US Navy D-Day veteran George Sarros was honored for his 99th birthday

US Navy D-Day veteran George Sarros was honored for his 99th birthday with lunch, cards, a song, and birthday cake by his fellow WWII veterans. The group’s ages range from 97 to 102.

Sarros served as a motor machinist on LST (Landing Ship, Transport) 515, delivering tanks, ambulances, and troops onto the Normandy beaches on D-Day and the days after, making 65 crossings of the English Channel taking wounded soldiers to hospitals in England.

• Harold Wellington served in WWII and during the Korean War. He served in the Merchant Marine, US Army, and US Navy.
• Myrl Jean Hughes served in the Pacific as a physical therapist in the US Army.
• Ed Cottrell was a P-47 fighter pilot in the Battle of the Bulge and after the war, as an ambassador/recruiter for the new Air Force Academy.
• Milt Fletcher fought in WWII’s last battle, the battle of Okinawa, and during the Korean War as a processor of new recruits for the US Army.
• Rufus “Pooch” Pace served right after the war during the occupation of Japan as a control tower operator in Irumagawa for the US Army Air Corps.

Top photo:听 Seated L-R, Harold Wellington, George Sarros, Milt Fletcher, & Pooch Pace. Standing, Myrl Jean Hughes & Ed Cottrell

The 樱花直播 invites WWII veterans to gather to get to know each other and celebrate special occasions several times each year. Their complete stories are in the museum鈥檚 book 鈥淲e Shall Come Home Victorious.鈥� Stories of World War II Veterans, available for purchase at the museum. The museum is located at 21 East Main Street in Brevard (next to the courthouse). Admission is free. The museum is open Tuesday 鈥� Saturday from 11am to 3pm. For information on how to honor your veteran with an Honor Wall plaque, please call 828-884-2141.

Battle of the Bulge

On December 17, 1944, the second day of the , American P-47 pilot Ed Cottrell’s engine was shot up. In the same battle, German pilot Karl-Heinz Bosse’s Messerschmadt 109 was shot down. Cottrell steered to his base and expertly managed a dead-stick landing. Bosse ejected and parachuted down but was seriously injured and hospitalized.

Enemy Pilots

Seventy-nine years later (in December 2023) at the site near Bonn, Germany where Bosse’s plane had crashed, these two pilots and former enemies had a four-hour visit all these years later, sharing their stories with the help of a translator.

Former Enemies now Forever Friends

This April 13th, Lt. Col. Ed Cottrell, USAF (Ret.) will tell the story of meeting his former enemy–two pilots whose historic mission was to destroy each other’s planes鈥攁nd perhaps lives. Cottrell will tell the story of how these former adversaries developed a quick friendship, ending their meeting 鈥渇orever friends.鈥�

A Tribute

After his talk, Cottrell will be honored with the presentation of a United States flag flown over the NC Capitol, by NC Representative Mike Clampitt, along with a tribute from the citizens of North Carolina.

Concluding the program, Brevard Mayor Maureen Copelof will unveil a new painting depicting Cottrell’s encounter with two Me-109 pilots on Dec. 17, 1944. The painting, titled, “I was waiting for the bullets to come,” was commissioned by Valor Studios, who will make a limited number of prints available for sale.

Attendees will be invited to talk with Cottrell and have photos taken with him and the painting. He will be available to sign a copy of the museum’s book, “We Shall Come Home Victorious”, which tells his complete story.

Light refreshments will be served. The public is invited to this free program on April 13 at 11:00 AM at Grace Brevard Church, 55 E. Jordan Street, Brevard, NC.

John Taylor, owner of toy store in Brevard, invited WWII pilot Ed Cottrell to visit the store and sign a model of the P-47 fighter-bomber in which Cottrell flew 65 missions in the Battle of the Bulge. Called 鈥渢he Thunderbolt,鈥� Cottrell praised the P-47 for its toughness.

