WWII reunion has dwindled to five members
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Though Hillis and his comrades couldn’t agree on the exact number who attended the first few reunions, estimates ran from just over 20 up to 40. They all agreed their numbers, like all WWII vets, are dwindling. Nowadays only five of them are still in good enough shape to regularly make the trip to the yearly get-togethers they’ve been organizing since 1985.
The reunions are held at a different location each year, with this year’s event held at McMinnville Inn. The five attending were Richard Anderson of Piqua, Ohio, James Bezemek of Ellsworth, Kan., Jerry Yole of Hudson Falls, N.Y., Tom Vinci of Surprise, Ariz., and Hillis.
The reunions stemmed from the efforts of an enterprising soldier in the unit back during the war.
“This boy lived in Lewis County, Illinois,” Hillis said. “His name was Rose. He got it started. During the war, he came around with a little book and asked, ‘Where are you from?’ He’d write it down, and he had all that.”
Though Rose was, sadly, one of the group’s recent losses, they managed to honor him before his death.
“He got sick,” Hillis said. “We had a plaque made last year and sent it to him, and he got to see it just before he died, congratulating him on getting this started.”
The Cross of Lorraine, symbol of the 79th Division, was actually inherited from an earlier version of the 79th, which also existed in the first World War. The 79th Division was reactivated in 1942 in Fort Pickett, Va.
Once deployed, the division landed on Utah Beach as part of the Normandy invasion, though they landed several days after D-day.
“D-day plus 8,” Hillis said. Eventually the division was instrumental in taking the Cherbourg Peninsula, including the port city. The group served 11 months in combat.
Though there are only a few left, the group still enjoys the yearly get-togethers.
“I wouldn’t give it up,” said Yole. “I haven’t missed one yet.”
The group, as expected, revels in tales of their exploits, sometimes at the expense of some of their members, like the time when Vinci got lost when his sergeant sent him out on the battlefield.
“I thought I went straight, see,” Vinci said. “But I must have gone like this or like that. I got lost.” Eventually though, Vinci mad his way back after winding up at another post which radioed for a jeep to take him back to his unit. Of course, this left him open for some good-natured ribbing.
“He got in German territory,” said Yole, “and they rejected him. They sent him back.”
“So he never did ask me to go out again,” Vinci said amidst general laughter.
The current war in Iraq is something that concerns the group since it is a different sort of conflict than the one in which they were engaged.
“I wish them luck,” said Hillis. “But they’re not organized over there where they’re going. They don’t know where the front line is. Anybody is liable to shoot you. You don’t know who the enemy is. In World War II, we knew where the line was.”
“I support the troops,” said Bezemek. “I think they’re doing a hell of a good job.”
And do they think there will ever be a day when war will be a thing of the past?
“The Bible says there will always be wars as long as there are people on earth,” said Yole.
“Wars and rumors of wars,” said Hillis with a look of resignation.
And though their war is long past, it’s obvious these five old warriors will never forget the days when they, and many others, fought so valiantly to preserve our freedom, and neither should we.
We owe them that remembrance.