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.

One group of Brevard Middle School students gathers outside before their museum tour.

What’s a creative way to promote students’ appreciation for our veterans and their understanding of major global conflicts? Take them to the Veterans History Museum in Brevard! While many of the eighth graders at Brevard Middle School traveled to Washington, DC, the students who didn’t go were treated to an American history lesson like no other–right here at home!

Students try on uniforms of their choice of service branches.

Museum docents, many of them veterans, took small groups through each of the museum鈥檚 galleries to tell stories of the men and women who served. More than 50 students saw hundreds of artifacts dating from WWI to the Global War on Terror, noticing how uniforms, helmets, canteens, weapons, personal soldiers鈥� items, and even newspapers have changed in the last hundred+ years.

Many took advantage of the offer to try on kid-sized uniform jackets and covers (caps or helmets) and have their pictures taken. They could choose their uniform from all branches of service: Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Coast Guard and Merchant Marine. If they had a family member who served, this was a way to honor that service member.

Museum board president David Morrow describes historical paintings for students.

Multiple Ways to Learn

Six-minute videos playing in each gallery gave the students an overview of each conflict: WWI, WWII-Europe, WWII-Pacific, Korean War, Cold War, Vietnam War, and War on Terror.

Watching the videos, they learned what started each war, how it was fought and ended, and 鈥渕et鈥� local veterans who served by seeing their pictures and names on the screen. It was an efficient way to provide historic context for the eighth graders, supplementing their school studies.

Taking the Education Back to School

Dr. Hammond wrote afterward: 鈥淧lease give our love to our tour guides. I am raffling off a cap from the museum, a t-shirt, and two books: one on WWII veterans (by Janis Allen) and one on Vietnam veterans (by Michel Robertson–our costume designer!). With much affection and appreciation for our tour guides鈥� service.鈥�

“We appreciate what you did for the world.”

You Can Volunteer

The 樱花直播 welcomes interest and inquiries about volunteering. The team spirit is alive and well as we work together to honor veterans, educate the public, and preserve history.

In addition to docents (who may choose their own schedules), we welcome events volunteers, administrative assistance, and other skills and experience you may have to offer. Please email volunteer coordinator Carl Newman at听carging@hotmail.com听or call 828-884-2141.

Waiting for Bullets

This painting, titled “Waiting for the Bullets”, was commissioned by and painted by Spanish artist Gareth Hector.

Silent-auction

A signed print of this painting (31″ x 19″), donated by will be silent-auctioned on April 13. The opening bid is $150. Col. Cottrell will inscribe the print to the winner of the auction.听

December 17, 1944, over the Ardennes:听Lt. Ed Cottrell is in a situation he never dreamed possible. He and his group were bombing German armor when they were jumped by twenty Me-109s. Cottrell’s engine took hits. Oil sprayed. Eight cylinders were gone, but the motor kept running. He was limping home when two Me-109s caught up to him. 鈥淚 was waiting for the bullets to come,鈥� he said.

How he survived

On April 13th, Lt. Col. Ed Cottrell, USAF (Ret.) will tell that story, and how he survived, plus the story of his 2023 meeting with German Me 109 pilot Karl-Heinz Bosse (shown below), who fought in that same air battle on December 17, 1944.

Korean War Remembrance Ceremony

On Tuesday, June 25, at 2:00 p.m., the 樱花直播 will host a Korean War Remembrance Ceremony in Brevard at the Ingram Auditorium on the campus of Brevard College, to commemorate June 25, 1950, the 74th anniversary of the start of the Korean War.

A tribute to America鈥檚 military veterans

The ceremony is intended as a tribute to America鈥檚 military veterans who fought and died to preserve the existence of the Republic of [South] Korea.听 It will also be a tribute to the resilient and industrious people of South Korea, who suffered a brutal attack but persevered and prevailed, going on to build one of the world鈥檚 most vibrant economies and democratic societies.

Korean War was one of the most destructive conflicts in history

The Korean War was one of the most destructive conflicts in history.听 During its three-year duration (1950-1953), every major Korean city was devastated, and an estimated 2陆-3 million people perished.听 It was the first military action of the Cold War, pitting the Communist forces of North Korea, China, and the Soviet Union against the United States and 20 other member-countries of the United Nations.听 Nearly 37,000 Americans lost their lives defending South Korea, and more than one million South Koreans (civilian and military) died as a result of intense battles and many months of attrition warfare.

Fan Dance

Every Year on March 1 is designated Joe Cooper Day in Brevard

Make-A-Wish

In early 2023, Joe Cooper was given a “make-a-wish” opportunity by the NC State Veterans Home in Black Mountain where he resides. One of his wishes: visit the Veterans History Museum in Brevard.

Last March 1, Brevard’s Mayor Copelof welcomed Cooper with a public ceremony and read a proclamation declaring the date Joe Cooper Day. Cooper was then 100 years old (photo at right).

This year, at age 101, Cooper celebrated the 2nd annual Joe Cooper Day by visiting the museum on its March 1 opening of the 2024 season. He greeted visitors and showed them the 1945 pictures of a Japanese “Betty” kamikaze plane he and his shipmates shot down in the Pacific, and the photograph of his ship, the , as it burned after a kamikaze crashed into it on January 5, 1945.

