jim.normandin@adamspg.com
ewohlenhaus@dcmilitary.com
bgriffin@chespub.com
Eli
Interact with At Ease on our social media platforms:
Facebook @ At Ease Monthly
Facebook @ DC Military
Instagram @ ateasemonthly
Looking out for others is an important part of life. Honoring veterans is, too. It’s not just something we do in November on one day. Looking out for veterans to honor is something we should always be doing.
That’s what this edition of At Ease brings — a chance to get connected with good organizations who help those who have served in the military.
Have you heard of the Mighty Pen Project? If not, you are about to. This program, based out of Richmond, helps veterans relate and process their life experiences through writing. As a magazine, you can understand why that is such an appealing topic.
We are also fortunate to learn about the Fawn Lakes Veterans Group, which participates in the Rappahannock Regional Veterans Treatment Docket, also featured in this edition. All geared towards helping veterans.
I won’t spoil it, but there is a phenomenal story on Sergeant Dale Stickrath in these pages that you are sure to enjoy.
Thank you for reading At Ease!
Residential TreatmentforChildren andAdolescents
We areh erefor yo uw hen yo un eed help fo ryourchild.Findoutmore to daybyc alling 703 -7 77-0800or visitnorthspringleesburg.co m.
Story by Glenda C. Booth
Photos by David L. Robbins
They tell stories that are hard to tell. They write about what they did, what they failed to do, what happened while serving and what it’s like to come home. They write about the joys, accomplishments, disappointments, hardships, inner conflicts and foibles. And there are some topics they cannot bring themselves to write about.
Now in its 10th year, the Mighty Pen Project, a program of the Virginia War Memorial Foundation in Richmond, has helped 200 veterans relate and process their life experiences through writing. Their stories become a documentary of service in the American military.
Founded by Virginia Commonwealth University creative writing professor David L. Robbins in 2014, who leads the program today, Robbins said in an interview, “They take pride in what they did, things I didn’t do,” noting that he never served in the military but is the son of a World War II Pearl Harbor veteran. “I do this to honor my father.”
The Mighty Pen Project offers university-level writing classes and workshops free to veterans to share their stories and develop their memories into a written narrative.
Robbins, also an author and playwright, teaches classes on Wednesday nights on the Zoom online platform in three 12-week sessions in January, April and September for any veteran of any branch who wants to attend. There are typically 15 people in each class. The students choose their topics and share their writing with classmates by Monday. In class, they review and comment on the submissions.
Every January, Robbins holds a “master’s class” for people who have already taken the course.
“Veterans respect and require rigor,” Robbins said. “They want the accomplishment.”
His students agree. Three of them shared their story with At Ease.
Dustin Dunbar, son of Air Force parents, joined the Army in 2009, commissioning as a logistics officer through ROTC at Virginia’s College of William and Mary. He served with the 173rd Airborne Brigade and then with the 101st Airborne (Air Assault) Division. After three combat tours in Afghanistan, Dustin separated in 2018 and now works in finance in Richmond.
He mostly writes poetry and short stories, fiction and nonfiction. He’s written one, one-act play, “Barista 6,” which was performed in March 2024 in Richmond.
His topics are compelling.
“It’s about survivors’ guilt, being unworthy of the praise, wrestling with the banality of evil,” he said. “You are part of a system, both a willing and unwilling participant. In some of the campaigns, you are part of an effort that killed a lot of innocent people.”
Dunbar examines what he calls “the mythology of what we’ve been told in the military about why people join and what happens. It’s both upsetting and joyous.”
Most who join the military have family military ties, but people do not always join for patriotic reasons, he contends.
“Toxic masculinity” is real, he believes, and many leave riddled with angst and “moral injuries.”
“Barista 6” is about dealing with a boss who demanded coffee at a time when Dunbar, in charge of logistics, was trying to resupply troops for combat. The play wrestles with the stress of responding to a superior apparently dismissive of the pressing combat priorities of the moment.
The writing classes are “a place of community,” what Dunbar calls a “third place,” beyond home and work.
“A lot of millennial vets do not have a third place, a place of comfort,” he said. “These writers bond over their stories.”
Laura Bender says that she “literally picked up the pieces,” as part of the medical unit that followed the Marines as they took Baghdad. Bender was the first female chaplain in American military history to be in a combat zone. At Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, she helped take care of hospitalized Al Qaeda detainees,
noting that she was barred from wearing a name tag. One patient was suicidal and despite the language barriers, her challenge was “to help him get past that.”
She wrote a memoir of her life in the military, in which she describes being the chaplain on the USS New York, which was made from 7.5 tons of World Trade Center steel. At the commissioning, she was moved by people, like first responders, who felt so connected to the ship because of 9-11.
She has written about the Marine Corps’ wounded warrior regiment, people whose injuries, like missing limbs and traumatic brain injuries, are so significant that they cannot be assigned to a unit.
“My job was to heal,” she explained. With the DOD’s Warrior Games, she helped these marines build resilience, to think of themselves as athletes.
She too credits Robbins with helping veterans form a supportive community and “tell stories that are hard to tell alone.” The Mighty Pen Project helps bring out a story in a way that others can understand, she maintains.
