Obituaries

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[Gnomey]

[syscom3]

Ex-nurse thought to be Minnesota's oldest veteran dies

Johanna Berlin was buried Monday near her country church in southwestern Minnesota, just down the road from the farm her parents had built in Heron Lake Township nearly a century earlier.

The rural Lakefield woman's life had been full of independence and moxie. She possessed the tender heart of a devoted Army nurse and was believed to be the oldest war veteran in Minnesota.

Berlin died Thursday at the Royal C. Johnson Veterans Hospital in Sioux Falls, S.D. She was 108.

"Her faith in God was incredible, and it inspired people," said Ed Hansen, a Lakefield funeral director. "Here she was in her 100s, and she was still living in her home. Her attitude in life was fantastic. She always had a smile on her face."

Born in 1898 in Berlin, Germany, Johanna was 13 when she left in 1911 with her parents and younger sister. The family moved to farmland in Jackson County.

Johanna Berlin never married, and she was working as a factory clerk in Sheboygan, Wis., with 10 years under her belt when the Depression wiped out her job.

Berlin took her savings and attended nursing school at Chicago Hospital. She enlisted in the Army in 1943.

"At that point in our country's history, they needed nurses," said nephew Mike Hasara of rural Lakefield.

At age 45, Berlin became an Army nurse, traveling the world to take care of shell-shocked soldiers and Japanese prisoners during World War II and for a few years after. Her job was to help those who had become so battle-fatigued and full of fear that they had trouble functioning. She helped them work through what is now known as post-traumatic stress disorder.

She had gone into training at Camp Pickett in central Virginia in 1943 and later went to Yuma, Ariz., for desert training. Berlin was stationed in Hawaii, the Philippines, Iwo Jima, Johnson Island in the Pacific and Tokyo.

She entered the Army as a second lieutenant and was discharged as a captain.

She returned to Lakefield and became an anesthetic nurse after further training at the University of Minnesota.

Berlin became active in St. Peter Lutheran Church and was a lifelong member of Swen-Rasmussen American Legion and Hansen-Ward VFW in Lakefield.

She was named an honorary commander of the American Legion several years ago.

She never had a driver's license, but that didn't stop her, from learning all of the traffic laws and enforcing them from the back seat, Hasara said.

She never stopped doting on people and animals, her relatives said, from her grandnieces to the goats she bottle-fed after she went to live with her relatives on the Lakefield farm.

Her grandniece MaryAnn Hasara and her husband had welcomed Berlin into their home to live when she was 106.

"You'd come in from the barn, and there she'd be, rocking a goat, having it covered up in her afghan," Mike Hasara said.

"Nobody should be sorry or grieving that Johann died," Mike Hasara said at her wake Sunday night. "She lived a good life. ... She was a nice, good-hearted woman."

[evangilder]

[evangilder]

Frantisek Fajtl

PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AP) _ Czech fighter ace Gen. Frantisek Fajtl, who fought in the French and British air forces against Nazi Germany in World War II, died Wednesday, an official said. He was 94.

He died in Prague's military hospital, said Defense Ministry spokesman Andrej Cirtek.

Fajtl fled Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia in 1939 and joined France's air force. After France capitulated, he fled to Britain to join the Royal Air Force.

His plane was shot down over northern France in May 1942, but Fajtl escaped to Spain, where he was captured and arrested. He was released after London intervened and was returned to Britain.

He left the RAF in 1944 to help build the Czechoslovak fighter squadron in the Soviet Union.

After returning home, Fajtl was arrested as an enemy of state by the Communist regime in 1950, and spent 17 months in prison. After his release, he was given only menial jobs.

His reputation was fully rehabilitated after the 1989 collapse of the communist regime, and in 2004, he was awarded the highest Czech honor _ the White Lion Order.

[Gnomey]

[evangilder]

Found this in today's paper. I would certainly call this guy a patriot!

Herbert Schaeffer Sieler
1921 - 2006

Our beloved dad, Herbert Schaeffer Sieler, 84, died on Oct. 11, 2006, at St. John's Regional Medical Center after a courageous battle with lung cancer. As honorably and gracefully as he moved through his life, so he did as he entered heaven.

