Something to celebrate
Local veterans reflect on the meaning behind Independence Day
By Larry Meyer
Argus Observer
Friday, July 3, 2009 10:25 AM PDT
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| Bob Peterson stands before a model of the plane that he flew, and was shot down,over Hungary during World War II. |
ONTARIO — Bob Peterson appreciates the Fourth of July.
So does Denny Croner.
Both men are connected to our day of independence through a shared background of service and sacrifice as veterans.
For Peterson, a rural Ontario resident, his time in the armed forces revolves around World War II, flying over Nazi- occupied Europe and becoming a prisoner of war after his aircraft was shot down.
Peterson can celebrate the Fourth of July — the meaning of the holiday and its roots in liberty and democracy — with the knowledge he already knows what it is like to lose freedom.
“I was a prisoner a little under a year,” Peterson said.
Peterson’s plane was shot down over Hungary, and he was captured. His time in captivity was not pleasant. He participated in the “Black March” where Nazi soldiers made allied POWs march more than 500 miles from Poland toward Germany to keep them away from the advancing Soviet Army. In terms of overall death percentages, the “Black March” equaled the more famous — and equally brutal — Bataan Death March.
During the march, Peterson and his fellow prisoners had to scrounge for food because they were not given any by their German guards, but they received some from other people along the way. They were able to dig up potatoes from German fields, and, as the weather got warmer, Peterson gathered dandelion greens. Having their country bombed by the allied forces, the German troops were having trouble getting supplies themselves, Peterson said. About one third of the Allied prisoners on the forced March did not survive, Peterson said.
The march lasted nearly 90 days, until they were liberated by the U.S. Army’s 1st Division.
“We had one set of clothes,” he said. “We never took our clothing off.”
Peterson, now 86, said he appreciates that things would be different if the Axis powers (Germany, Italy and Japan) won World War II.
“We would be under Nazi control.” he said.
Most of Europe had been taken over by the Nazis when the United States got involved, he said.
“It was quite a deal,” he said.
Denny Croner, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 2738 member and a veterans service officer, said the Fourth of July is important.
“What it means is celebrating our country,” he said.
Noting that independence came at a cost, he said, “We’ve been serving ever since.”
Croner, who served in the U.S. Navy at the end of the Vietnam War, said the fight to preserve the freedoms established by the founding fathers continues. Every veteran, no matter their role or status, has served their country, he said.
“It’s celebrating the liberties that we have,” Bill Thomson, Malheur County Veterans Service officer, said. He was stationed in California during the Korean War period.