The USS听Ommaney Bay, burned as the surviving members of its crew watched from the USS听Minneapolis听after they were rescued.

Joe Cooper being interviewed by NHk Japan Broadcasting.

5 hours in shark-infested waters

Cooper survived 5 hours in shark-infested waters. After WWII ended, he enlisted in the Army and served on recon patrols in the Korean War.

We look forward to celebrating many more Joe Cooper Days with Joe!

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.

鈥淏ow-wow, bow-wow, arf-arf, woof!鈥� That鈥檚 dog-speak for National K-9 Veterans Day, celebrated on March 13 and commemorating the service and sacrifices of American military dogs throughout history.听

The United States had an unofficial canine force in World War I. Military dogs, however, were not officially recognized until听March 13, 1942, when a private organization, Dogs for Defense, was established to recruit the public鈥檚 dogs for the U.S. military鈥檚 War Dog Program. Thus, the K-9 Corps was born. Often referred to as the 鈥渦nsung heroes of the battlefield,鈥� war dogs stand beside their handlers facing danger and providing protection for thousands of men and women in combat.

In recognition of National K-9 Veterans Day, the following three stories of dogs from different conflicts exemplify the honor and courage of our country鈥檚 military working dogs.

Stubby: WWI Hero Promoted to Sergeant

While training in New Haven, CT, soldiers befriended a mixed breed dog who seemed to enjoy their company. They named him Stubby. Smuggled to Europe by his new friends, Stubby became the unofficial mascot of the 102nd Infantry Regiment, assigned to the 26th Yankee Division.

In France the fearless pup participated in 17 battles and four offensives on the Western Front. Stubby鈥檚 patriotic contributions included alerting troops to incoming mustard gas attacks, comforting the wounded, locating missing soldiers lost between the trenches, and boosting morale. Stubby allegedly caught a German soldier by the seat of his pants, holding him until American soldiers assumed responsibility.

General John 鈥淏lack Jack鈥� Pershing, Commander of the American Expeditionary Forces, presented America鈥檚 four-legged hero with a gold medal, praising his 鈥渉eroism of the highest caliber鈥� and 鈥渂ravery under fire.鈥� Stubby is the first dog to be nominated and promoted to sergeant through combat. His remains lie in the Smithsonian Institution.

Stubby was promoted to Sergeant in WWI and received a gold medal from General John Pershing.

Smoky: WWII鈥檚 Smallest Soldier

Slogging through a dense New Guinea jungle during WWII, an American GI heard a puppy yapping and discovered a 4-pound 17鈥� tall Yorkshire Terrier in an abandoned foxhole. Smoky was adopted by Corporal William Wynne and the inseparable duo spent the next two years braving a kamikaze attack, heat, limited rations, typhoons, air raids, combat missions and parachute jumps. Smoky had her own homemade parachute.

Smoky’s most famous exploit occurred in January 1945 on a Japanese island when, encouraged and directed by Wynne, she crawled through a narrow sand-filled 70-foot-long 8-inch-wide culvert with a telephone cable attached to her collar.听 Her courage spared GIs from exposure to enemy bombs and bullets.

When the war ended Wynne smuggled the tiny dog back to the U.S. in an oxygen mask carrying case. Dubbed “Yorkie Doodle Dandy,” Smoky became a celebrity as well as听the world’s first therapy dog, visiting wounded veterans in hospitals across the nation.

Nemo: Wounded in Action in Vietnam

During the Vietnam War, German Shepherd Dog Nemo and his partner, Airman 2nd Class Robert Thorneburg served as a sentry dog team in the 377th Air Police Squadron at Tan Son Nhut Air Base, Saigon.

On December 3, 1966, two VC units tried to infiltrate the base. Thorneburg and Nemo were on sentry duty at an old Vietnamese graveyard near the air base鈥檚 runways. Nemo detected several VCs making an assault and sounded the alert. Thorneburg was shot in the shoulder and Nemo was shot in the muzzle, the bullet exiting through his right eye.

Ignoring his serious head wound, the 85-pound shepherd attacked the four Vietcong guerillas, giving Thorneburg time to call in backup to secure the attack. Only then were man and man鈥檚 best friend medevacked to safety. The base veterinarian performed surgery, but Nemo lost his right eye. In July 1967, he returned to the states as the first sentry dog officially retired from active service.

Credited with saving Thorneburg鈥檚 life, Nemo was hailed as a hero. He was taken on tours throughout the U.S. and lived in a special kennel at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas until his death in 1972.

In Vietnam, military dogs were credited with saving the lives of 10,000 men, although many handlers who served there feel this number is grossly underestimated. Of approximately 87,000 missions, the dogs uncovered 2,000 tunnels and bunkers and enabled 1,000 enemy captures and 4,000 enemy kills. (From 鈥淲AR DOGS: Tales of Canine Heroism, History, and Love鈥� by Rebecca Frankel.)

