spirit of 45

A Special publication of theTURLOCK JOURNAL

SPIRIT OF ‘45

Saluting our World War II Veterans!

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BY SABRA STAFFORDTurlock Journal

On the afternoon of Aug. 14, 1945, President Harry S. Truman took to the airwaves and made the official announce-ment that Japan had agreed to accept the terms of unconditional surrender, bring-ing the end of a long and bloody war.

“This is the day we have been waiting for since Pearl Harbor,” Truman said in his address to the American people. “This is the day when Fascism finally dies, as we always knew it would.”

Newspapers printed extra editions that day with headlines proclaiming “Peace!” and “War Over.” All across the country people poured into the streets for sponta-neous celebrations, including a large gath-ering in New York’s Times Square, where Life photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt captured the now iconic image of a sailor planting a passionate kiss on a nurse.

Here in Turlock the news that World War II was coming to an end was met with delight and pride, though the town took a more subdued and reflective path to mark the historic day.

The Turlock Daily Journal from Aug. 14, 1945 and the days following showed the city was eager to see the war come to a close, but also greeted it with a certain amount of skepticism on whether or not it was really at an end.

The state declared the date an official holiday and ordered businesses to close in honor of the momentous day. The Turlock Chamber of Commerce Presi-dent E. Glenn Drake told the newspaper they had drawn up plans for a citywide recognition, but that there would be no “organized gaiety” and no parades or fire-works. Instead, the city would mark the day with a “peaceful, prayerful thanksgiv-ing” and churches all over the city would hold special worship services.

The newspaper sent out a reporter to interview people for a story on how peace would affect their lives. The majority of those interviewed expressed relief at the prospect of having loved ones come home and the chance to return to a life where war did not loom over everything.

Julia Marshall, a homemaker, said her son was a paratrooper and that the end of the war would have him coming home

soon.“The country can live happily and

normally again,” Marshall said. “It’s the news we’ve been waiting for.”

The idea that life would return to some semblance of normalcy also thrilled Clyde Ferbrush, an electrician in Turlock.

“It will mean that we can plan our lives ahead again now,” Ferbrush said. “We couldn’t do that during the war, but had to take what came our way and like it.”

In addition to relief, many of Turlock’s residents expressed gratitude at seeing the war come to an end.

“The peace is God sent to the country, to the army, and to the world in general,” said Paul Simon a Turlock butcher. “Now we will all have to work as hard to keep peace as we did to win the war. There can be no two ways about that.”

The closure of businesses in Turlock did have one unexpected consequence — hungry citizens. The Turlock Daily Jour-nal reported on Aug. 16, 1945, that many residents were left with grumbling stom-achs when they decided to celebrate the victory by dining out, only to find three eateries in town open for the day.

The Pine Café told the newspaper they served an estimated 600 people that day and even after they had closed the doors because they had run out of food, people still came in looking for “just a cup of cof-fee.”

The Orange Mill said they ran out of food by 8:30 p.m. and had people eat-ing their food standing up in the aisles. The Carolyn Coffee Shop tried to feed the hungry throngs in the morning and had capacity crowds until they ran out of bread and had to close up for the day.

Turlock marks end of war with 'peaceful, prayerful thanksgiving'

In this Tuesday, Aug. 14, 1945 picture, U.S. President Harry S. Truman stands at his desk during a news conference in the White House in Washington announcing the Japanese surrender, officially signaling the war's end.

AP Photo/File

It’s the news we’ve been waiting for.

2 Spirit of 45


Paramount Court Senior Living will be feting the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II in patriotic fashion with the Spirit of ‘45 event.

This will mark the third year the facility has held the memorial celebration, but this will be the first time it will be open to the public at large. Since it is also the 70th anniversary, the celebration is going to be especially festive.

“We’re going to be going big for this one,” said Cheryl Fantazia Gerhardt, the marketing director of Paramount Court and one of the organizers of the exhibit.

