War and remembrance

Mike Sciacca

A generation gap was bridged and a war that changed the world was

recalled Thursday at the Michael E. Rodgers Seniors Center in

Huntington Beach.

For nearly two hours, 79 sophomores from the world history/model

United Nations class at Huntington Beach High School paired up with

more than 80 seniors from the center, who shared first-hand accounts

of their stories and remembrances of World War II.

Although familiar with the ramifications of living through a war,

as they have with the war in Iraq, the students -- who finished

learning about World War II during class studies in March -- listened

intently to stories, viewed scrapbooks containing photographs and

newspaper articles, and asked questions about a war that engaged

every major power in the world.

“I felt it would be a good addition to their studies to actually

get a more personal feel from those who actually lived through that

war,” said Huntington Beach Mayor Jill Hardy, who teaches sophomore

world history/model United Nations at Huntington Beach High School,

of the meeting between her students and the seniors. “I have a great

class of students and I thought it’d be great for them to get a real

feel for that part of our nation’s history, while they can get the

chance.”

Students interviewed the seniors for an hour, and then had lunch

with them.

They were required to turn in a one-to-two page narrative of their

interview, which will become part of a book of stories Hardy said she

hopes to have finished for release by June 15.

Each sophomore and senior who took part in Thursday’s first-time

event, will receive a copy of the book.

“The seniors at the center were just great and very pleased to

help out,” Hardy said. “When we put the ad out that we wanted to do

this, immediately, nearly half the people needed from the senior

center had volunteered to become part of the project.

“They had so many wonderful stories to share, and I know the

students were getting historical insights from those who experienced

World War II.”

Like Don Estrin, who shared his stories and scrapbook clippings

from his time in the Navy, with 15-year-old Stephen Ladsous.

Or Christa Bryan, 16, who interviewed 82-year-old Fran Ritchey, a

Huntington Beach resident who volunteered to serve in the U.S. Marine

Corps when she was 20 years old and living in Sacramento.

Ritchey mixed chemicals, by hand, in a photo lab.

“We didn’t do then what women do in the service today,” Ritchey

told Bryan. “We marched a lot and had classes all day long, learning

about the Marine Corps.

Women in war today are right there in combat. In my time, many

women stayed and helped out on the home front, which was impacted in

a very big way.”

Huntington Beach resident Joe DeComa heard of the students’ visit

to the center, and came to the event of his own volition.

The youngest of nine children who was born and raised in the

coalfields of Pennsylvania, DeComa was a Naval Seabee with the 111th

Battalion and entered the war at age 19.

DeComa, who turned 80 in March, recounted being in Normandy on

D-Day, the Allied invasion of the European continent on June 6, 1944.

He recalled sharing one of two cans of English beer he had stashed

away with a comrade as they shared a foxhole. He also remembered

removing dog tags from bodies and scanning the land for food after

being among the first to wash ashore on Omaha Beach, of which he

said, “that was a bad one.”

His craftsmanship was on display at the center, too, as he brought

with him a large model of a “Rhino ferry,” or pontoon barge, which he

constructed, in sharp detail, by hand.

A typical Rhino Ferry, he said, could hold up to 32 Sherman tanks

plus a few bulldozers.

“I think this is great that these students are taking the time to

learn in-depth about this war,” DeComa said. “There are so many

people in this room who lived through that war, and it will be

interesting to see if anybody in this room was on Omaha Beach.”

There was and DeComa, who said he went on to work for NASA and

built the first prototype for the first space shuttle in 1970 -- the

same year he also made what was then the largest residential swimming

pool in Orange County -- began to rehash history with a fellow war

veteran.

On June 3, he’s going back to Normandy for the first time since

the war. He’ll be accompanied by his son, Joe Jr., and the trip will

be made in observance of the 61st anniversary of D-Day.

“I feel like I have to go back, just once more in my life,” said

DeComa, who was overcome by emotion as he uttered those words. “I

have mixed emotions about going, though. I’m scared and I know I will

break down. When I complain about things, I just think of the guys

who never had a chance to live their lives, the way I have. That

motivates me.”

He then ran his right hand over his mouth as he continued, his

voice cracking.

“We were just kids when we went to war, not much older than these

kids here,” he added, motioning to the students. “Yet so many of

those kids lost their lives. I feel very fortunate to be one of the

ones to make it back. I’m one of the ones who have lived to have a

story to tell.”

* MIKE SCIACCA covers sports and features. He can be reached at

(714) 966-4611 or by e-mail at [email protected].