“These experiences are part of our history. These are stories that should not be lost,” Bender said.
After 20 years of service, Bender retired as a commander in 2019 and now lives in Michigan. She has a master’s degree in religion and conflict transformation, was stationed in Norfolk and Quantico, and pastored
at a church in Springfield, Va. She taught at the Naval Chaplains School in Newport, Rhode Island. Her last duty station was in South Carolina at the Naval Nuclear Power Training Command.
“It’s important to note that people who’ve taken David’s class end up knowing more about each other than their families do so they become a very supportive community,” she said.
A former Air Force wing commander, Cam Torrens writes nonfiction stories about the military, seven for the Mighty Pen Project so far. Inspired by the project, he’s also written two books.
He wrote one story about almost getting fired from his job because the pilots and crew members under his command were not following correct procedures for clearing or safely putting away their weapons. He wrote another about being in Morocco on 9-11 when, while not being required, he wanted to help move troops from Germany to Albania and his wife asked him not to. He did.
The Mighty Pen project teaches people how to tell stories, not really how to write, he contends. As someone who reads around 100 books a year, writing was one of his post-retirement goals. He, too, values the camaraderie with fellow veterans.
“We help each other,” Torrens said. “A lot of people are dealing with a lot of stuff. We’ve got each other’s back. David has created a supportive environment where we are comfortable sharing.”
Torrens retired from the Air Force as a colonel in 2018 after 30 years of service, including several combat deployments. As a pilot and commander for 21 years, he flew mobility aircraft carrying people, supplies, gas and cargo.
He served for three years in Beijing, China, in the American embassy, as the Air Force’s attaché. He adopted two Chinese boys and now lives in Buena Vista, Colo.
The project publishes a journal annually of selected works from each year’s classes. Every Tuesday, the Mighty
Pen Podcast features actors performing dramatic readings of veterans’ writings and Robbins interviewing authors. The podcasts are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube.
Every year, usually in March, the Virginia War Memorial Foundation hosts “War in Pieces,” a festival of one-act plays written by veterans in collaboration with Richmond theater companies.
“It’s storytelling, not counseling, but it can be healing and catharsis,” said Robbins. “When they reduce their experiences to a narrative and they find health with a supportive community, they get pride. They offload.”
More information https://vawarmemorial.org/mightypen/
What began in 1992 as a small act to honor those who served in the Armed Forces through a donation of surplus wreaths by Morrill Worcester, owner of Worcester Wreath Company of Harrington, Maine, to be placed at graves in Arlington National Cemetery has now become a local and nationwide holiday tradition. And that first donation of wreaths has grown to almost 700 trucks that delivered 3 million wreaths to the ANC and other national cemeteries across the nation in 2023. This year, those trucks will be back on the road in early December, to deliver wreaths for Wreaths Across America Day on Dec. 14.
“Last year we laid wreaths in 4,225 locations nationwide and abroad,” said Jeff Pierce, Director of Broadcast and Media Partnerships for Wreaths Across America (WAA), noting he expects those numbers to increase this year.
“We were in Guam and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba,” Pierce said. “We honored 3 million veterans with a fresh balsam remembrance wreath.”
This remembrance effort will start on Dec. 8, when Wreaths Across America’s Escort to Arlington wreath delivery convoy begins its trek from Columbia Falls,
Maine to Arlington National Cemetery. Pierce explained this special convoy makes two to three stops a day along the route, at schools, VFW or American Legion posts and other locations, promoting the mission of WAA.
“We bill it as the longest veterans parade in the nation,” he shared. “Chevrolet has donated 27 specially wrapped Wreaths Across America vehicles, there’ll be about 50 tractor trailer trucks, and vehicles from various veteran service organizations in the convoy.”
Following along will be members of Wreaths Across America Radio, to do live broadcasts at each convoy stop.
This veteran-focused radio station is just another way Wreaths Across America is fulfilling its mission to remember and honor the military, Pierce shared. The organization became interested in creating a media platform back in 2015 to help spread its message to a broader audience.
“I came on board in 2020, after serving as a senior vice president at IHeart media, so I was able to get our station on IHeart, Audacy and TuneIn,” Pierce said. “We have grown to offer more than 60 unique programs on our station. We partner with veterans already doing podcasts or radio shows. We partner with other organizations, like the Department of Veterans Affairs which provides guests regularly to address veterans’ issues or offer helpful information. Gold Star and Blue Star families are also featured on our station. We have heard from Gold Star mothers and wives that getting to share their stories is healing and a way to make sure that their loved one is remembered.”
One part of the radio station’s featured programming includes ‘Trucking Tuesday.’ Pierce explained it was created because transportation and trucking is a huge part of what WAA does each year, moving wreaths across the country by truck.
