Honor Hour discussion links seasoned veterans with young audience at Dennison’s Soldiers Homecoming Festival

  • Jennifer Kneuss
  • August 24, 2010
  • 257
                        
“Certainly in World War I and World War II, when other countries were trying to take over the world, we had no choice,” said Jim Carruthers, a New Philadelphia attorney and Vietnam veteran. Carruthers was at the Soldiers Homecoming Festival on August 21, and was facilitating an Honor Hour discussion where veterans could share stories of their experience with the younger generation. The discussion was part of a full weekend of activities honoring soldiers from all eras. “Everybody did their part,” continued Carruthers. “But it disturbs me a little bit today to see all of the video games that make killing seem so unreal,” he admitted. “I was in Vietnam in ’69 and ’70…we experienced all kinds of diseases and rashes because of the climate. You had to put up with that, also. But you did it, and it was what you had to do. You did it, and hoped you didn’t get killed.” Carruthers younger audience members listened intently as he told of his experiences. “It was a strange war. They told us we couldn’t shoot, sometimes, until they shot at us. It limited what we could do on our side. We used Agent Orange to kill the foliage, and there are still soldiers suffering from that today. But those were the hard times, and you remember the funny things, too, at least the things that seemed funny at the time. Scrambling around, trying to find your helmet when you were being shot at…fortunately, I was one of those that got back home.” Carruthers also spoke of the lack of greeting when he returned home. His parents picked him up at the Akron-Canton airport, and he was simply glad to be back on U.S. soil. It wasn’t until much later that someone actually verbalized any sort of welcome. “It was years later, and a guy asked me where I had served. I told him, ‘Vietnam’, and then he said, ‘me, too’. Then, that vet said to me, “welcome home”. That was the first time anyone said that to me.” Francis “Tom” Jarvis served three year in the Navy, and he shared memories with the students as well. “I volunteered for the demolition group,” he said. “We picked up 90 tons of dynamite on our ship at one time, and the captain sure didn’t like that! When we got to Saipan, he yelled, ‘get this dynamite off my ship!’” Jarvis laughed as he noted that shortly after the dynamite was moved off the ship toward Saipan, it all went up in a ball of fire and was therefore never able to be used. Harold Stoner, of Navarre, served in the Pacific as a communications expert. He told of how his unit was to be shipped out, and then a mix-up caused another unit to be deployed instead. “I always think of the boys who went ahead of us. They went in to the invasion of Guam. If that ship hadn’t taken off and left us, we would have been there. The outfit that went in, 97 out of 100 never came back.” Mike Casey, of Fresno, thoughtfully moved through an extensive display of war memorabilia, provided by the families of veterans, which was on display across from the Depot. “I think that this is marvelous. I was in the Army from ’68 to ’72, and the Navy from ’73 to ’77.” Casey said the display brought back memories. “I see a lot of things that look familiar. The radios, the hats, the gear. It just brings it back like it was yesterday, almost” Other activities throughout the weekend included a ticker tape parade, canteen reenactment, the Sea of Yellow Ribbons, battlefield reenactments, the Ohio Flags of Honor, a White Table program by Sharon Ricklic’s York Elementary class, 1940’s look-a-like contest, a military dogs presentation, and a variety of entertainment. A USO dance, featuring the band Recollection, was another highlight of the weekend.


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