Vets share memories

By GUY PRIEL

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- For a handful of New Ulm veterans, Dec. 7 evokes memories of an event that forever changed their lives.

The year was 1941. On a quiet morning at the hub of United States naval power in the Pacific Ocean, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Marines slept. Japanese Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo led a 33-ship striking force steaming under the cover of darkness to within 200 miles north of Oahu. His carriers launched 350 airplanes against the Pacific fleet and the Hawaiian ground troops.

The attack's chief target was eight American battleships among the 92 vessels anchored in the harbor. President Eisenhower declared it a day that would "live in infamy" as the United States was launched into World War II.

America knew the war was going on, but chose to remain neutral as long as possible.

Many young men had already answered the call to serve their country during the war. They had begun training in the early days of 1941, months before the attack on Pearl Harbor.

"I was in the band," veteran LeRoy Dewanz said. "There were three groups from New Ulm, with about 100 people."

The group left New Ulm in January 1941 and went first to California, then to Washington, eventually ending up in Kodiak, Alaska, by mid September. The group was part of the Sea Battery and the 250th Regiment.

"I remember it quite well," veteran Stan Windhorn said. "We were living in tents without heat at the time. It was early in December, and there was snow on ground. The warrant officer came in and told us to get up and get prepared because the Japs were coming."

His first reaction was one of surprise, as men started scrambling from their beds to get more information.

"'What do you mean the Japs are coming?' I asked," Windhorn said. "He said, 'Well, they attacked Pearl Harbor.' We had no idea where that was, but we were concerned. We had no equipment with us there. We were only supposed to be there three months and ended up staying three years."

Everyone in Kodiak knew they were being trained in case war came to America, but Alaska was considered an overseas assignment at the time because it was not yet a state, Dewanz said.

"We were not there to be trained for the line, our job was entertainment," Dewanz said. "We didn't go through basic training until two years later. There was really nothing we could do because Hawaii was a long way away for us. The only way out of Kodiak was to swim, and no one was going to swim. There was no way out for us by that time."

People became concerned, though, because of uncertainty their future and and the nation as a whole, being forced into war that quickly, Windhorn said.

"We knew Pearl Harbor had happened, because the daily routines changed for us," Dewanz said. "We began to learn how to dig foxholes and prepare for other types of work."

The group left Kodiak in March 1944 and headed to El Paso, Texas, where they began preparing for shipment overseas because they had received their orders for service in the Philippines.

"I never really expected we would end up going," Dewanz said. "But when it came down to it, we really didn't have the chance to say no."

The day the group was ready to leave, Japan surrendered and the war ended.

"I kind of lucked out," Dewanz said. "I had good duty as a member of the band, but began to think about being overseas as a part of the medic team. I would have seen a lot more of the front lines. I was very relieved. The train was already loaded for us to leave that day."