Our dad was born in Mound City, S.D., on Dec. 16, 1921, to Henry and Christina Sieler, who had emigrated to the United States from Russia. His family was one of the original homesteaders and he grew up on this Midwestern farm in a sod and wooden house with six brothers and seven sisters.

Dad was an ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being, a person who offered some of his life's most vital years in the service of his country and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs.

His 26 years of meritorious service reflected great credit upon himself, the Air Defense Command and the United States Air Force, from which he retired with the rank of chief master sergeant. He was a veteran of the Korean War, World War II and Vietnam. Dad loved his country and he was a great patriot.

After retiring, he once again selflessly served his country for an additional 22 years in the United States Navy Civil Service, Point Mugu. He was active in the American Legion Post No. 741, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 11424, Moose Lodge No. 561, NARFE (National Association of Retired Federal Employee), AFSA Chapter No. 1311 (Air Force Sergeants Association) and the Camarillo Fishing Club.

He is survived by his two daughters, Sandra Melton (husband John) and Lynn Smiley (husband Jack); three grandchildren, Lauren, Matthew and Joshua, whom he dearly loved; our mom, Viola Sieler; brother Alvin; sister Frieda; and partner, Virginia Stiles. Our dad also leaves behind many, many extended family members and friends who loved him dearly him dearly and who will miss him very, very much.

We now say goodbye to the finest man we have ever known. He has always been there whenever we needed him. He never once hesitated to come when asked. He was the finest example and teacher of integrity, honesty, hard work, and perseverance that one could ever know. He always gave unselfishly, kindly, and with his whole heart to all who passed through his life, if even for a brief moment. He had a great sense of humor and a positive attitude that inspired everyone he met. He is unequaled in our eyes.

It has and always will be our honor to be called his daughters. Goodbye, Dad, we love you.

For those who wish, memorial contributions may be made in Herbert S. Sieler's name to the Catherine Collins Memorial Fund to provide scholarship for nursing students, c/O Ventura College Foundation, 4667 Telegraph Road, Ventura, CA 93003; or the Boy Scouts of American, c/O Ventura County Council, Boy Scouts of American Endowment Fund, 509 E. Daily Drive, Camarillo, CA 93010.

The family expresses its deepest thanks to Dr. Jaz Kaur, Dr. Raj Bhatia, Dr. Richard Rothchild, Dr. Edward Morales, and Dr. Glenn Abergel who went far beyond what medical care could offer and lovingly gave with their whole selves. We also want to thank the many nurses and respiratory therapists on 2 South and in the intensive care unit at St. John's Regional Medical Center, who were always there for our dad and for us. In addition, we especially want to thank the student nurses from Ventura College, who cared for Dad with their loving hands but even more so with their hearts. You have left footprints on our hearts forever.

A memorial service celebrating our dad's life will be held at 4 p.m. Monday, Oct. 16, at Pierce Bros. Griffin Memorial Chapel in Camarillo with interment at the Black Hills National Cemetery in Sturgis, S.D.

Arrangements are under the care of Pierce Bros. Griffin Mortuary 1075 E. Daily Drive, Camarillo; phone 1-805-482-2711.

[FLYBOYJ]

Earthquake McGoon’ finally flying home
Remains of legendary pilot killed 52 years ago being returned to family


Updated: 2:41 p.m. MT Oct 19, 2006
NEW YORK - More than half a century after he died in the flaming crash of a CIA-owned cargo plane and became one of the first two Americans to die in combat in Vietnam, a legendary soldier of fortune known as “Earthquake McGoon” is finally coming home.

The skeletal remains of James B. McGovern Jr., discovered in an unmarked grave in remote northern Laos in 2002, were positively identified on Sept. 11 by laboratory experts at the U.S. military’s Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command in Hawaii.

They will be flown back to the mainland next week for a military funeral in New Jersey on Oct. 28, said McGovern’s nephew, James McGovern III, of Forked River, N.J.

“Bottom line, it’s closure for my family and a great feeling,” McGovern said.

Larger than life
Six feet and 260 pounds — huge for a fighter pilot — McGovern carved out a flying career during and after World War II that made him a legend in Asia. An American saloon owner in China dubbed him “Earthquake McGoon,” after a hulking hillbilly character in the comic strip “Li’l Abner.”

