Only in MY America (eBook)

From orphaned farm boy to the Michigan Aviation Hall of Fame via three wars

Robert F. Warren (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2021 | 1. Auflage
658 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
978-1-0983-8343-5 (ISBN)

Infos

This is the engaging life story of a decorated United States Marine Corps aviator, who served with distinction in World War II, Vietnam and Korea. Colonel Robert F. Warren is the only Marine aviator who has commanded both a Marine Helicopter Squadron and later a Marine Jet Attack Squadron. Along the way, Colonel Warren earned three Distinguished Flying Crosses, the Legion of Merit with Combat 'V' and many other awards in recognition of his heroism and achievements in aerial flight, and his significant contributions to the success of the United States Marine Corps.

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This is the engaging life story of a decorated United States Marine Corps aviator, who served with distinction in World War II, Vietnam and Korea. Colonel Robert F. Warren is the only Marine aviator who has commanded both a Marine Helicopter Squadron and later a Marine Jet Attack Squadron. Along the way, Colonel Warren earned three Distinguished Flying Crosses, the Legion of Merit with Combat "e;V"e; and many other awards in recognition of his heroism and achievements in aerial flight, and his significant contributions to the success of the United States Marine Corps. Born in Riverside, MI and raised in nearby Coloma, MI after being orphaned by the death of his mother, and the absence of his father, Bob was later adopted by family members. Separated from his older brother, they would both grow up to be pilots - Bill a pioneer in commercial aviation, and Bob a career military pilot. Bob joined the Navy Flight Training Program in August, 1942. He received his Naval Aviator Wings and Marine Corps 2nd Lieutenant commission at the age of 19. He trained to be a night fighter pilot at Vero Beach, FL in 1944. In 1945, during World War II, Bob fought as a Marine night fighter pilot during the Battle for Okinawa, and he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for "e;heroism and extraordinary achievement in aerial flight"e;. Warren instructed Marine fixed-wing pilots transitioning to helicopters, at the outbreak of the Korean War, as part of Helicopter Experimental Squadron One in Quantico, VA (HMX-1). He was one of three original officers assigned to Helicopter Squadron 161 (HMR-161); the first U.S. Military all-helicopter squadron, commissioned in January of 1951. Seven months later, HMR-161 embarked on the USS Sitkoh Bay (CVE-86) for Korea. Warren was a pioneer helicopter pilot during the Korean War, designing and manufacturing external sling hoists and quick releasing cargo hooks, in the machine shop on board the Sitkoh Bay, en route to Korea. In Korea, HMR-161 was located farther into North Korea than any other U.S. or South Korean force. Warren participated in Operations Windmill I and II, the first time entire front line battalions were relieved in place, completely by helicopter. Warren was awarded a second Distinguished Flying Cross for Operation Blackbird, a combat operation executed in complete darkness. It was considered the most dangerous mission during the squadron's entire Korean combat tour. Warren was awarded a third Distinguished Flying Cross for his heroic efforts to rescue a downed pilot forty miles behind enemy lines. After 14 years of helicopter flying, without an accident, Warren transitioned to flying swept-wing jets. He was assigned as Commanding Officer of a A-4 Marine Attack Squadron 331 (VMA-331). Colonel Warren served a thirteen month tour with distinction in Vietnam. Returning to CA, he commanded a Marine Air Group at MCAS, Tustin. Warren retired in September, 1969 after more than 27 years of military flying. Between 1981 and 1987, Warren was recalled to active duty six times, to serve at the Pentagon on an Advisory Committee on Retired Personnel.

Textauszug

Chapter 1: The Early Years

My life began on 10 December 1923 near the little rural village of Riverside, Michigan. My father was Walter Fred Kuzian and my mother was Angeline Louise (Allen) Kuzian. My parents named me Robert Frank Kuzian; probably after one of my father’s brothers named Frank Kuzian. My mother and father were married on 24 December 1920. My older brother, Walter Fred Kuzian, Jr. was born on 2 May 1921.