“90-95% of this transportation is donated by the trucking industry and ‘Trucking Tuesday’ is designed to honor our trucking companies and veteran drivers as well,” said Pierce. “The majority of the truckers who move the wreaths for us are vets. We have a daily live morning show with Michael W. Hale, from 6-10 a.m. eastern, and on Tuesday he will talk to our Mobile Education exhibit truck. This is a 63’ trailer that has a 25-seat theater, a mini-museum that travels to events across the country to promote the mission of Wreaths
Across America. Along with our regular music programs, we also feature various trucker partners, broadcasting their radio shows and podcasts. We do our own show called Trucking Tributes where we highlight a driver, a carrier or other trucking organization that has helped move our mission, to thank them.”
Another feature of Wreaths Across America Radio is
capturing veteran stories for future generations. Pierce explained that whenever WAA participates in an event, sound equipment goes along with the team to record on-site interviews with interested veterans or family members, which are uploaded to WAA’s sound cloud page.
“We are also talking to veterans every day through our morning show and other (broadcasters) interview veterans as well,” said Pierce. “After an interview airs, we put it up on our sound cloud page. We are also doing content production and content distribution with partner
organizations where we will produce podcasts for them. The most notable is for the Military Women’s Memorial. It is called the ‘Her Story Podcast – 3 million women service members stories.’ It airs on Wednesdays at 1 p.m. on Wreaths Across America Radio and episodes are also saved to the sound cloud page.
“We call ourselves the ‘Voice for America’s Veterans,’ said Pierce. “It’s all about connecting with veterans and that is why Wreaths Across America Radio is getting invited to veteran-focused events. Many times, we are the only media there, broadcasting live and sharing those stories. It is so important to (capture) the stories of the veterans.”
Sustaining Wreaths Across America’s mission is a yearlong effort noted Pierce and a part of that is partnering with more than 6,200 non-profit organizations.
“With (every) $17 WAA wreath donation through your favorite non-profit, that organization gets $5 back,” he explained. “This program alone gave back $3 million last year and since starting in 2007, WAA has given $27 million back to these other nonprofits.
“We feel as an organization that we need to make sure other nonprofits benefit from the work we are doing,” Pierce added. “It is a do-good twice model – if you donate to us through a non-profit page, you get to honor a veteran who is no longer with us and help that non-profit. We have a link on our website (www.wreathsacrossamerica. org/About/OrganizationPartners) to every nonprofit who partners with us.”
To learn more about Wreaths Across America Radio,
go to https://www.wreathsacrossamerica.org/Newsroom/ WreathsAcrossAmericaRadio.
You’ll see the broadcast schedule, a link to the sound cloud page and a link to the Wreaths Morning radio show to share your veteran story. You will also find links on wreathsacrossamerica.org to learn how to volunteer for Dec. 14’s wreath laying events at a National Cemetery near you.
vision and Mike had the management skills.”
It started with an email to his neighbors in February of 2019. Bill Shugarts, a Vietnam War Army veteran, asked if any fellow military members would be interested in starting a veterans group in his Fawn Lake community, located in Spotsylvania, Va. He invited people to join him at the community club for a formation meeting.
“That first meeting included me, Mike Edwards, Phil Deutsch and John Magneti, who showed up on a cold Saturday and the rest is history,” Shugarts said. “Mike and I then met for a beer and I asked if he’d help me organize the group and he volunteered. So, I was the first director and Mike, the deputy director. I had the
He shared that they used information from a nearby neighborhood that had its own veterans group to set up bylaws and their 501-c charitable status. The Fawn Lake Veterans Group (www.fawnlakevets.org) was officially established a few months later.
“We didn’t know what would happen, but everyone brought their ideas and energy,” Edwards said, a retired U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Col., adding that the group attracted people from all military services and ranks. “We planned the first group activity - a golf tournament held at the Fawn Lake Country Club Golf Course on Veteran’s Day in 2019.”
A fundraiser to support veteran service organizations, he shared that the tournament has raised more than $115,000 in the last 5 years, distributed to Virginia veteran charities and local county services. To learn
more about this year’s tournament and to register a team, go to https://www.fawnlakevets.org/events-2-1.
Now boasting more than 200 members, “Fawn Lake Vets has exceeded everyone’s, especially Bill and Mike’s, expectations in how it has grown and the activities the group is involved in,” noted current director Mike Johnson, a retired Coast Guard officer.
“We try to have something each month that members can choose to attend, participate in, or support,” Johnson explained. “Socially, each month we have our Vespers gathering at our community’s Lakeside Grille. These can be a celebration honoring each Service’s birthday, or feature a guest speaker, which have included area government representatives, historians or some of our own community residents.”
The Veterans Group also hosts flag ceremonies for the community on Memorial Day, July 4th and Veterans Day. And Johnson noted that the group will be doing a wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery this year.
“We didn’t know what would happen, but everyone brought their ideas and energy”
Fawn Lake Vets also participates in the national Our Community Salutes program (https://www. ourcommunitysalutes.org), said Johnson.
“This has turned into our largest service event for the greater Spotsylvania community,” Johnson explained. “Every year we hold a ceremony that honors area high school seniors who have chosen to enlist in the Armed Forces. We bring in military service organizations and businesses so the enlistees and their families can get information on what services are available to them.”
“Additionally, we are involved with the high schools in our area, with group members visiting the schools to talk with students about our service experiences,” Johnson continued. “We also attend their career fairs to promote military service.”
