by John Sucansky
Thisweek Newspapers

Theyíre traveling 1,113 miles to remember their friends that didnít return, the laughs they shared and, most of all, to see the memorial that has finally been constructed to honor their bravery and fortitude during the worldís darkest hour.

Ed Schoenbauer, 78, Lee (Scotty) Scott, 77, and Lou Damiani, 88, will be visiting the WWII memorial in Washington, D.C. May 27-31, courtesy of the Rosemount VFW Post 9433.

The post is raising funds to fly the men to the dedication celebration during Memorial Day weekend and is counting on the public to help out on this long-awaited occasion. A spaghetti dinner has been planned for Sunday, March 28, from noon to 6 p.m. with all proceeds financing the trip.

All three men served in the Pacific during the war, Ed in the U.S. Army with the 37th Division in the Philippines, and Lee and Lou both in the Navy.

Ed enlisted in 1944 and served until 1946. He participated in the liberation of Manila and was injured during a Japanese ambush on his way into the mountains.

Lee served on a Landing Ship Tank (LST) craft after he enlisted in 1944. He left Pearl Harbor on LST 39 and was present when a mortar shell fell on to the deck during loading and blew up, igniting rockets and 100 barrels of fuel on board. The incident destroyed three LSTís and killed 350 men. Lee said he traded in for boat duty at the end of that day and left with only the clothes he was wearing. He later participated in the liberation of Guam and after the atom bomb was dropped on Japan, he hauled loads back and forth from U.S. ships to Japan. After armistice day, he took up guard duty in Japan and then left for Shanghai, China where he ran a small boat and picked up LST 837 and came home. He left the Navy in 1946.

ìI didnít know how to swim or fly before I joined the Navy,î Lou said. He enlisted as an aviation cadet and got his flight training. Then he learned to swim. He was assigned to a battleship and piloted a Kingfisher reconnaissance plane. The shipís gunner would load a shell into a catapult on the stern of the battleship and Louís plane would rocket off, timed with the bobbing of the ship so it didnít hit the water. ìIt was like being shot out of a cannon,î he laughed.

His job was to fly over the front lines during the island battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, spot the problem points and call the positions back to the battle ship for a barrage of artillery shells.

Lou was present on the battleship U.S.S. Tennessee when it was struck by a Kamikaze raid. He said five of the six planes were shot down by the shipís gunners, but one made it through and dropped a bomb before crashing into the ship.

Fortunately the bomb went through the wooden deck without detonating.

He was later stranded for six days on the ocean in his plane while responding to an SOS call. His ship left him and said he would be picked up the next day. ìThe next day turned into six,î he said.

Lou said despite the bad times, he always seems to remember the funny stories that happened during his service.

Itís a combination of all of these stories that he tells every year to students at Eastview High School in Apple Valley.

Lee said it had been years and years since he thought about the war, but he recently was asked to speak at Rosemount High School about his experiences and he said he will probably think about more in the upcoming months before Memorial Day. Ed said during the service at the nationís capitol, he will most likely be thinking ìof buddies I miss. The guys that didnít come back.î

The spaghetti dinner is planned March 28 at the Rosemount VFW on Highway 3 located at 2625 120th Street W. The dinner is all-you-can-eat with a charge of $7 for adults and $3.50 for children 10 and under. There will also be a bake sale and silent auction.

For more information, contact the VFW at (651) 423-9938.

John Sucansky is at roselake.thisweek@ecm-inc.com.

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