My father had been drafted into the U.S. Army in 1917. He served in France during WWI and was discharged in 1919.

My father’s parents were John Kuzian and Mary (Urie) Kuzian who emigrated from Poland. My father was born on 4 December 1894 in Baltimore, Maryland. My mother was born in 1901 and her parents were Edward “Jack” and Daisy Allen who lived locally near Riverside, Michigan. At age twenty-five my mother Angeline Kuzian died from complications of appendicitis and peritonitis. She is buried in the Hagar Township Cemetery, near Riverside, Michigan. My father died of a cardiac arrest on 13 January 1964 in the small mountain town of Bangor, California. He is buried in the San Bruno Veterans National Cemetery, near the San Francisco International Airport.

After the passing of our mother, our father faced a real dilemma. What was he to do with two small children; one still a baby? Under those circumstances, he probably did the best he could by taking my brother and me to our Aunt Ruth and Uncle Tom Warren’s farm home, located about four miles north of the small town of Coloma, Michigan and about ten miles from his Riverside home. He was certain that his two boys would be warm and well fed there in the large Warren farmhouse. I think the Warrens expected our father to contribute something to help provide for our welfare. However, he didn’t. Instead, he promptly and completely disappeared! No one in our family knew of his whereabouts for the next sixty years. When recalled to active duty in the 1980s, I unexpectedly learned many details of his life; including his travels to Louisiana, Nebraska, and later to California, where he died.

The Warren farm consisted of sixty acres; with the front twenty acres devoted to small crops including tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries, watermelons, cantaloupes, raspberries, string beans, and lima beans. My Aunt Ruth also planted, and maintained, a very large and productive garden.

The front twenty acres also had all of the farm buildings, including a barn where the animals were housed and fed. The barn included space for two vehicles and had an overhead haymow and bins for grain storage. The farm structures included the large farmhouse with an adjacent windmill, a free-standing two-car garage, and several small chicken houses; sometimes referred to as brooder houses, or chicken coops. There was also a ten-acre orchard, where apple, cherry, plum, peach, and pear trees were grown, alongside several rows of Concord grapes.

The back forty acres were treeless; planted with the grain crops needed to feed the horses, cows, pigs, and chickens. The barn, house, and garage all had vertical lightning rods attached atop each building, and grounded by a one-half inch mesh cable extending into the ground. Tom and Ruth Warren had two children named Helen and George, who were ten and eight years old.

To suddenly have the number of children living in their home doubled was a major concern for our Aunt Ruth and Uncle Tom. But, they were a kind and giving couple who accepted and treated my brother and me as full members of their family. As the only baby, I probably enjoyed, and demanded, a lot of special attention; a.k.a., being spoiled.

Growing up, we were disciplined fairly, and treated very well. Throughout my life I’ve felt that one of the reasons I have enjoyed excellent health was because I ate so much good, nourishing food when I was growing up on that farm. I can recall picking and eating many delicious foods that were all very good for growing children.

I don’t remember that the Warrens had much cash, but they always managed to provide an abundance of good food. During the summer when we were picking and harvesting, Aunt Ruth Warren and her daughter, Helen, were busy canning, to ensure that we had enough food to last through the next winter. Their large basement had multiple bins and shelves. The bins held cabbages, apples, and root crops, including potatoes, carrots, beets, rutabagas, and turnips. The fruit cellar shelves held rows of glass Mason jars, filled with colorful canned fruits and vegetables that provided food for the winter months.

Bob Warren at six months old

Ruth and Thomas Warren in 1969

During the school year, I recall trudging three fourths of a mile to our one-classroom Ingraham School. Before our township schools were consolidated, small schools were constructed about two miles apart throughout the township. Building small schools ensured that school children lived no farther than a mile from a school. Many farms adjacent to our route to school had fruit trees and vineyards. We always felt free to stop and pick apples, pears, plums, and grapes, on our way to school. That roadside fruit often supplemented the sandwich lunches we carried in small brown paper sacks.