On Aug. 14, 1945, the news broke that Japan had surrendered and the war was at an end. In cities and towns across the country there were spontaneous celebrations, including the now iconic image of the kiss in Times Square. The Spirit of ’45 is a national movement aimed at rekindling that feeling of pride. The celebration remembers and recognizes the service men and women who served their country in WWII. It also honors all the men and women who helped serve the war effort from the home front.

“They deserve this recognition,” Gerhardt said. “For so long many of them did not talk about their experiences, but now they get such joy out of educating the youth.”

The Turlock event will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at Paramount Court at 3791 Crowell Road. The festivities at Paramount Court will include recognition of area WWII veterans from local dignitaries, including Turlock Mayor Gary Soiseth. There will also be a bevy of military vehicles on display and a keynote presentation from U.S. Navy Command Master Chief Charles Blanks, a motivational speaker and the brother of Billie Blanks, the Tae-Bo fitness guru.

The celebration also will include music from students at California State University, Stanislaus, activities for children, veteran and military organizations on site, a raffle and a lunch.

“We’re hoping to have a lot of community involvement and show the veterans how much we appreciate their service,” Gerhardt said.

The event is being sponsored in part by ER Vine, the Alzheimer's and Dementia Support Center, Dr. Robert Johns, Turlock VFW, Bristol Hospice and Whitehurst, Norton, and Dias Funeral Service. Sponsorship opportunities are still available.

Paramount Court is also taking registrations for area veterans interested in participating.

For more information contact Cheryl at 664-9500.

Paramount Court celebrates the Spirit of ‘453Spirit of 45


When word was announced Aug. 14, 1945, that Japan had accepted the terms for unconditional surrender and World War II was coming to an end, it was met with great jubilation by the men serving in the armed forces and still engaged in com-bat, including two Turlock veterans.

Ed Fisher, 93, and Elton Bankson, 92, were both still on active duty when the war came to an end and the prospect of seeing hostilities cease was a day they weren’t sure they would live to see.

“It was a big relief to hear the news, because the ways things were going, we didn’t know if we’d ever get out,” Bank-son said.

Fisher had joined the Navy in 1942 as an apprentice seaman. Out of his six brothers, five had joined in the fight and were stationed in combat zones across the world.

“The sixth couldn’t go because he was too young, but he served later,” Fisher said.

Fisher rose through the ranks and at the end of his service he was a commanding officer of a 180-foot long patrol craft sail-ing the Pacific Ocean in search of enemy submarines. On Aug. 14, 1945, his ves-sel was stationed along with other ships in Leyte Gulf in the Philippines and the news of Japan’s surrender was met with great excitement.

“Every ship started firing off their pyro-technics,” Fisher said. “There were more fireworks in the sky that night than any Fourth of July celebration.

“I was pretty happy when I heard the news,” Fisher continued. “I always fig-ured we would win, it was just a matter of how long it would go on.”

Less than a month after the surrender Fisher was headed back for shore and home and had one desire burning inside him.

“I couldn’t wait to eat some fresh veg-etables,” Fisher said. “I know it sounds crazy, but all I had been eating were frozen vegetables and I was eager to eat something fresh.”

Bankson, who was drafted into the Army in 1943, was also in the Philippines when the war came to an end. He had been a member of the 505th anti-aircraft battalion and then the 337th combat engi-neers division, which was responsible for

building and clearing roads in Italy. Bankson was in Europe when Germany

surrendered, but he didn’t have enough points to come home at that point, so he was assigned to a ship and sent out for the fight still raging in the Pacific.

“We were out in the middle of the Pa-cific when they made the announcement that the war was over,” Bankson said. “Everybody was happy to hear it, but we

were a little disappointed the ship didn’t turn around and head for home.”

Bankson and his fellow shipmates reached the Philippines, where they spent a little over two months before boarding another ship and setting sail for the Unit-ed States.

“I sure was happy to come home,” Bankson said. “It was good to see it come to an end.”

