Veterans Memory Book 2010

A Lexington Clipper-HeraldSalute to our Veterans

We Rememberthose who served our country

We Honorthose who gave their life forour country

We Salutethose who aredefending ourcountry

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They Did Their Share

On Veteran’s Day we honorSoldiers who protect our nation.

For their service as our warriors,They deserve our admiration.

Some of them were drafted;Some were volunteers;

For some it was just yesterday;For some it’s been many years;

In the jungle or the desert,On land or on the sea,

They did whatever was assignedTo produce a victory.

Some came back; some didn’t.They defended us everywhere.

Some saw combat; some rode a desk;All of them did their share.

No matter what the duty,For low pay and little glory,

These soldiers gave up normal lives,For duties mundane and gory.

Let every veteran be honored;Don’t let politics get in the way.

Without them,freedom would have died;

What they did, we can’t repay.

We owe so much to them,Who kept us safe from terror,

So when we see a uniform,Let’s say "thank you" to every wearer.

By Joanna Fuchs

poemsource.com

VTabB.qxp 11/8/2010 8:31 AM Page 2

2 Veteran’s Day 2010Lexington Cl ipper-HeraldKeepsake Memory Book Keepsake Memory BookVeteran’s Day 2010 19Lexington Cl ipper-Herald

Table of ContentsA note fromthe editor

The entire staff of the Lexington Clipper-Herald is proud to present to the communi-ties of Dawson and Gosper counties thisspecial publication.

In this publication, “Veteran’s DayKeepsake Memory Book,” are the collectedmemories of soldiers and their families.

Service and duty are two things I holdvery dear to my heart. The service andduties I have performed in my short life,pale in comparison to the service and dutiesthese brave men and women and their fam-ilies have given to this great nation of ours.

The memories presented to you areglimpse of everyday people who lived or areliving through extraordinary circum-stances. They are vignettes of the horrorsof World War II, the bitter Armistice of theKorean War, the bloody battles of Vietnamand the lives of everyday soldiers in today’sarmed forces.

These are their stories, told by them, asthey remember it. They are heroes, but willnever admit to it. They are humbled bytheir experiences. They are sons and daugh-ters, mothers and fathers, husbands andwives, grandfathers and grandmothers; butmost importantly they are Americans.

They are the reason we live in a free coun-try, and they are the reason the rest of theworld looks to the United States as a modelof freedom.

We would like to thank you, and in ourhumble way give you the respect youdeserve.

Thank you for all you have given to thiscountry.

– David Penner

Page FourScott Mulligan

Page FiveErnesto J. Cordero

Page SixRobert Lee Shaw

Page SevenDutch Anthony, Spencer

Burch,Truman Burch, Carl

Schwarz, Frank Thornburg, LarryThornburg and Marvin

Thornburg

Page EightRichard Seberger

Page NineJames Anderson, Harley

Hasselbring, Bill Hofferber,Clarence “Shorty” Larson,

Melvin Meyer, Ellsworth Page,Otto Shreves, Harry Snowden

and Al Walker

Page ElevenMike Araujo, Thomas Jolliffe,

Robert E. Reed, DennisSeberger

Page Twelve and ThirteenJohn Soflin

Page FourteenSmets family Wall of Honor

Page FifteenFaud Maloley, Robert E.

McTygue, Dwight Noble,Michael Schulte and

Richard Schulte.

Page Sixteen and SeventeenDoris LaRee Stephens

Page EighteenMilo Koehn

Page NineteenMichael Dominguez, Lucas

Michael Folkers, Evan Francis,Galen Morris, Otis Ward and

Steve Ward

Father and son, Otis and Steve Ward, both served in the U.S.Army. Steve served from 1991 to 2006 with tours in Iraq,Bosnia and Germany. He appreciated the support his fellowLexingtonians bestowed upon him while he was serving inIraq. Otis served in the early 60s and was in Berlin when theBerlin Wall went up and was there again when it came down.

M. Dominguez is the grandson ofDean and Pam Brand. Dominguezgraduated from Lexington HighSchool in May 2009 and will bedeploying to Afghanistan Nov. 2010.

Galen F. Morris was a Sergeant E-5serving in the US Army. He was part ofthe 1st Infantry Division. His active dutywas during 1966-68. Morris received hisbasic training and advanced individualtraining at Ft. Bliss, Texas. Morrisserved in Vietnam 1967-68. He was wel-comed home by family and friends withlove, thankfulness and gratitude.

Evan Francis joined the Navy in 2006and is currently stationed out ofNorfolk, Va. He serves on the USS Cole.He is the son of Dan and Lynda Francisof Lexington.

Sergeant Lucas Michael Folkers; basictraining, Fort Leonard Wood, Kan. ;AIT training, Fort Sam Houston; SanAntonio, Texas; AIT training, dentalassistant; assigned to Fort Eustis, Va.,as a dental assistant. Specializedtraining: Fort Sam Houston; SanAntonio, TexasSpecialized training: dental hygienist,graduated with honors - top of hisclass. Currently serving at Fort Knox,Ky. He is a Sergeant as an E-5. He iscurrently managing a dental clinic atFort Knox in an E-7 position. He willbegin serving at Okinowa, Japan inJanuary, at a dental clinic.He is married to Laura (Smoyer)Folkers of York. They have two chil-dren, Korbyn, 3 and Rozlin, sixmonths. Luke is the son of Mike andLori Burr and Mitch and Mary AnnFolkers and the grandson of Daryce,Burr, Elmer and Norma Folkers andDon and Mary Sarnes. As of February2011, he will have been serving ourcountry for five years and has recent-ly reenlisted for another three years.

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Welcome to the HMMV. We have 100 vehicles including helicopters, tanks,halftracks, ambulances, and a jeep from every branch of the service plusdisplays of weapons, uniforms, engines, equipment, and more.

This hands-on museum invites you to see vehi-cles that have been restored and, for themost part, are operational. Vehicles datefrom World War II but displays includeitems from World War I as well.

Our original vision has remained thesame: Develop a place to honorAmerica's Veterans of the battlefront andthe home front. The Museum offers veter-ans a place to remember, where they cantouch and smell the very vehicles, which, insome cases, may have saved their lives.

Not only are there restored jeeps, trucks, ambulances, and half-tracks, butsingular vehicles, like the Downed Airman Retriever,one of a handful existing in the entire world.

18 Veteran’s Day 2010Lexington Cl ipper-HeraldKeepsake Memory Book

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of the service they haveprovided to our country.

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Her husband’s medals tell the storyJOSH ROWANC-H staff writer

LEXINGTON – At a quiet house onthe north section of town, in a small,quaint brick house on 16th street, liesan old, wooden frame that holds sto-ries of a military wife’s story of herhusband, and his memories of WorldWar II.

Doll Nielsen of Lexington, is theowner of many scrapbooks and rem-nants of her late husband’s past, start-ing from when he joined the 101stAirborne Division. One of her prizedpossessions is in the frame that car-ried the medals that Milo Koehn woreduring his three year, six months and19-day service in the United StatesArmy.

Nielsen talked about the contents ofthe frame, which included a variety ofwar-related medals and accommoda-tions.

“He was in five battles, received twopurple hearts, he also had his wingsthat he earned in the Paratroopers,”Nielsen said. “He was also in theBattle of the Bulge, which was themost important of the battles inWorld War II.”

Thoughts of the past began to racethrough the woman’s mind of her latehusband’s time in the center of thewar, but one memory she spoke ofalmost brought her to tears.

“It was Christmas time and theywere surrounded by the snow and thecold and they had no petrol, no sup-plies – nothing, and they were sur-rounded by the enemy,” Nielsen said.“And he said the most beautiful pic-ture of his life was when everythingcleared after Christmas Day and thebig C-47s came over and dumped allthe supplies they needed and theyfought their way out.”

The Battle of the Bulge that Nielsentalks about was one of the most vividand most talked about battles duringWorld War II. The event when theGermans launched an offensive fromDec. 16, 1944, through Jan. 25, 1945,through the forested area of theArdennes Mountains in Belgium.

The Allied forces recorded 70,000-89,000 casualties, including 19,000deaths, according to Wikipedia. TheBattle of the Bulge was by far thelargest and bloodiest battle duringWorld War II.

Thinking back about being a wifeon the other end, waiting for her hus-band to return home, Nielsen saysthere is no comparison betweentoday’s soldiers who fight in Iraq andAfghanistan, and the soldiers whofought overseas in Europe.

“We had very, very little knowing,”Nielsen said. “We went days withoutknowing if they are ok, we would getletters that were very censored. I had400 dollars in the bank, which was alot of money back then. You just did-n’t have communication back thenand I just worried constantly. If youever saw someone come to the door,you knew your husband was dead.”

These days, soldiers who are over-seas in the Middle East make quite agood salary for their families who arewaiting in the states, however thatwasn’t the case for Nielsen and herhusband over 60 years ago.

“Milo got 21 dollars a day, once amonth,” Nielsen said. “When hejoined the Paratroopers, he receivedanother 50 dollars on top of what hewas already getting. But, it’s still nocomparison to what it’s like now.”

Another change from today’s mili-tary to the soldiers of the past, is thesupport groups and teams that are

created for families who have lovedones overseas. Nielsen, to help withher worry for her husband, workedconstantly and helped her father builda house.

“We just all had to really work,”Nielsen said. “We did all kinds ofthings for the war effort, but therewasn’t a lot of support groups.”

After Milo returned home from thewar, it was a memory in his mind thathe rarely mentioned to anyone.

“He didn’t really talk about it,”Nielsen said. “I know that when myson came home from Vietnam, Iremember I could hear them talkabout it from time to time, but sol-diers who were really in the fightingback then never talked about it.”

Besides the small pictures andsmall news articles she has kept overthe years, Nielsen said we were look-ing at was just a little taste of the stuffshe has kept over the years.

“I have lots more,” Nielsen said. “Ihave parts of parachutes, and just lotsof stuff upstairs.”

Nielsen from time to time will shareher memories of her husband withher family, especially her five chil-dren.

“They were very interested in lateryears about their dad,” Nielsen said.“I’ve been able to give them somekeepsakes over the years, and they arevery interested and proud of theirdad.”

While her husband was fightingoverseas, Nielsen said, she wrote let-ters to him often.

“I wrote real, real often, sometimesI would try to write every day,”Nielsen said. “By the time he got themthey censored a lot. They had mailclerks who sorted through the mail

and censored a lot of stuff.”Six years ago, Nielsen, along with a

few of her friends, took a trip toEurope, and visited every locationwhere their husband’s had fought.

The memories were a mixture ofhappiness and sadness.

“It’s been a long time, and youalways have that inner sadness,”Nielsen said. “There is that over-whelming joy to see the places and tostep where they had been. I reallyenjoyed that trip.”

Milo Koehn died from cancer in1971, but to this day, Nielsen, who was-n’t afraid to shed a tear, explained howproud she was to be a military wife.

“You never get over it,” Nielsensaid. “When I see that American flag,I just cry when I see it.”


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Scott Mulligan, U.S. NavyOn Sept. 5, 2006 I married my sailor,

Scott Mulligan. On Sept. 9, 2006, onlyfour short days later he left on his firstdeployment on the USS Dubuque fornine months. Luckily I stayed with myparents in Nebraska during this time,but it was still one of the hardestthings I had ever done.

I thought the nine months wouldnever end, but on May 20, 2007 theship pulled into San Diego, Calif. Thiswas not only one of the best days ofmy life, but one of the most awesomethings to see. All the sailors werestanding on the back of the ship andall the wives, children and familieswere there to see it.

In October of 2007, I finally got tomove out to San Diego to be with him,but he left again on Sept. 13 of 2008 foranother two month deployment on theUSS Pearl Harbor. These two monthswere nothing compared to the nine

but they were still hard. He returnedin November of that same year.

On May 20, 2010 he left for his thirddeployment. This deployment hasbeen by far the hardest. This was thefirst time that I was there to see theship sail away. We decided it would bebest if I moved back to Nebraska withmy parents while he was gone. It hasdefinitely helped.

He is still currently on deploymentaboard the USS Pearl Harbor. He isexpected to return by the end of theyear. I cannot wait to see his ship sail-ing toward me. As you see our mar-riage has been mainly apart, but ithas made our relationship and each ofus so strong.

I am so proud of him and what he isdoing for not only me but for ourcountry.

