RAVENA-COEYMANS — The Ravena-Coeymans Historical Society turned over its November meeting to honoring community veterans in a program highlighted by the personal stories of seven vets from different wars, each of whom gave the audience a different perspective of the soldier's experience.
Vets from the Korean War, Vietnam, World War II and Iraq took part, and each story shed more light on what it was like to be a veteran.
The audience was filled with vets who had served in the Marines, the Air Force, Army, Navy, National Guard and Coast Guard.
Of the seven speakers, some had seen combat while others had served in support units like the canine corp or as a medic.
VFW Post #9594 Commander Shawn Snyder started the evening off with recollections of the time he spent in Iraq.
A sergeant in the U.S. Army, Snyder served a total of thirteen years, eight on active duty.
During the year he was stationed at Baghdad International Airport from May 2003 to July 2004, his unit earned the dubious distinction as the most mortared unit in the division.
While Snyder's stories were filled with humorous anecdotes like the time he led a group of Iraqis to pick up trash along a restraining fence and on the way back tricked them into thinking they would have to turn over all the stones, it was clear that, as with many soldiers, humor helped mask the pain.
"Never ask a military person if they have killed anyone," he said.
Snyder's main role was giving out ammunition but he took on many other jobs when duty called, including maintaining radio contact with an officer in the field with a soldier wounded and bleeding out, while a helicopter was making its way to the location.
"The officer was calling every fifteen seconds," Snyder said. "I had to try and reassure him the chopper was on its way and would get there as soon as possible. I could hear the tension in his voice as he said he had a guy bleeding to death. I could hear the relief in his voice when he finally saw the helicopter."
Snyder said it was one of the most stressful moments of his tour of duty.
"I never found out whether the guy made it," he said.
Another tense situation occurred while patrolling with his unit when they came on a group of Iraqis driving after curfew.
"We had to get them all out of their cars," Snyder said. "There were fifteen of them. They had to lie down flat on the ground but they didn't understand English and we didn't have an interpreter. I had to search each one of them while my unit trained their guns on them. Then I searched the last BMW and found a weapon."
"The Iraqis though Americans were supermen," he laughed. "We walked around in full gear during the scorching heat and they were amazed we carried so much. They thought we all had x-ray sunglasses. They thought we could scan their brains."
World War II combat medic Gus "Angus" Doyle spoke of serving in the Bavarian Alps, working on field casualties.
"It was heroic work but we were away from the fighting. We didn't hear it or see it. We did what we had to do when we were called to do it," Doyle said.
One of his most poignant memories is of the scores of local people who would line up to scoop out leftover food from the trashcans after soldiers had eaten.
"After a while, we would give our uneaten rations to the locals rather than throwing it in the garbage," he said.
Doyle served for 39 months, from 1943 to 1946. Among his many honors are a meritorious unit citation, a three-year hash mark, commendations for serving in the European theater as part of the Army of Occupation, and a Bronze Star from the 10th Armored Division.
The stories of the other vets who spoke about their personal experiences were equally compelling.
Eugene Datri spent two years fighting in Korea, from 1952 to 1954.
"I was part of the Third Division," he said. "We were known as a crackerjack unit. We worked the mainline, serving as the reserve company when the main line needed to be filled in."
"It was a brutal war," he said. "There would be 15 to 25 dead on each hill. The Chinese put no value on human life."
Datri said he will always remember the last day of the war, July 27, 1953.
"More artillery was used from both armies on that day than in any other war in history. The last day was like a monumental fireworks display. It was the most sensational thing I ever saw. Then, suddenly, everything went silent and it was over," Datri said.
Ralph Biance, who served from 1955 to 1958, was part of a unit sent to France to clean up from carnage still remaining ten years after the Second World War's end.
"The Germans left behind mine fields, trenches filled with dead soldiers still dressed in uniform with their helmets on, air fields, booby-trapped beaches," he said. "The French were glad we were there. They would flash us the victory sign when we passed by."
Marvin Ruso, who now lives in Nevada but has family in the area, flew in especially for the event. He served as a Marine in the Korean War.
Ron Connors spent four years in the Air Force Canine Corps, helping guard stockpiles of nuclear weapons stored in Oklahoma.
Lynn Vanderzee-Christie also spoke about Pearl Harbor, displaying pictures from a trip she and her husband had recently taken to the War Museum in Honolulu.
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