Sadly, Nemo was one of only 200 of the 4,000听dogs who served in the Vietnam War who returned home after the war ended.听Their handlers and other veterans continued to fight for the rights of war dogs, pushing for legislation to create a program听for their adoption. As a result, Congress passed 鈥淩obby鈥檚 Law,鈥� signed by President Clinton in 2000, ensuring that dogs now serving in the U.S. military will have a home when they finish their service.

Nemo lost an eye during the Vietnam War, which did not deter the courageous attack which saved his handler. He was retired to Lackland, AFB, in Texas and made numerous national tours.

Today’s military working dogs will return home, thanks to “Robby’s Law,” passed in 2000. No dogs left behind.

The Cold War, Setting the Stage

1949-1970

Truth be told, the authors of this article are no historians but we did live through the years of the Cold War. Duke from 1955-1985 and Art from 1970-1995. Both of us flew the Strategic Air Command’s refueling tanker, the KC-135 and Duke also the U-2. These thoughts are ours. They adequately portray a time when the world may have actually teetered on the edge of nuclear annihilation. Unsettlingly,听a 1959 movie,听On The Beach, depicted the aftermath of a nuclear war.听In the words of Paul Nitze, present from the war’s start to its finish, wrote, 鈥淥ne of the most dangerous forms of human error is forgetting what one is trying to achieve.鈥� Let’s see if we complied with that advice. It was a time of testing the water. Here’s how this play began.

The Great Powers Competing

After World War II, the Great Powers (the United States and Russia) began to compete鈥攆or property, people, and predominance. And when Western Europe and the United States formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, 1949) in fear of Russian expansion鈥攁nd perhaps partly in fear of Germany rising militaristically again–the stage was set for a 鈥渨ar鈥� that would last 42 years. As a counterbalance to NATO, Russia, in 1955, formed the Warsaw Pact and Europe was truly divided by an Iron Curtain. Who were these then who swept us into an era the likes of which we had never seen?听Of proxy wars and the threat of annihilation and mutual assured destruction.

The Actors

NATO: United States, Great Britain, France, Italy,听Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Portugal. Greece and Turkey were added in 1952, West Germany in 1955, and Spain in 1982.

The Warsaw Pact: United Soviet Socialist Republic, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), Hungary, Poland and Romania.

These lineups remained constant until the end of the Cold War.

The Scenes

Treaties and Agreements:听When the Soviets developed a nuclear device in 1949, we welcomed in the Nuclear Age weaponry and round after round of alphabet negotiation. SALT I, II; SDI; ABM; MLBM; IRBM; ICBM; SLBM; MIRV; GLCM; START; among others which extended throughout the period.

These were the 鈥渂ig boy atomic toys鈥� that each side wanted to regulate鈥攂allistic missiles that could be launched from air, land or sea. Throughout the years of the Cold War these weapons got the most attention, testing and development.

Cloak and Dagger

And another age emerged. The 鈥淎ge of 3-Letter Agencies鈥� to investigate, monitor, spy, or foment at times, unrest in various places around the world鈥攊ncluding the U.S.听A war of cloak and dagger. The Red Scare of Joe McCarthy gave rise to J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI. In 1948, President Truman authorized the creation of the CIA which subsequently gave rise to American 鈥渕eddling鈥� in the modern world. Welcome to the War of Cloak and Dagger—and the growth of modern terrorism. We saw the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, Palestine Liberation Organization, Red Brigades, Provisional Irish Republican Army, Weather Underground and others the world over.

The Shooting Wars

And just off the Main Stage (left and right), shooting wars in Korea and Vietnam were placed among other skirmishes and crises around the globe. It was a time of the 鈥淐ultural鈥� Revolution in China. The Suez Crises, the Congo, Yom Kippur, Bay of Pigs, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Francis Gary Powers U-2 shoot-down over Russia. The Berlin Wall dividing Germany, the invasion of Czechoslovakia, and many more places and events you probably never heard of. It kept our heads spinning as to what would happen next.

NOTE: Duke was on 24-hour alert during the Cuban Missile Crisis. His KC-135 accompanied nuclear loaded B-52’s. His unit launched 22 tanker sorties a day offloading fuel to their matched bomber. The bombers were airborne 24 hours at a time. He notes it was like an implausible but frightening movie for the aircrews and their families.

And it was a period of continual negotiation aside from the madness of the supporting players. But bluff and bluster gave rise to American superiority and security as we shall see in Part II.

Art Cole (Colonel, USAF, Ret.) served for 25 years from 1970-1995. A Command Pilot who held Squadron, Base, and Wing commands, he also held senior level positions in Headquarters/Strategic Air Command and the office of the Secretary of Defense. Operationally, he flew the EC-47, T-39, KC-135, and B-52. After retirement he flew 16 years with the Federal Express Corporation. He volunteers at the 樱花直播.

Richard G. 鈥淒uke鈥� Woodhull, Jr. (Colonel USAF, Ret.) is a Command Pilot with 6500 hours of military flying. From 1955-1985, he held multiple command, staff and diplomatic positions.听
His Cold War and Vietnam War operational flying qualifications include the U-2 high altitude reconnaissance aircraft and KC-135 tankers, among others. He volunteers at the 樱花直播.

Article by Art Cole and Richard (Duke) Woodhull