Local WWII veterans recall hearing news of Japan’s surrender

CANDY PADILLA/The Journal

Elton Bankson, a member of the 505th anti-aircraft battalion and then the 337th combat engineers division during World War II, was aboard a ship in the middle of the Pacific when Japan surrendered.

SABRA STAFFORD/The Journal

Ed Fisher was commanding a 180-foot long Navy patrol craft in the Leyte Gulf in the Philippines when he received news of Japan’s surrender.

Every ship started firing

off their pyrotechnics.

There were more fireworks in the sky that night than any Fourth of July

celebration.

4 Spirit of 45

BY MARI YAMAGUCHIAssociated Press

TOKYO — The 4 ½-minute speech that has reverber-ated throughout Japan's modern history since it was de-livered by Emperor Hirohito at the end of World War II has come back to life in digital form.

Hirohito's "jewel voice" — muffled and nearly inaudi-ble due to poor sound quality — was broadcast on Aug. 15, 1945, announcing Japan's surrender.

On Aug. 1, the Imperial Household Agency released the digital version of the original sound ahead of the 70th anniversary of the speech and the war's end. In it, the emperor's voice appears clearer, slightly higher and more intense, but, Japanese today would still have trou-ble understanding the arcane language used by Hirohito.

"The language was extremely difficult," said To-mie Kondo, 92, who listened to the 1945 broadcast in a monitoring room at public broadcaster NHK, where she worked as a newscaster. "It's well written if you read it, but I'm afraid not many people understood what he said."

"Poor reception and sound quality of the radio made it even worse," she said. "I heard some people even thought they were supposed to fight even more. I think the speech would be incomprehensible to young people today."

Every Japanese knows a part of the speech where Hi-rohito refers to his resolve for peace by "enduring the un-endurable and suffering what is insufferable," a phrase repeatedly used in news and dramas about the war.

When people heard that part 70 years ago, they un-derstood the situation, Kondo says. But the rest is little known, largely because the text Hirohito read was de-liberately written in arcane language making him sound authoritative and convincing as he sought people's un-derstanding about Japan's surrender.

Amid growing concern among many Japanese over nationalist Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push to expand Japan's military role, the current Emperor Akihito is in-creasingly seen as liberal and pacifist, and the effort by his father, Hirohito, to end the war has captured national attention.

Speaking in unique intonation that drops at the end of sentences, Hirohito opens his 1945 address with Japan's decision to accept the condition of surrender. He also expresses "the deepest sense of regret" to Asian countries that cooperated with Japan to gain "emancipation" from Western colonization.

Japan itself colonized the Korean Peninsula and oc-cupied parts of China, often brutally, before and during World War II.

Hirohito also laments devastation caused by "a new and most cruel bomb" dropped in Hiroshima and Na-gasaki, and asks everyone to stay calm while helping to reconstruct the country.

Its significance is that Hirohito, who at the time was considered a living deity, made the address, said Takahi-sa Furukawa, a historian at Nihon University in Tokyo.

"What's most important is the emperor reached out to the people to tell them that they had to surrender and

end the war," he said. "The speech is a reminder of what it took to end the wrong war."

On the eve of the announcement, Hirohito met with top government officials to approve Japan's surrender in-side a bunker dug at the palace compound.

Amid fear of violent protest by army officials refusing to end the war, the recording of Hirohito's announce-ment was made secretly. NHK technicians were quietly called in for the recording. At almost midnight, Hirohito appeared in his formal military uniform, and read the

statement into the microphone, twice.A group of young army officers stormed into the pal-

ace in a failed attempt to steal the records and block the surrender speech, but palace officials desperately pro-tected the records, which were safely delivered to NHK for radio transmission the next day.

The drama of the last two days of the war leading to Hirohito's radio address was made into a film, "Japan's Longest Day," in 1967, and its remake was released in Japanese theaters on Aug. 8.

