'We have a great debt to our military families': WWII veterans remembered at a Spokane resident's new home exhibit

Mar. 13—Spokane's Harold Skinner has three daughters. He has grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He was a French teacher at Lewis and Clark High School for 29 years. But 82 years ago, Skinner was just 18, living in Spirit Lake on the eve of the U.S. entering World War II.

"I graduated in the spring of 1941. I turned 18 in March of 1942, three months after Pearl Harbor, and it was pretty obvious what my near future was going to be," Skinner told a room of about 50 people Tuesday.

Skinner was the keynote speaker at an event coordinated by Spokane resident John Baker to honor 10 World War II veterans and their families with Spokane connections. Two people helped Skinner stand and walk to the makeshift podium, but he stood alone as he spoke.

A flag ceremony, a gun salute and the playing of taps were performed by Spokane Area Veterans Honor Guard. Skinner was presented with a quilt from the Quilts of Valor foundation, a nonprofit that recognizes service members and veterans by awarding them comforting and healing quilts. A couple performed an "America the Beautiful" duet, and the group sang happy birthday to Skinner, who turns 100 on Monday.

Skinner was drafted into the navy in March 1943, he said. He joined the Naval Armed Guard, a branch of the Navy tasked with protecting merchant ships.

"I chose to serve in the armed guard; it was very little-known at the time, because of the tremendous necessity of transporting supplies, men, weapons, ammunition and everything overseas to meet the needs of the war that was right upon us," he said.

Traveling from island to island in the Pacific, Skinner was part of an effort bringing explosives, weapons, food and medical supplies to Allied forces.

"Munitions were the main materials that had to be taken overseas at that time; we can't even begin to imagine the amount of ammunition that was consumed during that war," he said. "I remember the tensions that built up as we got into war zones ... the fact that our ship might receive a torpedo any moment was filled with more tension and uneasiness than you can imagine, and it stays with you."

This was met with expressions of empathy from the crowd.

"Any kind of duty on a cargo ship during that war left its mark on us in one way or another," Skinner said. "I was fortunate because wherever my ship went, it was always just before some action or just after some action; I was just plain lucky, in that respect. We had some close calls, but I came home uninjured."

Tuesday's event took place in an outbuilding on Baker's South Hill property. Framed posters with photos and information about each of the 10 veterans were displayed around the room.

Baker, 70, said the purpose of the event was simple.

"We're here today to thank you, right from here," he said, holding his hand over his heart. "I want to remind people that we have a great debt to our military families ... these individuals understand in ways that we can't comprehend.

"I threw myself into it," Baker said of putting the event together, "but happily."

The nine other World War II veterans honored at the event have died. Their children told their stories.

Baker told of his uncle, Walton Boyd, who died in Europe three months before the Allied victory when his plane was shot out of the sky and his parachute never opened. He told of his father, Robert Baker, who was honorably discharged because of a neurological disorder and whose death, years later, was determined to be war-related.

"I had two family members give up their lives for our democracy," he said.

Scott Dethlefs told of his father, Neil Dethlefs.

"He's not a Spokanite," Dethlefs said, but during his father's boot camp at Farragut Naval Station between Coeur d'Alene and Sandpoint, he and other soldiers would visit Spokane on leave.

"The Davenport made it available for soldiers to come in and sleep on the carpet in the halls of the Davenport," Dethlefs said.

The elder Dethlefs didn't talk about his military service but wrote down his experiences later in life.

"We learned about it largely from my grandmother," Dethlefs said.

Neil Dethlefs was aboard the USS Johnston, an American destroyer, when it sank in October, 1944, during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, widely considered to be the largest naval engagement of World War II.

In the water, "the long and the short of it was, he was left with one other guy, Joe Dotson was the name we came to know," Dethlefs said. "They were trying to help these other two sailors that were injured ... they would put their feet under the other sailors' arms and then they would swim and tow them behind them."

Dethlefs' father was stung when he swam into a school of jellyfish.

The sting didn't kill him, Dethlefs said, "but it definitely put him out of his head, and he was hallucinating and started to pass in and out of consciousness."

At one point, Neil Dethlefs woke up alone. He assumed his companions had gone to find help. At another point, he awoke washed up on an island, waist-deep in the ocean. He was in the water for four days.

"These Philippine guerrilla fighters came and picked him up off the beach and took him into the jungle where he was cared for for many days," Dethlefs said. "As for Joe Dotson, he was never seen again. Dad kept in touch with his mom and for years they exchanged Christmas cards."

"I could never understand how a person could see the things that he saw and go through the things that he did and be the man that he was, because he was sweet, kind, just a gentle person and a great dad and grandfather," Dethlefs said.

Near the end of his speech, Skinner said he was pleased to see young people in attendance. There were several children in the room, including a Boy Scout troop that had presented the colors.

"I hope that future generations can take seriously the experience that we had to endure that we've heard about here today," Skinner said near the end of his speech. "I think it's so important never to forget the families that lost loved ones in those wars, which for them, the war never ceases."

Roberta Simonson's reporting is part of the Teen Journalism Institute, funded by Bank of America with support from the Innovia Foundation.

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