A 90-year-old World War 2 veteran's surprising story of love, luck and service. Also included: a list of free food and services offered to vets on Veteran's Day.

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My dad, Ralph Butler, is a member of a rare breed: he is a WW2 veteran. At 90 years old, he's still smart, clever, funny and active, and he's outlived all the other males in his family. He's also been lucky. And he was well-fed by my mom, who was a great cook - - and who, along with her Aunt Dixie, was touting health foods long before they were popular. He always said he married Mom for her fabulous chocolate cake, which, he complains, she stopped making after the wedding. But maybe that's his secret to being one of just a million WW2 veterans left. And that number gets smaller by about 600 every day.



At the end of WW2 there were over 16 million veterans. But in the early 1940's there was hardly even an American military - at the beginning of the decade, the US Army ranked 17th in the world, after Romania. And there wasn't a separate Air Force, yet.

After Dad received his letter of "Greetings" from President Roosevelt, he joined the Army Air Corps because he wanted to be a pilot -- but colorblindness kept him on the ground.

In Corsica he debriefed recon pilots. They were flying the fastest planes in the sky, and carried no guns -- their only defense was speed. One day Dad debriefed a pilot who had come back pretty shaken up. The wide-eyed fellow said that while he was flying at top speed, a German plane passed him "like I was going backwards." That pilot had witnessed his first jet engine in operation. Lucky for him, the experimental jet didn't carry guns either.



In August of 1944, Dad was flown to Italy in order to join the 4th Photo Tech Squadron in Bari. He flew in an unpressurized plane, and remembers that he passed out at 12,000 feet. I guess it's a good thing he wasn't the pilot! He was shocked when they landed in Florence -- he didn't know the Allies had taken it until someone told him it had been liberated just two days earlier.

In Bari, Dad read recon photos, many taken by Col. Karl Polifka, who had flown over 125 missions by the age of 33. Polifka had the reputation of being the "most outstanding reconnaissance pilot of WWII," and went on to fly missions in Korea.



Many of the photos Dad wrote reports on were aerial views of Dachau. Of course, he was making note of supplies being transported. At that time, no one knew what was going on in the buildings that were marked with the red crosses.

Dad's a member of another rare breed, too, due to a brush with fate that happened just before he got to the Mediterranean.

In early 1944, Dad was stationed at Will Rogers Field in Oklahoma City, with the 32nd Photo Recon Squadron. It was part of the 5th Photo Recon Group in the 15th Air Force, which consisted of the 32nd as well as the 15th Photo Recon Squadron and the 4th Photo Tech Squadron.



Every Wednesday night at 9 pm he'd phone his parents in New York for a highly anticipated three-minute long-distance call. His fiance, Florence "Johnnie" Johnson always had dinner with them on Wednesdays so they could all have a chance to talk to him.

When Dad got a furlough in March of 1944, he planned a complex coordination of train connections that would take him from Oklahoma through Chicago and on to New York, putting him at his parents' house at just the right time to surprise them while they awaited his phone call. It took a couple of days of travel time, and a fair amount of walking, but to his delight the surprise worked!

Later, Johnnie sent Dad a "Dear John" letter. But her timing was perfect.

When Dad's furlough was over and he returned to Will Rogers Field, he discovered that his squadron, the 32nd Photo Recon, was gone. They'd shipped out suddenly in his absence. He wandered around, sleeping in empty barracks and eating in other mess halls until he got reassigned.



Next, Dad shipped out to Oran, Algeria, and then sailed on an English troop ship to Corsica. On the ship, Dad met about a half dozen British officers who told him they were supposed to have been on the Liberty Ship SS Paul Hamilton with his group, the 32nd Photo Recon Squadron. That ship was too full, so the officers were shipped separately. But they had news to report: the Paul Hamilton was attacked by a Stuka divebomber, which sank the ship. There were no survivors.

So, if Johnnie had broken off with Dad before his furlough, he might well have been on that ship.



But that's not the end of the story. The details of the sinking of the Paul Hamilton were classified for 50 years.