Original sound of Japan emperor Hirohito’s war-end speech released

In this 1937 file photo, Japan's Emperor Hirohito salutes from his mount, his favorite white horse, during a military review in Tokyo. The original recording of Japan's Emperor Hirohito's war-ending speech has come back to life in digital form. The original sound was released Aug. 1 by the Imperial Household Agency in digital format, ahead of the 70th anniversary of the speech and the war's end.

AP Photo/File

Local WWII veterans recall hearing news of Japan’s surrender

5Spirit of 45

BY ESRA HASHEMSpecial to the Journal

It was the final day of the Central Val-ley Honor Flight, a three-day trip aiming to take World War II veterans to the na-tion’s capital to tour its many war memo-rials. Turlock veteran David Sargis, 89, was walking through the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery before he bumped into a fellow veteran.

It was 92-year-old Gene Brengetto of Fresno.

“He looked at me and I looked at him and we talked a bit about our time in the service,” Sargis said. “Before I knew it, he stopped and said, ‘wait — you were aboard the what?’”

Sargis and Brengetto found that they shared a special bond: During World War II, both veterans were aboard the USS Lexington, a Navy ship that saw many battles throughout the Pacific.

Brengetto, a gunner on a torpedo bomber, remembers his time on the USS Lexington with surprising fondness. He and his comrades would fly off the USS Lexington to bomb various islands in the Pacific.

“All I did was fly off of it, otherwise, we just sat in the radio room on the ship and relaxed and ate until our flight time,” Brengetto said. “Then we get on our plane, take off, and come back — if we were lucky.”

It was Sargis’ job, as a hydraulic special-ist, to make sure Brengetto’s aircraft took off safely.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Brengetto said with a smile after talking to Sargis. “It’s really great when you get to meet people that were with you on the same vessel or something. We get to reminisce.”

Sargis and Brengetto were two of 66 World War II veterans who bonded with each other during the fifth Central Valley Honor Flight in October 2014. The trip, which flew out of Castle Airport, aims to honor veterans from “the greatest gen-eration” by giving them a tour through Washington, D.C.

The trip is at no cost to the veterans and is funded entirely by donations, requiring the Central Valley Honor Flight to raise a minimum of $150,000 per trip. President Al Perry said each honor flight requires the work of 20 to 25 volunteers and takes several weeks to plan, with even more vol-unteers pitching in as the trip date draws nearer.

“Honor Flight really was founded to give them the experience of the [World War II] Memorial, to let them feel the re-

spect and feel the thanks of America or, in our case, feel the thanks of the Central Valley,” Perry said.

Four Turlock veterans went on the D.C.-bound trip in 2014, including Sargis, John Moon, 88, Alfred Johnson, 88, and Wallace Sanford, 88.

Moon was in the Navy for four years, spending much of his time on ships car-rying ammunition and supplies to troops. He heard about the Central Valley Honor Flight and thought it would be a powerful experience to share with his fellow World War II veterans.

The veterans viewed the National World War II Memorial with shining eyes. Most of the veterans had never seen the memorial outside of pictures, since it was completed in April of 2004. Moon called the experience “beautiful.”

“It’s a privilege and a pleasure, this trip,” Moon said. “It’s very touching. It’s sad at moments, yes, and it’s very uplift-ing at moments. I’m never around people like this. It’s really a great pleasure.”

Johnson, a longtime pastor in Turlock, agreed.

“I was 18 years old, just out of high school, when I joined the Navy,” Johnson said as he looked at the striking, 56-pillar World War II Memorial.

“I’m just blessed to see all these kinds of things done here. It took a long time before they got the memorial up, but they

did and it was well done. It’s a great feel-ing to be around and share with other vet-erans from World War II. It’s good for all of us to get together and share some of the good things and some of the not-so-good things.”

Johnson served on the USS DuPage (APA-41), which lost 35 men in a kami-kaze attack in January 1945. He recalls shuttling troops back and forth to a num-ber of islands, including Guam and the Philippines.

“We did take Marines to the battle of Okinawa and loaded them off there, too,” Johnson said. “And we went back to the States to pick up troops again, but the bomb went on and the war was over. It was a relief.”

