18 = THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FEATURE
WEDNESDAY,JULY 23,2003
DEDICATION
Veterans recount war memories with pride
By Maggie Newcomer
mnewcomer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Cheers thundered inside the World War II Memory Tent for the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics' dedication last weekend; loud enough to drown out the portable air conditioners and remind the speakers why they're considered the "greatest generation."
Four Lawrence veterans, all 70-plus years old, sat on stage surrounded by technologies, such as big screen televisions, that didn't exist when they went to war. All had an air of pride, apparent from the American flag on Claudine "Scottie" Lingelbach's shirt, knowing they had served their country well.
Lingelbach, Charles Wright, Bob Sudlow and John "Buck" Newsom, shared their war experiences with the crowd Saturday evening outside the Lied Center.
Wright, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps, warmed up the crowd, filled mostly with senior citizens, with a few jokes.
Wright and Lingelbach are childhood friends from Topeka. The two attended the University of Kansas with Sudlow, who Wright affectionately referred to as "Suds." Newsom attended Duke University.
All four veterans said they had pleasant memories of the war, rather than gruesome recollections.
Wright, the most colorful of the speakers, said he chose to go from Chicago to San Francisco for his first posting because he knew the train would go through Omaha, Neb. He said this way, he'd have a chance to see his bride-to-be on the way.
"It'll be 59 years this September," Wright said.
Wright served in a medical unit in the Pacific. He said the first operation he saw was a memorable one.
He told the story of an unconscious soldier who had wedged match sticks in his penis in a last-ditch attempt to keep an erection while drunkenly trying to have sex.
Wright said he wasn't sure whether the effort was effective.
Lingelbach enlisted in the selective Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service. She spent the early 1940s in Washington delivering top-secret papers to different branches of government.
"I probably knew more about the fighting than my husband, who was actually doing the fighting," Lingelbach said.
She chose the WAVES because they required members to have a college degree, which her parents would appreciate, she said.
Sudlow was an aspiring artist when he decided to join the Jayhawk Squadron, a U.S. Navy class of 23, all of whom trained at the University. He was told to gain eight pounds before he could enlist.
Sudlow spent his time in the Navy doing air rescues in the Pacific. And not the air rescues we see today, he said. For each rescue he landed a lumbering seaplane in the ocean and took off again, as quickly as possible, he said.
Sudlow had the chance to visit Tokyo immediately after V-J Day, Aug. 6, 1945. He compared the city to the Kansas City,
Mo., Country Club Plaza turned upside down.
"Total chaos," he said.
Newsom also served in the Navy and was stationed in the Pacific. He praised President Harry S. Truman for his decision to drop atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan and said it probably saved his life.
"I am here today talking to you all because President Truman had the courage to make that decision," Newsom said.
The veterans spoke as much about the courage and sacrifice of those they served with as their own sacrifices.
Lingelbach said when news spread around the country that the war was over there was a lot of kissing in the streets between strangers.
"You were so thankful if your loved one was coming home," Lingelbach said. "Because so many others were not ever coming home."
—Edited by Jennifer Wellington
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