Areas veterans visit DC on Honor Flight

By NORRIS LEDYARD

Enterprise Staff Writer

Honor Flights of Northwest Ohio had a precious cargo return from Washington, D. C. this week. Among the veterans on board the recent Honor Flight were three individuals from Fulton County.

Harold Massie of Swanton was originally from Jackson County in southern Ohio. He had completed two years of high school and went in search of work in northwest Ohio where he worked in the stone quarries. He was drafted and married Stella Jablonski in 1942.

Massie did his basic training in Louisville, Ky. as part of the U. S. Army Air Corps. From there, he traveled to Austin, Texas.

"I did try out to be a fighter pilot," said Massie. "Due to some scar tissue from a previous condition, I got washed out."

Staying within technical supply, he worked the flight line. Their mission involved expendable parts. His crew would be busy with screws, nuts, bolts and rivets. Also, they would be involved in doing body modifications. Eventually, he was moved to the U. S. possession, Guam, servicing the B-29 "Super Fortress" bombers.

Towards the end of his service time, he served on the air base on Tinian before being discharged near the end of August 1945. From there he made his way to Camp Atterburry before returning to the Toledo area.

He enjoyed a variety of jobs after the war. After some time in the quarries, he worked for Willys-Overland Motors, Autolite and Phillips Petroleum LP gas service. He eventually worked 14 years with Ohio Gas Company and wound down his working career as a state employee in charge of maintenance at the 180th Fighter Wing of the Ohio Air National Guard.

For Massie, this will be his first trip to Washington, D. C. He is thankful to be part of the Honor Guard, plus there will be someone to get him to the airport on time.

Also looking forward to the trip is Paul Lay of Wauseon. Growing up in Toledo, his progress in school was not totally smooth. He dropped out after his sophomore year and enlisted Sept. 17, 1946. It became known that for anyone to be covered by the G. I. Bill, they needed to be in the service before Oct. 1, 1946.

He was sent to Ft. Bliss, Texas for his basic training. While no horses were involved, he became part of the 7th Calvary, which was famous from Lt. Colonel George A. Custer's exploits in the West. As part of the Eighth Army under General Douglas A. MacArthur, the U. S. Army was performing occupation duties as Japan emerged out of the war with a democratically-formed government and began to rebuild itself. He spent his entire tour in Tokyo.

"A lot of our duty consisted of being guards outside the Imperial Palace," said Lay. "There was a rotation of New Zealand and Australians with the Americans. Class 'A' uniforms and a total spit and polish appearance was required. We spent half of our time getting ready for guard duty.

"Our biggest problem was getting shoe polish which was very necessary. The military is very interested in our footwear. Fortunately, we had an abundance of pipe tobacco," said Lay. "The other guys (New Zealand and Australians) had plenty of polish and had very short rations of tobacco. There were a number of trades made to smooth out the supply problems.

"Plus, I became rather popular with possessing shoe polish throughout our quarters. There were a number of trades performed where everyone benefited.

"MacArthur's and the U. S. approach in dealing with the Japanese was great," Lay added. "The Emperor was respected and, in turn, the Japanese gave us respect.

"Every Saturday night, the Army conducted Christian worship services. The auditorium would be full," said Lay. "There were a large number of Japanese who converted from being Shintoist and Buddist to Christian."

Lay was mustarded out as a Private First Class after completing his 18 month enlistment on January 8, 1948. Upon returning to Toledo, he went to night school, earning his diploma in 1950. He worked for Courtland Produce during the day.

He used the G. I. Bill to go to Detroit Bible School and completed a three year course as a Christian Worker. From there, he was hired by Champion Spark Plug. He eventually purchased a farm in Wauseon and married June Neuroth, a local school teacher. They raised three daughters. He now enjoys his five grandsons.

"While I was in Tokyo, I met a number of residents from Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They all said that they were warned in advance through leaflet drops that the special weapon was to be used," said Lay. "The Japanese military told the population that it was only propaganda. Some did escape in time, particularly from Nagasaki. Those two bombs did save a lot of lives - both American and Japanese lives."

He has been to the Nation's capital during his times with Champion, using a winter holiday furlough. He is looking forward to this trip and all the stops on the tour.

At the western edge of the county, Maurice Schmucker is a 1939 graduate of Stryker High School. He was drafted into the Army Air Corps September of 1942.

After a trip to Camp Perry, he was off to Jefferson Barracks in Missouri. After 10 or so days, he then was moved to Paris College in East St. Louis, Ill., where he spent the next fifteen weeks in training.

From East St. Louis, he was transferred to Charleston, S. C. to an Army Air base through March 1946. Rising to the rank of buck sergeant, he and his crew specialized in body work on airplanes, such as repairing bullet holes and other modifications.

After a short trip to Camp Atterburry, Ind., he returned to Archbold. He secured employment with Miller Brothers Construction. There, he worked for 40 years, much of his time was doing highway construction. Some of the major projects he recalled were on I-90, east of Cleveland, U.S. 23 bypass around Ann Arbor and I-69 near Auburn, Ind.

He was able to get married while on leave to Ruth Miller on January 3, 1943. Their 67 plus union has produced three daughters, seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

While Maurice had visited the D. C. area back in the 1980s, he was looking forward to this trip.