Full Beacher

THE TM 911 Franklin Street Weekly Newspaper Michigan City, IN 46360 Volume 33, Number 20 Thursday, May 25, 2017 Thank You! THE Page 2 May 25, 2017 THE 911 Franklin Street • Michigan City, IN 46360 219/879-0088 • FAX 219/879-8070 In Case Of Emergency, Dial e-mail: News/Articles - [email protected] email: Classifieds - [email protected] http://www.thebeacher.com/ PRINTED WITH Published and Printed by TM Trademark of American Soybean Association THE BEACHER BUSINESS PRINTERS Delivered weekly, free of charge to Birch Tree Farms, Duneland Beach, Grand Beach, Hidden 911 Shores, Long Beach, Michiana Shores, Michiana MI and Shoreland Hills. The Beacher is also delivered to public places in Michigan City, New Buffalo, LaPorte and Sheridan Beach. The Caretaking of Memories Omaha Beach and Uncle Bill by John Simmerling This original work by John Simmerling depicts the Western Union telegram that notifi ed his uncle’s family that he was missing in action. Draped over the corner is the Purple Heart awarded to his uncle. “Your Uncle Bill was killed on D-Day,” my father more. But the story was there. Eventually, it would would tell us. Curiously, he’d always refer to Bill as need to be remembered. our uncle, not his. Someday, but not then. My earliest memories of my father talking about Dad was only 8 when Bill was killed on that June our uncle were from the 1960s. The oldest of my sib- morning in 1944. At that age, I’m sure he knew lings were probably seven or eight. We didn’t un- nothing of the “liberation” of France, or why Uncle derstand Vietnam, much less Normandy. But just Bill and the 116th Division would be asked to open because we didn’t understand World War II didn’t a path on Omaha Beach. That it would allow for 1.5 mean we couldn’t see how dad was different when million soldiers to move toward Berlin and ensure he spoke of Bill. He seemed more vulnerable. Some- the end of the European confl ict. times, when he spoke of Bill, he’d pull off his glasses He wouldn’t know, until he was much older, about and wipe a hand across his eyes. the bodies, like Bill’s, that fl oated in the French surf. For a time, dad would spare us from learning Of the dead and dying that covered every stretch of THE May 25, 2017 Page 3 beach, lying in the sand like crushed seashells and twisted seaweed. Arboriculture is an art with a basis in botanical His parents, Esther and John, certainly would not knowledge. Anybody can remove trees. It’s easy tell him about what his other uncle, Robert, faced in and we are very good at it. But what we really the Pacifi c. Robert, Bill’s twin, was the determined and eager one who enlisted in the Marines. like to do is help you manage trees, give you Esther and John probably learned later that Rob- options and save you money. ert and his Marines would witness unspeakable things in battles of unspeakable horror. Only Oppenheimer and the other physicists, working beneath the grass fi elds at The University of Chicago, would end that confl ict. Then, Robert would return home, scarred and “shell-shocked,” as my father described him. With his brother lost, his family changed forever, Post Traumatic Stress Dis- order likely pushed Robert to his unpleasant end. Of Oppenheimer’s instruments, Big Boy and Fat Man, my young father probably would think them comic book char- acters, not the hydrogen bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Not Low impact equipment, small diesel engines, low fuel weapons that costs. This means lower operating costs that make us would end the war more competitive. But most important: a knowledgeable, and later change professionally trained team! We don’t claim to always be the world. Weap- the lowest bid, but we most certainly will be a professional, ons so destructive educated team who will strive to give you the service you that when their expect. scientist-creator witnessed their Complete Tree Service devastation, he Tree Pruning and Removals felt the need to cite a quote from John Simmerling Stump Grinding the Hindu Bhagavad-Gita: “I have become death, Plant Health Care destroyer of worlds.” Dad was an only child. In 1944, his backyard Pest and Disease comprised most of his world. In his small, leafy Blue Consulting Island (Ill.) backyard, he built his own sort of playhouse, cobbled together with scraps from nearby al- If you would like to know more about how arboriculture leys and garages. My grandfather probably helped. can enhance your property, call us for a