gray06 Nov-Dec 2009_Gray01_Jan-Feb 2005.qxd.qxd - Korean War ...

105 – CENTRAL NEW YORK [NY]
Several of us went to Their teacher had told them
Jamesville-Dewitt Middle about Korea not being in history
books. We rotated tables so
School in Dewitt, NY on
November 10, 2009 for our each table of children heard
“Tell America” program. Each each veteran’s story.
of us 4 veterans took a table of
John Laura
4 middle school students and
8 Parkington Circle
told about our experiences in East Syracuse, NY 13057
Korea.
(315) 637-8264
jlaura1@twcny.rr.com
Albuquerque Korean
War Vet Hunted Down,
Gets His Due
Students at Jamesville-
Dewitt Middle School listen
to Ch 105 members
relate their Korean War
experiences
Reading Tell America
Iam a Korean War veteran
and member of the KWVA. I
receive The Graybeards and
look forward to reading the
magazine and the section on
“Tell America.“ Then, I pass it
on to my friends. The nearby
photo pictures some of those
friends who have held presentations
at local schools on the
topic “Freedom is Not Free.“
Included in the group were
Dave Fuentes, U.S. Army, at
times a guard for Tojo’s war
trials; Joe Soto, USMC, a Pearl
Harbor survivor; William
Sanchez, U.S. Army, POW,
Corregidor, Philippines, Death
March survivor; Gus Montano,
U.S. Army, Korean War veteran;
Jess Samaniego, 82nd
Airborne, who jumped into
France the day before D-Day.
Last year the California
State University at Fullerton,
CA hosted a Veterans Day celebration.
The public and all
veterans were invited to
attend. Six hundred attended.
This year our keynote speaker
was LtGen Ricardo Sanchez,
U.S. Army (Ret).
Gus Montano
8180 Villaverde Dr.
Whittier, CA 90605
(562) 693-3074, 40th Inf.
Div.,40th Recon Co.
Gus Montano’s friend (L-R) Dave Fuentes, Joe Soto, William Sanchez,
Montano, and Jess Samaniego
The Graybeards
Willy Rooyakkers (L) displays his Netherlands Wounded Soldier medal.
Lt. Col. Rense J. de Vries,(R) liaison officer of the Royal Netherlands
Army made the award.
Standing before Albuquerque’s Korean War memorial
monument on Veterans Day, 2009, and witnessed by an
assembly of nearly 50 American war veterans, Willy
Rooyakkers, 83, finally received official recognition for
combat wounds he suffered in 1951 in Korea. He was serving
with the Royal Netherlands Army at the time.
The equivalent of our Purple Heart, the Netherlands
Insignia for Wounded Soldiers, was pinned on Mr.
Rooyakkers by Lt. Col. Rense J. de Vries, liaison officer of
the Royal Netherlands Army assigned to the U.S. Army
Combined Arms Center at Ft. Leavenworth, KS. The award
culminated the search for Mr. Rooyakkers that spanned half
a century.
The Netherlands Wounded Soldier medal is a silver cross
that bears the inscription Vulneratus. Nec. Victus, that translates
to “Wounded, But Not Defeated.” It is entwined by a
laurel branch and emblazoned with four lions on blocks,
symbolizing the four service branches of the Netherlands
Armed Forces.
Mr. Rooyakkers began his military “career” as a very
young teenager in the Dutch Resistance during the German
occupation. He subsequently provided Allied forces with
information and guarded enemy POWs. He was serving in
the Netherlands Army in Korea when a truck he was driving
set off a land mine that nearly took his life. He’d just completed
delivery of 20 tons of explosives and ammo.
Attending the ceremony were members of Albuquerque
Chapter One of KWVA and of the Military Order of the
Purple Heart, plus veterans of the Vietnam and Iraq wars.
KWVA member Joe Rose put the event together.
Frank Praytor, praypro@swcp.com
November – December 2009
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