A Fighter Pilot鈥檚 Story of Survival

He said, 鈥淢y crew chief showed me 30-40 bullet holes from small arms fire after one of my missions. The tough plane kept flying. And when my 18-cylinder engine was shot and the German Me-109s showed up on my tail, I barely made it back to my landing strip鈥攂ut I made it. The Pratt & Whitney engine got me home with only 10 cylinders working. It only stopped working when I was on final approach to land. I made a dead-stick landing. I kissed the ground. I wouldn鈥檛 be here today if I hadn鈥檛 had that Pratt & Whitney engine.鈥� Cottrell flew from a small makeshift runway in St. Tron, Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge.

A Toy Store that Honors Heroes and Preserves History

Toy store owner John Taylor said, 鈥淲e can custom-build just about any historic airplane or ship a customer wants. They are hand-painted with authentic markings. In our collection, we have a B-25 autographed by Richard E. Cole, Jimmy Doolittle鈥檚 co-pilot and the last surviving Doolittle Raider. We have a model of the Titanic autographed by a survivor of the sinking, Millvina Dean.

鈥淲e have a model of the USS Arizona autographed by four of its survivors of the Dec. 7, 1941 attack鈥擯earl Harbor Day. We have many historically-important autographed models for sale鈥攁nd not as expensive as you might think. In addition, we have a complete selection of build-yourself models in plastic or wood and we can order what you want. Having Joe Cooper, Ed Cottrell, and George Sarros here is amazing. And Duke Woodhull, the U2 pilot, too.鈥�

Returning to the subject of our area WWII veterans, Taylor said, 鈥淗aving Joe Cooper, Ed Cottrell, and George Sarros here is amazing. And Duke Woodhull, the U2 pilot, too.鈥�

Taylor supports the Veterans History Museum with an annual sponsorship and suggests to his customers they visit the museum, taking them out onto the sidewalk and pointing the way.

Saturday Morning WWII Stories for Kids and Parents or Grandparents

WWII P-47 pilot Ed Cottrell (shown in photo above) will tell the stories (via Zoom) of his survival fighting the Germans during the Veterans History Museum鈥檚 鈥淪aturday Morning Stories Told by WWII Veterans鈥� on Saturday, November 4.

Speaking in person will be George Sarros, U.S. Navy Motor Machinist on LST (Landing Ship, Tanks) 515 on Omaha Beach on D-Day and Joe Cooper, U.S. Navy Gunner鈥檚 Mate on the USS Ommaney Bay when it was attacked and sunk by a kamikaze in the Pacific. Registration begins at 8:30 for the program beginning at 9am and ending at noon on November 4. The location is Grace Church, 55 East Jordan Street in Brevard (in the front of the American Legion building). The WWII veterans will be available to sign books containing their stories and answer questions from the audience.

A fund-raiser for the museum, registration is $50. Parents, grandparents, or adult guardians are invited to bring kids under 18 for free. Register by emailing Mike McCarthy at mikemccarthy@comporium.net or calling 828-506-6671. You may also register online at Theveteransmuseum.org. Walk-ins are also welcome.

Scholarship Opportunities to Give

Anyone who would like to sponsor a student or veteran to the 鈥淪aturday Morning Stories Told by WWII Veterans鈥� may donate a $50 scholarship. You may designate the recipient or ask the conference director, Mike McCarthy to name a recipient. Please use the contact information above.

O.P. Taylor鈥檚 stores are at 16 South Broad Street in Brevard, 418 N. Main Street in Hendersonville, and 117 N. Main Street in Greenville, S.C.:

Photo: WWII pilot Ed Cottrell signs model of his P-47 (on lower wing) with John Taylor (at right

James Milton Fletcher, WWII Veteran

Joining Up at Age 17

鈥淚 took my oath at Fort McPherson, Georgia on June 6, 1944鈥擠-Day鈥攆ive days after I graduated from high school. My mother and dad had to consent because I was only 17. I reported to the University of Alabama for engineering school, then we were sent to Auburn鈥檚 Alabama Polytechnic Institute.