This year, Fawn Lake Veterans Group is sponsoring a local high school junior to help him attend the Virginia Boys State of the American Legion, Johnson said.
“The student will share his experiences with us at an upcoming Vespers meeting. We plan to make this an annual sponsorship,” he added.
The group also supports the Rappahannock Veterans Treatment Docket, operated out of the Spotsylvania Circuit Court. Johnson said that this is an intensive 12 to18-month program, offering a diversion option to incarceration for convicted, non-violent area veterans.
“We have members who serve as mentors in the program and our group offers transportation services to those in the program because many have lost their driver’s licenses,” Johnson noted. “We drive them to treatment sessions, court appearances, and medical appointments.”
Shugarts is one of the volunteer mentors. He shared that the Fawn Lake Veterans Group was approached by James Ilijevich, a lawyer with the Treatment Docket, who is also a retired U.S. Navy veteran, looking for volunteers.
“I went to court several times, watched the process, and became a mentor,” Shugarts said. “It’s a second chance program. It’s kind of an offshoot of what we do in our
own veterans group — veterans taking care of each other. It’s just a way to continue to serve that is helpful and healing.”
Continuing to serve their community is the driving force behind the Fawn Lake Veterans Group efforts, all while bonding through their shared military experiences.
“People may have done one hitch and might dismiss that time as they go on with their lives,” Johnson said.
“But then they join an organization like ours that is made up of veterans of all services and all ranks and it rekindles that pride in service and the bonding with others. We hope more people will be inspired to join us.”
Story by Alice Swan
TheRappahannock Regional Veterans Treatment Docket (RRVTD) mentioned in the Fawn Lake Veterans Group article is one of several offered in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia.
According to Ann Baker, Specialty Dockets Coordinator for the Rappahannock Regional Jail, the mission of the Docket is to support participating veterans by providing access to a comprehensive program of substance use treatment and mental health services for PTSD, as well as mentorships and other assistance while completing the program.
The Veterans Docket concept began in 2008, when Judge Robert Russell, presiding judge of the Buffalo, N.Y., Drug and Mental Health Courts, created the first Veterans Treatment Court due to an increased number of veterans appearing in court suffering from substance use issues and post-traumatic stress. This specialty court was guided by the idea that treatment works better than a punitive approach and was modeled after existing drug court programs. 14 years later there are now more than 200 Veterans Treatment Dockets in operation across the country.*
Baker said local justice officials became interested in starting a Veterans Treatment Docket for their region in 2013.
“The courts were noticing the number of veterans, particularly those who had served in Iraq and Afghanistan, who were becoming involved with the criminal justice system, especially those with no prior record, and many of their charges were related to substance use and PTSD,” she shared.
“Our locality had a long-standing drug court, so our region already had that experience in creating a specialty docket and the team collaboration in addressing a participant’s needs,” Baker added. “Our group began working with Justice for Vets (https://allrise.org/about/ division/justice-for-vets/) to establish a Treatment Docket in 2017 and it was officially authorized in 2018 to address the needs of those veterans and stabilize them in the community.”
Ryan Mehaffey, Spotsylvania County Commonwealth’s Attorney, noted that his office believes strongly in the work being done through the Treatment Docket.
“As a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, I know the unique struggles of many veterans,” Mehaffey shared. “I am happy to provide an opportunity for veterans to get themselves back on track. Our office helps identify and approve cases for the docket. We attend and contribute to the weekly meetings with the treatment team, and we celebrate the successes of each participant.”
Baker said that veterans entering the criminal justice system in the Rappahannock region are screened for participation in the Docket, which is a post plea deferred disposition program.
“We look for individuals who have a nexus between their current charge, substance use, PTSD, military service and combat deployments,” she said. “To reduce recidivism, we provide specialized treatment to address their issues, with early screening and interventions tailored to each veteran’s needs.”
The Treatment Docket is a 3 to 5 phase program, following the Supreme Court of Virginia standards. There are 5 phases of treatment for felony convictions,
Mentor Loretta Gulley (L), veteran mentor co-coordinator for the RRVTD, and Probation Officer LaShaun Void-Amos congratulate Kamisha L. on successfully completing the RRVTD program.
typically lasting 18 months. Those with misdemeanors enroll in a 3-phase program, requiring a minimum of 12 months of participation. The phases include individual and group counseling, substance use treatment and support, and assistance with employment and transportation barriers. Specialized services are provided through partnerships with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the Virginia Department of Veteran Services and local community service agencies.
An important part of the Treatment Docket is the involvement of a volunteer mentor for each participant. According to information from the Virginia Judicial System, “the element of the veterans treatment court model that sets it apart from adult drug treatment court is the participation of veteran peer mentors. The camaraderie of fellow veterans, which taps into the unique aspects of military and veteran culture, is another distinctive component that can aid justice-involved veterans’ docket completion.”**
James Ilijevich, a U.S. Navy veteran serving as Veteran Mentor Co-Coordinator for the RRVTD, explained that the best mentors are compassionate and willing to volunteer a great deal of time and effort to help a fellow veteran get through a difficult time in their life.
