thedrifter
06-23-07, 07:48 AM
Published on Saturday, June 23, 2007.
Last modified on 6/23/2007 at 3:19 am
Art helps as vets reflect on WWII
By ED KEMMICK
Of The Gazette Staff
At a gathering of World War II veterans at the Holiday Inn over the past couple of days, visitors got a chance to see history in the flesh and on canvas.
The occasion was a joint gathering of the Northwest Chapter of the American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor and the 3rd and 4th Defense Battalion Marines. Visitors, family members and friends huddled with old soldiers in their 80s, listening to stories from a war that ended more than 60 years ago.
As more than one veteran jokingly pointed out, the stories seem to grow with each reunion.
Special attraction
A special attraction at this reunion has been a display of 93 drawings and paintings depicting the Bataan Death March and life in Japanese prisoner of war camps. They are reproductions of works by Billings resident Ben Steele, who was captured in the Philippines in 1942 and endured 3½ years of harsh imprisonment.
Holly Heins, a 15-year-old who was taken to the reunion Thursday by her grandmother, Millie Riedesel, said viewing Steele's works left her with mixed emotions.
"It's sad but amazing that he's able to depict all this through art," she said.
"All this" includes scenes of brutality and starvation, of fallen prisoners being bayoneted along the 60-mile death march, digging their own graves in prison camps or lapping greedily at pools of stagnant water.
"It amazes the hell out of me that they even survived," said another visitor, Kim Mees. Mees and fellow BNSF Railway employee Al Krebs, both of Forsyth, took the opportunity to drive over from Laurel, where they had a Thursday afternoon layover in the railyards.
Krebs, a former lieutenant colonel in the Air Force, said he had seen Steele's collection at least three times before, and once he invited Steele to Forsyth to talk to a group of young airmen, but he doesn't get tired of seeing the paintings and drawings.
"You see more every time you come see them," he said.
Joint reunion
That was the sentiment of John Carter, a 3rd Battalion Marine who saw action in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. The Marine battalions and the Bataan survivors decided to have a joint reunion after discovering last winter that they were planning reunions at the Holiday Inn during the same time period.
Carter, of Orlando, Fla., had never seen Steele's artwork, and he was impressed.
"I've looked at them about four times," he said. "I keep going back around."
Laura Daniels and Shirley Schultz, both of Billings, decided to view the exhibit after seeing a story about it in The Gazette. Daniels said she hesitated to come at first, thinking the experience might be too distressing, but after viewing it, she said she wished everybody had a chance to see Steele's work.
Schultz said the paintings made her reflect on the bravery of contemporary soldiers.
"I think of all the young men and women who volunteered for Iraq," she said. "That can't be easy, either. I'm so proud of them."
Art Klein didn't need too many reminders of Japanese POW camps. The 85-year-old Billings man was captured even before Steele was, on Wake Island, and spent nearly four years as a prisoner. Klein, a Marine, said imprisonment was toughest on the 1,400 civilians who were working on Wake when it fell to the Japanese. Most of them were older than the soldiers and used to pretty easy conditions.
Even among the young soldiers, the death rate was appallingly high. At one camp in Japan, where the soldiers were forced to work in a steel foundry, only half of the 1,500 prisoners survived to the end of the war, Klein said. How did people like Klein and Steele make it?
"A lot of prayer and also a positive attitude," Klein said. "If you didn't have a positive attitude, you were dead."
When the war did finally end, the luxuries of peace were almost beyond imagining, and they still bring a smile to Klein's face.
"All the food you could eat, clean sheets, the works. It was unbelievable," he said.
Contact Ed Kemmick at ekemmick@billingsgazette.com or 657-1293.
Ellie
Last modified on 6/23/2007 at 3:19 am
Art helps as vets reflect on WWII
By ED KEMMICK
Of The Gazette Staff
At a gathering of World War II veterans at the Holiday Inn over the past couple of days, visitors got a chance to see history in the flesh and on canvas.
The occasion was a joint gathering of the Northwest Chapter of the American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor and the 3rd and 4th Defense Battalion Marines. Visitors, family members and friends huddled with old soldiers in their 80s, listening to stories from a war that ended more than 60 years ago.
As more than one veteran jokingly pointed out, the stories seem to grow with each reunion.
Special attraction
A special attraction at this reunion has been a display of 93 drawings and paintings depicting the Bataan Death March and life in Japanese prisoner of war camps. They are reproductions of works by Billings resident Ben Steele, who was captured in the Philippines in 1942 and endured 3½ years of harsh imprisonment.
Holly Heins, a 15-year-old who was taken to the reunion Thursday by her grandmother, Millie Riedesel, said viewing Steele's works left her with mixed emotions.
"It's sad but amazing that he's able to depict all this through art," she said.
"All this" includes scenes of brutality and starvation, of fallen prisoners being bayoneted along the 60-mile death march, digging their own graves in prison camps or lapping greedily at pools of stagnant water.
"It amazes the hell out of me that they even survived," said another visitor, Kim Mees. Mees and fellow BNSF Railway employee Al Krebs, both of Forsyth, took the opportunity to drive over from Laurel, where they had a Thursday afternoon layover in the railyards.
Krebs, a former lieutenant colonel in the Air Force, said he had seen Steele's collection at least three times before, and once he invited Steele to Forsyth to talk to a group of young airmen, but he doesn't get tired of seeing the paintings and drawings.
"You see more every time you come see them," he said.
Joint reunion
That was the sentiment of John Carter, a 3rd Battalion Marine who saw action in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. The Marine battalions and the Bataan survivors decided to have a joint reunion after discovering last winter that they were planning reunions at the Holiday Inn during the same time period.
Carter, of Orlando, Fla., had never seen Steele's artwork, and he was impressed.
"I've looked at them about four times," he said. "I keep going back around."
Laura Daniels and Shirley Schultz, both of Billings, decided to view the exhibit after seeing a story about it in The Gazette. Daniels said she hesitated to come at first, thinking the experience might be too distressing, but after viewing it, she said she wished everybody had a chance to see Steele's work.
Schultz said the paintings made her reflect on the bravery of contemporary soldiers.
"I think of all the young men and women who volunteered for Iraq," she said. "That can't be easy, either. I'm so proud of them."
Art Klein didn't need too many reminders of Japanese POW camps. The 85-year-old Billings man was captured even before Steele was, on Wake Island, and spent nearly four years as a prisoner. Klein, a Marine, said imprisonment was toughest on the 1,400 civilians who were working on Wake when it fell to the Japanese. Most of them were older than the soldiers and used to pretty easy conditions.
Even among the young soldiers, the death rate was appallingly high. At one camp in Japan, where the soldiers were forced to work in a steel foundry, only half of the 1,500 prisoners survived to the end of the war, Klein said. How did people like Klein and Steele make it?
"A lot of prayer and also a positive attitude," Klein said. "If you didn't have a positive attitude, you were dead."
When the war did finally end, the luxuries of peace were almost beyond imagining, and they still bring a smile to Klein's face.
"All the food you could eat, clean sheets, the works. It was unbelievable," he said.
Contact Ed Kemmick at ekemmick@billingsgazette.com or 657-1293.
Ellie