He died on May 6, 1954, when his C-119 Flying Boxcar cargo plane was hit by ground fire while parachuting a howitzer to the besieged French garrison at Dien Bien Phu. “Looks like this is it, son,” McGovern radioed another pilot as his crippled plane staggered 75 miles into Laos, where it cartwheeled into a hillside.

Killed along with “McGoon,” 31, were his co-pilot, Wallace Buford, 28, and a French crew chief. Two cargo handlers, a Frenchman and a Thai, were thrown clear and survived.

Ho Chi Minh’s communist forces captured Dien Bien Phu the next day, ending a 57-day siege that had captured the world’s attention. It signaled the end of French colonial power in Indochina, and helped set the stage for the 15-year “American war” that ended with the fall of the U.S.-backed South Vietnamese government in 1975.

Although civilians, the swashbuckling McGovern and Buford, an ex-World War II bomber pilot, were the first Americans to die in combat in the Asian country where war would later take nearly 60,000 American and more than a million Vietnamese lives.

Flying for spooks
It was no mystery in 1954 that the United States was supporting colonial France against Vietnam’s communist-led rebellion, and “McGoon” was already famous for his exploits when he was killed.

The only secret was that his employer, a charter airline called Civil Air Transport, or CAT, “was owned by the CIA — lock, stock and barrel,” Felix Smith, a retired CAT pilot and McGovern friend, said in an interview in 2002. (It was not until the 1990s that the CIA-CAT connection was finally declassified.)

The CIA is arranging for James McGovern III to fly to Hickam Air Force Base near Honolulu and escort his uncle’s remains home, he said.

The CIA did not immediately return a call for comment.

Dr. Thomas Holland, director of JPAC’s Central Identification Laboratory, said McGovern was the only the second person ever identified through “nuclear” DNA from a male relative — a particularly difficult task with bones that are decades old. The first was another Southeast Asia casualty identified recently. Most cases rely on mitochondrial DNA, from female relatives.

Heroics began in WWII
McGovern first went to China in 1944, as a fighter pilot in the 14th Air Force’s “Tiger Shark” squadron, descended from the famous Flying Tigers. According to Smith, he was credited with shooting down four Japanese Zero fighter planes and destroying five on the ground.

At war’s end in 1945, McGovern signed on with CAT, which was under contract to Chiang Kai-Shek’s Chinese Nationalist regime, then fighting a civil war against Mao Zedong’s communists.

Captured by communist troops after a forced landing, “McGoon” was freed six months later. Colleagues joked that his captors simply got tired of feeding him.

[syscom3]

Thanks for the story Flyboy!

[Gnomey]

[FLYBOYJ]

Originally Posted by syscom3

Thanks for the story Flyboy!

[evangilder]

[Emac44]

A few years ago Australian Army Nurse Vivienne Bullwinkle Passed away. She lived in Western Australia and served with the Australian Corp of Nurses in Singapore. She with other nurses left Singapore after being evacuated by ship. Her ship she was travelling on was sunk by Japanese forces in the area of Indonesia. She with other people being evacuated from Singapore struggled to one of the islands of Indonesia. Many wounded sick and injuried personal came ashore with her. It was decided to surrender to a force of Japanese soldiers in the area. All survivors including Nurse Bullwinkle were promptly Marched back into the sea by the Japanese and were imediately machine gunned to death. Nurse Bullwinkle was wounded but survived this ordeal. She was later found taken to another POW camp and spent 3 1/2 years in captivity under the Japanese. She later testified in War Crime Tribunal to what occured to her and her fellow survivors who were butchered by the Japanese. We tend to forget at times women who served in our militaries. We must never forget the sacrifices these women like Vivienne Bullwinkle went through. In God's care we entrust Nurse Vivienne Bullwinkle

[Heather]

[twoeagles]

From Associated Press today - Leo "Shorty" Gordon, shot down and parachuted from a B-17 belonging to the 305th Bomb Group Febr. 26, 1943, has died. Shorty is notable as the first confirmed American POW escapee. After two failed attempts escaping from Stalag IVA, he made a successful attempt and arrived abck in England Febr. 27, 1944.

Shorty was 84 years old.