He is my HERO!!!!Allie Mulligan

Navy wife close to sailor, even when he is far away

Scott and Allie Mulligan


did many campouts, getting up early to make coffeeand breakfast.

I learned to fire a weapon and wear a gas maskand mopp gear. In the Navy boot camp many yearsbefore, women weren’t allowed on ships, didn’t han-dle weapons and didn’t do a confidence course.Things were different for women than for men, by1987 there was less differences in training. Moreand more opportunities were open to women.

Still I felt loyal to the Navy and desperately want-ed to be back in Navy blue’s and dungarees, notarmy green.

One day a Navy recruiter came to town and start-ed talking to the folks in the Army Reserve. Severalwere former sailors, and as it turned out eight ormore of us switched to the Navy Reserve and begandrilling one weekend a month in Lincoln. We oftencar pooled to drill, scheduled our two weeks ofactive duty for training at the same time so wecould travel together.

Over the years people went to other units or gotout of the military. My job changed in the Navyfrom a cook to a cargo handler and much to mydespair I was once again in camouflage green uni-forms (BDU’s), driving a forklift and loading air-planes with cargo. This unit was a specialized unitand did work that the active duty forces didn’t havepeople to do. I traveled to many different Air Forcebases in the US and overseas.

After 15 years I was finally getting to see theworld. I went to Scotland, Iceland, South Korea,Spain, Italy, Hawaii, and Guam.

In 2001 our Cargo Unit turned into a Fuel Unitand we went to Virginia to be trained to fuel air-planes, jeeps, trucks, tanks and ships.

On the third day of class our world changed. Itwas 9-11-01. The twin towers had been hit by planes,another plane had flown into the pentagon, only ashort distance away from where we were training.Another plane had been forced down by the bravepeople on board before it hit its intended target.

The whole country was in shock. Our unit wassent to our rooms, told not to go out, not to wear ouruniform, not to be in large groups in public. Theinstructor would be in touch and the days went byand finally we were allowed back on base and con-tinued our training.

We joined hundreds of army and navy personnelin a candlelight service in memory of those thathad died on 9-11. We trained with renewed purposeand wondered what was next. Would we be mobi-lized, would we return home to prepare for deploy-ment or return to our civilian jobs and continue todrill in the reserves?

We had many questions. One of our shipmateswas prior active duty Navy Military Police and hewas activated from our training. He went straightfrom Virginia to his new assignment. By the timeour training was completed, we were allowed to flyback home. It had been questionable for several

days if planes would be flying again or if we wouldbe sent home by bus or car rentals or staying thereor going somewhere else by military transporta-tion. When we arrived back home, our reserve cen-ters became more secure, fences went up and con-crete barriers were put in place. We did training insmall groups or at home by computer.

Life had changed for everyone. My Fuels Unit was activated in the summer of

2004. My friend, Rebecca and I were high yeartenure. We were near the end of our enlistment andhad little chance to advance in rank and we weregiven the choice of going with our unit on deploy-ment or staying back. We both looked at each otherand said “lets go” and so we did. Many of us haddrilled together for more than 10 years. It wasunthinkable that we would stay behind so weextended our enlistments, packed our bags and ourunit went for special training in Virginia beforeleaving the states.

Rebecca and I went through hand to hand combattogether, our legs and arms covered in bruises, wefired weapons, struggled in the rain and the sand tofire the machine guns and do what we had to do andone day while standing outside our tent we shookour heads and wondered what in the world we werethinking when we said we wanted to be deployed….

We were crazy, we were at least 10 years olderthan most of our shipmates and then we picked upour 80 lb duffle bags and our weapon and climbedon the bus. We went to Iraq and went thru moreweapons training, convoy training, etc. Had moreshots, malaria pills, sand flea pesticides impregnat-ed in our uniforms and after moving camp severaltimes for training our mission changed and some ofour unit was not needed to continue in Iraq.

Rebecca and I did not move forward to the fuelstations. We were stationed in Kuwait, in supportassignments. I tracked equipment and cargo in andout of the port. Rebecca was an administrative spe-cialist for the command. We were lucky, we ate in adining hall and slept in tents and later we movedinto the old Kuwait Navy barracks. All tents hadelectricity and air conditioning. We always drankbottled water, used the porta pot nearby and walkedacross the compound to do laundry.

Around the camp was a stone wall and you couldsee areas where Sadam Hussain’s troops had exe-cuted the Kuwait sailors. There were bullet holesin the stone wall and the barracks. Some parts ofthe wall had fallen down because it had been usedso much that it was blown away by all the bullets.

We were so thankful we lived in America andrealized we took for granted clean running waterand flush toilets.

A new normal emerged. I will never forget those days, the friends I made,

the job I did. On Christmas Eve we went caroling toall the Kuwaiti and American guard posts in ourarea. We had a grill in the back of a jeep for steaks

and seafood which we delivered to those personnelon guard. We sang Jingle Bells and other carols andwe belted out “we wish you a Merry Christmas“.The Kuwaiti guards didn’t understand the wordsbut they danced and clapped and smiled andlaughed with us.

We had a Christmas dinner prepared by theenlisted from supplies sent form caring folks in theUS and the officers and upper enlisted served 300 ofus. We had deep fat fried turkeys with all the trim-mings.

Spring came, our little corner of earth had somegreen grass and flowers, and we received word wewere going home in March or April.

We trained, worked and continued the mission.New personnel arrived and we trained them to takeour place, to do our jobs. We cleaned up our rooms,offices and tents. We shipped home things we hadacquired over the past eight months.

The day came for me to leave and part of me wassad. I had made many new friends, gained newskills, learned to depend on others and had othersdepend on me for their safety and in fact their life.We laughed, we cried and we said our good bye’sand see ya later’s.

Rebecca was staying there to provide support andtraining for the new administration and would becoming home after the last of our 360 +- personnelhad orders and departed for the US. I returnedhome in late March 2005.

It was nearly a year before I saw Rebecca againand in 2009, we had a joint retirement ceremony inOmaha with a few friends and family present. Wehad stood the watch and the watch was relieved.

We bid farewell to our Navy careers. Between uswe had 46 years of service and we each had had 10years of broken service time. We served with prideand would do it again if needed. We remember thegood and the bad, the ugly and the beautiful places,and times we had and do not regret it.

God Bless America and all who have served.Thank you.


Sgt. Ernesto J. Cordero, U.S. Army

US Army Korean War MIA Sept. 1950 to present day

US Army - WW II 1942 - 1945

Ernesto J. Cordero was orphaned as a child withhis mother’s passing in Iowa in the 1920s. He thencame to Lexington with his grandmother.

At the start of WW II he returned to the home ofMr. and Mrs. Ramon Robles, his uncle and aunt, inLexington. Mrs. Robles and Sgt. Cordero’s deceasedmother were sisters.

In 1942 in Lexington he was drafted into theArmy. In the Army he served as a medic in battlesin the South Pacific including the US return to the

Philippines. On his discharge in 1945 he returnedto Lexington for a few years.

During that time he developed an interest in box-ing and he participated in the local Golden Gloves,going on to the competition in Omaha.

In 1950 he enlisted in the U.S. Army with plans tomake the Army his career. Sgt. Cordero was sin-gle.

Surviving Robles family members, includingReyes Robles in Lexington, are his next-of-kin.

For the majority of years that he has been miss-ing the family had no information about him. Invery recent years information on Sgt. Cordero’sservice in Korea has been provided to them indetailed reports from the Defense POW/MissingPersonnel Office.

According to the Report, in Korea Sgt. Corderowas assigned to F (“Fox”) Company, 2nd Battalionof the 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd InfantryDivision. In a section about the General MilitarySituation and Circumstances of Loss, the reportstates: “Among those much-needed reinforcements(in the early weeks of the War) were Sgt. Corderoand his companions in the 9th Infantry Regiment,which disembarked at Pusan on 31 July 1950.

In fact, they were the first troops to depart thecontinental U.S. for duty in Korea, havingembarked from Seattle and Tacoma, Wash., on 17July.”

The report details the attack by the NorthKoreans on the U.S. forces on the night of 31August in that area of the eastern shore of theNaktong River and states: “At some point duringthe desperate fighting on the night of 31 Augustand the early hours of 1 September Sgt. Corderowas lost.”

While some members of Sgt. Cordero’s familyhave passed on, never having received any infor-mation about his loss, now, 60 years later, his sur-viving family, including the younger generations,know about Ernie, even though they never knewhim. They also know about a memento he left thefamily; on his way to Korea the ship stopped inJapan, and he made a recording while there. Hespeaks to his family on the record and finally says:

“I’m going to sing you a song so that you’ll remem-ber me”.

He then sings, in his deep, rich voice, a WW IIlove song.

Ernie is not forgotten.

Ernie Cordero missing in action, but not forgotten

Sergeant Ernesto J. Cordero

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Doris LaRee (Frager) Stephens US Navy 12/01/72 - 1/23/75, US Army Reserve

8/83-7/87, US Navy Reserve 8/87-1/1/09I volunteered for the US Navy in the summer of

1972 just after graduating high school. I went in ona three year enlistment with no guarantee of an “A”school after boot camp. I had no idea what I wantedto be when I grew up and the military would pro-vide good pay and benefits for college after I servedmy enlistment.

As an only child my mother was worried aboutwhat people would think or say about a girl (me)going into the Navy. I chose the Navy because ofthe uniform, dungarees(blue jeans) and chambrayshirt, dress whites and the Navy look. The year,1972, was a time of hippies, free love and the peacesymbol everywhere. I had a “No More War” posteron the wall in my room. We were in Vietnam.

Arriving at Orlando Fla, late on Dec. 1, 1972, I wasin for an instant education and upbringing thatstarted the minute I landed at the airport andboarded the Navy bus. After arriving on base andbeing lead to the barracks boys going one way andgirls going the other, we stood in line to dump ourpockets and purses and be assigned a company andcommanding officer. Most of us were fresh out ofhigh school starting out on our own. Choosing toserve our country in the US Navy.

After our Company Commander (CC) had intro-duced herself, gave us a quick run down of whatwould happen the next day we were sent to ourcubicles to sleep. As I arranged my things in mylocker and brushed my hair the lights went out andit was time to go to bed.

I was still taking my own sweet time about get-ting into my bunk and the CC said to get into bedand I said “just a minute” .. that was the wrongthing to say. I suddenly found myself being educat-ed — “just a minute” is not the proper answer to anorder. You say yes ma’am or no ma’am and do it,NOW.

I jumped into the top bunk still with my socks on.I was shaking and crying… no one had ever yelledat me before, I wondered how I got there from home

sweet home in Nebraska. The next day started the official training. I found

out that females are to arrive in boot camp with sixwhite undies, bras, two girdles, panty hose and aslip and would be in civilian clothes for a coupleweeks while our uniforms were altered. I was thefirst female my recruiter ever recruited and had notcome with anything except the clothes I had on likethe guys do. They are given uniforms immediatelyand all their other clothes are sent home in the firstweek. Boy did my recruiter have a lot to learn andso did I.

I was in boot camp eight weeks includingChristmas 1972. I made friends with many differentladies. One girl was from New York and was ofJewish faith and she dressed up as Santa Clause forour Christmas and we had a small gift exchangeand sang Christmas carols and laughed and toldstories.

Another lady was older, was married and haddecided to come in the Navy to make a differenceand she had a small heart tattoo. One of the first Ihad ever seen on a lady. We all went to church onSunday mornings and sat together. It was a coedservice, girls and boys in the same building at thesame time. Some people passed notes. After the 4thor 5th week we were allowed to speak to the guysand even sit with them. For the end of our trainingwe all went to Disney World together.

After graduation from boot camp, I was assignedto the Naval Air Station, Fallon, Nev. I didn’t knowwhere it was and had never heard of it. It was notthe vision I had when my recruiter said if I joinedthe Navy I would see the world.

At this time the Navy was providing more oppor-tunities to females, career fields that had beenclosed to females were opening up. I was in the sec-ond group of females to be station at NAS Fallon.The base is in Nevada and provides training forpilots from the ships to practice bombing.

There were 800 men on the base and when Iarrived there was 14 female sailors. The base islocated close to a small, rural town much like therural towns of Nebraska. It is 70 miles east of RenoNev., just south if Interstate 80. Between Fallon and

Reno was the famous Mustang Ranch. The casinos in Reno liked the sailors to come into

town and spend their money. The gave out couponsfor free breakfasts or 2 for 1, buy $5 in quarters andget 5 dollars in chips free, get lucky bucks to playand spend.

