Robby Campbell was interviewed on April 5, 2013 for a web site to "record your front row to history."  You can see and hear his interview at www.generationslestweforget.com.  The interview covers his early years growing up in Mt. Vernon, Texas, through high school, through WW II, through college, to the present time.  Thanks to The Daughters of WW II organizations for arranging this interview.  Also interviewed on this web site were Orville Rogers and Lamar Lovvorn.

Operation Care Int'l. Honored Veterans

OPERATION CARE INT’L HONORED VETERANS IN DALLAS, TEXAS In December 2013, OCI not only provided spiritual counseling, shoes, food, coats and comfort to thousands of those in need but also honored veterans in a special way. Veterans joined other special guests at a pre-event breakfast. Following breakfast, an honor guard from Paralyzed Veterans of America presented the American flag to begin festivities. The honor guard - Jerry Hull, John Fay, Bill Fischer, and Ted Smith - consisted of wheelchair bound veterans who volunteer with either the PVA or the Veterans Administration or both.

World War II heroes: The Greatest Generation speaks: Five World War II veterans were special guests of honor at the breakfast and opening ceremonies: Charles Jennings, Robert Blatnik, Robby Campbell, Orville Rogers and Andy Horner.

Orville Rogers served in World War II and the Korean conflict. During the 1950's, he flew the B-36. "I loved that airplane," remarked Orville. "It was the largest airplane in the world at the time." Mr. Rogers is also a longtime friend of Susie Jennings of Operation Care. An avid runner, Orville, as of last summer, held 11 world records in the 95-99 age division at distances from 60 meters to 3,000 meters.

Robert Blatnik enlisted in US Army in 1938 and served in World War II. He was in the invasion of North Africa in November 1942, the invasion of Sicily in July 1943. "I was wounded once in Africa and twice in Sicily...and after Sicilian campaign, we thought we would be sent home to the states," recalled Robert. Instead, Robert's division was sent to England to await the Normandy invasion. "We landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944. To this day, I don't know how I survived," said Robert, who returned to the beaches of Normandy in June 2013 for a moving reunion to pay homage to compatriots who had fallen there. "The good Lord takes care of me, that's for sure," said Robert, who has logged over 6,000 hours as a volunteer at the VA hospital in Dallas.

Robby Campbell served in the US Navy during World War II. Campbell, a veteran of Okinawa, recalled the Japanese kamikaze attacks. "The battle lasted a while, but in the end, the Japanese didn't have anything left," said Robby. "My wife and I have known Susie for about 20 years and we support Operation Care because of her," said Robby.

Charles Jennings jokes "If it wasn't for me we wouldn't have won the war." Charles, who is Susie Jennings's father-in-law, served in the infantry in the European theater during World War II. "I was in communications. We laid wire on the front lines of Europe back to the company switchboards," explained Charles. "Boy, do I have a wonderful daughter-in-law," said Jennings, who has been closely connected to Operation Care since its earliest days.

Andy Horner served in the Royal Canadian Navy during World War II. "We were on convoy duty in Scotland, Ireland, and up into Russia," said Horner. "The more I know about Operation Care, the more I learn...it's unbelievable!" exclaimed Horner. "Susie has a real vision, and I am so happy to be here," said Andy.

Homeless vets tell their stories: Also participating in Saturday's breakfast were veterans who had received assistance from Operation Care and other agencies. Some are homeless and living in shelters such as the Union Gospel Mission; others live in apartments thanks to the assistance of Operation Care. All have stories to tell. These men and women are facing significant challenges and are striving for a better life, a hope and a future grounded in faith in Jesus Christ.

Julie Pant was an electronics technician in the Nary. "I became homeless in 2010 and lived on the streets for a year," she said. "I suffered from PTSD and addiction. When I finished treatment, I was ready to start my life over and I had nothing, no money, nothing to live on. I was at the VA in Dallas. I got in contact with Susie through a friend. Operation Care took me under their wings. They provided the funds so I could get an apartment. They gave me household items. They truly picked me up." Julie, currently a college student at El Centro College, came to the Christmas Gift event as a volunteer. She plan to apply to a nursing school in the fall.

Hector Reynoso, Army veteran, was homeless due to a job loss. Reynosa worked for FEMA for 15 years before losing his job in a downsizing move. Reynoso lives at Union Gospel Mission currently and appreciates the support that Operation Care gives to residents.

