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Two World War II vets among 23 awarded Quilts of Honor
BAINBRIDGE -- Heroes of the Greatest Generation are fading away almost right before our eyes these days. Appropriately enough, on Veterans Day, two of Putnam County’s oldest World War II veterans were honored Saturday during the annual presentation of Quilts of Honor.
Robert Douglas Cheatham of Greencastle, a 99-year-old Black veteran who not only endured the horrors of war during both World War II and the Korean Conflict but the indignities of racial injustice in his own country, was joined by 97-year-old Army veteran James Smith in being celebrated during the annual program at Lifespring Church.
In all, 23 men and women, veterans of World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War, Iraq and Afghanistan were presented with colorful quilts created with love and admiration by the ladies of the One Stitch at a Time Quilt Club.
But Cheatham and Smith stole the show and were still receiving thank-yous and well wishes long after the awards ceremony was over and ceremonial photographs had been taken.
Cheatham, who will turn 100 in June, enlisted in the Navy in 1943, serving aboard a tanker and a mine sweeper in the Pacific, and then when the Korean War broke out, he enlisted in the Air Force in 1951, serving as part of the first integration of the Air Force into the Korean War. He also served in Japan, China and the South Pacific.
While Cheatham didn’t have any real “war stories” to share as his units didn’t enter into any actual combat, he had some personal battles to retell.
“One time on the tanker, a couple guys tried to throw me overboard because of my color,” Cheatham said.
In another situation while he was stationed at Newport News, Va., Cheatham recalled descending a ladder with a white pregnant woman and another lady behind him. As he stepped off, he graciously reached out to assist them in stepping down.
However, fellow servicemen jumped in and pushed him away, warning, “You don’t do that in Newport News, they might hang you.”
Then another time, when he was done with his service and on his way home to Putnam County, he and some friends “stopped at a little place to celebrate.”
While they were seated around a table, a deputy spotted Cheatham and chastised him for having his tie loosened and askew, ordering him outside.
“He hit me with his billyclub,” Cheatham told the Banner Graphic, pointing to where he was busted across the forehead.
The others he was with saw what was going on and jumped into the fray. When it was over, authorities wanted to charge Cheatham with instigating a riot, threatening to send him to Leavenworth for 15 years.
It was about six months before Cheatham went to trial, so his return home was delayed. Despite all the prejudice, he finally got out on good behavior with an honorable discharge, Cheatham called home to alert siblings, telling them he wanted to surprise his mother.
However, harsh reality struck when he learned his mother sadly had passed away in the interim.
Cheatham earned many awards and honors despite all he went through during his service.
Cheatham, who has a son Ritchie who serving at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, was accompanied to the event by daughter Marciea, who sang the National Anthem to kick off the festivities Saturday.
Meanwhile, Technical Cpl. James M. Smith served in the Army from 1944-46 in intelligence and reconnaissance.
Emcee Tim Tillotson noted that Smith, as a jeep driver, was responsible at Hadamar, Germany, for guarding two Nazi doctors involved in the infamous experiments of “Angel of Death” SS officer and physician Josef Mengele “to make sure they didn’t get away.”
Smith said he didn’t go to college, he got his education in World War II.
He also had an encounter with Five-Star Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, supreme commander of the Allied forces, upon his military discharge.
Saying he never thought anything like that could happen, “of all the thousands of men in Africa, Asia, France and Germany, I got to have a one-on-one, man-to-man meeting with Gen. Eisenhower.”
His lieutenant only told him to report to Room 202 at USEF (U.S. Elite Force). He put on a clean shirt, shaved, wiped his boots clean and jumped into his jeep.
Upon arrival, he said, “I’m Smith, I was told to report here.”
As he walked into the office he saw five gold stars on the shoulders of the man sitting at the desk. “I knew it was him,” Smith said, and after a pleasant conversation, Eisenhower gave Smith his discharge paperwork and said, “You’re going home, son.”
