Memorial Day means a lot to, and holds a lot of memories for, a
group of Mount Jewett American Legion Home Post #574 members – but
this one promises to bring something big.
The nearly 18 members have been involved with the organization
for more than 62 years, and on Tuesday, a new $500,000 building
will start being built.
Members Victor Peterson, 87; Edgar Sluga, 81; Quinten Johnson,
87, who started as a member of the Smethport Legion and rejoined
the Mount Jewett Legion after a hiatus in membership; Don Adair,
83, a 63-year member of the legion; Lewis Stidd; Don Warren, 80, a
63-year member; Bill Carl, 82, a 62-year member; David Barnhart,
83; Carl Sluga, 91; Woody Park, 92; and Ray D. Swanson, 89,
gathered at the legion Friday to talk about their military service,
their years with the legion and Memorial Day.
All of the legion members served during World War II, but each
had their own stories to tell about their time serving this
country.
Brothers Edgar and Carl Sluga served together in Germany during
World War II.
Swanson said he joined the military at McChord Air Force Base in
Washington, and never went east of the Mississippi.
Warren said he was part of the “Magic Carpet” group that loaded
those involved in the Bataan Death March in the Philippines onto a
hospital ship in Okinawa.
“One day, there was a crane that came over … and dropped a huge
box on our ship,” Warren said. “I asked (someone) what was inside
the box, and he told me the Dutch dead. Apparently, they had
cremated those who died and put them in the box to ship back to
Holland.”
Park, the oldest member gathered Friday to talk with the group,
said he was with the 43rd Division, construction, and Peterson
pointed out that he still has his cap from that division after all
these years.
Peterson said he is a veteran of the Air Corps, joining in
Ridgway on June 29, 1940, and shipping out to Hawaii from New York,
going through the Panama Canal. He served four years in the
Pacific.
Carl said he’s a D-Day survivor, saying it will be 63 years from
D-Day on June 6, and adding that it’s been 66 years since Pearl
Harbor for Peterson.
“We had a lot of Carls that served in the military,” Carl said.
“I had an uncle … two sons and my daughter served in Desert Storm,
47 years later from when I served.”
Carl said he went back to Europe in 1994.
“It was one wonderful trip,” he said. “It was nice to see
everything (that was bombed out in 1945) built back up again. There
were 16 D-Day vets and the wives of some of the vets who had died
that went on the trip.”
When asked what kind of memories they had over the years at the
legion, the veterans generally expressed a number of memories
coming to mind.
“I couldn’t begin to count them all,” Carl said.
The veterans talked about McKean County President Judge John
Cleland speaking a few years back and recalling that the late Hon.
Glenn E. Mencer, who died this year on April 17, also spoke once
during their years with the legion.
Carl said it’s not memories at the legion that really stick out
but the service to the community.
“Serving the community, state and nation,” Carl and Warren said,
quoting the American Legion’s motto or mission statement.
Carl also said that Barnhart, who lost a leg and kidney, still
manages to mow the grass at the legion after all these years.
The group was happy that the Memorial Day parade in Mount Jewett
now only runs to the gazebo, which previously ended at the town’s
cemeteries – a march too long for the older veterans.
One of the veterans added Memorial Day was a day of remembrance,
and Carl added that when they play “Taps” a lot of memories came
back.
“When you’re honoring departed comrades, there’s just something
about the sound of the bugle that just gets you, no matter how many
times you’ve heard it before,” Carl said.
Warren said he only missed one Memorial Day when he was sick.
Carl said he has not missed a Memorial Day parade except when he
joined the National Guard, which paid him for marching, under a
direct order from his general.
Peterson and Carl will both be marching in Mount Jewett’s
Memorial Day parade this year in a car with signs made up for both
of them, marking the 63 years since D-Day and 66 years since Pearl
Harbor. Peterson is also going to be the speaker, which he has
never done before, at Mount Jewett’s Memorial Day services.
Then after Memorial Day, the veterans will get a gift in the
form of the new Mount Jewett American Legion building.
Warren designed the new building, which will hold 350 people and
have two bars, a kitchen, four restrooms and a stage for bands to
play. He said after all the equipment is installed, the building
project will cost $500,000.
Warren said they were waiting on a permit that just arrived to
begin construction. He said they were first looking to add on to
the existing building, but with bringing everything up to date with
new codes and so forth, it was easier to build a whole new
building.
This year marks the 87th year of the American Legion Post #574
in Mount Jewett.
