Memorial Day Stories

[dcd_enterprises]

Former Marine fulfills promise made in WWII

Sixty-three years later, an ex-Marine from East Moline has fulfilled a promise he made to a frightened young fellow corporal who was certain that he was about to die in the World War II bloodbath of Iwo Jima.

Huddled on a landing craft, 20-year-old Noble Hoffman was shaking. On Feb. 18, 1945, he repeatedly told Cpl. Bob Shaw of East Moline: “I know I’m going to die tomorrow. I know I’m going to die.” They were strangers, in the 5th Marine Division, but Hoffman took trust in the East Moline man. He pleaded, “After I die, will you recite the 23rd Psalm over my body?” Shaw kept assuring him that he wasn’t going to die, but if he did, he would say the 23rd Psalm.


Bob Shaw, a survivor of Iwo Jima, opens his Marine-issue New Testament Bible to the 23rd Psalm. Shaw took the Bible into battle with him during World War II. (John Schultz/Quad-City Times)

The next day, Feb. 19, Hoffman died. How he was killed, Shaw never learned. He made a search for the body but never found it. It bothered him.

“I don’t know why, but I remembered his name. It was Noble Hoffman of Vincennes, Ind.,” says Shaw, who is 83 and retired.

Shaw is a religious man, and it nagged him for 63 years that never carried out his promise of reciting the psalm over the young stranger’s body. Shaw and his wife, Pauline, spent the past winter in Florida. Returning home last month, he told his wife that he wanted to detour through Vincennes on the outside chance that Hoffman might have been reinterred from an overseas cemetery and buried in his hometown.

He found the grave, with a simple marker, in Fairview Cemetery. “Noble Hoffman Jr.: Born, Sept 25, 1925. Died Feb. 19, 1945, Iwo Jima.”

From his pocket, Shaw pulled a worn, weathered Book of Psalms. It had been issued to him when he entered the Marines. Over the grave of the frightened Marine, who had the premonition that he was going to die, Shaw stood and read:

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures …”

After 63 years, he had kept his promise.

Bill Wundram can be contacted at (563) 383-2249 or bwundram@qctimes.com.

[dcd_enterprises]

Bush calls on Americans to remember war dead

WASHINGTON - President Bush will lay a wreath at Arlington Cemetery's Tomb of the Unknowns for one last time today on Memorial Day.



Sheila Woods pays respect to her father, Melvin Leon Woods, who fought with the U.S. Marine Corp in Korea, and her mother, Hester Elizabeth Woods, who is buried alongside him Sunday, May 25, 2008, at the Los Angeles National Cemetery.

His successor inherits that duty next year. In his last Memorial Day Proclamation, Bush says America's freedoms "come at great costs." But he adds that the brave men and women who've fought and died in the nation's service have "transformed the world in unimaginable ways."

The president is also calling on Americans to observe a "moment of remembrance" at 3 p.m. local time to honor those who perished fighting for freedom. Heeding the president's request, the moment will be observed by Major League Baseball. Also, Amtrak trains will all sound their horns and buglers will play taps at military cemeteries.

[dcd_enterprises]

Last Known WWI Veteran Honored for Memorial Day

KANSAS CITY, Mo — Frank Woodruff Buckles, the last known living American-born veteran of World War I, was honored Sunday at the Liberty Memorial during Memorial Day weekend celebrations.


World War I veteran Army Cpl. Frank Woodruff Buckles, 107.

"I had a feeling of longevity and that I might be among those who survived, but I didn't know I'd be the No. 1," the 107-year-old veteran said at a ceremony to unveil his portrait.

His photograph was hung in the main hallway of the National World War I Museum, which he toured for the first time, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States presented him with a gold medal of merit.

On Monday, he will be presented the American flag flying outside the memorial.

Buckles, who now lives in Charles Town, W.Va., has been an invited guest at the Pentagon, met with President Bush in Washington, D.C., and rode in the annual Armed Forces Day Parade in his home state since his status as one of the last living from the "Great War" was discovered nearly two years ago.

Federal officials have also arranged for his burial at Arlington National Cemetery.

Born in Missouri in 1901 and raised in Oklahoma, Buckles visited a string of military recruiters after the United States entered the "war to end all wars" in April 1917.

He was rejected by the Marines and the Navy, but eventually persuaded an Army captain he was 18 and enlisted, convincing him Missouri didn't keep public records of birth.

Buckles sailed for England in 1917 on the Carpathia, which is known for its rescue of Titanic survivors, and spent his tour of duty working mainly as a driver and a warehouse clerk in Germany and France. He rose to the rank of corporal and after Armistice Day he helped return prisoners of war to Germany.

Buckles later traveled the world working for the shipping company White Star Line and was in the Philippines in 1940 when the Japanese invaded. He became a prisoner of war for nearly three years.

Buckles gained notoriety when he attended a Veteran's Day ceremony at the Arlington grave of Gen. John "Black Jack" Pershing, who led U.S. forces in World War I, said his daughter, Susannah Flanagan.

He ended up on the podium and became a featured guest at the event, and the VIP invites and media interview requests came rolling in shortly afterward.

"This has been such a great surprise," Flanagan said. "You wouldn't think there would be this much interest in World War I. But the timing in history has been such and it's been unreal."

Buckles spent much of his museum tour Sunday looking at mementos of Pershing, whom he admired. He posed for pictures in front of a flag that used to be in Pershing's office and retold stories about meeting the famous general.

While Pershing claims most of the fame, Buckles now has a featured place at the museum.

"This is such an extraordinary occasion that we here at the museum decided that the photo of Mr. Buckles should be permanently installed in the main hallway here" said Brian Alexander, the museum's president and chief executive.

[artabr]

Thanks for the stories DCD.


Art

[Marlin]

Thanks for posting there, Dan. They are a great reminder for all.