Ramblin’: Veterans leave memoirs before they’re gone

Posted on Nov 09, 2009 by Dave Rasdal.

Richard Sanner, who grew up in Anamosa, wrote and published "Combat Medic Memoirs" so his ancestors would have a record of his service during World War II. Photo was taken Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009. (Dave Rasdal/The Gazette)

CEDAR RAPIDS — Richard Sanner, who grew up in Anamosa and served as a World War II medic, spent $15,000 to print and publish his book, “Combat Medic Memoirs.”

Mildred Dillon, who was born in Webster and served four years as an Army nurse during that war, assembled a more modest spiral-bound recollection, “My Tales of the South Pacific.”

Raymond Pierce, who was born in Delaware County and proudly served in the Korean War, didn’t talk much about his experience. He died Oct. 19.

“He had his Silver Star and his Purple Heart on display at his funeral and people didn’t even know he was in the service,” says Don Tyne, director of Linn County Veterans Affairs.

The Silver Star ranks right behind the Medal of Honor for bravery.

“Here, he comes home and leads a normal life and doesn’t even talk about it,” Don says.

Some veterans can talk about it. Others can’t.

As Veterans Day approaches Wednesday, it just may be up to the rest of us to wheedle the stories out of our veterans. Especially from World War II veterans who are rapidly passing away.

“I hear it all the time,” Don says. “‘I didn’t know’ he did this or he did that.”

Richard, who died in 2000, planned well ahead. In 1944, while in the service, he asked his parents to save all of his letters home. Not until 50 years later did he go through them again to write his 206-page book that’s also full of pictures from when he served in France, Germany and Austria.

“I got the idea that I have the responsibility to put this all down,” he said in a 1996 Gazette interview. “I think we veterans have a responsibility to the younger generation to record history.”

Mildred, who was 95 when she died in May, had become friends with Don as she applied for a war pension to help meet mounting medical bills. Don received her modest memoir with an original wartime picture of her in the front.

“It was such an honor that she gave this to me,” Don says. “I’m going to mention her in my Veterans Day speech.”

Don is the featured speaker at the annual Veterans Day service, usually held at the Veterans Memorial Building, which was flooded out in 2008. So it’s being held at the Teamsters Hall, 5000 J Street SW.

Mildred’s memoir recalls her travels from one South Pacific island to another — the first time she saw an ocean, her first rides on a ship and in an airplane, even one time when a pilot let her fly. While not dwelling on her duties as a nurse, she does mention a young man who had shrapnel removed from his heart and another soldier with a huge hole in his back that blew out a lung.

You wonder if these young men lived to tell their tales, or even if they wanted to.

Out of curiosity, Don did a little research on Raymond Pierce of Marion. As a private in the Marine Corps, he served with a machine gun squad in Korea. During a Sept. 13, 1951, battle, a grenade rolled near the machine gun nest.

“Quickly leaping from his position, he seized the deadly missile and hurled it from the position,” his commendation reads. He was seriously wounded when the grenade exploded as it left his hand.

Raymond was 21, a hero to his surviving comrades.

He was 79 when he died last month — a husband, father and grandfather who, according to his obituary, was “proud to have served his country.”