Training for Combat in Europe

鈥淭he Battle of the Bulge happened around Thanksgiving in Belgium. The Army decided they needed infantry soldiers more than they needed engineers. So at the end of the quarter, we were called to active duty鈥攂asic training at Fort Robinson, Arkansas. Then to Fort Meade, Mayland as replacements in the Battle of the Bulge.
鈥淏ut by the time I finished, that situation had changed. They sent us to Oregon, then to Hawaii for 10 days of jungle training. We joined a convoy because the Japanese submarine fleet was still very active all the way from Hawaii to Okinawa. Then in the Marshall Islands we practiced landing craft鈥攃limbing down the side of the ship with all our equipment and beach landings on Eniwetok Atoll. Then to the Caroline Islands right on the equator to practice more in tropical conditions.鈥�

The Battle of Okinawa

鈥淲e were ordered to Okinawa. The Battle of Okinawa started on Easter Sunday (April 1), 1945. They fought viciously there for two months. The politicians declared the island secure, but they were still fighting when I got there in June. When I joined my Infantry outfit, Charlie Company, 184th Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, they had 110% casualty. I asked, 鈥楬ow did you manage 110% casualties?鈥� The answer was, 鈥楾he replacements get shot pretty fast.鈥� The life expectancy, I heard, was 90 minutes when we got there.

鈥淭he tallest building I saw in Okinawa was about three feet tall except for one church steeple in Naha (Okinawa鈥檚 capital). They had just bombed that island to death. It was one of the bloodiest battles in the history of American warfare.

鈥淭hree Marine divisions were on the north end of the island. Four Army divisions were on the south end. We thought we were going to leave Okinawa to invade Japan on Labor Day, but they were planning it for October 1. On August 6, we heard on the radio that they had dropped this unusual bomb on Japan, and they were pursuing peace. We thought it was just a ruse to get us to walk into one of their surprise attacks. A week later, they dropped the second bomb and then we realized it was for real.鈥�

The Japanese Surrender

鈥淓verybody was frightened because the Japanese had said that every man, woman, and child would die for their Emperor rather than surrender. So it was no easy task to fight the Japanese, and it was much more brutal, I think, than the European campaigns.

鈥淲e were very happy at the dropping of the second bomb, and there was so much celebrating, we lost 600 men on the island鈥攌illed due to stray munitions. We shot ammunition and dumps and everything else to celebrate鈥攕hooting up in the air and blew bombs in caves where the Japanese Army would hide. I never got a scratch鈥攋ust injured my knee by stepping into a post hole.鈥�

The Largest and Deadliest Amphibious Assault in the Pacific War

According to the National WWII Museum, the official American casualty count between April 1 and June 22 is 12,520 killed out of 49,151 total casualties.
Milt Fletcher: 鈥淭he fighting continued after the official end of the war. Okinawa is known as the last major campaign of World War II. In my opinion, it was the bloodiest battle in American history.
鈥淎ugust 21 was the happiest day of my life. We had orders to go to Seoul, Korea to receive the Japanese Army surrender for Korea. It was at the same time they surrendered to MacArthur in Tokyo Bay.鈥�

Japanese surrender in Korea (photo U.S. Navy)

鈥淧eople were stealing provisions that the Japanese Army had there, so we had to guard them. We also guarded an opium factory. We just had to secure the city. The Japanese had been the managers. The Koreans had been almost slaves under the Japanese. We were processing them to go back to Japan. So we Americans became the managers until we could train the Koreans to be managers. I was made Staff Sergeant at age 18 and was discharged from active duty in December 1946, before I turned 20 years old.鈥�

Back Home and Back to School

鈥淚 re-started college at Georgia Southwestern and later earned my M.A. at the University of Georgia in entomology and teaching. I became a teaching principal before I was 25 years old.鈥�

Service During the Korean War

鈥淚 spent the Korean War running the reception center for draftees in Columbia, South Carolina, making assignments and orders for infantry, quartermaster, communications, medical, etc. We processed the cream of the crop鈥攁ll the graduates of high schools and colleges between 1944 and 1950. The R.O.T.C. boys were the green lieutenants that were the replacements in Korea, and we lost 54,260 GIs. I was in the Reserves for 12 years. I received the Infantry Rifleman鈥檚 badge.鈥�

Career and Family

鈥淚 worked in sales and teacher training for Scott Foresman & Company. It was the largest textbook publisher in America鈥攕tarting with Dick and Jane and going all the way through college. I retired after 30 years. I loved my job.鈥�
“In 1951 I married Libby, a girl I had known since childhood. We have two children, Jim and Betsy. Sadly, Libby passed away in 2020.鈥�

鈥淚 love my country.鈥�

鈥淚鈥檓 here for my country. I love my country. It鈥檚 been good to me, gave me an undergraduate degree, helped me get a graduate degree, helped me buy a home. I have new hearing aids from the VA and I鈥檓 a happy person.
鈥淚 still have students who, after 80 years, still write to me. And I have salesmen I hired 50 years ago who come to see me and bring me vegetables out of their gardens. I鈥檝e lived in Brevard, N.C. for 10 years. I鈥檓 a firm believer in education. I鈥檓 taking an art class now and I鈥檝e studied Chaucer, Middle English, and the Great Books. I attend yoga鈥nd always siesta at 2:00 pm. I鈥檝e had a good life, a full life.鈥�

The Ladies 9 Hole Golf League held a fundraiser and made a generous donation to the 樱花直播.

Connestee Falls Ladies Golf league president Judy Merrifield wrote for her neighborhood newsletter: “On August 10th the CF Ladies 9 Hole Golf League sponsored a fundraiser to benefit one our own city’s gems, the 樱花直播. The day didn’t pan out as we expected due to a downpour of rain the night before. But as usual, we came together and had a fun time up in the Clubhouse Cherokee Room.

Veterans share their stories

“Our guest veterans shared stories of their lives in the service as well as life after. Team-building games were played with Kathy Berry being our ringleader and a few board games were introduced. Raffle tickets were sold with some very nice prizes being won during lunch. Conversation flowed throughout the room. Overall, we raised a total of $2000. A check was presented at the museum the following Friday.

“If you have never taken the time to browse through this particular museum, I highly recommend it. It is a travel through our country’s history through the eyes of those who made all our freedoms possible. You will hear the stories from those who can tell it with knowledge and compassion in their souls. You will leave with a humbled heart and a sense of gratitude for all of those who have sacrificed for our country. This is history you can’t learn from a textbook.”

The Ladies Golf League raises $2000

Representing all the golfers on August 18, Judy Merrifield, Jaynie Whitcomb, Lynn Reeves, and Michelle Slatkow presented their check to veterans and volunteers at the museum. This is the second year the golf club has selected the Veterans History Museum to receive the money they raise. The golfers explained why: “Brevard is fortunate to have this wonderful museum. We bring our children and grandchildren here when they visit. You don’t learn this in school.”

For a group tour, to purchase an Honor Wall plaque to honor your veteran, or more information,
please call 828-884-2141.

USAF veterans (from left) Art Cole, Ed Cottrell, Jim Schenfield

Since World War II up to the present, this is the number who didn鈥檛 come home. We don鈥檛 know what happened to them. We should be grateful for their sacrifice and thinking of their families. It鈥檚 tempting to just look at our next-door neighbors and thank them for their service if they are veterans, but on Memorial Day, let鈥檚 think of those we can鈥檛 talk to.

(] reported in May 2020 that of the 81,900 Americans still considered MIA: 72,598 were from World War II, 7,580 from the Korean War, 1,587 from Vietnam, 126 from the Cold War, and six from conflicts since 1991.)