Since the base was considered a remote assign-ment or isolated it was authorized to give 96 hourpasses once a month if your department couldschedule work and let you off so often I could get along week end pass and spend several days sightseeing going to the lake or the sand dunes, campingor spending time in Reno without using any leavetime.

It was great. There were numerous road trips toReno and sometimes I would ride along with theguys I worked with and we would go to the casino inReno and eat breakfast, sometimes the car wouldmake a stop at the “Ranch” and I would wait in thecar.

Later that year I fell in love with another sailor,we got married. When I was pregnant I wore civil-ian maternity clothes because they didn’t havematernity uniforms. At that time you had to havespecial permission to stay in the Navy when preg-nant, not like now when you have to stay in.

I was discharged from the Navy when my son wasborn. Now the policy is reversed and only undercertain circumstances will you be discharged fromthe Navy due to pregnancy or childbirth.

After my discharge from active duty I lived andwent to school for two years in Reno, Nev.

After graduating form the University of Nevadain Reno with an AA in pre-school education I gotdivorced and returned to Nebraska with my son.

I still longed to be a part of the Navy and after a10 year break in service I joined the local ArmyReserve unit. I had a choice to become a cook, or dolaundry and showers, or operate a forklift.

I decided it was time to learn to cook and so I wassent to a two week army cooking school inCalifornia. I ran my first physical fitness mile andhalf, did sit-ups and pushups, spit shined my armyboots and was indoctrinated in the Army ways. I

Reflections from a woman in the service


FAIRBANKS INTERNATIONAL75481 Road 435 • P.O. Box 571 • Lexington, NE 68850

308-324-5553 800-248-5523Service is the foundation of our business

www.fairbanksintl.com

“Land of theFree”

Thank a Vet!Eustis 308-486-5515

Lexington 308-324-6812

Cozad 308-784-2151

WWee aapppprreecciiaattee aanndd tthhaannkk yyoouu ffoorr aallll tthhee ssaaccrriiffiicceess yyoouu mmaaddee ffoorr oouurr ffrreeeeddoomm..

402 N. Grant Lexington • 308-324-2303

Robert Lee Shaw, U.S. NavyThe 9,227-ton Dutch freighter

Tjinegara was torpedoed and sunk 74miles southwest of Nouméa, NewCaledonia, by the Japanese subma-rine I-169. Tjinegara was owned by theJava-China-Japan Lijn out of Bataviaand was operated by the United StatesArmy primarily as an animal trans-port; it was sailing to Nouméa fromRockhampton, Queensland, Australia,with a load of horses and mules.

Robert L. Shaw was a 17-year-oldseaman in the 12-man U.S. NavyArmed Guard, and had been aboardTjinegara for about a month. This ishis account of his rescue by the USSWorden:

On July 25th 1942, 65 years ago,Steve and I was asleep on board S.S.Tjinegara at 11:30 P.M..

Our load on board ship consisted of477 horses and a road grader and 2,000cases of beer.

We heard a loud explosion thatwoke us up. We smelled gunpowder.Had no idea what was wrong.

We jumped out of our bunk bedsand I ran towards the bow of the ship.The deck hands were jumping overboard and the abandoned ship signalwas given. So I turned and went to thebridge to my lifeboat site.

Decided I had five dollars in myroom and so I went down below deckto get my suitcase and returned. Thecaptain was going down the life boatsand I followed him. Where the torpedohit was big enough to drive a truck in.

I thought we were the last ones toget off, the captain and me. We pushedoff and paddled away from the ship.We went on the opposite side of theship. Sometime later one of the horsesgot loose and was headed for our lifeboat. They were going to shoot itbecause they were afraid that it wouldget into the boat. The captain said no,

because the blood would attractsharks.

The captain noticed a periscope andannounced it to us and watched as thetorpedo went into the ship on theopposite side of the ship. And shortlythereafter aboard ship blew the aban-doned ship after that the ship sank.Shortly thereafter a plane flew overand circled us for awhile. Might havesaved us, period.

At the time, submarines many

times surfaced and shot survivors. Sowe were fortunate to have the planeup above. I am sure that saved us.

We drifted all night till the nextnight around dusk. We spotted severalships on the horizon. As they got clos-er we, with sound of our voice, toldthem what happened.

It happened to be the U.S.S. Wordenthat came along side of us. They tookus aboard that ship and fed us. Wewere aboard that ship one week. Wemade a trip to Sydney, Australia, onthe U.S.S. Grant where we picked upsurvivors from the U.S.S. Lexingtonthat had been sunk in battle and took

them to Sydney. Then we came to theUnited States, to San Francisco, and Iwent home on leave.

On the U.S.S. Worden while in themess hall, it came over the intercom ifanyone is standing guard duty or notusing their bunk to go to the mess halland volunteer your bunk to one of thesurvivors. While sitting in the messhall, a young man came up to me andask me if I had a place to sleep. I toldhim no. So he said he would be on

deck that night, so if I needed a bed Icould use his.

On our way back stern, where hisliving quarters were, someone askedhim “What time is your watch Bob?”then he answered them. Then wemoved on to the living quarters andsomeone ask him “what time is itShaw” and he answered him. Then Iasked him what his name was and hesaid Robert Shaw. I told him that’s myname too. I said what is your middlename and he said George. I said mymiddle name is Lee. I would like tofind him again.

I don’t know how many survivedbecause we never got together as acrew again, but I know someone wasaboard when the ship sank becauseabandon ship was signaled just beforethe ship sank.

Amazingly, there were no reportedcasualties. Worden rescued 36 sur-vivors; they debarked at Nouméa on 1August 1942. Six days later, Wordenserved as a screening escort duringthe invasions of Tulagi andGuadalcanal in the EasternSolomons.

Tjinegara was I-169’s only victim ofthe war. On 4 April 1944, submarine I-169 was accidentally sunk by its owncrew while trying to escape an air raidnear Truk. Many of the crew weretrapped in the hull and were suffocat-ed by end of the next day. The wreck ofI-169 off Dublon Island, Truk, is still apopular destination for scuba divers.

Sources:Robert L. Shaw correspondence

Australian War Memorial www.wivonet.nl

Courtesy photosU.S.S. Tjinegara before being sunk by the Japanese 74 miles southwest ofNouméa, New Caledonia.

Robert L. Shaw

Overton serviceman’s ship rescued after being torpedoed6 Veteran’s Day 2010Lexington Cl ipper-HeraldKeepsake Memory Book Keepsake Memory BookVeteran’s Day 2010 15Lexington Cl ipper-Herald

Lloyd R. H. Schulte was an Army prisoner of war in the Battle ofthe Bulge. Lloyd’s four sons also served in the service: RichardH. in the Navy, Edward in the Army, George A. in the Marines andDavid K. in the Navy. Two grandsons, Michael D., Navy, and EricPicquet, Air Force, also served. We praise God all returned homesafely. Pictured are, left, Michael and Richard.

Michael and Richard Schulte

Faud Maloley joined the U.S,Army at the age of 21 on Jan.10,1942. He was assigned to a trans-port division and served in theEuropean Theatre during WWll.

All hours of the day and nighthe hauled supplies to the troops.

He said, “I hauled supplies,food, ammunition to variouscamps throughout England andScotland. Many, many times withdeafening buzz bombs hitting allaround us.”

Often he would be forced todrive at night with no lightswhile Germany conducted bomb-ing raids.

His favorite duty was when hewas called on to transport V.I.P.sstationed in England and remem-bers well hauling Generals to andfrom different bases in Europe.

Faud Maloley served with prideand even today feels fortunate tohave been part of this country’smilitary.

God Bless the United States ofAmerica.

Faud Maloley

Sgt. Dwight F. Noble who servedduring the Korean Conflict,1951-1955.

Robert E. McTygueU.S. Navy

I have a lot of fond memories of my Navy experiences, the newfriendships that have lasted a lifetime, the travels, the training, the let-ters from home; a lot to remember. But one memory that has lasted alot of years is the memory of the North Platte Canteen.

It was established on Christmas Day in 1941 by townspeople hand-ing out food and small presents to soldiers and sailors when the steamengine had stopped to take on more water. For the troops on the train,mostly from the eastern and central part of the United States, it wasan unheard of treat; they could not believe everything was free foreveryone.

Everything was donated by the women from large and small townsfrom Nebraska, Colorado and Kansas. They met every troop train thatcame through North Platte for almost five years until stopping onApril 1, 1946. During this time there were more than 55,000 volunteersfrom 125 communities that furnished food and everything else.

There is a book written by Bob Green, “Once Upon a Town: TheMiracle of the North Platte Canteen” which said that more than six million service men were nurtured bothon their way to war and back home again.

Any service man who experienced a visit to the North Platte Canteen will always cherish the wonderfullunches, the camaraderie and the very open friendless of all the volunteers.

I know I always will.Bob McTygueOverton

Bob McTygue


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The King salutes you.We appreciate your service!

1313 Plum Creek Parkway, Lexington • Across from Tyson

LEXINGTON1103 BUFFALO BEND

(308) 324-6386EUSTIS

106 E. RAILROAD • (308) 486-5440

ELWOOD202 SMITH AVE. • (308) 785-3385


C-H photo • Danny Gruber

Wall of HonorConnie Smets of Johnson Lake has been working on a Wall of Honor for the servicemen and women in her family. Currently she has the photos of 11 persons on her Wallof Honor and is looking to add 10 more, as soon as she has the photos in hand fromextended family members. The group of servicemen and women include cousins,great uncles, and husbands of cousins, along with her own husband, son and father-in-law. Each branch of the military is represented on the wall with the exception of theCoast Guard and duty includes wars from World War I to Afghanistan. Smets said thewall is a work in progress and she hopes to eventually have a snapshot of each familymember in the military displayed on the wall. She focuses on using photos from bootcamp or immediately after graduation, before any medals or ribbons are earned. “Thatway, no one out ranks anyone else,” Smets said.

Larry Thornburg was aSergeant in the Air Force from1968 to 1971.

Marvin Thornburg was aSergeant with the Army NationalGuard from 1970 to 1976.

Frank Thornburg was a seaman withthe Merchant Marines from Dec. 30,1944 to April 7, 1947.

Each are proud to haveserved their country

Truman Burch Spencer Burch

Rowland E. Anthony wasbetter known as" Dutch." Hewas proud of being a veter-an and serving his countryand his special love for theU.S. flag. It's impossible towrite a tribute to him. Wouldbe easier to write a book.He was proud of working forCongresswoman VirginiaSmith and so very proud ofdriving for Dwight DEisenhower in WWII. Heworked many years for Dr.Hundley at the Vet Clinic andTerry Crawford to name afew. Of course he is bestknown for his Nativity sceneor better yet for his" jokes."He was a special friend tome and to my family and leftspecial memories to many inour town.

Doris Linn and family

Carl Schwarz served during theKorean War in 1952. He was in for21 months, spending 13 and onehalf of those months overseas.

Father and son who both served

Norman SchmittU.S. Army

World War II Vet

Norman Schmitt was myfather who served in WWII

from 1943 until 1946 asTechnician Fourth Grade.

My wife Sondra(Chubbuck) Schmitt hasthree member of her familywho served.

Her dad, Floyd Chubbuck,served in the Navy duringWWII.

Her old brother, GordonChubbuck, graduated fromAnnapolis Naval Academy in1965 and served in Vietnam.

Her younger brother BillChubbuck, also served in

Vietnam at thesame time.

I am sorry that Ido not have picturethe Chubbucks butI do have a pictureof Gordon and ourfirst child JeanannRenee Schmitt inGrinnell, Iowa in1968 while he wasstill on the Navy.

Don SchmittSalina, Kan.

GordonChubbuck, U.S.

Navy andJeanann Renee

Schmitt

Norman Schmitt

Clipper-HeraldLEXINGTON


Kirk’s NebraskalandRestaurant & Lounge

308-324-6641 • I-80 & Hwy 283, Lexington

RReeyynnoollddss--LLoovvee FFuunneerraall HHoommee308-324-2221106 West 8th Street • Lexington, NE 68850

In Support of All Those Who Proudly Serve

Dan’s Sanitation324-6693 • Lexington

On Veteran’s Day, and everyday, weremember with respect those who

have fought and are fighting to defendour ideals and secure our freedoms.

