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 Last Sunday the guest speaker was Vince Speranza, a World War II
Veteran, who was a member of the Screaming Eagles 101 Airborne
Division that held off the German’s during the Battle of the Bulge.
This coming Sunday, the guest speaker will be Capt. Guy Gruters,
Vietnam F-100 fighter pilot who was shot down twice and spent five
years as a Prisoner of War at the Hanoi Hilton.
The first special program began at noon on Sunday with Pastor Daniel
McQuality welcoming the congregation, guests, and the guest speaker.
The Lincoln Community High School Choir presented the National
Anthem, and then McQuality turned the program over to Speranza.
Speranza’s story began when he was 16 years old, and the Japanese
bombed Pearl Harbor. He recalled that as a teenager he was outraged
that anyone would dare to do such a thing. Living in New York, he
said many of his friends felt the same way that he did. Their
response was that they had to go and fight for their country.
Speranza said that though they were only 16, he and some of his
friends determined that they would go to the enlistment office and
lie about their ages. But the enlistment officer saw through their
ruse and sent them on their way. The young men were told that they
could come back when they were 18, and that they did.
Speranza signed up and went through basic training preparing to go
to war against the German’s. He recalled a day when his company was
called outside to lineup. As they stood in order, they saw for the
first time, soldiers in parachutes floating down to earth from
above. Speranza said that using paratroopers was a brand new concept
and the young soldiers on the ground were in awe of the sight.
In a few minutes though, their leader inquired as to how many
soldiers would like to sign up to be part of the parachuting
fighters. No one rushed to volunteer until they were told that
taking on the role included a $50 increase in pay. Seven soldiers
then volunteered including Speranza.
Speranza recalled that in training, each paratrooper had to make
five successful jumps before they were considered ready to go
overseas. The jumps had been made, and his troop was sent to a camp
in New York State to await deployment. Speranza said, in the army
the food was not the best, especially the spaghetti. Being an
Italian, he often boasted that his mother made the best spaghetti in
the world, and someday he would take all his buddies home with him
for dinner.
Well, the camp in New York was less than an hour drive from his
mother’s home, and his fellow soldiers called him on the offer. He
called his mother, and she was willing to oblige, so Speranza and 18
others converged on his New York home for a meal. At the end of the
meal, his mother said that no one would be able to leave her home
until they had sat down and written a letter to their mother. After
the war, Speranza one day asked his mother why that had been so
important to her. She in returned asked of all those young men who
sat at her table, how many came home after the war. The answer was
only a very few, and she said that was why they all needed to write
a letter to their mothers.
Speranza spoke in detail about his experiences in Germany and how
his troop, the 101 Airborne Division, had struggled to prevent the
German invasion of Bastogne, with success at the Battle of the
Bulge. The heroic efforts of those young men and many others like
them were not without its consequences. As they held off the
Germans, they suffered many casualties. Doctors and medic camps were
lost to the Germans, and medical supplies were scarce. In addition,
supplies on the battlefield were scarce as well.
Speranza recalled a day when he was ordered to travel alone to a
nearby bombed out town where the allied forces had set up a hospital
in an abandoned church. He was to retrieve supplies such as
batteries for the field radios.
Speranza made the trip successfully. When he reached the church
turned hospital, he knew one of his good friends lay inside, and he
took the time to stop in and see the young man. Inside, when he
checked on his friend, the friend asked him to find him something to
drink. Speranza said he ran out, trying to find something for his
friend to drink. What he found was beer. Most all of the buildings
in the town had been destroyed by the Germans. But at the second
stop Speranza made, he found a beer tap that was working. With no
other means of collecting the liquid, he filled his helmet full of
beer and carried it back to his friend. Several other soldiers also
wished for a drink, and he found himself making multiple trips back
to the tavern to fill his helmet. After a while though his Good
Samaritan efforts were put to a stop as the chief at the hospital
intercepted him and scolded him saying that many of the men in the
hospital had stomach or “gut” injuries and that giving them liquids
could be fatal.
Speranza said that he was very surprised when after many, many
years, he finally returned to that little town and found out that he
had become a folk legend. Many had learned the story of the soldier
carrying beer to his buddies in a helmet. A local brewery had
created Airborne Beer, and in the year Speranza returned, the label
on the beer was a characterization of a young soldier carrying beer
in a helmet. The beer was even served with a ceramic helmet.
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At age 85, Speranza returned to the battlefield and the town near
Bastogne. In addition to the beer served in a helmet, there was a
war museum and warehouse in the town. There, a local historian had
maps that showed all the manholes of the allied forces, and they
were marked with who occupied them. Speranza said he met a Frenchman
in a tavern who was able to take him out and show him the exact
manholes that Speranza had occupied.
While these were the ‘good time’ stories that Speranza shared, life
as a soldier in World War II was far from fun. Speranza spoke about
the job at hand the soldiers were there to do. He talked about the
Battle of the Bulge and successfully killing Germans. “We felt
good….that’s the way you had to feel,” he said. And added, “That is
when a kid becomes a man.” Speranza also talked about the harsh
reality of the German prison camps and the sights he had witnessed.
It’s common knowledge that the Germans practiced very inhumane means
of exterminating Jews. Speranza said that when they came on one of
these terrible prison camps he saw firsthand bodies of men, women,
and children piled like brush waiting to be destroyed or placed in
mass burial sites. Speranza said, “We’d heard about these
concentration camps, but didn’t believe it. How could one man do
that to another….it was just unbelievable.”
Speranza said the memories that he was left with after the war were
something he wanted to put behind him. For 65 years, he didn’t talk
about his experiences, didn’t want to share that part of his life.
But in 2009 at age 85, he and his daughter made the first trip back
to Bastogne. Once there, the people of the region realized that he
was one of the Airborne and had fought the Battle of the Bulge.
Speranza said he was overwhelmed by the way he was treated. Many
thanked him for their freedom and their life and regarded him as a
great hero who defended them.
It was then that he decided to go ahead and put his memories into
written form. He penned his book, “NUTS!” which has its own special
meaning outlined in the book, and began touring throughout the
country talking about his experiences in World War II. Now at age
90, he has returned to Bastogne each year since 2009 and is planning
on going back again this December. For the first time, he will be
accompanied by his granddaughter Ella.
When Speranza was done speaking, he fielded a few questions from the
audience. He was asked if the movies we see about World War II were
accurate. He said that in his experience, the movies are not
accurate, and neither are some of the history books. He said
regarding the movies, there always seems to be a romantic component,
and he said frankly, the soldiers in the Airborne had no time for
that, and he doesn’t see how very many of the soldiers anywhere
could have had time.
He also made a comment on what we teach our children today. He said
that in many cases, children are being led to believe that war is
the fault of the Americans. He said the American armed forces are
not the problem in this day and age, they are the solution.
As the morning came to an end, Pastor McQuality presented Speranza
with a hand painted Cowl from a B-51, such as would have been flown
by the Airborne.
McQuality is a veteran himself and comes from a family of veterans.
Earlier in the day he had recounted his military service as a member
of the Army serving in Afghanistan. He was also happy to be able to
show off the hatch door from the very B-17 his grandfather flew and
was shot down in during World War II.
The day ended with a hearty lunch for everyone, and Speranza
offering up signed copies of his book.
The public is invited to join the veteran observation this Sunday at
noon as well. Grace Lutheran Church is located on the south edge of
Lincoln at 1458 Route 121, the old Maple Club building.
[Nila Smith] |