Patsy Warren-Cook is an Air Force veteran who served her country for 15 years. After leaving an abusive husband, the mother of two returned to college, earning bachelors and master’s degrees. Patsy began a PhD program in Dallas, but living arrangements with a friend battling addiction did not work out. Warren-Cook and her son moved into an apartment, but the doctoral student was unable to find employment. "My finances ran out and we were evicted from the apartment right before Christmas," recalled Patsy and calls her experience "most humbling." Patsy was approved for housing through the Homeless Veterans Outreach Initiative. Patsy recalls, "I met Susie shortly after I was awarded housing. I had a serious need, and Operation Care stepped in and blessed me. I was prayed for and truly felt the love." Patsy has since become a part-time employee of Operation Care. She has been able to move into a house. Her son is a seventh grader, her daughter is a college senior who presides over the pre-law society at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. Patsy is now enrolled in a master of counseling program and plans to become a licensed professional counselor by 2015. "I now am living my dream and living on purpose," said Patsy.

Left to right:  Julie Pant, Mayor Mike Rawlings, Patsy  Warren-Cook /
 WW II Veterans:   Charles Jennings, Robt. Blatnik, Robby Campbell, Orville Rogers and Andy Horner

Iwo Jima Reunion of Honor

Iwo Jima gathering fosters blessings of friendship and peace at scene of horrific sacrifice, says Laura Leppert.

On March 26, 1945, after 36 days of ferocious battle between American and Japanese forces, the island of Iwo Jima was declared secure, after nearly 7,000 Americans and over 22,000 Japanese soldiers had perished.  It was a costly and courageous victory for the United Sates, and the remarkable bravery displayed on that battlefield led Adm. Chester Nimitz to declare, "Among the Americans serving on Iwo Island, uncommon valor was a common virtue."

Recently, Laura Leppert accompanied four Iwo veterans from Dallas, Texas to Iwo Jima for the 19th Reunion of Honor.  Thanks to the efforts of an 94-year-old Iwo veteran, Lt. Gen. Lawrence Snowden, Americans and Japanese convene one day each year to jointly honor our soldiers' sacrifices.  This tiny, 5-mile-long island is the only place in the world where formerly bitter battlefield enemies come together as strong allies in the pursuit of global peace in a memorial service for bereaved families, veterans and government and military leaders.  The commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. James Amos, flew from Washington, D.C. to Iwo and exhorted this austere gathering of 300 Americans and Japanese to "continue to draw stronger together, not as enemies but as partners."

Laura said "I know very little about my father's service on Iwo Jima.  I have letters he wrote to my grandmother, describing the night he was wounded.  They were later published in the newspaper of his small Ohio railroad town.  Like most of his generation, when he returned from the war, he did not speak of his service.  But before he passed away, he asked me to remember his service in World War II, and with that resolve, I co-founded the Daughters of World War II."

During the last three reunions, the Dallas-based nonprofit has escorted nine survivors of this horrific battle back to the black sands where they lost so many of their countrymen united in preserving our freedoms.  We have done so at no cost to the veterans because of the generosity of private donors.

I have watched as veterans walked the beaches where they landed nearly 70 years ago, with closed eyes, everything comes back to them - the deafening sounds of the rifles, the screams and the stench of death.  I think how brave they were - and how brave they are, to return to this battlefield, this burial ground.  As they walk the hallowed ground where 300 Americans and 12,000 Japanese are still missing in action and presumed entombed, they pay tribute to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice, those who will remain forever young.  Returning allows these courageous men to put the battle behind them, to bring closure to a necessary duty and to find peace, and also new friends to carry on their legacy,

Dallas resident Clyde Jackson traveled with Daughters of World War II and met Kathy Painton, whose father was killed in the first wave on Feb. 19, 1945.  She never knew her father, and her young widowed mother had only a letter from the government thanking her for her sacrifice.  Jackson was in the same division, same regiment, same battalion, even the same company as her father.  Jackson knew the man, the father that Painton had never known.  And that is what Daughters of World War II is all about--connecting one generation to another.

The Iwo Jima Reunion of Honor also forges new friendships between Americans and Japanese.  Under the brilliant Iwo sun, with the silence broken only by the songbirds, I was introduced to Tetsuro Teramoto, president of the Iwo Jima Association of Japan.  We exchanged business cards and bowed.

He told me how his father had been killed on Iwo while his mother was pregnant with him.  I assured him, "It is our duty to carry on the memory of our fathers and the sacrifices made on this island by both of our nations, so the world will never forget and our peoples will remember the blessing of peace and friendship."

(Laura Leppert is president and co-founder of Daughters of World War II and a board member of the Iwo Jima Association of America.  Her father was an Iwo Jima Marine, Fifth Marine Division, 26th Regiment, 1st Battalion.  Her email address is Laura.leppert@daughtersofww2.org.)

Survey of WW II Veterans-Revised

SURVEY OF WORLD WAR II VETERANS (46)

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE U.S.A.?