Radioman 1st class. I received 11 dif-ferent medals during my service toour Country.

Here is the Meritorious commenda-tion the Larson received.

The Secretary of the Navy takespleasure in presenting the MERITO-RIOUS UNIT COMMENDATION TOUSS EVERETT F. LARSON (DD-830)for service as set forth in the following CITATION:

For meritorious service from 25February 1972 to 19 July 1972 as a unitof the United States SEVENTH Fleetparticipating in combat and combatsupport operations in Southeast Asia.During successive naval gunfire strikeoperations against military targets inNorth Vietnam, USS EVERETT F.LARSON maneuvered under the most

difficult navigational circumstances towithin target range, inflicting heavydamage upon the enemy. While supply-ing suppression fire for the task unit,USS EVERETT F. LARSON directedmaximum gunfire into enemy coastaldefense sites and, although exposed tocontinuous heavy hostile fire, remainedon station until the striking force hadcleared enemy gun range. Duringnaval gunfire support operations inSouth Vietnam, USS EVERETT F.LARSON succeeded in inflicting heavydamage as well as delivering accurateand destructive counter-battery fireinto enemy gun emplacements. Theprofessionalism, esprit de corps, andteamwork displayed by the personnel ofUSS EVERETT F. LARSON were inkeeping with the highest traditions ofthe United States Naval Service.

Courtesy photoAbove: John Soflin manning 50 caliber machine gun; left, Soflin checkingout merchant ships through the Big Eyes at Haiphong Harbor NorthVietnam.

PO Box 980 • 13th & Erie Streets • Lexington, Nebraska • 308-324-8323

Thank you Veterans for your courage,

determination and honor.

318 W. 18th • Cozad, NE • 308-784-3715

Offering Skilled Nursing

Assisted Living &

Alzheimer’s CareVVAA BBeenneeffiittss AAcccceepptteedd

This is a reprint of an arti-cle about Richard Sebergerwritten by then-editor of theLexington Clipper-HeraldGeorge Lauby and which orig-inally appeared July 1, 2000.Seberger died March 3, 2010.

LEXINGTON – Lexingtonresident Richard Sebergerwas wounded in a front-linebattle almost 49 years ago inKorea, and was one of only afew who returned home fromthat battle. He received thePurple Heart for his actions.

Many friends and neigh-bors don’t know much aboutthe Korean War chapter ofSeberger’s life although hehas lived in rural Lexingtonthroughout his life,

“I haven’t ever really toldanyone about what hap-pened,” he said Sunday nearthe conclusion of the KoreanWar commemoration atHeartland Museum. ButSeberger then talked forawhile, often with a distantgaze or a wince.

“We were so far north theydidn’t want to say where wewere,” Seberger said of posi-tion he found himself in thefall of 1951. He arrived inKorea in August as a Pfc. inthe Marine Corps, and bySeptember he was with FoxCompany near the 38th paral-lel.

On his way to the front, heand the 375 soldiers of Foxcompany marched throughmiles of dead soldiers.“That’s when we realized itwas going to be serious,” hesaid. When they arrived, the

company replaced a companythat had been virtually wipedout.

For a month or more, com-bat was a daily routine. Andon Oct. 25 - shortly after mid-night - the 19-year-oldSeberger was in a foxhole, fir-ing a light .30 caliber machinegun. He fired without let up atadvancing North Koreans forabout 45 minutes.

“It got a little interestingthere for awhile,” he dead-pans.

“When they (the gun bar-rels) got hot, they looked like(a tube of) hot rubber,” hesaid. During the battleSeberger used up 15 boxes ofmachine gun ammunition,each of which contained 250rounds, and burned up about15 gun barrels.

He was wounded at 1 a.m bya North Korean with a “burpgun” - a hand-held automaticweapon - who raked the fox-hole with fire. He was shot inthe hand and his assistantgunner was shot in the arm.

As the two lay in the bottomof the foxhole and dressedtheir wounds, a North Koreanpeered over the edge.Seberger shot him with a .45caliber pistol.

Their gun was shot up.Under the cover of threemachine guns above him onthe hillside, the two mencrawled out of the hole andmade their way to the compa-ny commander,

“I had a light .30 caliberabove me 50 or 60 yards,” hesaid, “and two water-cooledmachine guns on each side of

them. There were about 35 ofus left alive, manning about adozen machine guns.”

Wounded and with theirgun disabled, Seberger andhis assistant gunner wereordered to leave the hill.

The two hiked souththrough the night for aboutthree miles until they reacheda small hospital camp. Theywere waiting in line for a mor-phine shot and evacuation byhelicopter when incomingshells disrupted their treat-ment.

“I’m not sure what theywere,” Seberger said. “Eithermortar rounds or artillery.”

With about a dozen otherwounded soldiers, they decid-ed to walk south through thenight and the mountainousterrain to the next hospital, adistance of about 17 miles. Hecollapsed when they arrived.

“We were in sight of a RedCross military ambulance,and that’s all I remember,” hesaid. “I woke up five days lateron a hospital ship bound forJapan.”

In addition to being wound-ed and weary from the all-night hike, Seberger wasweakened by days of eatinglimited rations on the front.Two men lived on one sol-dier’s rations - one half-Cration and a half-canteen ofwater per day.

The rest of his companywas killed after he left, helater learned. He was told thatthere were 4,200 NorthKoreans in the force thatattacked Fox company thatnight. He was told that the

North Korean he killed wasfound below his foxhole, stillholding a grenade.

From Japan, Seberger wasflown to Honolulu with 78other wounded GIs. There,during a brief stopover, Gen.Lemuel C. Shepard,Commandant of the MarineCorps, awarded him thePurple Heart.

From there, he flew toEdwards Air Force Base,where he was decoratedagain. He then flew to GreatLakes Military Hospital northof Chicago. He was home onleave when he received a med-ical discharge in March 1952.

He married, and with hiswife Kate raised eight chil-dren. His youngest son,Dennis, has completed thefirst year of study at the U.S.Naval Academy.

“I was one of the luckyones,” Rich said. “Peopledon’t really believe that itever happened. They don’tbelieve that it really could.”

Seberger remembers front line battles in Korean War

Richard Seberger


Harold H. HeinsLexington

***Editor’s note: HaroldH. Heins was a radio oper-ator in New Guinea andPhilippine Islands for the6th Infantry Division dur-ing World War II. His divi-sion saw 306 days of com-bat out of the 30 monthsthey were in the PacificTheater. The selectionbelow his from a story hewrote about his time dur-ing the war called“Memoirs of World WarII.”***

“Some of the things Ilearned while I was in theservice is there isn’t muchdifference in individuals.Anyone could do what Idid and probably havedone it better. This oldstuff about soiling yourclothes when you getscared never happenedthat I know of. I have beenscared enough to wheremy heart hammered onmy ribs so I could hear it.

I also learned a radiooperator doesn’t get muchrank or glory. Your nameonly gets mentioned ifyou get shot. I am veryproud to have been able toserve with such wonderfulbrave men in the infantryand artillery. We had a lotof respect for the AirForce, the Navy, theMarines and everyonewho helped us. I learnedearly to say your prayers,expect fear and then Don’tPanic.”


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709 N. Washington St.Lexington, NE 68850308-324-7424

NELSONS508 N. Washington Street,

Lexington, NE308-324-6406

6 months freefinancing(W.A.C.)

We appreciate

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707 OntarioLexington

308-324-5186

We would like to take this opportunity to say “Thank You” to all of the men and women, young

and old, for ensuring our safety and freedom. There is no greater honor than defending something

you love and believe in. We Salute You.Lexington •• Gothenburg

Minden •• Holdrege •• Phillipsburg •• Smith Center

John Soflin, U.S. NavyI served in the U.S. Navy from 1969

through 1973. I worked in communica-tions and was rated a Radioman.

After boot camp and radio school, Ihad three different duty stations dur-ing my four years in the Navy.

My first duty station was at the USNaval air station and communica-tions facility based on a little tinyisland in the Bering Sea called Adakfor a year.

Adak at that time was mainly a spystation that kept track of Russianships and submarines.

One thing I remember about Adakwas the cold and wind 11 months ofthe year.

The month of August was the sum-mer monsoon. Everything bloomedand grew, but it only lasted for threeor four weeks.

We also had numerous earthquakesduring my time on Adak Island.

After leaving Adak I was assignedto the U.S.S. Everett F. Larson DD 830home ported in Long BeachCalifornia.

The Larson was an older typeGering Class destroyer built duringWWII.

The Larson’s primary duty was toprovide gunfire support from our

three twin mounts 5” x 38 guns. We were in Vietnam from Dec. 1971

till the fall of 1972. We traversed all upand down the coasts of both Southand North Vietnam providing gunfiresupport to troops on the ground. Wealso did blockades of Chinese mer-chant ships providing support to theViet Cong and North Vietnamesearmies.

During the Easter offensive of 1972,the Larson was at sea for over 100 dayswithout going into port. It was a veryhectic and active time providing sup-port to the troops on the ground fend-ing off the Viet Cong and NorthVietnamese army offensive as theyattack the South Vietnam troops.

Perhaps my most vivid memorywhile on the Larson was when wewere ordered to Haiphong Harbor inNorth Vietnam to provide support toour ships that were going to mine theharbor as ordered by President Nixon.The Larson was the very first ship toarrive on station.

Not being a very modern ship wewere not equipment with missiles toward off attacks from Russian MiGjets that flew out to attack us once wearrived in Haiphong Harbor. We werelucky enough to have air support fromthe USS Kitty Hawk.

The dogfights that took place right

over us were a sight to behold. Eventhough the MiG was a better airplanethen our F-4 Phantom Navy jets, ourNavy pilots were better trained andevery MiG was shot out of the skywithout us losing one aircraft. TheLarson was not hit from any shot firedat her by the MiG’s. We were very for-tunate to have cover from the Navyfighter pilots.

The Larson received a meritoriousservice commendation, (see below) forour efforts in Vietnam during our lastcruise. The Larson was decommis-

sioned and sold to the South Koreansupon our return to the United Statesin the fall of 1972.

My last duty station was on the USSCacapon, AO 52, which was an oil sup-ply ship. The Cacapon was in Vietnamat the time the Larson was decommis-sioned so I flew back over to Vietnamto join her.

The Cacapon returned to the UnitedStates in the summer of 1973 and itwas taken out of active service andmoth balled.

I was discharged in July of 73 as a

Navy radioman experienced war in Vietnam

Courtesy photoUSS EF Larson DD830


Courtesy photo

Thirty-fifth reunion of the 255th OrdnanceAll Lexington area – all enlisted together, left together, came home together – (missing from picture are Art Teetor, Benton Hofferber and Wayne

Shrack) – all served in Battle of the Bulge. Front, left to right; James Anderson, Clarence “Shorty” Larson, Harry Snowden, Melvin Meyer,Ellsworth Page. Back: Bill Hofferber, Otto Shreves, Harley Hasselbring and Al Walker.

600 N. Washington • Lexington • 324-4611

Thank you to Allwho served “The Land

of the Free”


Orthman supports all of the heroes that have and are defending this great nation.

PREMIER TOYOTPREMIER TOYOTAALocated in the SW Corner of I-80

& S. Hwy 83Next to the Holiday Inn Express

★★

S. Hwy 83

I-80

North Platte • 308-532-84001-866-798-9624

[email protected]

Premier Toyota salutes all past andpresent members of the armed forces

and gratefully acknowledges thesacrifices they have made defending

our freedom. Thank you.

For their courage, hard workand dedication to their country,we salute the men and women

of our Armed Forces past andpresent. It is because of their

sacrifice that America remainsthe land of the free, and we

thank them for protecting ourcitizens and our country.

www.plattevalleyauto.com400 N. Jefferson • Lexington NE308-324-5619


Captain Dennis G. Seberger is a 1996 graduate of Lexington High School.He served two years in the Us Marine Corps before receiving an appoint-ment with Naval Academy, where he graduated in 2003. Seberger attendedflight school in Pensacola, Fla., and now flies a helicopter. Seberger hashad two deployments to Iraq. He and his wife, Melinda, and their children,Julian and Adrianna, now live in New Bern, N.C. He is stationed at CherryPoint.

