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It was a stirring sight. Fourteen World War II veterans and a “Rosie the Riveter,” all around a hundred years old and beyond, including one gentleman of 108, were gathered last Friday at a church hall in Emmaus, Pennsylvania. The event marked the 80th anniversary of V-J Day, August 15, 1945, which celebrated the end of fighting against Japan.
Besides newspaper and TV coverage, dozens of people had come to meet and talk with these last survivors of the Greatest Generation. Only about 66,000 of the 16 million Americans who served in the war are still living. About 3,900 are Pennsylvanians.
My friend Meta Binder of Lehigh Valley Chapter 55 of the Battle of the Bulge Association had organized this salute at St. John’s Lutheran Church. The group’s president, another good friend, Steve Savage, had flown up from his new home in Florida to be there. Most of the honored guests had been gathered by 21-year-old Albright College student Tyler Boland, who has interviewed hundreds of World War II veterans so their stories will live on.
The vets were entertained with songs and dancing from the 1940s. A 10-year-old boy, James Papalia, who has written several books about a kid’s journey through time to World War II battles, read from his work.
I didn’t manage to speak with all of the vets. Here are the ones with whom I had that honor:
Joseph Haenn of Telford, Montgomery County, at 108 is the oldest World War II veteran in Pennsylvania. An assistant crew chief in the Army Air Corps, he worked on B-24 Liberators with the 8th Air Force’s 467th Bomb Group in England.
James Determan, 102, of Lititz, Lancaster County, served with the Americal Division’s 182nd Infantry Regiment at Leyte Gulf and Cebu in the Philippines. He carried a Browning automatic rifle and was awarded a Bronze Star.
Edward Czechowski, 100, from Reading, was a gunner on the destroyer USS Saufley in the Pacific, including Iwo Jima, Guam, Leyte Gulf and Okinawa. He received a Silver Star for blowing apart a kamikaze as the Japanese plane was about to hit his ship.
Russell Sattazahn, 99, from Schaefferstown, Lebanon County, served with the 1st Infantry Division. In March 1945, he was severely wounded in Germany. He received two Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart.
Dorothy Trate, 103, from Narvon, Lancaster County, was a punch press operator at the Doehler-Jarvis plant in Pottstown, which built parts for warplanes.
Harry Bean, 99, from Norristown, was a bazooka operator with the 351st Infantry Regiment, 88th Infantry Division, who fought the Germans in Italy.
Robert Pearce, 102, of Lower Macungie, Lehigh County, was a Navy weatherman with Fleet Air Wing 10 on Palawan in the Philippines. He went “typhoon hunting” in PB4Y-2 Privateers to gather weather data.
Eli Rauzon, 102, of Upper Macungie was a Navy electrical repairman on the submarine tender USS Griffin and worked on subs in Australia. He went on to serve in the Air Force during the Korean War and as a contractor for the Defense Department.
It was clear these and the other vets enjoyed getting the attention they richly deserve. As Meta Binder put it for The Morning Call of Allentown, “It is extremely important for their legacy to be preserved. … Let us never forget their sacrifices.”
David Venditta 