“Many have been in leadership positions in the military and their civilian lives,” Ilijevich added. “These skills translate into effective mentoring. Shared military experiences help the veteran develop trust that the mentor has their back.”
His co-coordinator, U.S. Army veteran Loretta Gulley shared, “The mentors’ volunteer service is a reminder of the military value of selfless service to fellow (veterans) who may need someone to stand alongside them and remind them that they were not left behind and are
Kamisha L. Is congratulated by Commonwealth’s Attorney Travis Bird on her graduation from the RRVTD. The Rappahannock Treatment Docket boasts a 100% success rate for veterans participating in the diversion program.
not alone. The mentors also provide a safe place for the participant to express themselves without fear of reprisal.”
Treatment docket programs expand on the idea of a safe space by often recruiting military veterans to serve on the Docket team. In addition to Mehaffey, Ilejevich and Gulley, the presiding judge of the Rappahannock Docket, The Honorable Ricardo Rigual is a Marine Corps veteran. Five other members of the program are veterans, and other employees often have family members who have served.
The individualized attention and compassionate care provided by the Treatment Docket team is having positive impacts on the participating veterans. Baker reported that in the past four years, 37 veterans have participated in the Rappahannock Regional Treatment Docket, and the program is growing.
“Right now, we are above capacity and have four pending participants,” she said. “We’ve had a 100% success rate which is a testament to the veterans’ strength, courage and commitment to doing the right thing for their families, the community and their peers in the docket.”
To learn more about the Veterans Treatment Docket program, how to be a volunteer mentor or transportation provider search on the information below:
https://www.vacourts.gov/courtadmin/aoc/djs/programs/ sds/programs/vtd/advisory/vtd_directory.pdf
https://www.mdcourts.gov/opsc/vtc
https://www.dccourts.gov/node/21741
*https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/ files/ondcp/Fact_Sheets/veterans_treatment_courts_fact_ sheet_12-13-10.pdf
**https://www.vacourts.gov/courtadmin/aoc/djs/ programs/sds/programs/vtd/home.html
Story by Michael T. Naya, Jr
Between June 30-July 4, veterans, friends and relatives of those who served in the 307th Bomb Group, held their annual reunion in Jacksonville, Fla. Every year fewer and fewer veterans make the annual pilgrimage to these reunions with last year’s reunion being attended by two surviving veterans.Despite that both men remain as sharp as a tack and are willing to share their stories if they are asked. Dale Stickrath, a ball turret operator in the 371st Bomb Squadron, 307th Bomb Group, shared his story eagerly with the author
in 2022. Stickrath, now aged ninety-nine, grew up in St. Paris, in Belle Valley, Ohio. He spoke of his upbringing and one of his earliest connections to the United States military.
“I had one sister. My grandmother, oh good lord, she had a lot of kids but a lot of them died back then. There were about two boys, five girls. My grandmother on my mother’s side had them. My dad’s side was one daughter and two boys. During the depression we were lucky. My dad was an undertaker, and he buried this woman the day before the banks closed. The guy paid him off in cash, so daddy didn’t have cash to go to the bank, but he
had cash and we fared out alright. We lived in a small town, about five-hundred people, the total population in the southern part of Ohio, southeastern, coal mining town and we fared out alright.
My father took care of the bodies from the Shenandoah Airship crash until the Navy came and got them. It was a Navy dirigible called the Shenandoah and it took off from Lakehurst, New Jersey, and it was in a thunderstorm, lightning struck it, broke it in half, half of it fell in Aba, Ohio, and then bodies came to the funeral home.
My dad and his helper stood over the bodies with shot guns because people were trying to come in and take souvenirs from the bodies. The other half of the airship crashed right across on the farm across from my grandmother’s on the hills and there were some people who made it out alive. This guy grabbed a robe that was dragging from it and the guy on the ground grabbed it as people slid down the rope. It was on this hill and my grandmother’s farm was across the hill.
I don’t even remember it happening, but it happened when I was a small boy because my father told me all about it. There is a monument in the southern part of Ohio about the Shenandoah, and it was a big dirigible.
When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, Dale was a young 17-year-old. He remembered: “My friend and I were sitting in a service station getting gasoline just going for a ride. It came over the radio and all I said was ‘oh my god!’ All we heard and saw was what the news said about it. After the attack it didn’t change anything for us really. I couldn’t go in the military because I was only seventeen years old, but I wanted to do something.”
Dale would go on to enter the Army Air Corps after taking his exam in Columbus, Ohio. He remembered joining the Army during World War II.
“I had to sign a waiver because I only weighed 104 pounds stripped because according to my height I was underweight. The guy said you don’t have to go, and I said, well, my whole class is here. There were fourteen of us in our class and I said all my friends are here and I want to go. I signed the waiver and I had to wait until the following year in March to go into the Army.
I was drafted in 1943. It was March 31, 1943, I entered the Army and April 5, 1943, that I left Urbana, Ohio, on a train and ended up at Fort Thomas, Kentucky which
was an induction center. It was right across the river from Cincinnati and there we got our shots, a whole bunch of them! We got our uniforms shortly thereafter.