This is a photo of Lexington resi-dent Mike Araujo taken in Vietnam,July 1968. Shortly after this photowas snapped, Mike was injured onAug. 15, 1968 by a round of mortar.He survived the war in Vietnam andworks for the U.S. Postal Service asa carrier.

One of my memories thatstill come to mind from early1954:

While on maneuvers at FortBragg, Carolina we were check-ing a telephone wire from ajeep.

There was a group of menstanding in the shade of sometrees when a member of thegroup hollered at us andmotioned for us to come tothem.

I had the bill of fatigue capturned up.

One man informed me thatwas not the proper way to wearit.

I swallowed hard and did adouble take. When I looked atthe starched uniform of theman that spoke to me, there wasone big shining star on theshoulder. He was a BrigadierGeneral.

Gulp. Yes, sir!We sincerely thank God for

the lives that were given so wemay enjoy our freedom.

Robert E. Reed

A big year for Thomas (TJ) Jolliffe ofLincoln. Turning 40, celebrated five yearsof marriage and retiring from the ArmyNational Guard after 22 years of service andtwo tours overseas. We are so proud ofyou. Tom is the son of Ken and GladysJolliffe of Malcolm and the grandson ofDoris Linn of Lexington.

Mike Araujo


Nebraskaland Tire511 Plum Creek Parkway(308) 324-4604 • (308) 324-6374

I-80 & Hwy 283, Lexington

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709 N. Washington St.Lexington, NE 68850308-324-7424

NELSONS508 N. Washington Street,

Lexington, NE308-324-6406

6 months freefinancing(W.A.C.)

We appreciate

your sacrif iceFURN I TURE

707 OntarioLexington

308-324-5186

We would like to take this opportunity to say “Thank You” to all of the men and women, young

and old, for ensuring our safety and freedom. There is no greater honor than defending something

you love and believe in. We Salute You.Lexington •• Gothenburg

Minden •• Holdrege •• Phillipsburg •• Smith Center

John Soflin, U.S. NavyI served in the U.S. Navy from 1969

through 1973. I worked in communica-tions and was rated a Radioman.

After boot camp and radio school, Ihad three different duty stations dur-ing my four years in the Navy.

My first duty station was at the USNaval air station and communica-tions facility based on a little tinyisland in the Bering Sea called Adakfor a year.

Adak at that time was mainly a spystation that kept track of Russianships and submarines.

One thing I remember about Adakwas the cold and wind 11 months ofthe year.

The month of August was the sum-mer monsoon. Everything bloomedand grew, but it only lasted for threeor four weeks.

We also had numerous earthquakesduring my time on Adak Island.

After leaving Adak I was assignedto the U.S.S. Everett F. Larson DD 830home ported in Long BeachCalifornia.

The Larson was an older typeGering Class destroyer built duringWWII.

The Larson’s primary duty was toprovide gunfire support from our

three twin mounts 5” x 38 guns. We were in Vietnam from Dec. 1971

till the fall of 1972. We traversed all upand down the coasts of both Southand North Vietnam providing gunfiresupport to troops on the ground. Wealso did blockades of Chinese mer-chant ships providing support to theViet Cong and North Vietnamesearmies.

During the Easter offensive of 1972,the Larson was at sea for over 100 dayswithout going into port. It was a veryhectic and active time providing sup-port to the troops on the ground fend-ing off the Viet Cong and NorthVietnamese army offensive as theyattack the South Vietnam troops.

Perhaps my most vivid memorywhile on the Larson was when wewere ordered to Haiphong Harbor inNorth Vietnam to provide support toour ships that were going to mine theharbor as ordered by President Nixon.The Larson was the very first ship toarrive on station.

Not being a very modern ship wewere not equipment with missiles toward off attacks from Russian MiGjets that flew out to attack us once wearrived in Haiphong Harbor. We werelucky enough to have air support fromthe USS Kitty Hawk.

The dogfights that took place right

over us were a sight to behold. Eventhough the MiG was a better airplanethen our F-4 Phantom Navy jets, ourNavy pilots were better trained andevery MiG was shot out of the skywithout us losing one aircraft. TheLarson was not hit from any shot firedat her by the MiG’s. We were very for-tunate to have cover from the Navyfighter pilots.

The Larson received a meritoriousservice commendation, (see below) forour efforts in Vietnam during our lastcruise. The Larson was decommis-

sioned and sold to the South Koreansupon our return to the United Statesin the fall of 1972.

My last duty station was on the USSCacapon, AO 52, which was an oil sup-ply ship. The Cacapon was in Vietnamat the time the Larson was decommis-sioned so I flew back over to Vietnamto join her.

The Cacapon returned to the UnitedStates in the summer of 1973 and itwas taken out of active service andmoth balled.

I was discharged in July of 73 as a

Navy radioman experienced war in Vietnam

Courtesy photoUSS EF Larson DD830


Courtesy photo

Thirty-fifth reunion of the 255th OrdnanceAll Lexington area – all enlisted together, left together, came home together – (missing from picture are Art Teetor, Benton Hofferber and Wayne

Shrack) – all served in Battle of the Bulge. Front, left to right; James Anderson, Clarence “Shorty” Larson, Harry Snowden, Melvin Meyer,Ellsworth Page. Back: Bill Hofferber, Otto Shreves, Harley Hasselbring and Al Walker.

600 N. Washington • Lexington • 324-4611

Thank you to Allwho served “The Land

of the Free”


Kirk’s NebraskalandRestaurant & Lounge

308-324-6641 • I-80 & Hwy 283, Lexington

RReeyynnoollddss--LLoovvee FFuunneerraall HHoommee308-324-2221106 West 8th Street • Lexington, NE 68850

In Support of All Those Who Proudly Serve

Dan’s Sanitation324-6693 • Lexington

On Veteran’s Day, and everyday, weremember with respect those who

have fought and are fighting to defendour ideals and secure our freedoms.

Radioman 1st class. I received 11 dif-ferent medals during my service toour Country.

Here is the Meritorious commenda-tion the Larson received.

The Secretary of the Navy takespleasure in presenting the MERITO-RIOUS UNIT COMMENDATION TOUSS EVERETT F. LARSON (DD-830)for service as set forth in the following CITATION:

For meritorious service from 25February 1972 to 19 July 1972 as a unitof the United States SEVENTH Fleetparticipating in combat and combatsupport operations in Southeast Asia.During successive naval gunfire strikeoperations against military targets inNorth Vietnam, USS EVERETT F.LARSON maneuvered under the most

difficult navigational circumstances towithin target range, inflicting heavydamage upon the enemy. While supply-ing suppression fire for the task unit,USS EVERETT F. LARSON directedmaximum gunfire into enemy coastaldefense sites and, although exposed tocontinuous heavy hostile fire, remainedon station until the striking force hadcleared enemy gun range. Duringnaval gunfire support operations inSouth Vietnam, USS EVERETT F.LARSON succeeded in inflicting heavydamage as well as delivering accurateand destructive counter-battery fireinto enemy gun emplacements. Theprofessionalism, esprit de corps, andteamwork displayed by the personnel ofUSS EVERETT F. LARSON were inkeeping with the highest traditions ofthe United States Naval Service.

Courtesy photoAbove: John Soflin manning 50 caliber machine gun; left, Soflin checkingout merchant ships through the Big Eyes at Haiphong Harbor NorthVietnam.

PO Box 980 • 13th & Erie Streets • Lexington, Nebraska • 308-324-8323

Thank you Veterans for your courage,

determination and honor.

318 W. 18th • Cozad, NE • 308-784-3715

Offering Skilled Nursing

Assisted Living &

Alzheimer’s CareVVAA BBeenneeffiittss AAcccceepptteedd

This is a reprint of an arti-cle about Richard Sebergerwritten by then-editor of theLexington Clipper-HeraldGeorge Lauby and which orig-inally appeared July 1, 2000.Seberger died March 3, 2010.

LEXINGTON – Lexingtonresident Richard Sebergerwas wounded in a front-linebattle almost 49 years ago inKorea, and was one of only afew who returned home fromthat battle. He received thePurple Heart for his actions.

Many friends and neigh-bors don’t know much aboutthe Korean War chapter ofSeberger’s life although hehas lived in rural Lexingtonthroughout his life,

“I haven’t ever really toldanyone about what hap-pened,” he said Sunday nearthe conclusion of the KoreanWar commemoration atHeartland Museum. ButSeberger then talked forawhile, often with a distantgaze or a wince.

“We were so far north theydidn’t want to say where wewere,” Seberger said of posi-tion he found himself in thefall of 1951. He arrived inKorea in August as a Pfc. inthe Marine Corps, and bySeptember he was with FoxCompany near the 38th paral-lel.

On his way to the front, heand the 375 soldiers of Foxcompany marched throughmiles of dead soldiers.“That’s when we realized itwas going to be serious,” hesaid. When they arrived, the

company replaced a companythat had been virtually wipedout.

For a month or more, com-bat was a daily routine. Andon Oct. 25 - shortly after mid-night - the 19-year-oldSeberger was in a foxhole, fir-ing a light .30 caliber machinegun. He fired without let up atadvancing North Koreans forabout 45 minutes.

“It got a little interestingthere for awhile,” he dead-pans.

“When they (the gun bar-rels) got hot, they looked like(a tube of) hot rubber,” hesaid. During the battleSeberger used up 15 boxes ofmachine gun ammunition,each of which contained 250rounds, and burned up about15 gun barrels.

He was wounded at 1 a.m bya North Korean with a “burpgun” - a hand-held automaticweapon - who raked the fox-hole with fire. He was shot inthe hand and his assistantgunner was shot in the arm.

As the two lay in the bottomof the foxhole and dressedtheir wounds, a North Koreanpeered over the edge.Seberger shot him with a .45caliber pistol.

Their gun was shot up.Under the cover of threemachine guns above him onthe hillside, the two mencrawled out of the hole andmade their way to the compa-ny commander,

“I had a light .30 caliberabove me 50 or 60 yards,” hesaid, “and two water-cooledmachine guns on each side of

them. There were about 35 ofus left alive, manning about adozen machine guns.”

Wounded and with theirgun disabled, Seberger andhis assistant gunner wereordered to leave the hill.

The two hiked souththrough the night for aboutthree miles until they reacheda small hospital camp. Theywere waiting in line for a mor-phine shot and evacuation byhelicopter when incomingshells disrupted their treat-ment.

“I’m not sure what theywere,” Seberger said. “Eithermortar rounds or artillery.”

With about a dozen otherwounded soldiers, they decid-ed to walk south through thenight and the mountainousterrain to the next hospital, adistance of about 17 miles. Hecollapsed when they arrived.

“We were in sight of a RedCross military ambulance,and that’s all I remember,” hesaid. “I woke up five days lateron a hospital ship bound forJapan.”

In addition to being wound-ed and weary from the all-night hike, Seberger wasweakened by days of eatinglimited rations on the front.Two men lived on one sol-dier’s rations - one half-Cration and a half-canteen ofwater per day.

The rest of his companywas killed after he left, helater learned. He was told thatthere were 4,200 NorthKoreans in the force thatattacked Fox company thatnight. He was told that the

North Korean he killed wasfound below his foxhole, stillholding a grenade.

From Japan, Seberger wasflown to Honolulu with 78other wounded GIs. There,during a brief stopover, Gen.Lemuel C. Shepard,Commandant of the MarineCorps, awarded him thePurple Heart.

From there, he flew toEdwards Air Force Base,where he was decoratedagain. He then flew to GreatLakes Military Hospital northof Chicago. He was home onleave when he received a med-ical discharge in March 1952.

He married, and with hiswife Kate raised eight chil-dren. His youngest son,Dennis, has completed thefirst year of study at the U.S.Naval Academy.

“I was one of the luckyones,” Rich said. “Peopledon’t really believe that itever happened. They don’tbelieve that it really could.”

Seberger remembers front line battles in Korean War

Richard Seberger


Harold H. HeinsLexington

***Editor’s note: HaroldH. Heins was a radio oper-ator in New Guinea andPhilippine Islands for the6th Infantry Division dur-ing World War II. His divi-sion saw 306 days of com-bat out of the 30 monthsthey were in the PacificTheater. The selectionbelow his from a story hewrote about his time dur-ing the war called“Memoirs of World WarII.”***

“Some of the things Ilearned while I was in theservice is there isn’t muchdifference in individuals.Anyone could do what Idid and probably havedone it better. This oldstuff about soiling yourclothes when you getscared never happenedthat I know of. I have beenscared enough to wheremy heart hammered onmy ribs so I could hear it.