consultation. I remember seeing a black-and-white photo of the playhouse: a tiny Kodak picture that was like looking through a keyhole into the past. A glimpse into his innocent pre-war world. It helped me understand where my father’s imagination was seed- ed. There, among the dappled shadows of the tall Christian Siewert MI-0549A maples on the summer grass. ISA Certifi ed Arborist on staff In that tiny fenced fortress, his Blue Island backyard, our Uncle Bill would visit him. My father eventually became a sort of caretaker of Bill’s story. He was a good caretaker, for he was C & A Arborists quite the storyteller. One story we especially en- joyed was that of his pet rooster, Blackie. He would describe how he’d ride his bicycle, with Blackie on the handlebars, around the neighborhood, some- times to the gravel pit, where he’d shoot his BB gun. 269-756-2571 In one adventure, Blackie’s misbehavior made him www.treephilosophy.INFO crash, and he allegedly broke his nose. E-mail: [email protected] Continued on Page 4 THE Page 4 May 25, 2017 cans never imagined. The Caretaking of Memories Continued from Page 3 Before then, the reality of Omaha Beach would “See, that’s from Blackie,” he’d claim, pointing to largely be captured in print. In its November 1960 the bridge of his nose as proof. But my sister would issue, The Atlantic Magazine published a story by be born with the same nose, the same bump. Per- S.L.A. Marshall about the 116th and 29th. It sought haps a Blackie inheritance, perhaps not. to describe the real fate of those caught in the fi rst My siblings and I would tease him about Blackie, wave of the assault. Marshall noted that historians that the story, while entertaining, was on the edge took great efforts to document what happened to of disbelief. We considered it more of Dad’s creative each unit as they came ashore, in detailed accounts lore: a kid, a bicycle and his crazy pet rooster. Until from the survivors. the day we discovered a faded photograph in some “At exactly 6:36 a.m. ramps are dropped along attic box — that of a child the boat line and the men on his bicycle with a large jump off in water any- black bird perched on the where from waist deep to handlebars. higher than a man’s head. Like the Blackie story, Already pounded by mor- it was hard to imagine tars, the fl oundering line Dad’s favorite uncle in the is instantly swept by cross- fi rst wave on the deadliest ing machine-gun fi res from beach on D-Day. both ends of the beach. It was just anecdotal. The fi rst men out try to Until a box appeared, and do it but are ripped apart Dad began removing items before they can make fi ve we hadn’t seen before. A yards. Even the lightly Purple Heart. A telegraph wounded die by drown- from the War Department, ing, doomed by the water- dated June 6, 1944 – Au- logging of their overloaded gust William Diedesch, packs. From Boat No. 1, all missing in action. Another hands jump off in water telegraph, killed in action. over their heads.” He told us of the heart- And that was the fate ache of his grandmother of Uncle Bill, who was lost Diedesch, of her worry departing his Higgins boat, with both sons in the war, there in the surf. and her unending grief at As I’ve discovered this the loss of Billy. more complete history of Bill, I’ve tried to keep the The rest of Bill’s story Some of the remaining items John has of his uncle. we’d have to learn on our own. memory alive, to We learned Bill was the more peaceable of the share the story twins. Robert enthusiastically enlisted in the Ma- more completely rines. Bill didn’t. He would instead go to the Blue than my father Island library and enlist in the Army Reserves. Rob- would, or could. ert was sent to boot camp, then to the Pacifi c. When my fa- Bill stayed in Blue Island, a ther passed, he 20-year-old Reservist. But that left me a framed lasted mere weeks. After basic collection of Bill’s training, his Reserve Unit was memorabilia, immediately “called up” to ac- including the tive duty. In a profound turn of purple heart and fate, his unit was placed into the the MIA and KIA 116th Division, 29th regiment, a telegrams from unit destined to spearhead the Western Union. invasion force on D-Day. August W. Diedesch And I cannot Their unit would ride the Hig- imagine a more gins boats into the surf — and into history. cherished, val- Their story was memorialized, in part, in Steven ued item among Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan” (1998).

Load more