1.   Is the U.S.A. going in the right
direction?                                    Yes      8         No      37

2.   Do you think Barack Obama is doing a good
job as President                           Yes      4         No      42    

3.   Do you believe in more or less government
 control?                                                More_  0      Less    46
4.   You are 18 years old again/would you volunteer to serve in
a war now?                                            Yes    19      No      26
5.   Are you a Conservative or a
Liberal?                                                 Con.   43      Lib.      3
6.   Are you a Republican or Democrat or “Other”?
                                           Rep.   38     Dem.    4       Other__2 
7.   Do you approve of water boarding the enemy to get
information?                                         Yes     34        No      11
8.   Do you think we should close Guantanamo (Get-Mo)
Prison?                                                  Yes    10        No      34
9.   Did you vote for Obama or
Romney?                                              Obam   4        Rom   40
10. Do you think Obama is honest and straight-forward
when delivering his political speeches?  Yes     5       No     39
11.  Is Obama or Congress more at fault for the condition
this country is in?                               Obama   28      Cong   19
12.  Do you believe in free enterprise or
Socialism?                                             Free    46       Soc       0
13.  Do you believe openly gay men and women should 
serve in the military?                            Yes       8       No      36
14.  Should women serve on the frontline
in combat?                                            Yes       4       No      41
15.  Does Obama take too many
vacations?                                             Yes    38        No       8
16.  Does Obama spend too much money on
parties/entertainment?                          Yes     40       No       5
17.  Do you think too many people are on
food stamps?                                        Yes     41       No        4
18.  Do you believe in same-sex
marriage?                                             Yes       5       No      40
19.  Is there too much partisanship in
Washington, D.C.?                              Yes     35       No        9
20.  Is national debt or lack of jobs the government’s biggest
problem?                                              Debt   30      Jobs    16
21.  Has racism under Obama become
worse?                                                  Yes    36      No        7
22.  Which is this country’s biggest problem? 
                   No. Korea   11     Iran    14     Afghanistan     14
23.  Should we bomb nuclear bomb factories in Iran and
No. Korea?                                           Yes     25     No     21
24.  Should we give more support to
 Israel?                                                  Yes    36      No     10
25.  Do you believe in government loans for college
students?                                              Yes     40      No       6
26.  Should students go to jail if they do not re-pay
government loans?                              Yes     29      No      14
27.  Do you think the government should give poor people
fish or teach them to fish (work)?    Give     1    Teach   45
28.  Do you believe in a one-party or two-party system of
government:                                       One      0     Two      46
29.  Do you think the national media is fair and balanced
to both Democrats and Republicans?  Yes     2      No       33       

Who is the most fair and balanced news person? 
Name: Greta (2), Lehrer, Hannity (3), Brower, Brian Williams,
Kranthammer (2), O’Reilly (3)                                           

30.  Are there too many unqualified and inexperienced
people in government jobs?                 Yes    46     No     0
31.  Do you think Obama has taken a strong enough stance
against terrorists?                                 Yes      7     No   35
32.  The Obama administration is very
“transparent.”                                       Yes      2     No   39
33.  People are very careful about what they say because they
fear being called a racist.                     Yes    33     No     5     
34.  At the end of Obama’s eight years as President, will
he be a success or a failure?                 Suc     5     Fail  35
35.  Would you have voted for or against the gun law that
Congress voted down on April 17, 2013?  (Background checks)  
                                                             For    14    Agn  22
36.  The U.S. government sent a delegation to Hugo Chavez’s
funeral in Venezuela but not to Margaret Thatcher’s funeral in
England.  Was this a good decision?   Yes     1     No   37
37.  Which of these describes your opinion of Obama best?
                               Like     4    Dislike       7     Loathe  20
38.  Who was/is the better U.S. President? 
                             Geo. W. Bush      32          Obama      4
39.  Do you believe that the Obama administration has been
 honest, fair and open about: (a) the Benghazi terrorist attack?
(Ambassador killed)                           Yes      1     No   38
 (b)  the Internal Revenue Service (delaying tax-exempt
status for conservative groups)           Yes      2     No   37
 (c) News media (tracking AP phone calls) 
                                                            Yes      2     No   37
40.  Obama made a policy that no U.S. serviceman can
speak at any faith-based public event.  Is that okay?
                                                            Yes     2      No   37
 

FUNNY QUESTIONS:

1.  Do you still drive a car day and
night?                                           Yes    32     No    14

2.   Do you exercise often?            Yes    24     No    22
3.   Do you still weigh the same as you did when
discharged from military?              Yes    16     No    24
4.  Do you routinely take prescription drugs most
every day?                                             Yes   34     No     12
 (Viagra doesn’t count – that’s voluntary)
----------------------------------------------------------
To check out the writer (Robby Campbell), go to my
blog www.robby-campbell.blogspot.com.  or
Franklin Count Courthouse, Mt. Vernon, Texas.  My
brothers (Phil, Zack, John Campbell), and I all served
in WW II and our discharge papers are filed there.
For a 20 minute video interview of me,  go to
www.generationslestweforget.com and type in
Campbell in the search space.  This is sponsored by
Daughters of WW II, president Laura Leppert.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-2-

 

Phil C. Campbell, Staff Sgt. US Army





Combat Engineer, Platoon Sergeant, Rifle Marksman

23rd Armored Engineers, Company E

Served from 16 Jan. 1942 to 14 Sept. 1945

 

Served in Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes, Central Europe

 

Wounded May 11, 1945 Rhine River, Germany

 

Medals:  Good Conduct Medal, American Defense Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Campaign Medal with 5 bronze stars, Purple Heart.

