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Remembering Wisconsin World War Two Veterans Who Served in the Philippines

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By: Bob Boyer

 

Four veterans and one spouse of a veteran from Northeastern Wisconsin who served in the Philippines in World War Two have died in the past year since my last “Remembering” in November, 2019. They provide us with the opportunity to celebrate their service and their subsequent lives of seventy-fi ve years since the end of the war.

Gerald Eugene Barlament, April 18, 1927-April 13, 2020: Gerry Barlament served on two different repair ships, USS Briareus and USS Frontier. In July of 1945 the Briareus arrived in Leyte Bay in Eastern Samar, the Philippines, to prepare ships for planned invasion of the Japanese mainland. As it turned out, of course, Japan surrendered on August 14. Gerry would later serve during the Korean War.

Gerry was an active member of Masonic lodges for many years, becoming a Master Mason in 1952. He was a longtime worker at Packer games, starting out in concessions as a teenager in “Old City Stadium” and then in Lambeau Field as an usher and then as a security guard for fi fty-three years. He never missed a game, except for the wedding of one of his daughters.

Donald Charles Cushman, May 18, 1921-May 14, 2020: Don Cushman’s obituary emphasizes that he had both a long and an enthusiastic life. After graduating from high school in 1943, he went into the US Navy. Don was sent to the Yorktown Mine Warfare School in Virginia where he met a student at William and Mary whom he married after the war. He shipped out as a Lieutenant JG to the USS YMS-365, a minesweeper that saw extensive action late in the war.

“The Sinking of YMS-365,” is an online site that captures the drama of action on a minesweeper, one that was heavily engaged during the US invasion of Lingayan Gulf in northwestern Philippines (1945) and later in Borneo, Dutch East Indies. YMS-365 ran into a mine after heavy action off the coast of Borneo. “The Sinking of YMS-365” contains “an edited transcript” of the account of the sinking in a lengthy letter sent by LTJG Cushman to a fellow offi cer who had left the YMS-365 earlier. Don Cushman’s account is a classic description of a naval battle aboard a vessel about to sink. It’s surprising that it hasn’t been made into a fi lm. Don received the Purple Heart.

Don Cushman was not deterred by war at sea from becoming an avid sailor on Lake Michigan and the Bay of Green Bay, where he and his wife moved after marrying in 1946. Don also became a VP for sales at Fort Howard Paper Company in Green Bay.

Merrill A. Van Handel, August 25, 1923-July 4, 2020: Merrill Arnold Van Handel, as his name suggests, was of Dutch heritage, and he hails from a very Dutch community called Little Chute, which is south of Green Bay. He joined the Navy after high school at age 19 and saw extensive duty in the Pacifi c Theater. He received two Bronze Battle Stars for action in the Solomon Islands and Saipan. Merrill later was able to meet “with his brother Richard in his combat area” in Luzon.

After the war Merrill returned to Northeastern Wisconsin and attended St. Norbert College in De Pere (Class of 1950) and then Marquette University Law School for one year. Like many Wisconsinites he enjoyed hunting and fi shing and golfi ng. He was a family man and, proud of his time in the Navy during the war, he enjoyed recounting “stories of the storms at sea.”

Raymond “Bud” Schuh, 1926-July 31, 2020: “Bud was a proud World War II Army veteran of the Pacifi c Theater.” He saw action during the recapture of Luzon. The Battle of Luzon, the largest island of the Philippine Archepelago, lasted from early January, 1945, until practically the end of the war with Japan on August 14, 1945. Bud would have been just nineteen years old. He was “decorated with several service medals including the Bronze Battle Star. He married Ethel Wendt in September of 1954. They enjoyed “53 years of marriage and many travels together around the world.”

Ruth Barbara Dier, December 31, 1921-August 28, 2020: Ruth Dier (Née Bank) is the fi rst War Widow I have included in this annual tribute. That is because I have previously not found such a reference in an obituary. It’s a poignant reference indeed: “On October 19, 1940 she married Robert Novak and this union gave them two children Richard and Joyce. Robert was killed in action during World War II in 1945 at Luzon, Philippine Islands.” The obituary then continues: “Ruth then married Leo Dier September 2, 1961,” sixteen years later. A remarkable woman.

The connectedness of Northeastern Wisconsin to the Philippines continues and deepens. All quotations are from the obituaries in the “Green Bay Press Gazette,” unless otherwise indicated.

Bob Boyer welcomes questions and comments at Robert.boyer@snc.edu.

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