I also learned a radiooperator doesn’t get muchrank or glory. Your nameonly gets mentioned ifyou get shot. I am veryproud to have been able toserve with such wonderfulbrave men in the infantryand artillery. We had a lotof respect for the AirForce, the Navy, theMarines and everyonewho helped us. I learnedearly to say your prayers,expect fear and then Don’tPanic.”


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The King salutes you.We appreciate your service!

1313 Plum Creek Parkway, Lexington • Across from Tyson

LEXINGTON1103 BUFFALO BEND

(308) 324-6386EUSTIS

106 E. RAILROAD • (308) 486-5440

ELWOOD202 SMITH AVE. • (308) 785-3385


C-H photo • Danny Gruber

Wall of HonorConnie Smets of Johnson Lake has been working on a Wall of Honor for the servicemen and women in her family. Currently she has the photos of 11 persons on her Wallof Honor and is looking to add 10 more, as soon as she has the photos in hand fromextended family members. The group of servicemen and women include cousins,great uncles, and husbands of cousins, along with her own husband, son and father-in-law. Each branch of the military is represented on the wall with the exception of theCoast Guard and duty includes wars from World War I to Afghanistan. Smets said thewall is a work in progress and she hopes to eventually have a snapshot of each familymember in the military displayed on the wall. She focuses on using photos from bootcamp or immediately after graduation, before any medals or ribbons are earned. “Thatway, no one out ranks anyone else,” Smets said.

Larry Thornburg was aSergeant in the Air Force from1968 to 1971.

Marvin Thornburg was aSergeant with the Army NationalGuard from 1970 to 1976.

Frank Thornburg was a seaman withthe Merchant Marines from Dec. 30,1944 to April 7, 1947.

Each are proud to haveserved their country

Truman Burch Spencer Burch

Rowland E. Anthony wasbetter known as" Dutch." Hewas proud of being a veter-an and serving his countryand his special love for theU.S. flag. It's impossible towrite a tribute to him. Wouldbe easier to write a book.He was proud of working forCongresswoman VirginiaSmith and so very proud ofdriving for Dwight DEisenhower in WWII. Heworked many years for Dr.Hundley at the Vet Clinic andTerry Crawford to name afew. Of course he is bestknown for his Nativity sceneor better yet for his" jokes."He was a special friend tome and to my family and leftspecial memories to many inour town.

Doris Linn and family

Carl Schwarz served during theKorean War in 1952. He was in for21 months, spending 13 and onehalf of those months overseas.

Father and son who both served

Norman SchmittU.S. Army

World War II Vet

Norman Schmitt was myfather who served in WWII

from 1943 until 1946 asTechnician Fourth Grade.

My wife Sondra(Chubbuck) Schmitt hasthree member of her familywho served.

Her dad, Floyd Chubbuck,served in the Navy duringWWII.

Her old brother, GordonChubbuck, graduated fromAnnapolis Naval Academy in1965 and served in Vietnam.

Her younger brother BillChubbuck, also served in

Vietnam at thesame time.

I am sorry that Ido not have picturethe Chubbucks butI do have a pictureof Gordon and ourfirst child JeanannRenee Schmitt inGrinnell, Iowa in1968 while he wasstill on the Navy.

Don SchmittSalina, Kan.

GordonChubbuck, U.S.

Navy andJeanann Renee

Schmitt

Norman Schmitt

Clipper-HeraldLEXINGTON

VTabB.qxp 11/8/2010 9:35 AM

FAIRBANKS INTERNATIONAL75481 Road 435 • P.O. Box 571 • Lexington, NE 68850

308-324-5553 800-248-5523Service is the foundation of our business

www.fairbanksintl.com

“Land of theFree”

Thank a Vet!Eustis 308-486-5515

Lexington 308-324-6812

Cozad 308-784-2151

WWee aapppprreecciiaattee aanndd tthhaannkk yyoouu ffoorr aallll tthhee ssaaccrriiffiicceess yyoouu mmaaddee ffoorr oouurr ffrreeeeddoomm..

402 N. Grant Lexington • 308-324-2303

Robert Lee Shaw, U.S. NavyThe 9,227-ton Dutch freighter

Tjinegara was torpedoed and sunk 74miles southwest of Nouméa, NewCaledonia, by the Japanese subma-rine I-169. Tjinegara was owned by theJava-China-Japan Lijn out of Bataviaand was operated by the United StatesArmy primarily as an animal trans-port; it was sailing to Nouméa fromRockhampton, Queensland, Australia,with a load of horses and mules.

Robert L. Shaw was a 17-year-oldseaman in the 12-man U.S. NavyArmed Guard, and had been aboardTjinegara for about a month. This ishis account of his rescue by the USSWorden:

On July 25th 1942, 65 years ago,Steve and I was asleep on board S.S.Tjinegara at 11:30 P.M..

Our load on board ship consisted of477 horses and a road grader and 2,000cases of beer.

We heard a loud explosion thatwoke us up. We smelled gunpowder.Had no idea what was wrong.

We jumped out of our bunk bedsand I ran towards the bow of the ship.The deck hands were jumping overboard and the abandoned ship signalwas given. So I turned and went to thebridge to my lifeboat site.

Decided I had five dollars in myroom and so I went down below deckto get my suitcase and returned. Thecaptain was going down the life boatsand I followed him. Where the torpedohit was big enough to drive a truck in.

I thought we were the last ones toget off, the captain and me. We pushedoff and paddled away from the ship.We went on the opposite side of theship. Sometime later one of the horsesgot loose and was headed for our lifeboat. They were going to shoot itbecause they were afraid that it wouldget into the boat. The captain said no,

because the blood would attractsharks.

The captain noticed a periscope andannounced it to us and watched as thetorpedo went into the ship on theopposite side of the ship. And shortlythereafter aboard ship blew the aban-doned ship after that the ship sank.Shortly thereafter a plane flew overand circled us for awhile. Might havesaved us, period.

At the time, submarines many

times surfaced and shot survivors. Sowe were fortunate to have the planeup above. I am sure that saved us.

We drifted all night till the nextnight around dusk. We spotted severalships on the horizon. As they got clos-er we, with sound of our voice, toldthem what happened.

It happened to be the U.S.S. Wordenthat came along side of us. They tookus aboard that ship and fed us. Wewere aboard that ship one week. Wemade a trip to Sydney, Australia, onthe U.S.S. Grant where we picked upsurvivors from the U.S.S. Lexingtonthat had been sunk in battle and took

them to Sydney. Then we came to theUnited States, to San Francisco, and Iwent home on leave.

On the U.S.S. Worden while in themess hall, it came over the intercom ifanyone is standing guard duty or notusing their bunk to go to the mess halland volunteer your bunk to one of thesurvivors. While sitting in the messhall, a young man came up to me andask me if I had a place to sleep. I toldhim no. So he said he would be on

deck that night, so if I needed a bed Icould use his.

On our way back stern, where hisliving quarters were, someone askedhim “What time is your watch Bob?”then he answered them. Then wemoved on to the living quarters andsomeone ask him “what time is itShaw” and he answered him. Then Iasked him what his name was and hesaid Robert Shaw. I told him that’s myname too. I said what is your middlename and he said George. I said mymiddle name is Lee. I would like tofind him again.

I don’t know how many survivedbecause we never got together as acrew again, but I know someone wasaboard when the ship sank becauseabandon ship was signaled just beforethe ship sank.

Amazingly, there were no reportedcasualties. Worden rescued 36 sur-vivors; they debarked at Nouméa on 1August 1942. Six days later, Wordenserved as a screening escort duringthe invasions of Tulagi andGuadalcanal in the EasternSolomons.

Tjinegara was I-169’s only victim ofthe war. On 4 April 1944, submarine I-169 was accidentally sunk by its owncrew while trying to escape an air raidnear Truk. Many of the crew weretrapped in the hull and were suffocat-ed by end of the next day. The wreck ofI-169 off Dublon Island, Truk, is still apopular destination for scuba divers.

Sources:Robert L. Shaw correspondence

Australian War Memorial www.wivonet.nl

Courtesy photosU.S.S. Tjinegara before being sunk by the Japanese 74 miles southwest ofNouméa, New Caledonia.

Robert L. Shaw

Overton serviceman’s ship rescued after being torpedoed6 Veteran’s Day 2010Lexington Cl ipper-HeraldKeepsake Memory Book Keepsake Memory BookVeteran’s Day 2010 15Lexington Cl ipper-Herald

Lloyd R. H. Schulte was an Army prisoner of war in the Battle ofthe Bulge. Lloyd’s four sons also served in the service: RichardH. in the Navy, Edward in the Army, George A. in the Marines andDavid K. in the Navy. Two grandsons, Michael D., Navy, and EricPicquet, Air Force, also served. We praise God all returned homesafely. Pictured are, left, Michael and Richard.

Michael and Richard Schulte

Faud Maloley joined the U.S,Army at the age of 21 on Jan.10,1942. He was assigned to a trans-port division and served in theEuropean Theatre during WWll.

All hours of the day and nighthe hauled supplies to the troops.

He said, “I hauled supplies,food, ammunition to variouscamps throughout England andScotland. Many, many times withdeafening buzz bombs hitting allaround us.”

Often he would be forced todrive at night with no lightswhile Germany conducted bomb-ing raids.

His favorite duty was when hewas called on to transport V.I.P.sstationed in England and remem-bers well hauling Generals to andfrom different bases in Europe.

Faud Maloley served with prideand even today feels fortunate tohave been part of this country’smilitary.

God Bless the United States ofAmerica.

Faud Maloley

Sgt. Dwight F. Noble who servedduring the Korean Conflict,1951-1955.

Robert E. McTygueU.S. Navy

I have a lot of fond memories of my Navy experiences, the newfriendships that have lasted a lifetime, the travels, the training, the let-ters from home; a lot to remember. But one memory that has lasted alot of years is the memory of the North Platte Canteen.

It was established on Christmas Day in 1941 by townspeople hand-ing out food and small presents to soldiers and sailors when the steamengine had stopped to take on more water. For the troops on the train,mostly from the eastern and central part of the United States, it wasan unheard of treat; they could not believe everything was free foreveryone.

Everything was donated by the women from large and small townsfrom Nebraska, Colorado and Kansas. They met every troop train thatcame through North Platte for almost five years until stopping onApril 1, 1946. During this time there were more than 55,000 volunteersfrom 125 communities that furnished food and everything else.

There is a book written by Bob Green, “Once Upon a Town: TheMiracle of the North Platte Canteen” which said that more than six million service men were nurtured bothon their way to war and back home again.

Any service man who experienced a visit to the North Platte Canteen will always cherish the wonderfullunches, the camaraderie and the very open friendless of all the volunteers.

I know I always will.Bob McTygueOverton

Bob McTygue


Sgt. Ernesto J. Cordero, U.S. Army

US Army Korean War MIA Sept. 1950 to present day

US Army - WW II 1942 - 1945

Ernesto J. Cordero was orphaned as a child withhis mother’s passing in Iowa in the 1920s. He thencame to Lexington with his grandmother.

At the start of WW II he returned to the home ofMr. and Mrs. Ramon Robles, his uncle and aunt, inLexington. Mrs. Robles and Sgt. Cordero’s deceasedmother were sisters.

In 1942 in Lexington he was drafted into theArmy. In the Army he served as a medic in battlesin the South Pacific including the US return to the

Philippines. On his discharge in 1945 he returnedto Lexington for a few years.

During that time he developed an interest in box-ing and he participated in the local Golden Gloves,going on to the competition in Omaha.

In 1950 he enlisted in the U.S. Army with plans tomake the Army his career. Sgt. Cordero was sin-gle.

Surviving Robles family members, includingReyes Robles in Lexington, are his next-of-kin.

For the majority of years that he has been miss-ing the family had no information about him. Invery recent years information on Sgt. Cordero’sservice in Korea has been provided to them indetailed reports from the Defense POW/MissingPersonnel Office.

According to the Report, in Korea Sgt. Corderowas assigned to F (“Fox”) Company, 2nd Battalionof the 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd InfantryDivision. In a section about the General MilitarySituation and Circumstances of Loss, the reportstates: “Among those much-needed reinforcements(in the early weeks of the War) were Sgt. Corderoand his companions in the 9th Infantry Regiment,which disembarked at Pusan on 31 July 1950.