After we got our uniforms, we took the streetcar into Cincinnati, and we thought we were something in our uniforms! From there we got on a troop train and the only thing I knew was that we were heading south. We didn’t know where we were going or anything else, but we knew from the sunrise and sunset we were heading south. We didn’t know we were in the Air Force until we saw the Air Force patches on the guys in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Basic Training was difficult, I didn’t have much basic training because they took so many in the line to stand on guard duty and duties in the different barracks. I didn’t take much training in basic training except learning the marches, this, and that. I remember the manual arms, carrying the rifle, and I never got that since I was on guard duty as a replacement for people on duty out in training. I didn’t do anything!”
Dale would become a ball turret gunner aboard a B-24 Liberator bomber in World War II. He explained what minimal training he received in that capacity as well as that he received on the B-17’s during basic training.
Cc
“I never got any training as a ball turret gunner. We went to aerial gunnery school and from there we went to Denver, Colorado for heavy bombardment, loading the bombs, this, that and other. I don’t remember which field we went to, but we went to another field and learned to take care of machine guns, field strip machine guns, and put it back together in a minute. I figured I could do that then they said blindfolded! I couldn’t do that!”
Cc
Dale wound up as an instructor in Southern Florida. He described what it was like teaching soldiers around his age. He explained the following:
Cc
“I was teaching the ball turret in Panama City, Florida because when I got through gunnery school they had one class for instructors. I have no idea how I was picked and from there I was sent from Panama City to Southern Florida to a town where I learned how to get in front of a class and teach. I then went back to Panama City, and they said you are going to teach ball turret. I didn’t know what a ball turret was! I said to my first class we are going to learn the ball turret; you know as much about it as I do!
We went through it, and I taught for almost a year by the time I was inducted. I got tired of it and everything and got into it with an officer. I got out of teaching by volunteering to go overseas. I thought I was going to go overseas as a gunner someplace. I didn’t know I was going to go overseas, there were five of us and a captain to go overseas on a special assignment to the Air Force. We were to do 120 days duty with the 13th Air Force. That was all they told us when we first went in.
The five of us went back down to Fort Myers, Florida, had a refresher course and then they threw us in the plane to Mobile, Alabama. Then we got on a train and started our journey to Los Angeles., then to a place of embarkation in Pittsburg, California. We still didn’t know what we were doing, and it was hush hush.
When we got down the river on a boat, we went across and entered a troop ship with 3000 soldiers and 3000 sailors. It was called the Robert S. Gowns. We went to New Caledonia where we stayed for a week or two. They then took us on LST’s to Guadalcanal and we still weren’t with the 13th Air Force. We were there for not too long then they moved us to the Admiralty Islands, and it was while I was there, I was assigned to the 13th Air Force. They had us working with some of the people there, there was a woman and I who made sandwiches for the crews that were going out.
From there we went up to Noemfoor, the Dutch East Indies and that’s when I was really assigned to the 13th Air Force. They thought we were replacement gunners and would talk more freely to us and actually we were like little spies. We asked, ‘is there anything you think we could do to improve the teaching of those going through gunnery schools?’ That is what we were supposed to do.
At the end of 120 days this kid and I thought hey we are going to stay. They laughed at us and said, ‘we were not to break the orders of the general’ and send you back to the states. I only spent about six months with the 13th Air Force and went on ten to fifteen missions with them. I got home, it took me fifteen days to go over, 48 hours to get home. We got back to the states around December 1, 1944. I probably left to go overseas in June of 1944 and joined the 13th Air Force in August 1944 then came home around December.
My MOS kept changing because I was just a flunky until I went through gunnery school. I was an aerial gunner instructor, and I don’t know how that MOS worked out. Being an aerial gunner did not differ as far as I know, it just depended on where they put you in the plane.
We would have a flak jacket on, I was a waist gunner, and we had flak jackets on, and the rest of the time I was on the ball turret, and nobody liked being on the ball turret, but I loved it. I had replaced the waist gunner Tom who had lost his leg due to a Japanese artillery shell. The original ball turret gunner was made a waist gunner, and I took his spot because I was smaller than he was. Tom was a sweetheart and he lived not far from me later in life.
I never knew what kind of crew I would be with because I was a replacement gunner, and I could be on one crew today and a new crew tomorrow. In the whole time I was teaching I never had a student flunk out. As a matter of fact, whenever they asked a new recruit who their instructor was, and they said Dale Stickrath they knew that person knew more than they did. I never had a person chicken out and I was pretty proud of that.”
Dale also recalled a key mission for the 307th Bombardment Group, the Oct. 26, 1944, attack on the Japanese fleet in the Sulu Sea. Among the Japanese fleet was the famed Yamato battleship. Dale recalled the attack as follows:
“We were sent up to the Sulu Sea to look for a crippled destroyer. We thought that all we were going to do was go up there and sink it. When we came up over the horizon, we saw these little wakes and this big wake and said, ‘Holy shit, we’re in trouble.’