Over 65 years after it went down, Dad found out more when he read the book, He Wore a Pair of Silver Wings: The World War II Memoir of a Lightning Recon Pilot by Thomas K. Follis.



This is what Follis reported about the convoy that included the SS Paul Hamilton:

It was said that the convoy was the largest to cross the Atlantic Ocean. The destination was announced as Italy.

With the exception of some rudder trouble, the first two weeks of the trip were entirely uneventful. The food and sanitation conditions were fair and discipline was good. It was often possible to wave to the men on the other ships.

On Tuesday, April 18, 1944, the coast of North Africa was sighted and the convoy passed through the Straights of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean Sea. From here on, the voyage took on a new aspect. On Thursday, April 20, 1944, at about 1800 hours, a sunny day, an enemy reconnaissance plane was spotted by Captain Maurice Coady and Lt. William E. Pritchard. The ship's captain received a report to expect an enemy air attack that evening. Captain Donald N. McHenry, a Photo Lab Officer, was officer of the day.

At 2100 hours (dusk), about 50 miles form the coast of Algiers, twenty German Junkers 88's came out of the sky, flying at deck level in an attack which only lasted five minutes--some strafed while others dropped aerial torpedoes.

One Liberty Ship immediately forward of the Fitzhugh Lee received a direct hit by a torpedo. The entire ship blew up and disappeared from sight in less than one minute.

It wasn't until the next morning that the identity of the lost ship was discovered. It was the Paul Hamilton, with almost all of the 32nd personnel (20 pilots and 297 enlisted men), other Army units, the Navy and Merchant Marine crews aboard--a total of 547 men--all lost at sea with no survivors.

When almost all of the personnel of the 32nd, including all the pilots, were killed, steps were taken immediately to rebuild this squadron. I, along with eight other pilots, onboard the Trumbull, were to become part of the replacements to the squadron of the unfortunate pilots who had perished in the explosion of the Paul Hamilton. This was still unknown to anyone aboard the Trumbull as we broke away from the convoy and headed toward Oran where would leave (our) ship.

Other eyewitness reports say that the ship sunk and was out of sight in 30 seconds. Did the Germans have spectacular aim? They didn't need to. The other cargo on that ship, aside from the very precious cargo of so many well-trained fathers, sons and brothers, was 7000 tons of explosives and munitions. Classifying the information meant that the brass who made the decision to mix men and munitions did not have to face the bereaved families to explain.

It was the largest loss of life on a WWII Liberty Ship.

But it didn't include my dad, and we've all been grateful to a pretty, young gal named Johnnie -- especially mom!




POSTSCRIPT - FREE STUFF FOR VETS!

As in previous years, free food or meals for vets and active duty service members as well as other free items and services are being offered nationwide on Veteran's Day. I always drive Dad around to participate in some of these, and as a WW2 vet he is usually treated quite royally, especially by the other veterans!

Some food establishments offer a free appetizer and/or drink, others offer full meals, some require the purchase of another meal, some have special hours. Olive Garden even offers a 10% discount to family members accompanying the vet who gets a free meal. Always call ahead to verify participation and/or check websites or Facebook pages for details to ensure that your local franchise is offering the special deal. Bring a military ID or proof of service or dress in uniform.

All federal park entrance fees are waived. Free entrance to many state and local parks and recreation and some historical sites are also available. Check ahead for details.

Great Clips, some Sport Clips locations, and some other barber shops are offering free haircuts.

Nearly 2000 establishments are offering free car washes. These are listed by state here. Grease Monkey is offering free oil changes. Food Lion, Harris Teeters, Walgreens and JC Penneys have also announced discounts. Check with your local businesses for details.

