thedrifter
10-27-08, 08:31 AM
Marine enlisted after letter
The World War II veteran says the day the war ended was the happiest of his life.
By Naomi Smoot / Journal Staff Writer
POSTED: October 27, 2008
Editor's note: This article is part of The Journal's annual Unsung Heroes feature, which runs each Monday from Memorial Day to Veterans Day. The stories profile U.S. veterans who served in wars and conflicts from World War II to the present.
CHARLES TOWN - It started out like most other days, and then, in an instant, it became the sort that transforms a person's entire life time.
Otho Lewis was working on his family's Berkeley County farm that morning, and came in around noon to check the mail, he said.
Inside the box he found a note from the United States Army. It was late in 1942 and the nation was in the midst of World War II. Lewis was 21, and had just discovered that Uncle Sam wanted him to join the Army.
Still, something wasn't quite right about the situation. Lewis was miffed, and it wasn't the prospect of going to war that made him feel that way either. The letter, he said, just didn't sound right.
"It said greetings ... it didn't sound right to me," Lewis recalled in a recent interview. "That made me about half sore when it said greetings."
So Lewis and his best friend set off to Baltimore to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps instead.
They were sent to Paris Island for training, where Lewis said he learned discipline in no time flat.
"It's training that wouldn't hurt anybody," he said. "It's been good for me that I was in there."
But at the time, it seemed a bit overwhelming to some of his fellow Marines, he said, noting that some of them told him they thought their training was going to result in their deaths.
Lewis said he remembers one time in particular when he and his fellow soldiers were told to line up and stand at attention. As they stood there, trying not to move, sand flies swarmed around them, he said.
One of the troops gave in and moved because of the insects, Lewis said, and the troops were told to pound the pavement as hard as they could. Lewis said he ended up pounding the pavement so hard he popped the crystal out of his watch, a story which he now recounts with laughter.
Another time, he said troops were marching in the dust and one of his friends accidentally turned the wrong way. One of the instructors responded by spinning the soldier around so hard he couldn't stand up, Lewis said.
"You learn discipline," he said.
Once his training was over, Lewis said he was assigned to a naval station in Norfolk, Va., where he volunteered to do guard duty in the "boondocks," an area where he said the Navy stored bombs.
While he was stationed at the Norfolk Naval station, Lewis said he and his wife decided to get married. He took leave and headed back to West Virginia for the wedding.
When he returned, he said he started working with a sentry dog.
"My daddy always said, I'd no sooner got married then I went to the dogs," Lewis said with a chuckle.
In January 1945, Lewis was sent to Camp Lejeune, N.C., where he started working with scout dogs. The dogs were trained to respond to hand signals and were used to alert troops if enemy soldiers were spotted in the woods nearby.
"They were super trained for this," Lewis said. "We spent hours, and days with them."
From there, Lewis said he headed to Guam, where the military was preparing to invade Japan. Luckily for him, he said the war ended before that ever became a necessity.
"We were gonna go to Japan," he recalled, adding that the day the war ended was "the happiest day of my life. That includes getting married too."
Lewis had a wife and a baby back home, so heading off to combat was the last thing he wanted to do.
Throughout his time in the Marines, he said he thought of his wife frequently, and they wrote to one another nearly every day.
"Every day. Every day from the time I got in," he said of their correspondence. "I had a sea bag full of letters."
Occasionally, he said he wrote to his family too, but most of his time was spent trying to keep in touch with the young bride who was waiting for him back at home in West Virginia.
"My focus was on her," he said.
Still, he said he almost missed his chance to come back to her.
After the war ended he said people started to get more lax. In 1945, while still stationed in Guam, he said he went to visit a friend without getting proper permission and spent the day riding around with him. As they drove, he said he spotted the lights of a ship in the distance, and jokingly stated that the boat was there to take him home.
When he got back, he realized that his joke may have been a reality. All of his equipment, including the dog he had spent his days working with, had been loaded up and his fellow Marines were getting ready to leave.
"I almost got left (behind). Two minutes later and I'd have been left there," Lewis said.
They were heading for a ship to take them home, a ship that Lewis said could have easily been the one he spotted in the distance.
"It might have been that same ship," he said.
From Guam, Lewis said he headed back to Camp Lejeune and then back to the Norfolk Naval Station. Then, he headed home to his family.
Once Lewis returned, he purchased 50 acres of land from his father. He went into business with his brother, who also owned 50 acres. The pair decided that it would be cheaper to share farming equipment than to operate individual farms, and so they started Lewis Brothers Orchards Inc., he said.
His son now continues the family's tradition of farming.
Lewis and his wife still live in the area, and they spend their winters in Florida.
Things have worked out well for the couple, he said, noting that they've been married for 65 years now. He said the key to their success has been forgiveness.
"You know when you go to church you learn forgiveness. You've got to do that ... it's forgiveness. ... You've gotta give in. It's just as simple as that," he said.