 

 

 







 

 

 

 

 

Warning to Japanese

Warning to Japanese

This is an English translation of the above Japanese language tract issued by U.S. military in WW II:

Do you not think that you want to save the lives of your parents, sisters, brothers, and friends? If so, please read this tract carefully.

Within a few days, U.S. Air Forces will bomb four or five military facilities selected from those of cities mentioned on the other side of this tract. In these cities there are military facilities or factories which produce military goods. U.S. Air Forces will destroy all weapons which will be used for the prolongation of this war that is a hopeless battle for Japan. But since bombs do not have eyes, we cannot tell where the bombs will drop. As you know, America is humanitarian. We do not harm those who are innocent. Therefore, please evacuate from the cities mentioned below.

The enemy of America is not you, but the headquarters of Japanese Army who compel you to fight against this war. The peace that America envisages is to liberate you from the distress by the headquarters; if you are liberated, you will be able to establish a new, better Japan.

Why don't you enthrone a new leader who is capable of ceasing this war, and why don't you recover the peace?

Even if not mentioned on this tract, there might be some cities which will be bombed. But at least we will attach four cities among those mentioned below.

As we warn you in advance, please evacuate from these cities:

Aomori
Nishinomiya
Ogaki
Ichinomiya
Kurume
Uwajima
Nagaoka
Hakodate
Koriyama
Tsu
Ujiyamaia
Tokyo

Frank Leslie Bersch, Jr., SN, U.S. Navy 1965-1971

I was born into a Christian home in Richmond, Virginia on February 12, 1946, the first-born of three children who lived, to Frank and Maxine Bersch.  My parents were country people who met and married in the “big city,” near the end of WW II.  They were married at First Baptist Church there by the pastor, Dr. Theodore F. Adams, who was also president of the Baptist World Alliance at that time.  Dad was a purchasing agent for the City and mom became a housewife, after working in Army pay and allowances when they met.  We were a nice family who were blessed by a loving God; in spite of an accident at age two, where my left hand caught fire electrically; having nine operations, with many years of therapy; and my mom experiencing three miscarriages along the way.  My parents felt called to help start two mission churches over the years and were very active lay people; including the Billy Graham Crusade in 1956.  So, it wasn’t unusual for me to be very patriotic concerning military service since God and Country were instilled through home and church and school, along with Boy Scouts, RA’s, and Christian Youth Core.

Without going into all the details, life found me wanting to go into the Navy at age 18, which I had thought about doing most of my life.  My reasons were not that noble, though that was in the mix, but mainly to get a G.E.D., see the world, and have my college paid for when I was ready to go.  I found out that I was draft exempt, 1Y, because of my burned hand, so I went through nine and a half weeks of BuMed and BuPers, to get waivered in.  Then I went to boot camp in San Diego for 12 weeks and in 1965 was one of a few chosen for Frogman training.  While this was a great thrill which I had never expected (though I had dreamed about it when I was a kid), it was short-lived because of an accident in the third week.  I did learn that I could do far more than I thought but was still disappointed in being washed out.  I was allowed to go back later, if I chose to.

My other classification was FTM 1152 (Fire Control Technician), but my A School had already started, so I was sent onboard the Heavy Cruiser, 1^st Fleet Flagship, U.S.S. Saint Paul (CA-73), for duty.  Many things happened over the next 43 months, including three WestPac tours to Viet Nam, firing nearly 100,000 rounds of eight inch and five inch shore bombardment; along with being hit several times in the north, at Tiger Island during General Quarters missions; being named Top Gun of the Navy in 1968; and awarded the Navy Unit Commendation.  Even though we knew the guys on land had it a whole lot worse, we were still proud to serve and do our part. 

I’m sure that I wasn’t the best serviceman that I could or should have been, but I’m glad God granted me the privilege, by His Grace and Mercy, to be more than I deserved to be.  He even helped me finish college on the GI Bill at age 30.  Then God fully converted me at age 33, making me a preacher of the Word, evangelizing and discipeling along the way, and graduating with two theological masters degrees in my fifties, to be used as a veteran of the United States of America, for His kingdom