This is a partial list of food establishments offering free food items or full meals for vets:
Applebee's, Bar Louie, Bob Evans, Boston Market,, California Pizza Kitchen, Carrabba's, Champps Americana, Charlie Brown's Steakhouse, Cheeseburger in Paradise, Chili's, Coffee Beanery, Denny's, Einstein Begels, Famous Daves, Fatz Eatz and Drinkz, Friendly's, Golden Corral, Hooter's, Hoss Family Steak & Sea House, Krispy Kreme, Little Caesars Pizza, Lone Star Steakhouse, LongHorn Steakhouse, Max & Erma's, McCormick & Schmick's, Menchie's, Noah's Bagels, O'Charley's, Olive Garden, On the Border, Orange Leaf at the Banks, Outback Steakhouse, Paciugo Gelato Caffe, Red Lobster, Red Robin, Sheetz, Shoney's, Sizzler, Soup Plantation, Spaghetti Warehouse, Starbucks (company-owned stores only), Sweet Tomatoes, T.G.I Fridays, Texas Roadhouse, Texas Land & Cattle, Tim Hortons, Travel Centers of America, Tucanos Brazilian Grill, Twin Peaks, Uno's.

More info here, or google "Veterans Day free." Bon appetite!

Authors Website: http://www.OceanViewArts.com

Authors Bio:

Meryl Ann Butler is an artist, author, educator and OpedNews Managing Editor who has been actively engaged in utilizing the arts as stepping-stones toward joy-filled wellbeing since she was a hippie. She began writing for OpEdNews in Feb, 2004. She became a Senior Editor in August 2012 and Managing Editor in January, 2013. In June, 2015, the combined views on her articles, diaries and quick link contributions topped one million. She was particularly happy that her article about Bree Newsome removing the Confederate flag was the one that put her past the million mark.

Her art in a wide variety of media can be seen on her YouTube video, "Visionary Artist Meryl Ann Butler on Creativity and Joy" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcGs2r_66QE

A NYC native, her response to 9-11 was to pen an invitation to healing through creativity, entitled, "90-Minute Quilts: 15+ Projects You Can Stitch in an Afternoon" (Krause 2006), which is a bestseller in the craft field. The sequel, MORE 90-Minute Quilts: 20+ Quick and Easy Projects With Triangles and Squares was released in April, 2011. Her popular video, How to Stitch a Quilt in 90 Minutes with Meryl Ann Butler can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrShGOQaJQ8

She has been active in a number of international, arts-related projects as a citizen diplomat, and was arts advisor to Baltimore's CIUSSR (Center for Improving US-Soviet Relations), 1987-89. She made two trips to the former USSR in 1987 and 1988 to speak to artists, craftpeople and fashion designers on the topic of utilizing the arts as a tool for global wellbeing. She created the historical "First US-Soviet Children's Peace Quilt Exchange Project" in 1987-88, which was the first time a reciprocal quilt was given to the US from the former USSR.

Her artwork is in collections across the globe.

Meryl Ann is a founding member of The Labyrinth Society and has been building labyrinths since 1992. She publishes an annual article about the topic on OpEdNews on World Labyrinth Day, the first Saturday in May.

OpEdNews Senior Editor Joan Brunwasser interviewed Meryl Ann in "Beyond Surviving: How to Thrive in Challenging Times" at https://www.opednews.com/articles/Beyond-Surviving--How-to-by-Joan-Brunwasser-Anxiety_Appreciation_Coronavirus_Creativity-200318-988.html

Find out more about Meryl Ann's artistic life in "OEN Managing Ed, Meryl Ann Butler, Featured on the Other Side of the Byline" at https://www.opednews.com/Quicklink/OEN-Managing-Ed-Meryl-Ann-in-Life_Arts-Artistic_Artists_Quilt-170917-615.html

On Feb 11, 2017, Senior Editor Joan Brunwasser interviewed Meryl Ann in Pink Power: Sister March, Norfolk, VA at http://www.opednews.com/articles/Pink-Power-Sister-March--by-Joan-Brunwasser-Pussy-Hats-170212-681.html

"Creativity and Healing: The Work of Meryl Ann Butler" by Burl Hall is at
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Creativity-and-Healing--T-by-Burl-Hall-130414-18.html

Burl and Merry Hall interviewed Meryl Ann on their BlogTalk radio show, "Envision This," at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/envision-this/2013/04/11/meryl-ann-butler-art-as-a-medicine-for-the-soul

Archived articles www.opednews.com/author/author1820.html
Older archived articles, from before May 2005 are here.