In fact, they were the first troops to depart thecontinental U.S. for duty in Korea, havingembarked from Seattle and Tacoma, Wash., on 17July.”

The report details the attack by the NorthKoreans on the U.S. forces on the night of 31August in that area of the eastern shore of theNaktong River and states: “At some point duringthe desperate fighting on the night of 31 Augustand the early hours of 1 September Sgt. Corderowas lost.”

While some members of Sgt. Cordero’s familyhave passed on, never having received any infor-mation about his loss, now, 60 years later, his sur-viving family, including the younger generations,know about Ernie, even though they never knewhim. They also know about a memento he left thefamily; on his way to Korea the ship stopped inJapan, and he made a recording while there. Hespeaks to his family on the record and finally says:

“I’m going to sing you a song so that you’ll remem-ber me”.

He then sings, in his deep, rich voice, a WW IIlove song.

Ernie is not forgotten.

Ernie Cordero missing in action, but not forgotten

Sergeant Ernesto J. Cordero

Patti JohnsonOwner/Broker/Agent

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We honor those who have served ourcountry in the past and present.

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707 East Pacific Street, Lexington 308-324-2368www.capc.com

Doris LaRee (Frager) Stephens US Navy 12/01/72 - 1/23/75, US Army Reserve

8/83-7/87, US Navy Reserve 8/87-1/1/09I volunteered for the US Navy in the summer of

1972 just after graduating high school. I went in ona three year enlistment with no guarantee of an “A”school after boot camp. I had no idea what I wantedto be when I grew up and the military would pro-vide good pay and benefits for college after I servedmy enlistment.

As an only child my mother was worried aboutwhat people would think or say about a girl (me)going into the Navy. I chose the Navy because ofthe uniform, dungarees(blue jeans) and chambrayshirt, dress whites and the Navy look. The year,1972, was a time of hippies, free love and the peacesymbol everywhere. I had a “No More War” posteron the wall in my room. We were in Vietnam.

Arriving at Orlando Fla, late on Dec. 1, 1972, I wasin for an instant education and upbringing thatstarted the minute I landed at the airport andboarded the Navy bus. After arriving on base andbeing lead to the barracks boys going one way andgirls going the other, we stood in line to dump ourpockets and purses and be assigned a company andcommanding officer. Most of us were fresh out ofhigh school starting out on our own. Choosing toserve our country in the US Navy.

After our Company Commander (CC) had intro-duced herself, gave us a quick run down of whatwould happen the next day we were sent to ourcubicles to sleep. As I arranged my things in mylocker and brushed my hair the lights went out andit was time to go to bed.

I was still taking my own sweet time about get-ting into my bunk and the CC said to get into bedand I said “just a minute” .. that was the wrongthing to say. I suddenly found myself being educat-ed — “just a minute” is not the proper answer to anorder. You say yes ma’am or no ma’am and do it,NOW.

I jumped into the top bunk still with my socks on.I was shaking and crying… no one had ever yelledat me before, I wondered how I got there from home

sweet home in Nebraska. The next day started the official training. I found

out that females are to arrive in boot camp with sixwhite undies, bras, two girdles, panty hose and aslip and would be in civilian clothes for a coupleweeks while our uniforms were altered. I was thefirst female my recruiter ever recruited and had notcome with anything except the clothes I had on likethe guys do. They are given uniforms immediatelyand all their other clothes are sent home in the firstweek. Boy did my recruiter have a lot to learn andso did I.

I was in boot camp eight weeks includingChristmas 1972. I made friends with many differentladies. One girl was from New York and was ofJewish faith and she dressed up as Santa Clause forour Christmas and we had a small gift exchangeand sang Christmas carols and laughed and toldstories.

Another lady was older, was married and haddecided to come in the Navy to make a differenceand she had a small heart tattoo. One of the first Ihad ever seen on a lady. We all went to church onSunday mornings and sat together. It was a coedservice, girls and boys in the same building at thesame time. Some people passed notes. After the 4thor 5th week we were allowed to speak to the guysand even sit with them. For the end of our trainingwe all went to Disney World together.

After graduation from boot camp, I was assignedto the Naval Air Station, Fallon, Nev. I didn’t knowwhere it was and had never heard of it. It was notthe vision I had when my recruiter said if I joinedthe Navy I would see the world.

At this time the Navy was providing more oppor-tunities to females, career fields that had beenclosed to females were opening up. I was in the sec-ond group of females to be station at NAS Fallon.The base is in Nevada and provides training forpilots from the ships to practice bombing.

There were 800 men on the base and when Iarrived there was 14 female sailors. The base islocated close to a small, rural town much like therural towns of Nebraska. It is 70 miles east of RenoNev., just south if Interstate 80. Between Fallon and

Reno was the famous Mustang Ranch. The casinos in Reno liked the sailors to come into

town and spend their money. The gave out couponsfor free breakfasts or 2 for 1, buy $5 in quarters andget 5 dollars in chips free, get lucky bucks to playand spend.

Since the base was considered a remote assign-ment or isolated it was authorized to give 96 hourpasses once a month if your department couldschedule work and let you off so often I could get along week end pass and spend several days sightseeing going to the lake or the sand dunes, campingor spending time in Reno without using any leavetime.

It was great. There were numerous road trips toReno and sometimes I would ride along with theguys I worked with and we would go to the casino inReno and eat breakfast, sometimes the car wouldmake a stop at the “Ranch” and I would wait in thecar.

Later that year I fell in love with another sailor,we got married. When I was pregnant I wore civil-ian maternity clothes because they didn’t havematernity uniforms. At that time you had to havespecial permission to stay in the Navy when preg-nant, not like now when you have to stay in.

I was discharged from the Navy when my son wasborn. Now the policy is reversed and only undercertain circumstances will you be discharged fromthe Navy due to pregnancy or childbirth.

After my discharge from active duty I lived andwent to school for two years in Reno, Nev.

After graduating form the University of Nevadain Reno with an AA in pre-school education I gotdivorced and returned to Nebraska with my son.

I still longed to be a part of the Navy and after a10 year break in service I joined the local ArmyReserve unit. I had a choice to become a cook, or dolaundry and showers, or operate a forklift.

I decided it was time to learn to cook and so I wassent to a two week army cooking school inCalifornia. I ran my first physical fitness mile andhalf, did sit-ups and pushups, spit shined my armyboots and was indoctrinated in the Army ways. I

Reflections from a woman in the service


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Scott Mulligan, U.S. NavyOn Sept. 5, 2006 I married my sailor,

Scott Mulligan. On Sept. 9, 2006, onlyfour short days later he left on his firstdeployment on the USS Dubuque fornine months. Luckily I stayed with myparents in Nebraska during this time,but it was still one of the hardestthings I had ever done.

I thought the nine months wouldnever end, but on May 20, 2007 theship pulled into San Diego, Calif. Thiswas not only one of the best days ofmy life, but one of the most awesomethings to see. All the sailors werestanding on the back of the ship andall the wives, children and familieswere there to see it.

In October of 2007, I finally got tomove out to San Diego to be with him,but he left again on Sept. 13 of 2008 foranother two month deployment on theUSS Pearl Harbor. These two monthswere nothing compared to the nine

but they were still hard. He returnedin November of that same year.

On May 20, 2010 he left for his thirddeployment. This deployment hasbeen by far the hardest. This was thefirst time that I was there to see theship sail away. We decided it would bebest if I moved back to Nebraska withmy parents while he was gone. It hasdefinitely helped.

He is still currently on deploymentaboard the USS Pearl Harbor. He isexpected to return by the end of theyear. I cannot wait to see his ship sail-ing toward me. As you see our mar-riage has been mainly apart, but ithas made our relationship and each ofus so strong.

I am so proud of him and what he isdoing for not only me but for ourcountry.

He is my HERO!!!!Allie Mulligan

Navy wife close to sailor, even when he is far away

Scott and Allie Mulligan


did many campouts, getting up early to make coffeeand breakfast.

I learned to fire a weapon and wear a gas maskand mopp gear. In the Navy boot camp many yearsbefore, women weren’t allowed on ships, didn’t han-dle weapons and didn’t do a confidence course.Things were different for women than for men, by1987 there was less differences in training. Moreand more opportunities were open to women.

Still I felt loyal to the Navy and desperately want-ed to be back in Navy blue’s and dungarees, notarmy green.

One day a Navy recruiter came to town and start-ed talking to the folks in the Army Reserve. Severalwere former sailors, and as it turned out eight ormore of us switched to the Navy Reserve and begandrilling one weekend a month in Lincoln. We oftencar pooled to drill, scheduled our two weeks ofactive duty for training at the same time so wecould travel together.

Over the years people went to other units or gotout of the military. My job changed in the Navyfrom a cook to a cargo handler and much to mydespair I was once again in camouflage green uni-forms (BDU’s), driving a forklift and loading air-planes with cargo. This unit was a specialized unitand did work that the active duty forces didn’t havepeople to do. I traveled to many different Air Forcebases in the US and overseas.

After 15 years I was finally getting to see theworld. I went to Scotland, Iceland, South Korea,Spain, Italy, Hawaii, and Guam.

In 2001 our Cargo Unit turned into a Fuel Unitand we went to Virginia to be trained to fuel air-planes, jeeps, trucks, tanks and ships.

On the third day of class our world changed. Itwas 9-11-01. The twin towers had been hit by planes,another plane had flown into the pentagon, only ashort distance away from where we were training.Another plane had been forced down by the bravepeople on board before it hit its intended target.

The whole country was in shock. Our unit wassent to our rooms, told not to go out, not to wear ouruniform, not to be in large groups in public. Theinstructor would be in touch and the days went byand finally we were allowed back on base and con-tinued our training.

We joined hundreds of army and navy personnelin a candlelight service in memory of those thathad died on 9-11. We trained with renewed purposeand wondered what was next. Would we be mobi-lized, would we return home to prepare for deploy-ment or return to our civilian jobs and continue todrill in the reserves?

We had many questions. One of our shipmateswas prior active duty Navy Military Police and hewas activated from our training. He went straightfrom Virginia to his new assignment. By the timeour training was completed, we were allowed to flyback home. It had been questionable for several

days if planes would be flying again or if we wouldbe sent home by bus or car rentals or staying thereor going somewhere else by military transporta-tion. When we arrived back home, our reserve cen-ters became more secure, fences went up and con-crete barriers were put in place. We did training insmall groups or at home by computer.

Life had changed for everyone. My Fuels Unit was activated in the summer of

2004. My friend, Rebecca and I were high yeartenure. We were near the end of our enlistment andhad little chance to advance in rank and we weregiven the choice of going with our unit on deploy-ment or staying back. We both looked at each otherand said “lets go” and so we did. Many of us haddrilled together for more than 10 years. It wasunthinkable that we would stay behind so weextended our enlistments, packed our bags and ourunit went for special training in Virginia beforeleaving the states.

Rebecca and I went through hand to hand combattogether, our legs and arms covered in bruises, wefired weapons, struggled in the rain and the sand tofire the machine guns and do what we had to do andone day while standing outside our tent we shookour heads and wondered what in the world we werethinking when we said we wanted to be deployed….

We were crazy, we were at least 10 years olderthan most of our shipmates and then we picked upour 80 lb duffle bags and our weapon and climbedon the bus. We went to Iraq and went thru moreweapons training, convoy training, etc. Had moreshots, malaria pills, sand flea pesticides impregnat-ed in our uniforms and after moving camp severaltimes for training our mission changed and some ofour unit was not needed to continue in Iraq.

Rebecca and I did not move forward to the fuelstations. We were stationed in Kuwait, in supportassignments. I tracked equipment and cargo in andout of the port. Rebecca was an administrative spe-cialist for the command. We were lucky, we ate in adining hall and slept in tents and later we movedinto the old Kuwait Navy barracks. All tents hadelectricity and air conditioning. We always drankbottled water, used the porta pot nearby and walkedacross the compound to do laundry.

Around the camp was a stone wall and you couldsee areas where Sadam Hussain’s troops had exe-cuted the Kuwait sailors. There were bullet holesin the stone wall and the barracks. Some parts ofthe wall had fallen down because it had been usedso much that it was blown away by all the bullets.