Our kitchen icebox had a compartment on top; large enough to hold a large block of ice. We bought ice blocks from a commercial ice storage facility, located a couple of miles from our farm. During winter months, ice blocks had been cut into various sizes from the nearby Little Paw Paw Lake with a long metal ice saw. The ice blocks were stored in a building, with wood sawdust between the blocks of ice. When an ice block was delivered by a truck, and placed into the top of our icebox, the melting block lasted long enough to keep milk and other foods preserved for several days.

Our Telephone

We had a fifteen inch by ten-inch wooden telephone hung against our dining room wall. Our telephone number was 1-2F-21. We answered the telephone when we heard two long bell rings, followed by one short ring (the last two of our telephone numbers). Our telephone was on a party line; shared with five neighbors, each having a different telephone bell-ringing sequence. The telephone was built into a shiny golden oak box, with two round bells at the top-front of the box, and a six-inch adjustable (up and down only) mouthpiece, protruding several inches in front of the telephone box face. A wired, five-inch, handheld receiver hung on a cradle, on the left side of the box.

When our ringing bell sequence was recognized, the call was answered by removing the receiver from its cradle. With the weight of a receiver removed, the spring-loaded cradle raised, making connection with the caller’s telephone. To hear a caller, the receiver had to be held against the listener’s ear.

A slanted wooden tray, designed to hold a small telephone book, was built into the lower front of the box. A hand signaling crank was mounted on the right side of the telephone box. The crank was used to call the local Michigan Bell Telephone Company switchboard operator, or to call others on the party line, using their ringing bell sequence. Long distance calls had to be made through the switchboard operator. The telephone box bore the Western Electric Company trademark. Gossip sessions among the neighboring women, using the shared party line seemed to be a popular, relaxing afternoon pastime.

Warren farm house, Coloma, MI, 1960

The Ingraham One-Room School

Walking three fourths of a mile to the Ingraham rural school was a lot of fun. In the winter we often pulled our sleds, and a toboggan, and gave rides to the smaller children of families along our route to school. The sled of choice was the Flexible Flyer, because it had wide metal runners, and it was very sturdy.

After school, we often stopped on our way home to dig caves into the large roadside snow banks created by blowing snow; and on our sleds, we coasted down the hilly road home. On winter evenings, the older neighborhood kids would often gather at one of several nearby shallow ponds; build a bonfire on the ice, and enjoy skating, with frequent warming stops next to the fire. Our metal ice skates were held firmly against our shoes, using adjustable shoe sole clamps, and belt-like leather ankle straps. Our curfew was at 10:00 p.m. sharp.

Ingraham was a typical township one-room rural school house; of which there were many built at that time. The school had a single large classroom, a high bell tower rising over one end of the school structure; adjacent to it was a water well with a manually operated pump handle. A small, unheated, detached building housed school supplies, equipment, and the dry wood needed to fuel the classroom stove. The school lacked indoor plumbing. Boy and Girl privies were built at one end of the school. Fresh drinking water was hand-pumped into a metal bucket, and students shared the same long-handled metal water dipper, when drinking from the bucket.

The back two-thirds of the classroom were furnished with permanent desks. Each desk had a seat. At the front of the classroom, chairs were arranged in a semicircle. When called by the teacher, students from that class would stand, and quietly move to the front of the classroom, and sit in their semicircle seats. Students from a different school grade, who had just finished their class, would return to their seats; moving along the opposite side of the classroom.

I clearly recall the teacher loudly saying, “Third graders, rise and pass.” Our teacher, Mr. Forrest E. Totten, taught all eight grades. I feel that...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 3.7.2021
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Biografien / Erfahrungsberichte
• ISBN-10: 1-0983-8343-5 / 1098383435
• ISBN-13: 978-1-0983-8343-5 / 9781098383435