American Legion Post 49 Honors Four World War II Veterans
American Legion Post 49 Honors Four World War II Veterans
Posted
Jackie Gorski-jgorski@timesuniononline.com
American Legion Post 49 Honors Four World War II VeteransFour World War II veterans who also are members of American Legion Post #49 were honored at the Post Tuesday.
Legion Cmdr. John Mort said the reason the four veterans - William Baumgardner, John White, Robert Gast and Lawrence Horney - were being honored was because they’re WWII veterans and “we just felt it was time to honor them.”
Mort said Baumgardner, White and Horney served in the Navy while Gast served in the Army.
After Baumgardner, White, Gast and Horney were honored Tuesday, Mort said three more members of the Post will be honored as they are WWII?veterans, but they live in Illinois, Michigan and Fort Wayne. After those three are honored, the Post is going to honor the Korean and Vietnam veterans.
Baumgardner, White, Gast and Horney were honored by the Post with a medal and certificate. Mort said it’s always important to honor veterans, no matter which era they served in. However, WWII veterans are passing away at an alarming rate. Mort also said the four WWII veterans were part of the nation’s “greatest generation.”
During the celebration, Mort thanked the four veterans for their service and for their membership in the Post.
On Monday, the country celebrated 246 years of freedom in “this great nation we have,” Mort said. “And that is thanks in part to the courage of the men and women of World War II. It played a great part of our freedom today.”
Most historians agree WWII started when Germany invaded Poland Sept. 1, 1939. Sixteen million served in the Armed Forces of the United States during WWII and more than 400,000 died. Millions of people supported the war effort at home, Mort said.
At the time of the Pearl Harbor attack on Dec. 7, 1941, there were 96 ships anchored. During the attack, 18 were sunk or seriously damaged, including eight battleships. There were 2,402 Americans killed and 1,280 injured. Three hundred fifty aircraft were damaged during the attack.
On Dec. 8, 1941, the U.S. and Great Britain declared war on Japan. On Dec. 11, 1941, Germany declared war on the U.S. The United States is the only country Germany formally declared war on during WWII, he said.
WWII ended on Sept. 2, 1945, when Japan signed a surrender agreement on the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