We were so thankful we lived in America andrealized we took for granted clean running waterand flush toilets.

A new normal emerged. I will never forget those days, the friends I made,

the job I did. On Christmas Eve we went caroling toall the Kuwaiti and American guard posts in ourarea. We had a grill in the back of a jeep for steaks

and seafood which we delivered to those personnelon guard. We sang Jingle Bells and other carols andwe belted out “we wish you a Merry Christmas“.The Kuwaiti guards didn’t understand the wordsbut they danced and clapped and smiled andlaughed with us.

We had a Christmas dinner prepared by theenlisted from supplies sent form caring folks in theUS and the officers and upper enlisted served 300 ofus. We had deep fat fried turkeys with all the trim-mings.

Spring came, our little corner of earth had somegreen grass and flowers, and we received word wewere going home in March or April.

We trained, worked and continued the mission.New personnel arrived and we trained them to takeour place, to do our jobs. We cleaned up our rooms,offices and tents. We shipped home things we hadacquired over the past eight months.

The day came for me to leave and part of me wassad. I had made many new friends, gained newskills, learned to depend on others and had othersdepend on me for their safety and in fact their life.We laughed, we cried and we said our good bye’sand see ya later’s.

Rebecca was staying there to provide support andtraining for the new administration and would becoming home after the last of our 360 +- personnelhad orders and departed for the US. I returnedhome in late March 2005.

It was nearly a year before I saw Rebecca againand in 2009, we had a joint retirement ceremony inOmaha with a few friends and family present. Wehad stood the watch and the watch was relieved.

We bid farewell to our Navy careers. Between uswe had 46 years of service and we each had had 10years of broken service time. We served with prideand would do it again if needed. We remember thegood and the bad, the ugly and the beautiful places,and times we had and do not regret it.

God Bless America and all who have served.Thank you.


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Welcome to the HMMV. We have 100 vehicles including helicopters, tanks,halftracks, ambulances, and a jeep from every branch of the service plusdisplays of weapons, uniforms, engines, equipment, and more.

This hands-on museum invites you to see vehi-cles that have been restored and, for themost part, are operational. Vehicles datefrom World War II but displays includeitems from World War I as well.

Our original vision has remained thesame: Develop a place to honorAmerica's Veterans of the battlefront andthe home front. The Museum offers veter-ans a place to remember, where they cantouch and smell the very vehicles, which, insome cases, may have saved their lives.

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Her husband’s medals tell the storyJOSH ROWANC-H staff writer

LEXINGTON – At a quiet house onthe north section of town, in a small,quaint brick house on 16th street, liesan old, wooden frame that holds sto-ries of a military wife’s story of herhusband, and his memories of WorldWar II.

Doll Nielsen of Lexington, is theowner of many scrapbooks and rem-nants of her late husband’s past, start-ing from when he joined the 101stAirborne Division. One of her prizedpossessions is in the frame that car-ried the medals that Milo Koehn woreduring his three year, six months and19-day service in the United StatesArmy.

Nielsen talked about the contents ofthe frame, which included a variety ofwar-related medals and accommoda-tions.

“He was in five battles, received twopurple hearts, he also had his wingsthat he earned in the Paratroopers,”Nielsen said. “He was also in theBattle of the Bulge, which was themost important of the battles inWorld War II.”

Thoughts of the past began to racethrough the woman’s mind of her latehusband’s time in the center of thewar, but one memory she spoke ofalmost brought her to tears.

“It was Christmas time and theywere surrounded by the snow and thecold and they had no petrol, no sup-plies – nothing, and they were sur-rounded by the enemy,” Nielsen said.“And he said the most beautiful pic-ture of his life was when everythingcleared after Christmas Day and thebig C-47s came over and dumped allthe supplies they needed and theyfought their way out.”

The Battle of the Bulge that Nielsentalks about was one of the most vividand most talked about battles duringWorld War II. The event when theGermans launched an offensive fromDec. 16, 1944, through Jan. 25, 1945,through the forested area of theArdennes Mountains in Belgium.

The Allied forces recorded 70,000-89,000 casualties, including 19,000deaths, according to Wikipedia. TheBattle of the Bulge was by far thelargest and bloodiest battle duringWorld War II.

Thinking back about being a wifeon the other end, waiting for her hus-band to return home, Nielsen saysthere is no comparison betweentoday’s soldiers who fight in Iraq andAfghanistan, and the soldiers whofought overseas in Europe.

“We had very, very little knowing,”Nielsen said. “We went days withoutknowing if they are ok, we would getletters that were very censored. I had400 dollars in the bank, which was alot of money back then. You just did-n’t have communication back thenand I just worried constantly. If youever saw someone come to the door,you knew your husband was dead.”

These days, soldiers who are over-seas in the Middle East make quite agood salary for their families who arewaiting in the states, however thatwasn’t the case for Nielsen and herhusband over 60 years ago.

“Milo got 21 dollars a day, once amonth,” Nielsen said. “When hejoined the Paratroopers, he receivedanother 50 dollars on top of what hewas already getting. But, it’s still nocomparison to what it’s like now.”

Another change from today’s mili-tary to the soldiers of the past, is thesupport groups and teams that are

created for families who have lovedones overseas. Nielsen, to help withher worry for her husband, workedconstantly and helped her father builda house.

“We just all had to really work,”Nielsen said. “We did all kinds ofthings for the war effort, but therewasn’t a lot of support groups.”

After Milo returned home from thewar, it was a memory in his mind thathe rarely mentioned to anyone.

“He didn’t really talk about it,”Nielsen said. “I know that when myson came home from Vietnam, Iremember I could hear them talkabout it from time to time, but sol-diers who were really in the fightingback then never talked about it.”

Besides the small pictures andsmall news articles she has kept overthe years, Nielsen said we were look-ing at was just a little taste of the stuffshe has kept over the years.

“I have lots more,” Nielsen said. “Ihave parts of parachutes, and just lotsof stuff upstairs.”

Nielsen from time to time will shareher memories of her husband withher family, especially her five chil-dren.

“They were very interested in lateryears about their dad,” Nielsen said.“I’ve been able to give them somekeepsakes over the years, and they arevery interested and proud of theirdad.”

While her husband was fightingoverseas, Nielsen said, she wrote let-ters to him often.

“I wrote real, real often, sometimesI would try to write every day,”Nielsen said. “By the time he got themthey censored a lot. They had mailclerks who sorted through the mail

and censored a lot of stuff.”Six years ago, Nielsen, along with a

few of her friends, took a trip toEurope, and visited every locationwhere their husband’s had fought.

The memories were a mixture ofhappiness and sadness.

“It’s been a long time, and youalways have that inner sadness,”Nielsen said. “There is that over-whelming joy to see the places and tostep where they had been. I reallyenjoyed that trip.”

Milo Koehn died from cancer in1971, but to this day, Nielsen, who was-n’t afraid to shed a tear, explained howproud she was to be a military wife.

“You never get over it,” Nielsensaid. “When I see that American flag,I just cry when I see it.”



Table of ContentsA note fromthe editor

The entire staff of the Lexington Clipper-Herald is proud to present to the communi-ties of Dawson and Gosper counties thisspecial publication.

In this publication, “Veteran’s DayKeepsake Memory Book,” are the collectedmemories of soldiers and their families.

Service and duty are two things I holdvery dear to my heart. The service andduties I have performed in my short life,pale in comparison to the service and dutiesthese brave men and women and their fam-ilies have given to this great nation of ours.

The memories presented to you areglimpse of everyday people who lived or areliving through extraordinary circum-stances. They are vignettes of the horrorsof World War II, the bitter Armistice of theKorean War, the bloody battles of Vietnamand the lives of everyday soldiers in today’sarmed forces.

These are their stories, told by them, asthey remember it. They are heroes, but willnever admit to it. They are humbled bytheir experiences. They are sons and daugh-ters, mothers and fathers, husbands andwives, grandfathers and grandmothers; butmost importantly they are Americans.

They are the reason we live in a free coun-try, and they are the reason the rest of theworld looks to the United States as a modelof freedom.

We would like to thank you, and in ourhumble way give you the respect youdeserve.

Thank you for all you have given to thiscountry.

– David Penner

Page FourScott Mulligan

Page FiveErnesto J. Cordero

Page SixRobert Lee Shaw

Page SevenDutch Anthony, Spencer

Burch,Truman Burch, Carl

Schwarz, Frank Thornburg, LarryThornburg and Marvin

Thornburg

Page EightRichard Seberger

Page NineJames Anderson, Harley

Hasselbring, Bill Hofferber,Clarence “Shorty” Larson,

Melvin Meyer, Ellsworth Page,Otto Shreves, Harry Snowden

and Al Walker

Page ElevenMike Araujo, Thomas Jolliffe,

Robert E. Reed, DennisSeberger

Page Twelve and ThirteenJohn Soflin

Page FourteenSmets family Wall of Honor

Page FifteenFaud Maloley, Robert E.

McTygue, Dwight Noble,Michael Schulte and

Richard Schulte.

Page Sixteen and SeventeenDoris LaRee Stephens

Page EighteenMilo Koehn

Page NineteenMichael Dominguez, Lucas

Michael Folkers, Evan Francis,Galen Morris, Otis Ward and

Steve Ward

Father and son, Otis and Steve Ward, both served in the U.S.Army. Steve served from 1991 to 2006 with tours in Iraq,Bosnia and Germany. He appreciated the support his fellowLexingtonians bestowed upon him while he was serving inIraq. Otis served in the early 60s and was in Berlin when theBerlin Wall went up and was there again when it came down.

M. Dominguez is the grandson ofDean and Pam Brand. Dominguezgraduated from Lexington HighSchool in May 2009 and will bedeploying to Afghanistan Nov. 2010.

Galen F. Morris was a Sergeant E-5serving in the US Army. He was part ofthe 1st Infantry Division. His active dutywas during 1966-68. Morris received hisbasic training and advanced individualtraining at Ft. Bliss, Texas. Morrisserved in Vietnam 1967-68. He was wel-comed home by family and friends withlove, thankfulness and gratitude.

Evan Francis joined the Navy in 2006and is currently stationed out ofNorfolk, Va. He serves on the USS Cole.He is the son of Dan and Lynda Francisof Lexington.

Sergeant Lucas Michael Folkers; basictraining, Fort Leonard Wood, Kan. ;AIT training, Fort Sam Houston; SanAntonio, Texas; AIT training, dentalassistant; assigned to Fort Eustis, Va.,as a dental assistant. Specializedtraining: Fort Sam Houston; SanAntonio, TexasSpecialized training: dental hygienist,graduated with honors - top of hisclass. Currently serving at Fort Knox,Ky. He is a Sergeant as an E-5. He iscurrently managing a dental clinic atFort Knox in an E-7 position. He willbegin serving at Okinowa, Japan inJanuary, at a dental clinic.He is married to Laura (Smoyer)Folkers of York. They have two chil-dren, Korbyn, 3 and Rozlin, sixmonths. Luke is the son of Mike andLori Burr and Mitch and Mary AnnFolkers and the grandson of Daryce,Burr, Elmer and Norma Folkers andDon and Mary Sarnes. As of February2011, he will have been serving ourcountry for five years and has recent-ly reenlisted for another three years.

Vera RochaPhone: (308) 324-6897202 E. 7th St. • Lexington NE


A Lexington Clipper-HeraldSalute to our Veterans

We Rememberthose who served our country

We Honorthose who gave their life forour country

We Salutethose who aredefending ourcountry

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They Did Their Share

On Veteran’s Day we honorSoldiers who protect our nation.

For their service as our warriors,They deserve our admiration.

Some of them were drafted;Some were volunteers;

For some it was just yesterday;For some it’s been many years;

In the jungle or the desert,On land or on the sea,

They did whatever was assignedTo produce a victory.

Some came back; some didn’t.They defended us everywhere.

Some saw combat; some rode a desk;All of them did their share.

No matter what the duty,For low pay and little glory,

These soldiers gave up normal lives,For duties mundane and gory.

Let every veteran be honored;Don’t let politics get in the way.

Without them,freedom would have died;

What they did, we can’t repay.

We owe so much to them,Who kept us safe from terror,

So when we see a uniform,Let’s say "thank you" to every wearer.

By Joanna Fuchs

poemsource.com


Veterans Memory Book 2010

Documents

Transcript of Veterans Memory Book 2010