In addition to the World War II Me-morial, the 66 veterans, accompanied by guardians and volunteers, toured the Viet-nam Veterans Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, the Iwo Jima Memo-rial, the U.S. Navy Memorial, the Wom-en’s Military Service Memorial Museum and Arlington National Cemetery during the eventful, three-day trip.

For many of the veterans, the trip was an emotional one. Tears were shed as they gazed at the memorials, and their time in the service resurfaced. Several veterans noted that the memories they had thought were long forgotten — and never spoken about — came back as fresh wounds.

“The men we served with, a lot of them didn’t come back. They’re gone, because they were fighting for their country,” San-ford said. “So it’s an honor for each of us to be here. We are the lucky ones.”

Sanford served in the Navy from 1943 to 1946 as a hospital corpsman and spent time in Okinawa. When he recalls return-ing home from the service, his memory is vivid.

“There was a small welcoming home,” Sanford said. “When we got off the ship, there was a little band. It was maybe about 10 people or something like that.”

But when Sanford and his fellow veter-ans returned home from the Central Val-ley Honor Flight, it was a different kind of welcoming home. A boisterous crowd of more than a thousand were waiting at Castle Airport in Atwater to give the vet-erans a long overdue, proper homecom-ing ceremony.

Patriotic music and cheers filled the air as the veterans exited their plane and saw the large crowd waving flags, holding “welcome home” signs and thanking the veterans for their service.

“It made me think and it almost brought me to tears,” Sanford said. “People really enjoy it, they’re thankful about what hap-pened. This has been a real joy for me, to know that people are interested.”

Honor Flight takes veterans to see WWII Memorial

The homecoming for the World War II veterans on the Central Valley Honor Flight drew in thousands to the former Castle Air Force Base.

FRANKIE TOVAR/The Journal

6 Spirit of 45

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The first time Charles Walker ever took to the skies it was in a Boeing Stearman biplane as a young military pilot preparing to be shipped over to Europe to join the Allied forces fight in World War II.

Two weeks after marking his 94th birthday, Walker was given one more chance to soar among the clouds.

Walker was one of 10 Covenant Village residents and two Turlock-area residents who got the chance to cruise the skies in a 1940s era Boeing Stearman biplane thanks to the efforts of the Ageless Aviation Dream Foundation.

“It was the best flight I’ve had all day,” Walker joked after his turn in the plane in April at the Turlock Municipal Airport. “It was very enjoyable, but for me it didn’t last long enough.”

Walker admits that regardless of how much time he got to spend in the plane, it probably wouldn’t be long enough.

The Ageless Aviation Dream Foundation was founded in 2011 by Darryl Fisher with the goal of giving military veterans a chance to take flight again. For the Dream Flights program the Foundation uses three 1940s era Boeing Stearman airplanes, which happen to be the airplanes many military pilots were trained in during WWII.

The Foundation has given more than 850 rides in 30 states. The riders, predominantly WWII and Korean War veterans, get a 15-to 20 minute flight with Fisher serving as the pilot.

“I had learned of the program and convinced them to reroute to make a

stop in Turlock,” Barnard said. “We have a lot of veterans that have settled in the Central Valley that could participate in this program.”

For Walker the chance to get into a biplane again was reminiscent of his days

as a pilot in WWII. Walker, who earned the rank of first lieutenant, flew a P-38 airplane out of Italy until he was shot down by German forces.

“I was shot down and then once on the ground I was hit on the back of the head

with a shovel by a farmer,” Walker said. He spent 10 months being moved

around to various prisoner of war camps.“These planes have more power than

the one I learned in,” Walker said. “It goes a lot faster nowdays.”

Seniors soar over Turlock in ‘Dream Flight’Chuck Walker, a 94-year-old World War II vet, prepares to fly over Turlock as part of the Ageless Aviation Dream Foundation’s mission to give military veterans a flight on their biplanes.

SABRA STAFFORD/The Journal

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