NEW ULM - A 2011 New Ulm Cathedral High School graduate, who has accepted an appointment to the U.S. Air Force Academy (USAF) this fall, talked about sacrifice and freedom Monday at the Memorial Day Observance at the New Ulm Civic Center.
"Freedom cannot be obtained without sacrifice. History proves this," said Tony Hillesheim, who plans to major in engineering at the USAF Academy.
"More than 1 million lives were lost in World War II - plus all their families and relatives that were affected by each life. Sacrifice is important because it leads to freedom," he said.
Hillesheim said Americans couldn't do what they do each day without freedom.
He asked the audience to take a little time each day and think of the sacrifices military service-members make for freedom and never, ever take it for granted.
Willis Havemeier of New Ulm - an 89-year-old World War II Veteran and Medal of the Jubilee of Liberty recipient for his part in the liberation of France from June 6, 1944 to Aug. 31, 1944 - read "Our Flag," which he wrote about flag etiquette.
"Many thousands have shed blood. Many thousands gave their lives. Many were maimed. They sacrificed for the defense and freedom of the United States of America, the greatest and best nation in the world," Havemeier said.
"Having served this nation in World War II, I have seen just too much hell of war to allow anyone to redesign or desecrate the flag of this wonderful country. To allow burning of our flag teaches disrespect for law and order," he said.
Havemeier's WWII
experience
On a website for veterans, Havemeier detailed his war experiences.
A member of the U.S. Army 843rd Engineer Aviation Battalion (EAB), Havemeier rode the Mariposa, a cruise ship converted to a crowded military transport ship with 9,000 men. The ship zigged and zagged every 20 minutes across the Atlantic Ocean without an escort.
He was not told where he was going and was not allowed to write home about any military movement.
Working 10 hours a day, Havemeier helped build 40 air bases for the U.S. Air Force in 2 1/2 years.
A Weapons Sergeant in Company C, he was a cement finisher, working just behind a paving machine, laying building bricks and interpreting German on occasion.
Havemeier said a number of German V1 (flying) "buzz bombs" came close to where he was in Southern England but never did much damage.
"The Germans must have had a lot of them because they were flying day and night. During the day, the Air Force shot down the buzz bombs with hundreds of P-38s flying wing to wing," Havemeier wrote in his WWII account.
He talked about the need to fight wars with overwhelming force.
"War is hell. In four years, we built up the greatest military machine ever to defeat Germany and Japan. More than 300 B-26 plane bombed the Germans in France once when resistance got heavy. They completely destroyed some towns. The bombs shook the ground like an earthquake," he added.
Havemeier slept in pup tents with some soldiers who had lost both arms or legs.
"When you see those things, you don't complaint about anything," he wrote in his war account.
More than 200 casualties overcrowded a hospital at one point so everybody, including Havemeier was placed on a French hospital train.
Stretchers were stacked four high on rail cars for a ride to a Paris hospital. After reaching Paris, they boarded C47 transport planes for more treatment in Manchester, England.
After three months of treatment and healing, he returned to Company C.
In 1945, his transport ship ride back to the U.S. after the war was no less challenging.
"We got in a five-day storm that bounced the ship up and down. I didn't think we'd make it," Havemeier said.
He credited U.S. spies and intelligence with destroying German advancements in missiles, rockets, jet propulsion, chemical warfare and atomic bombs that nearly enabled the Nazis and Japanese to conquer the world.
"Wherever there is a dictatorial government, people that oppose it will be killed. This has been going on for centuries and will continue until Judgment Day. ... I may not have a lot of (formal) education, but I have lots of life experiences, many of them in the military," Havemeier wrote in his war account.
To read Havemeier's description of his war experiences, visit www.ixengineercommand.com/men/834rd/havemeier-w-825.php
(Fritz Busch can be e-mailed at fbusch@nujournal.com).