Meanwhile, Army Staff Sgt. John Lee Welker served as a platoon leader in Vietnam, 1968-70, and was responsible for “up to five heroic acts in combat situations,” emcee Tillotson noted, adding, “this isn’t your average everyday Vietnam veteran.”
Welker received six medals for heroism -- four Bronze Stars for valor and a Silver Star -- and the Purple Heart, along with a Soldier’s Medal for an act of heroism non-combat related and an Air Medal for heroism in a helicopter.
In one instance, Welker saved his radio operator, who was loaded down with gear and was drowning as the platoon crossed a river. “He was not going to let the young man die,” Tillotson praised.
The platoon was ambushed and Welker was wounded by shrapnel yet crawled through enemy fire to drag three injured soldiers to safety and continued to fight.
Tillotson extended the microphone to Welker, asking if he wished to address the audience after receiving his quilt.
“I’m bashful,” he responded.
That caused Tillotson, a retired Marine master sergeant, to reply with a smile, “So you can save a lot of lives, you just can’t talk.”
In another light moment, Airborne Army Ranger Sgt. Richard Allen Johnston, known locally as “The Bearded Painter,” shared a story about his arrival at boot camp.
In the barber shop, the barber asked how he wanted his hair cut. “You can do that?” Johnston responded, having the barber reply, “absolutely, the other guys just don’t know to ask.”
So Johnston said, “just trim the sides,” a comment overheard by the drill sergeant, who ordered “a mighty fine” instead and the barber grabbed Johnston’s bangs, flipped them up and proceed to shave down the middle of his head, giving him a reverse mohawk.
“So I walked outside and the other members of my platoon were asking, ‘Johnston, what happened?’ I said, ‘that is what I asked for, you can ask for whatever you want.’”
The next three servicemen came out with reverse mohawks as well before the drill sergeant came looking for Johnston, calling him a comedian and making him do push-ups until everyone else got their hair cut. After that Johnston went back inside and got his traditional “mighty fine,” monitored by the drill sergeant.
“It turns out,” Johnston said after receiving his quilt, “you don’t get a choice. I did a lot of push-ups that day.”
Other honorees Saturday were:
• Paul “Fred” Vermillion, an Air Force major who served 1966-1986, who was watching the proceedings from Florida. He served in Thailand, Vietnam, Okinawa and Micronesia as well as multiple U.S. facilities.
• Ship Serviceman Patrick McCune, who served in the Navy from 1968-70 aboard the USS Kitty Hawk, which was launching strikes to neutralize the enemy during Vietnam. He had the unique opportunity to head the ship’s hobby shop, providing servicemen with stereo equipment so everyone could relax with entertainment while in the midst of Vietnam, typhoons and 90-foot waves.
• Air Force Sgt. Ricky Craig Robinson, who served 1967-71, including deployment to Korea as part of the Plotter Security Police Squadron at Osan Air Base in South Korea.
• Army Spec. 4 Bill Cooper, who served 1960-62 at Fort Knox where he was a mechanic and wrecker driver.
• Army E5 Kelly Cooper Peters, daughter of Bill Cooper. She served 1981-85, deployed to Fort Dix, N.J., Lowry AFB, Colorado, Fort Polk, Louisiana, and Germany. She was responsible for photography and “loved taking pictures from choppers.”
• Navy EM3 Kevin Rasmussen, who served 1989-91 with responsibilities of training and operations of electric plant nuclear submarines. He was deployed to Orlando, Idaho Falls and San Diego.
• Marine E3 Tammy Sue Rasmussen, sister of Kevin, served 1986-90 as a field radio operator and Humvee driver. She was deployed to Camp Lejeune and Okinawa, at the latter performing tactical missions very close to the DMZ, “which the Korean Army didn’t like.”
• Sgt. Vurlin Clark of the Indiana National Guard, serving 1970-76, at Lebanon, Ind., with field artillery training on eight-inch Howitzers at Fort Sill, Okla.
