was made famous in the book and movie "We Were Soldiers Once... and Young," by Moore and Joe Galloway.
Even though Wednesday was Pearl Harbor Day, Sellers said during the remembrance ceremonies he also was thinking about those who lost their lives in Vietnam.
"My whole outfit got wiped out, just about," he said. "There were very few of us left."
Ellie
Veterans, families gather to pay tribute to survivors, fallen
BY ERIN SIMPSON
Staff Writer
The mournful sound of "Taps" filled the small Blue Room of the VFW on Victory Drive Wednesday, bringing tears to the eyes of many gathered there to remember the dead and celebrate the survivors of Pearl Harbor.
"It brings tears," said retired U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Robert Sellers, who was at Pearl Harbor the day it was attacked. "It makes you remember."
The Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 665 members and guests commemorated Pearl Harbor Day at 8:30 a.m. by placing a wreath at the eternal flame and monument honoring veterans in front of the Columbus Government Center. The group met at 11 a.m. to hear from Medal of Honor recipient retired Army Col. Robert Nett, then shared lunch at the VFW.
"You have served America in peace and in war, in ways great and small," Nett said to the veterans. "Many of you were part of events that shaped our history, and we want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts."
Nett talked about Dec. 7, 1941. He recalled that he was at a speakeasy in Florida having coffee and a danish for breakfast when his group heard over the radio news of the sneak attack on the nation's Pacific Fleet.
"Now, for the first time in our lives, we realized that we were at war," he said.
There was also a bit of levity, with Nett joking that if more Marines had been available, instead of being deployed to the Pacific, his unit could have been able to "go to Europe and liberate the breweries."
Sellers, 83, a veteran of World War II, Korea and Vietnam, was wearing a Pearl Harbor survivors' medal given to him by President George H.W. Bush. His career decision was easy, he said.
"I reckon I was born a soldier. My father was in World War I," Sellers said. "When I went into the Army, I was already a soldier."
And, like many other veterans, he still wants to be, Sellers said as talk turned to the war going on now in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"We're old. We'd love to be over there with them, but of course we can't," Sellers said.
Sellers was stationed in Hawaii as soon as he joined the Army. He saw firsthand the devastation at Pearl Harbor that killed 2,403 soldiers and sailors.
He said his unit had been given the weekend off when the Japanese attacked.
"They hit and we didn't even have any ammo," Sellers said Wednesday.
Then, 24 years later, in 1965, Sellers was part of the advance party of the 1st Cavalry Division under Lt. Col. Hal Moore that was airlifted into the Ia Drang Valley in South Vietnam. The location was later dubbed by some the Valley of Death for the furious fighting that occurred there between U.S. troops and North Vietnam regulars. The conflict was made famous in the book and movie "We Were Soldiers Once... and Young," by Moore and Joe Galloway.
Even though Wednesday was Pearl Harbor Day, Sellers said during the remembrance ceremonies he also was thinking about those who lost their lives in Vietnam.
"My whole outfit got wiped out, just about," he said. "There were very few of us left."
Ellie