Remembering veterans old and new

Bryce Alderton

Sunday marks two months to the day when four hijacked planes crashed

in New York, Washington D.C., and rural Pennsylvania, killing thousands

and altering the makeup of America forever.

Sunday also marks Veteran’s Day in this country, a time of remembrance

and reflection, of honoring the men and women who served and fought for

the freedoms and liberties of all Americans.

As the men and women who served this country in wars past reflect on

their service, they watch and listen now, as a war unlike any have ever

seen unfolds.

Retired Brig. Gen. for the United States Air Force Al Guidotti shares

that sentiment.

“We have no idea what is going on in the hearts and minds of our

leaders,” Guidotti said as he sat cross-legged on his couch in Huntington

Beach. “I think the administration and leaders are going about it the

right way, I have no better ideas.”

Guidotti was in Saigon during the Vietnam War for one year, where he

was in charge of sending helicopters to rescue American pilots whose

planes had been shot down.

In the one year Guidotti was in Vietnam, he estimates that 900 pilots

were rescued because of the efforts of the pararescue men flying those

helicopters into enemy territory much of the time.

“There were a lot of brave people out there doing it,” Guidotti said

of his fellow service men.

Guidotti spent the other 29 years of his 30-year military career

flying C-135 cargo transporting planes around the world, and met and

greeted presidents and dignitaries from all around the world working as

the director of operations for the presidential support wing.

Guidotti was also a division commander at Andrews Air Force Base near

Washington, D.C., and was a vice commander at Dover Air Force Base in

Dover, Del., and at the 21st Air Force Division at McGuire Air Force Base

in New Jersey, where he retired in 1986.

He was also called to the Pentagon in 1980 to help plan the airlift

rescue of American hostages during the Iranian Hostage Crisis, when night

vision goggles were used for the first time to land the C-141 aircraft.

“It was one of the highlights of my career,” Guidotti said.

Now as the retired airman watches this new breed of war being fought

he has confidence that America can prevail.

“It’s a new experience for our country, we have to suck it up and get

tough realizing there will be casualties on both sides,” he continued. “I

don’t think Bin Laden and his troops blinked when all those Americans

were killed. There’s a band of terrorists that have set the goal to do

anything to strike at Americans and America. We have to continue to press

the fight for however long it takes.”

Another man who fought for the freedoms of this and other nations

shares Guidotti’s fire and confidence.America “can’t lay down and roll

over,” said 75-year-old Jay Stern, who served during World War II and the

Korean War.

Stern flew C-47 cargo planes that took troops into war zones in Europe

during World War II. He was 19 years old when he flew paratroopers into

France during the second and third days of the D-Day invasion in June

1944.

“I was scared to death and excited at the same time,” Stern said. “It

was an unbelievable site to see that many ships approaching the coast of

France. I don’t know of anyone that can say they weren’t [scared]. There

were people around us hurt and killed in the squadron.”

Stern also served on the United States Navy’s anti-submarine

helicopters during the Korean War, the navy’s first helicopters to use

depth charts to patrol waters around aircraft carriers for possible

submarine attacks.

And yet, the 21-year Huntington Beach resident said, this war is

different than anything he’s seen before.

“It’s a strange kind of war. People are bombed one minute and food is

being dropped the next,” Stern said. “It’s tough to see the destruction

on the ground. Incendiary bombs kill thousands on the ground. Part of the

tragedy is civilian casualties, but we’ve never been aware of that type

of tragedy on our homeland.”

Before coming to Huntington Beach Stern lived in New York, where he

had an office in the Empire State Building for 16 years.

“Such a tragedy to see the shock and devastation by the airplanes

hitting the buildings,” Stern said. “Never in my wildest dreams did I

think the two [towers] would come down.”

He plans on attending the Veteran’s Day ceremony Sunday, Nov. 11 at

the Huntington Beach Pier. His grandson Maxx Kominsky will be one of the

flag bearers during the event.

“I’m so happy that people remember there are veterans,” Stern said. We

served when there were no other choices, some had no college education

and jobs were tough to get. I see to it that veterans get all the

benefits they can.”

Children at Seacliff Elementary School in Huntington Beach will hear

Stern speak about Veteran’s Day when he visits the school on Friday.

“Children don’t know too much about [Veterans Day], people should tell

children stories about it,” Stern said.

One of the men who make it their mission to tell those stories is

83-year-old Bud Anderson, also of Huntington Beach.

Anderson flew P-61 bombers for the five months he was stationed in

France during World War II, targeting German airplanes flying at night,

and bombing German locomotives as they attempted to transport supplies to

German convoys, factories and barges.

Veteran’s Day reminds Anderson of troops in his squadron that lost

their lives fighting for the United States.

“These veterans put their lives on the line for us. So many of them

didn’t come home,” Anderson said. “We lost 37% of our squadron airborne

troops.”

Dealing with the unseen enemy as America is doing in its current “War

on Terrorism,” and the thousands of civilian deaths as a result of the

Sept. 11th attacks, is what distinguishes this war from previous

conflicts for Anderson.

“Terrorists are hidden, they don’t come out,” Anderson said. “There’s

no way to compare dealing with an unseen enemy. Two things: we lost 2,000

men in [Pearl Harbor], but all were lost on ships. [On Sept. 11], we lost

6,000 people. It’s a horrible thing, tragic for our country.”