It happened in and out, it was either a seventeen or eighteen ship task force with the Battleship Yamato in the middle of it. That was the biggest damn thing I saw in my life; I mean it looked like a parking lot. At that point it happened and everything, we just concentrated on what we were doing. The biggest thing we had was flak and 18-inch shells. One of them went through our tail, if you look at the B-24 the left-hand tail in the back, if you look from the front, the top of it is fabric. Anyplace else in that airplane except that tail, that shell was the only place it could have gone through without exploding. It went about onehundred yards and exploded, that was the closest it came without taking the tail off.
The waist gunner said, ‘hey we have a big hole in our tail, can you see it?’ I said ‘how the hell can I see it! I’m all the way here at the bottom.’ I saw it once we landed, and I got out of the ball turret and said, ‘holy crap!’ It never dawned on me until years later at a reunion when we were in Freeport that they had me put the ribbon on the flag there.
The guy was talking and said, “Well he’s lucky to be here!” That scared the hell out of me, I was standing on the platform, I don’t know if I started shaking or what but that scared me more than it did during the war. When you’re in battle, you only focus on what you’re doing. During the battle of Sulu Sea, I asked the pilot if ‘I could shoot at him’ and he said, ‘go ahead and give him a couple of bursts!’ I don’t know if I hit him, but it definitely gave him a headache.
Anti-aircraft fire was pretty rough, there was a formation behind our plane, and I saw an explosion. I don’t know what it was but I’m pretty sure they got a direct hit in the bomb bay. I don’t know if that was one of them that got damaged enough, they didn’t make it back or what.
The Yamato was one big boat, well shit, to me it was a damn big boat. I never saw anything that big in my life. I didn’t know about it until later when Jim McCabe, (307th BG Historian) gave me a History of the Long Rangers, but the Admiral of the Yamato kept a diary throughout his service.
Years later when they found it in his belongings, they translated it, and Jim was lucky enough to give me a copy of it. He read through it and found out that a lot of the ships were damaged, the Yamato was damaged. One of the
bombs hit the deck and the other exploded at the port bow waterline and their Admiral said they had put a big hole in it.”
The bow of the Yamato battleship took in three thousand tons of seawater necessitating that the Yamato be balanced by flooding the after compartments with two thousand tons of seawater. The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) immediately ordered an attack on Morotai Island, the 307th Bomb Group’s airbase, with the combined fleet to transport two and one-half divisions (25,000 men) of Japanese soldiers. At 2 p.m. on Nov. 7, 1944, a lone B-24 Liberator bomber spotted the Japanese task force in route and transmitted their location and direction to Morotai which was, in turn, rebroadcast to the entire Southwest Pacific Area theater (SWPA). At 3 a.m., 13 hours later, the attack on Morotai was canceled and the IJN’s plans to reschedule this attack failed.
“Our plane stopped at one of the forward bases they had, and they brought part of the tail section to make repairs then back to base. It was not that long of a flight; it was one of the smaller islands we could land on and fly back to our base. There they brought the wrong section up and they had to fix it up so it would work on our plane. I was in so many different planes throughout the war but that one was so memorable because of our incident.
Another mission I remember was Balikpapan. We were in the air for seventeen hours on that one. We hit a snow cloud on the way home, we were at 10,000 feet and hit a snow cloud. The nose gunner had to dig him out and me, I was making snowballs. Put my turret down, open the door, throw it in real quick before they turned my power off! I had to hand crank it but that was just a standard regular mission.
We had other instances where we had flames at 10,000 feet, smoke at thousands of feet, I do remember the island of Tarakan, the oil from Tarakan is pure. I know it was a shorter distance mission because we had fighter planes come in and when they left that island it was a complete wreck. Fighter planes would bomb them, we would bomb them, one would come in this way, that way, it was just a mess.
I remember when the Germans surrendered, they locked our base down so tight you couldn’t wiggle. If you were in town, it didn’t matter what you did, you stayed at base. VJ Day was basically the same. Thank goodness I had some good stuff at the NCO Club, the captain used most of that though!”
Dale was discharged from the military as a sergeant on Dec. 5, 1945. Although he could have remained in the military, became a warrant officer, and stationed stateside he decided to move on in his life. Although he served in the military for only two years, those two years shaped him as an individual. Even at 99 years old, the military has remained a crucial and memorable time in his life. His military service earned him the proud distinction of being a World War II veteran. Sgt. Dale C. Stickrath, Aerial Gunner, 307th Bombardment Group, 371st Bombardment Squadron, Long Ranger, took his final flight June 8, 2024.
Michael T. Naya, Jr., a 2024 graduate of Kean University, Union, New Jersey is currently a World History Teacher at JVJ Stem Academy, School No. 92 in Elizabeth, New
Jersey. Since 2016, Michael has interviewed over two-hundred World War II veterans. He is an honorary member of the 5th Marine Division Association, the 7th Armored Division Association, the 307th Bomb Group Association, and of the Kenilworth Rotary Club.
Additionally, Michael is an associate member of the Kenilworth Historical Society, the 12th Armored Division Association, Historian for the USS Yorktown (CV-5) Club, and former Archivist of the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors. Within the 307th Bomb Group Association, Michael has interviewed Colonel Ed Jurkens, Capt. Jim Mahoney, and Sgts. Harry Bush, Lewis Smith, Dale Stickrath, Royce Tasker, and John Wright.