• Spec 4 Army veteran Cade Gibson, who deployed to Kandu province in Afghanistan as a truck driver, serving one tour in “Mortarville,” driving in several convoys in support of U.S. Army troops
• Sgt. Rodney Shoemaker, serving in the Army 1986-93 and in the Army National Guard, 2002-2020. He was deployed to Iraq in 2011 as part of the Signal Corps 219th Brigade and rose to the rank of chief warrant officer 4, which he held until his July 2020 retirement.
• Air Force radio operator Clark Galford, who served 1960-63 in Oklahoma and Guam. The time was void of danger, as Galford noted, “My service was an uneventful, boring event, and that’s not a bad thing. I enjoyed my time in the Air Force. God watched over me for sure.”
• Air Force MSgt. Kimberly Long, who served 1978-99, deployed to Italy, South Korea, the United Kingdom and bases all over the U.S. She was part of gold- and silver-medal winning USAF softball and basketball teams from 1978-83. She later served in the Air Force Reserves.
• Navy Boatswain’s Mate 3 Jerry Mitchell Collins, who served 1967-71 with duties refueling ships and maintenance. Deployed to Pearl Harbor, Vietnam, The Philippines, Japan, Taiwan and Singapore, Collins said he “went to sea and saw the world.”
• USMC Sgt. Thomas Blodgett, who served 2007-14, stationed at Camp Lejeune and Wisconsin before being deployed to Iraq to manage translators and “fight the bad guys.” He said they were told the deployment to Iraq would be quiet, but his first week, they were hit by rockets. “The building we were in shook like crazy, dust everywhere. It rattled me good. Throughout our time there they would shoot rockets and mortars at us, trying to blow up our chow hall. I remember we would be more upset about them trying to destroy our food than the potential of us getting hit. Marines like food.”
• Maj. William Cockrell, a veteran of the Marines, 1948-52, and Army National Guard for 19 years. When his squadron was sent to Korea, Cockrell had a bad foot and they wouldn’t take him. “That may have saved my life,” he said, “they were overrun and shot up pretty badly.”
• TSgt. Brian Edward de Blecourt, a veteran of both the Marines and Air Force, 2004-present. He served as a machine gunner, patrolling the streets of Fallujah, Iraq, 2006-07, engaging in direct combat with both al-Qaeda and local Iraqis. He has been working as an imagery analyst from 2013-present after joining the Indiana National Guard.
• Air Force 1Lt. Amos Thomas, serving in Fairbanks, Alaska, approving who was given access to secret documents. He had a chance of either being sent to Alaska or Paris, France, and lost a coin toss and went north. Sent via ship from Tacoma, Wash., he had no winter clothing and by the time he arrived in Anchorage, Thomas had pneumonia. Another time, traveling to the northern part of the state -- this time with winter gear -- to observe Russian planes flying over, his nose tuned white due to frostbite.
• Navy Machinist’s Mate Larry D. Rogers served 1958-62 with responsibilities in the engine room of two destroyer ships, the USS Brownson and the USS Beatty. He was stationed at Newport, R.I., and deployed to Italy, Pakistan, Spain, Greece and Beirut, Lebanon.
• Army Col. Thomas Dorothy, who served 39 years, 1974-2013. Emcee Jenny Jennings called his deployment “exciting, dangerous and diverse.” Deployed to a variety of locations along the way, in 1988 he joined the 8th Tactical Aviation Base in Kuwait and became a flight instructor for the F16 Fighting Falcon Hornet. In June 2011, deployed to Afghanistan as 3rd Wing Commander for the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing, Dorothy and his crew of four aboard a Blackhawk helicopter were shot down by insurgents. Upon impact in crashing to the ground, Dorothy was unconscious but came to in time to get himself and his aid-de-camp out of the wreckage before the fuel lines and tanks exploded killing everyone inside. “Pushing, shoving and pulling we were able to secure our freedom before the fuel line ignited,” he said. “Not realizing we were both critically injured, we made it to a small ravine so as not to be seen by local insurgents searching for the downed helicopter. It was 8-10 minutes before the identifiable sound of a U.S. Blackhawk coming toward us for rescue.” For his herculean efforts, Col. Dorothy was awarded the Purple Heart and Silver Star.