Purple Heart WWII veteran Lowell Reiners, Sibley, Iowa, and a brief story. On Land And Sea Madonna Dries Christensen (Told by Gary Christensen) Some stories fall into my hands but are best told by someone else. In this tale the narrator is my husband, a 1950s Navy veteran who unknowingly became a medium between the past and present lives of two World War II veterans. My brother-in-law’s brother Lowell served in the Army in World War II. He was badly wounded in the invasion of Southern France and was awarded a Purple Heart. My brother Wayne was in the Navy and served on landing crafts in the invasions of North Africa, Sicily, Anzio, and Southern France. Twelve years my senior, I was a mere boy when he left for the war. During a summer visit to Lowell’s Iowa farm, he and I retreated to the barn while the women chatted in the house. At one point, aided by two canes, Lowell hobbled his lanky frame toward a dusty shelf and lowered the volume on a vintage radio. He mentioned that the radio had played for decades; he never turned it off. I don’t recall who initiated the conversation about the war, but there in the quiet countryside, Lowell recounted the day of his wounding. Badly injured, he crawled to cover in the brush and lay on his back, supported by a small tree. From there, he watched a single Luftwaffe attack plane circle and then bomb an Allied landing craft—before the plane was shot down. Later, at my brother’s Dakota farm, I began telling Lowell’s story to Wayne. The two men did not know each other. Midway through, Wayne interrupted with, “That’s right; and then. . . .” I remained speechless while Wayne told the same story Lowell had told, from a different point of view. During the invasion, Wayne had stood double watches on his landing craft, getting troops to the beachhead. The captain ordered him to another ship for rest. The ship Wayne had been on then left for the beach, where it unloaded troops. As it pulled away from the beach, a single circling Luftwaffe attack plane dropped a bomb on the ship. The crew managed to steer the ship out of the landing zones before it sank. All Wayne’s shipmates were lost. Lowell was hospitalized in Italy. Wayne went on to serve in the Pacific Theatre from Guam to the Philippines. Except for this story, and the route through which it emerged that day on the farm, Wayne never talked to me about the war. There are confluences in life that are inexplicable, but this one raises the hair on the back of one’s neck. — GLC
Posted on: Mon, 10 Nov 2014 12:39:56 +0000
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