Schenfield said, 鈥淎ll year long, it鈥檚 a good thing when people do recognize or thank our living veterans, but there鈥檚 a more meaningful way to do it than just a quick 鈥淭hank you for your service鈥� in passing. Perhaps take a moment, ask the veteran his or her name. Ask which branch and when he or she served. Learn a little about the person. No need to ask, 鈥榃hat did you do?鈥� because all jobs are important. 鈥楾hank you for your service,鈥� unfortunately, has become sort of a clich茅. We can honor veterans more sincerely by learning a minute鈥檚 worth of information about them as individuals.鈥�

WWII P-47 pilot Col. Ed Cottrell, USAF (Ret.) said, 鈥淚 lost one of my roommates during the Battle of the Bulge in 1944, 2nd Lt. Art Sommers. He got shot down. I didn鈥檛 see him go down, but he didn鈥檛 come back from the mission. We found out later that they found his plane and he had been killed.鈥� Cottrell was able to visit Sommers鈥� burial place in an American Cemetery in the Netherlands in 2022, 77 years after his friend died. At age 100, Cottrell kneeled at Sommers鈥� grave, the first time he had known for sure where his friend died and was buried.

Col. Arthur Cole, USAF (Ret.) said, 鈥淚t’s also about the hundreds of men and women I flew with over the course of my 25 years. Their ups and downs. Their trip-ups and their successes. Their dreams. I got to be a small part of it all. And I’ll never forget the one thing they had in common鈥攁 brotherhood of the air. And all had pride in themselves, their units, and the greatness of America. Over the course of every war our men and women are sent by those who never served. But they stay the course, trust in each other, and do what they were sent to do.鈥�

Though each American finds his or her own way to honor our fallen, we can learn from those who served beside them like these three men.

We honor those who defended and defend our freedom every day of the year at the 樱花直播. Please visit the museum to learn their stories.

To honor your family member who served or is serving, the museum offers permanent Honor Wall Plaques. For information please drop by, call 828-884-2141.

Top Photo: WSPA-TV honors veterans for Memorial Day. L-R, Art Cole, Ed Cottrell, JIm Schenfield, introduced by museum volunteer Mike McCarthy

The team also brought in a U.S. Army Special Forces detachment and together with the Green Berets and Afghan allies, Team Alpha moved and fought on horseback from the mountains to liberate the city of Mazar-i Sharif. Later, team members helped put down the al-Qaida prisoner uprising at Qalai-i Jangi.

Tyson’s presentation includes detailed accounts regarding individual Afghan warlords, combat cavalry operations, and other daily activities in Afghanistan. It is accompanied by photographs and video footage.

David Tyson retired from CIA鈥檚 Clandestine Service

David Tyson retired from CIA鈥檚 Clandestine Service in 2020 after a 25-year career. The majority of his service was overseas; most of his postings and deployments were to Central Asia, the Caucasus region, and South Asia where he was a Chief of Station twice. He led/took part in paramilitary and counterterrorist operations in war zones, often working closely with U.S. Special Forces and foreign intelligence services.

Tyson began his intelligence career as a linguist and interpreter, achieving fluency in Russian, Uzbek, Turkmen, Turkish, and Farsi/Dari. He is a recipient of CIA鈥檚 Distinguished Intelligence Cross, the Agency鈥檚 equivalent to the Medal of Honor, and the Agency’s Distinguished Career Intelligence Medal.

Prior to working for the Agency, David Tyson served in the U.S. Army, both enlisted and as an officer. He has a BA in International Relations and Russian Language from West Chester State University, and two master’s degrees from Indiana University; one in Central Asian Studies and the other in Russian Studies. He taught Uzbek and Turkmen languages while at IU and authored several articles and books on language and culture.

听CIA Senior Intelligence Officer David Tyson, Guest Speaker

On Monday, May 15, retired CIA Senior Intelligence Officer David Tyson will share his experiences leading the CIA response to the 9/11 attacks.

He will speak at 7:00 PM in the Rogow Room at Transylvania County Library at 212 South Gaston Street in Brevard, NC. Admission is free, presented by the 樱花直播.

You may purchase the book First Casualty: The Untold Story of the CIA Mission to Avenge 9/11 at , 36 West Main Street in Brevard. You are invited to bring your copy of the book on May 15 for Tyson鈥檚 signature.

听