- Staff writer Naomi Smoot can be reached at (304) 725-6581 or nsmoot@journal-news.net
Ellie
The World War II veteran says the day the war ended was the happiest of his life.
By Naomi Smoot / Journal Staff Writer
POSTED: October 27, 2008
Editor's note: This article is part of The Journal's annual Unsung Heroes feature, which runs each Monday from Memorial Day to Veterans Day. The stories profile U.S. veterans who served in wars and conflicts from World War II to the present.
CHARLES TOWN - It started out like most other days, and then, in an instant, it became the sort that transforms a person's entire life time.
Otho Lewis was working on his family's Berkeley County farm that morning, and came in around noon to check the mail, he said.
Inside the box he found a note from the United States Army. It was late in 1942 and the nation was in the midst of World War II. Lewis was 21, and had just discovered that Uncle Sam wanted him to join the Army.
Still, something wasn't quite right about the situation. Lewis was miffed, and it wasn't the prospect of going to war that made him feel that way either. The letter, he said, just didn't sound right.
"It said greetings ... it didn't sound right to me," Lewis recalled in a recent interview. "That made me about half sore when it said greetings."
So Lewis and his best friend set off to Baltimore to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps instead.
They were sent to Paris Island for training, where Lewis said he learned discipline in no time flat.
"It's training that wouldn't hurt anybody," he said. "It's been good for me that I was in there."
But at the time, it seemed a bit overwhelming to some of his fellow Marines, he said, noting that some of them told him they thought their training was going to result in their deaths.
Lewis said he remembers one time in particular when he and his fellow soldiers were told to line up and stand at attention. As they stood there, trying not to move, sand flies swarmed around them, he said.
One of the troops gave in and moved because of the insects, Lewis said, and the troops were told to pound the pavement as hard as they could. Lewis said he ended up pounding the pavement so hard he popped the crystal out of his watch, a story which he now recounts with laughter.
Another time, he said troops were marching in the dust and one of his friends accidentally turned the wrong way. One of the instructors responded by spinning the soldier around so hard he couldn't stand up, Lewis said.
"You learn discipline," he said.
Once his training was over, Lewis said he was assigned to a naval station in Norfolk, Va., where he volunteered to do guard duty in the "boondocks," an area where he said the Navy stored bombs.
While he was stationed at the Norfolk Naval station, Lewis said he and his wife decided to get married. He took leave and headed back to West Virginia for the wedding.
When he returned, he said he started working with a sentry dog.
"My daddy always said, I'd no sooner got married then I went to the dogs," Lewis said with a chuckle.
In January 1945, Lewis was sent to Camp Lejeune, N.C., where he started working with scout dogs. The dogs were trained to respond to hand signals and were used to alert troops if enemy soldiers were spotted in the woods nearby.
"They were super trained for this," Lewis said. "We spent hours, and days with them."
From there, Lewis said he headed to Guam, where the military was preparing to invade Japan. Luckily for him, he said the war ended before that ever became a necessity.
"We were gonna go to Japan," he recalled, adding that the day the war ended was "the happiest day of my life. That includes getting married too."
Lewis had a wife and a baby back home, so heading off to combat was the last thing he wanted to do.
Throughout his time in the Marines, he said he thought of his wife frequently, and they wrote to one another nearly every day.
"Every day. Every day from the time I got in," he said of their correspondence. "I had a sea bag full of letters."
Occasionally, he said he wrote to his family too, but most of his time was spent trying to keep in touch with the young bride who was waiting for him back at home in West Virginia.
"My focus was on her," he said.
Still, he said he almost missed his chance to come back to her.
After the war ended he said people started to get more lax. In 1945, while still stationed in Guam, he said he went to visit a friend without getting proper permission and spent the day riding around with him. As they drove, he said he spotted the lights of a ship in the distance, and jokingly stated that the boat was there to take him home.
When he got back, he realized that his joke may have been a reality. All of his equipment, including the dog he had spent his days working with, had been loaded up and his fellow Marines were getting ready to leave.
"I almost got left (behind). Two minutes later and I'd have been left there," Lewis said.
They were heading for a ship to take them home, a ship that Lewis said could have easily been the one he spotted in the distance.
"It might have been that same ship," he said.
From Guam, Lewis said he headed back to Camp Lejeune and then back to the Norfolk Naval Station. Then, he headed home to his family.
Once Lewis returned, he purchased 50 acres of land from his father. He went into business with his brother, who also owned 50 acres. The pair decided that it would be cheaper to share farming equipment than to operate individual farms, and so they started Lewis Brothers Orchards Inc., he said.
His son now continues the family's tradition of farming.
Lewis and his wife still live in the area, and they spend their winters in Florida.
Things have worked out well for the couple, he said, noting that they've been married for 65 years now. He said the key to their success has been forgiveness.
"You know when you go to church you learn forgiveness. You've got to do that ... it's forgiveness. ... You've gotta give in. It's just as simple as that," he said.
- Staff writer Naomi Smoot can be reached at (304) 725-6581 or nsmoot@journal-news.net
Ellie