Armypersonnelbringahard-earned skillset to the workforce. Leadership,discipline, teamwork,problem-solving.Thesequalities areanasset to a wide variety of trades working with dozens of different EMCOR companies. Looking forapost-military career? Look to us.
Wheregood work is VALUED RESPECTED REWARDED
Story by Lt. Col. Paul McCullough
Two of our most important and limited resources are time and money. All of us only have 24 hours in a day and only 0.1% of the world’s population earns more than one million dollars a year, arguably a sum that should remove any financial concerns a person might have. How we live our lives, and what we do with these limited resources, will greatly affect not only our lives, but also the lives of our children.
As we wrap up this summer, especially if we are parents, we often are confronted with difficult choices. We often think about ideas such as romantic vacations, replacing appliances and doing home improvement projects. All of these ideas have merit, but we likely can’t afford to do all of them, at least not all at once. The reality is that the more we choose to spend on ourselves, in terms of both time and money, we are choosing to not invest into our children.
Back to school time can often be very expensive. Aside from the mandated list of school supplies, kids often want to have new clothes to start the school year off. If possible, it’s great to buy our kids a few new outfits, since they have likely outgrown some of their clothes within the last year. Alternatively, maybe we can get them at least one new outfit, so they can start their first day of school feeling confident.
But, if we think about it, these expenses are just the tip of the iceberg. Our kids often come to us, usually with very little notice, for upcoming expenses in the school year such as a new computer, a scientific calculator, a yearbook, a class ring and maybe even a school trip or two. This can become overwhelming unless you’ve planned for these expenses well in advance.
Even if you have the financial resources to provide for all these needs and the vacation and the home improvement projects, what you do with your time is even more important. Rather than watching our favorite television show or sports competition, perhaps we should consider spending time with each of our kids individually, doing something they like and asking them about their hopes, their dreams, their concerns and their challenges.
There may be something we know or have experienced that can help them and quite honestly, sometimes kids just need a listening ear and a shoulder to cry on. For some
Lt. Col. (Rev.) Paul McCullough, U.S. Army retired, is president of the Association of the U.S. Army’s Penn & Franklin-Greater Philadelphia Chapter and an Army Reserve Ambassador from Pennsylvania. He served 20 years in the Army, retiring in 2018 as deputy director for supplier operations, Defense Logistics Agency. He deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2005, and in 2017 as commander of the DLA Support Team-Kuwait. He holds a doctorate in business administration from Walden University.
families, an even more fundamental question is whether or not we are taking our kids to church each week and training them in our faith. Rather than sleeping in on Sunday, be a family that prays together to stays together.
Whether we like it or not, whether we want to accept it or not, as parents we are directly responsible for the success of our children’s lives. This is not an easy task and often requires some tough choices. Are we going to spend our time and money on the activities that are most edifying to us as adults, or are we going to invest our lives into our children? Many of us long for the time when we will become g randparents, looking on our grown children with pride and spoiling our grandchildren. The sad truth though is that life doesn’t always work out this way. Parents sometimes become estranged from their children, families become bankrupt, marriages break up and kids lose their way.
However, I deeply believe it doesn’t need to be this way.
Proverbs 22:6 reads, “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
The example that we set for our children, especially in how we spend our time and money, will greatly impact what they do in their own lives as they become older.
As we prepare to send our kids back to school, let’s be intentional about investing in our children, the next generation of our family and our country. Do your best to give them not only all the physical items they need to be successful, but also your time. Learn what’s important to them and spend time with them developing the necessary skills for them to achieve their dreams.
In my humble opinion, our children are our legacy, and there is no greater joy than seeing them accomplish their goals and become the people that God created them to be. Although this will almost certainly require some measure of sacrifice, the long-term rewards will be well worth it. When our children grow up to have successful careers, we will know we’ve done our job.
When you donate a vehicle to benefit Wounded Warrior Project® (WWP), the money from its sale helps injured veterans and their families access free life-changing programs and services, and you receive a tax deduction.
To schedule a fast and easy pickup or to learn more, call 866.488.3244 or visit woundedwarriorproject.org/Fuel4WWP today.
The Captain Rocky Versace Plaza and Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial honors the service and supreme sacrifice of the 67 men from Alexandria who either died in Vietnam and the surrounding area during that war or remain Missing in Action (MIA).
MedStarGeorgetown Transplant Institute in Washington, D.C.,isnow par tneringwith the DC VeteransAffairs Medical Center to bringyoutop-ratedtransplantcare.
•Coveredbyyour VA benefits, includingtravelandlodging
•Performedby anationalleaderin transplantsurger ywith dedicated VA Medical Centerandtransplantstaff
•Livingdonoroptions
•Easyaccesstothe DC VeteransAffairs MedicalCenter
•MinutesawayfromWashington, D.C., sightseeing
To learnmore, scan the QRcode withyour smar tphoneorvisit MedStarHealth.org/ Vet
