WWII Memorial Day Remembrance – Victoria Sanchez
Victoria Sanchez honors her cousin Laverne who served during WWII, and other Memorial Day remembrances.
Transcript
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Speaker:Today is Memorial day here in the United States, and there's a bit of history on how it came about.
Speaker:But I'm not going to discuss that today.
Speaker:Memorial day is a day that we honor those fallen men and women who died serving in the United States military.
Speaker:But I would like to honor all of the veterans who have served and are serving.
Speaker:My mom, Victoria Sanchez is on the phone and she's going to share a Memorial day story today.
Speaker:Hello.
Speaker:Catherine, I had a cousin
Victoria Sanchez:Laverne who served in world war two.
Victoria Sanchez:He was on my father's side and his father has served in world war one.
Victoria Sanchez:Laverne's father along came World War two and everyone was very patriotic.
Victoria Sanchez:Laverne was underage.
Victoria Sanchez:He wanted to enlist.
Victoria Sanchez:And so his father signed the papers that he could enlist and he enlisted in the air service.
Victoria Sanchez:At that time, he was, uh, not quite out of high school.
Victoria Sanchez:So his father, , got his diploma during graduation week.
Victoria Sanchez:LaVerne did part of his basic training at Harligen Base in Texas.
Victoria Sanchez:And from there, he was sent to England and he was a tail gunner on a B25 and then later he transferred to, I think a, B 17 a bomber.
Victoria Sanchez:It was a very large bomber and a, I think it was known as the flying fortress or something.
Victoria Sanchez:They flew Missions over Germany on Austria, et cetera.
Victoria Sanchez:It was the custom after
Victoria Sanchez:they completed 50 missions that they would get R&R.
Victoria Sanchez:On his 50th mission the plane was shot down on December 11, 1944 over Austria, all on board were killed with the exception of two.
Victoria Sanchez:And the two were the radio operator and the copilot.
Victoria Sanchez:December 24th, 1944, my uncle and aunt got the telegram saying that LaVerne was killed in action.
Victoria Sanchez:That was Christmas Eve.
Victoria Sanchez:In
Victoria Sanchez:1946 his body was returned.
Victoria Sanchez:Um, I believe it was January for Memorial service and the whole town turned out for the Memorial
Victoria Sanchez:service.
Victoria Sanchez:I was young, but I remember they were all there.
Victoria Sanchez:It was in the Methodist church.
Victoria Sanchez:, LaVerne had a fiance who was crying and crying.
Victoria Sanchez:And my aunt told her that LaVerne would have wanted her to get married and to be happy.
Victoria Sanchez:So.
Victoria Sanchez:His father was, , really devastated.
Victoria Sanchez:He and Laverne were going to open after the war, a radio and model.
Victoria Sanchez:Uh, but one of those model kit stores in Waterloo, Wisconsin, he never did.
Victoria Sanchez:They also never had a Christmas after that.
Victoria Sanchez:And Laverne had a younger sister who was in high school at the time.
Victoria Sanchez:His brother, Victor served in the us Navy and came home from the war.
Victoria Sanchez:So that's the story of Laverne, but I'd like to share some other stories.
Victoria Sanchez:Very briefly.
Victoria Sanchez:My mother had two brothers who served in world war two.
Victoria Sanchez:They were Clarence and Elmer, and they were both doctors.
Victoria Sanchez:Elmer was one of the first doctors at Dachau and after several days of treating the survivors at Dachau, he couldn't take it anymore.
Victoria Sanchez:And he had to be transferred to England.
Victoria Sanchez:His brother Clarence was also a doctor and was in the Normandy invasion on DDay.
Victoria Sanchez:He was in the battle of the bulge and he received the bronze star and the silver star.
Victoria Sanchez:My husband's father, Julius served as a pilot on the Jenney Glider in WWI..
Victoria Sanchez:My husband Rozier during the Korean war was in air defense command and he was a navigator our son-in-law Glen served in Vietnam in the U S army.
Victoria Sanchez:Our grandson, Michael served in the us Navy first in submarines in the submarine duty and then in intelligence.
Victoria Sanchez:So to all the veterans, I will forever give thanks to all who served and sacrificed you were all heroes.
Victoria Sanchez:God bless you all,
Catherine:I look forward to sharing Helen Charlie Nellist's positive imprints and information regarding Hadrian's Wall over in the United Kingdom.
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