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Show -NEWS- Covering what matters most Spanish Fork WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2008 • A7 Namon Bills / Spanish Fork News POST 68: Members of the American Legion Post 68 presented a lifetime membership in the American Legion to Norman Barnes. Pictured, left to right, are Richard Banks, John Williams, Norman Barnes, Mark Leifson and Glen Bradford. Veteran discusses service to country asked her how she would like to get married, and she agreed. Finest Hour He had tofindout if he could Christy Hardman get time off for a wedding, so he talked to his commanding For Norman Barnes, his officer. The commanding oftime in the armed services ficer reminded him that they was filled with violence and were shipping out soon. He uncertainty, but it also pro- told Norman that when they vided him the opportunity left to go back East, he could to meet his sweetheart who take a leave from Kansas and he could have five days to became his wife. Barnes joined the Air "get the job done." Norman and Elizabeth Force in 1943. He was stationed at Kearnes Air Force had a double wedding with Base, and during that time Elizabeth's sister Melva. Norman said, "All this he met Elizabeth Gull on a blind date. She was working was done under mystery to at the Clearfield Naval Sup- her family. They had never ply Depot. Elizabeth said it met me prior to that." Elizabeth's father was a was the biggest inland naval bishop, and he performed depot for a while. Norman spent nine the service on January 17, months in Miami Beach, 1945. It would be many Ha., before being shipped months before they saw each other again. to Kearnes. Things happened fast for In January he was taken and reassigned to the infan- Norman after that. It took try arid spent 15 months at eight days for him to cross Fort Hood in Texas at Camp the Pacific, then the soldiers House for Combat training. boarded a train and they After 15 months they were crossed France, Belgium, shipped overseas and across Holland and moved into Gerthe English Channel. During many. They were thrust into his time in Texas, he was talk- battle the very next day in the ing on the phone to Elizabeth vicinity of Siegen. Norman said the fightand she mentioned that her sister was getting married. ing was "pretty hot." By Norman had never met any this time the Germans knew other members of Elizabeth's they were losing the war, family, and at this point they "but they were still trying really didn't know anything to kill you." about him. In passing, he Noman said they were oners and several of the guards. Banks said the shrapnel hit the dirt by his feet. Men standing withinfive feet of him were "blown to pieces." "It was sad," Barnes said, "but there was nothing you could do about it." Barnes's birthday is on April 8, and he remembers being a POW over his birthday. He was also a prisoner on April 14,1945 when President Roosevelt died. They had stuffed the prisoners in a basement, and Barnes remembers that the Norman Barnes German soldiers came down trying to cross the river, and and said, "Your president die. they didn't have enough You lose now " equipment, and the GerThe Germans eventumans attacked them and ally put their prisoners in a they had to give up. concentration camp where "They came in pretty about 30,000 "displaced strong shooting at our feet. persons" were in captivity. We couldn't understand "Those people were abwhat they were saying, but solutely starving to death," we understood that," Barnes Barnes said. said. *i The other prisoners wantBarnes sajd it was a very ed to touch the American solfrightening experience to be diers. They did anything they in the custody of the enemy. could to get close to them. They told him to drop his The Germans put a barrier of weapons and put his hands rocks between the American soldiers and the other prisonover his head. When they were cap- ers, but Barnes said it wasn't tured, the Germans orga- very effective in keeping nized them, and they were them away from each other. situated near a tank. The The American POWs were Americans were firing on given more to eat than the them from a Spider Plane. other prisoners. They shot at the tank and They were fed soup, and killed several of the pris- Barnes said it was hard to eat, knowing that the rest of the prisoners would not be given anything at all. Barnes was only in the concentration camp for a few days before an Allies tank division came in and liberated them. Barnes said he remembered they were educated people in the concentration camps and many of them died. They were thrust immediately back into combat. Later he even found his own company. Barnes was back in the Ruhr Pocket where most of the fighting was happening until the war ended on May 8,1945. Meanwhile, Elizabeth was working at a telephone company. There was no gasoline available, and so the telegraphs could not be delivered directly to anyone!s door. There was a depot down by the railroad station, and the man there would call everyone and tell them their telegraph, and then he would mail them. Elizabeth was living at home with her parents, and her mother picked up the phone, and heard that Norman was missing in action. Elizabeth said not to worry, that she knew he was all right. She waited two weeks until a letter came from Norman telling her that he was alive and well in a prison camp. He wrote the letter on a torn up piece of paper. She said it was a time of faith for both of them. Norman returned home on July 19, 1945. He was on a 30 day leave, and at this point they thought he would be shipped out to Japan next. During his leave, the US dropped the atomic bombs, and the Japanese surrendered. He was released from the service in February 1946. Barnes had been wounded in the arm at the time of his capture, but they stopped at a German aid station and treated him and by the time he got out of the service the wound was healed. He never reported it, so he had to go back into battle, and he didn't receive a Purple Heart. Barnes said he doesn't harbor any hostility toward the Germans. "They, never had any say in anything. They were drafted, and just did what they were told," he said. The Americans soldiers were ecstatic when the war ended. Barnes was home on a 30 day leave when the US dropped the atomic bombs under Truman. "That changed the whole war," Barnes said. "There would be no more combat. We were glad. We didn't want to go back into combat again." Carter increasing communication in WH Hilarie Orman STAFF WRITER Woodland Hills is pulling back the veil of government little by little, giving its,citizens more information about plans, strategies, and progress. Council member Steve Carter has recently become the city's communications leader, and he is including more information in the monthly mailings to residents by means of flyers inserted in their utility bills. Last month he instituted the practice of summarizing incidents handled by the sheriff's department, and this month's news will have a summary of the city's finances for the past two years. Finances are a volatile issue in Woodland Hills, and last year several citizens asked for more transparency in the spending and budgeting processes. Carter and his fellow council member Bob Fisher have tried to respond with a high level yet accurate summary of income and expenses. One fact stands out, says Carter. The city's increase in its tax rate was fortuitous as revenue from state sales tax and impact fees unexpectedly declined. Carter wants to increase communication more and asks for suggestions for ways that the council can inform citizens, but he is also eager to get suggestions on how the city can solve its problems and function better. When asked what he would do with the suggestions, he said, "A list on the city's website is a possible start." Carter told us to expect good news about progress on the city's new community center. The long-delayed project should wrap up by fall, but it will have to compete with the newly completed LDS church for the colloquialism "the building". Summer brings hot days and soft asphalt, further weakening the stressed city Dons' Sports Broadcast LIVE on v , /* <( I guarantee you will not get better care for your RV." -Chris Miller *• 1480 t i Chris Miller's TMoI>//e RV Repair * r V roads. The city's public cracks along Maple Drive works director, Jack Mar- on Thursday. Some areas shall , supervised a work .were so crazed that the crew from Spanish Fork in shiny patch material resemapplying asphalt patching bled calligraphy in an alien to the gashes, breaks, and language. I'll keep you here! Listen locally at AM 1480 and anywhere in the world at www.KHQNradio.com 'A SNACK . ATTACK!! Hilarie Orman/ Spanish Fork News ALIEN LANGUAGE: Some Woodland Hills roads received asphalt patching, resembling alien-like calligraphy. • 25 years experience • Certified for all RV repairs (furnace, fridge, water heater, appliances, AC, etc. • Install solar panels and inverters (saves energy and money) • Install Satellite systems I'll come to you" 801-360-9088 utahrvrepair.com |