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Harold, the oldest child, went into the Army April 8, 1942 and was released on December 20, 1945.
His son Harold, Jr. on December 8, 2016 told about his dad being in the same area as Ernie Pyle when Pyle was killed. Harold, Jr. was on a radio program out of Kearney, NE honoring Pearl Day Survivors and the two Juhl brothers who served in WW2.
"On April 17, 1945 Pyle came ashore with the Army's 305th Infantry Regiment of the 77th "Liberty Patch" Division on Iejima (then known as Ie Shima), a small island northwest of Okinawa. The...
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Harold, the oldest child, went into the Army April 8, 1942 and was released on December 20, 1945.
His son Harold, Jr. on December 8, 2016 told about his dad being in the same area as Ernie Pyle when Pyle was killed. Harold, Jr. was on a radio program out of Kearney, NE honoring Pearl Day Survivors and the two Juhl brothers who served in WW2.
"On April 17, 1945 Pyle came ashore with the Army's 305th Infantry Regiment of the 77th "Liberty Patch" Division on Iejima (then known as Ie Shima), a small island northwest of Okinawa. The following day, after local enemy opposition had apparently been neutralized, he was traveling by jeep with Lt. Col. Joseph B. Coolidge, the commanding officer of the 305th, toward Coolidge's new command post when the jeep encountered enemy machine gun fire. The men immediately took cover in a nearby ditch. "A little later Pyle and I raised up to look around," Coolidge reported. "Another burst hit the road over our heads ... I looked at Ernie and saw he had been hit." A bullet had entered Pyle's left temple just under his helmet, killing him instantly."
"Pyle was buried with his helmet on, among other battle casualties, with an infantry private on one side and a combat engineer on the other.[6] The men of the Army unit he was covering erected a monument, which still stands, at the site of his death. Its inscription reads, “At this spot the 77th Infantry Division lost a buddy. Ernie Pyle, 18 April 1945.”
"Eleanor Roosevelt, who frequently quoted Pyle's war dispatches in her newspaper column, My Day, paid tribute to him there the following day: "I shall never forget how much I enjoyed meeting him here in the White House last year," she wrote, "and how much I admired this frail and modest man who could endure hardships because he loved his job and our men."
Harold was stationed in Yokohama, Japan for three months as part of the Occupational Forces under General MacArthur who arrived in Yokohama on 15 August 1945.
His niece, Shirley Spencer, lived in Navy Housing in Yokohama, Japan twenty years later as her husband, HMC/USN Otis Spencer was stationed on the USS Henry W. Tucker DD875 homeported in Yokosuka, Japan. Otis served as an independent duty hospitalcorpsman.
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Nephew Ken Carmann wrote in April of 2012 of his memories of
Uncle Harold Juhl.
MEMORY 1
Dad and Harold were sharing a cold drink on the old house porch steps.
Dad asked, "How was it for you fighting in the war?"
Harold told of a machine gun foxhole and the Japanese troops coming up from the beach ---"They just kept coming and coming...."
Dad foolishly asked "How many did you think you killed?"
Harold was quiet, then haltingly said, "Rudy, it was terrible, bloody terrible!" And he walked out north into the trees. A while later Harold got into his car and left.
Harold was often very quiet while on the top of a haystack and would sit and wait for the next pileup. I think I know now what he was thinking about so soon removed from WWII.
Later, Harold would drive the tractor ... an old spoke-wheel "A" John Deere...if I was at the sand pile, he'd wave, "Howdy Farmer!" Then after parking the tractor by the fuel barrel, would walk over, kneel down and say, "What's the BIG OPERATOR doing today?" I LOVED THAT! As he listened to me explain 'my farm' ... HE MADE ME FEEL IMPORTANT!
My first job was when Aunt Vivian was caring for Harold Jr. and Claire and came over to ask if I was strong enough to lift and drop the two row corn planter? I passed the test and rode behind Uncle Harold and his 60 John Deere.
HE MADE ME FEEL IMPORTANT!
I got paid in silver dollars.
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MEMORY 2
I credit Uncle Harold with getting me together with Kate...It was an evening of the Amherst Jublilee Celebration. I was talking with Uncle Harold in front of the old Post Office. He was standing with some difficulty -- bad knees and arm crutches -- suddenly I saw his eye look past mine over my shoulder and our teaching/coaching conversation was interrupted by Harold saying, "Whoda, what the hell is that over there?"
Kate had come home from Denver and accompanied Mom Aida to town with pies for the Ladies Aid food booth. She had her hair "Denver Style" with hot pants and tall white Nancy Sinatra "MADE FOR WALKING" boots. Her car exit caught Harold's eye!😃 "I know that girl, Harold!"
"What the, what the hell you talk'a to me for? Get, get over there!!
I didn't cross the street but I did call her later that night and that "white booted" lady and me are 40 years together this August 5, 2012.
I wish I would have told Uncle Harold that story--don't think I ever did.
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MEMORY 3 (from the '50s)
My earliest memories of my uncle was when he was helping dad and would take his noon nap under the old oak table in the Homestead house living room ..(Dad Rudolph always napped). Us Carmann kids were entertained by how loud Harold could snore!! 😃 We made it tough for him I'm sure.
After Dad's heart attack, Harold worked a lot on the homestead.
I vividly recall his taking me along with a team pulling the wagon--I stood in the corner. Harold rapidly "hand husked" the corn and tossed it up on to the Bang Board without looking---all the while "gee and hawing" the team --forward and stop---my job was to move the big ears to each corner of the wagon ---HE MADE ME FEEL IMPORTANT!
I cut my hand with a corn leaf across the palm -- I cried...thought I'd bleed to death.
Uncle Harold took his big red handkerchief -- wrapped it around my hand and told me to squeeze -- he finished the load - the bleeding stopped-- he said, "see, it is not as bad as you thought!"
He would always let me ride back to the farm on the broad back of one of the horses--Mom Dorothy caught sight of me ..."He'll be trampled and killed!"
Don't worry Mom. I told him to HANG ON TIGHT!!
Final Thoughts
I visited my Uncle Harold --- not often enough --- in the Veterans' Hospital in Grand Island and on the farm south of Amherst.
I wish I'd have listened to his stories and had him tell me more.
I wish/hope that I told him how VALUED he was in my life.
HE MADE ME FEEL IMPORTANT.
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Oldest Son and a visit by the President 1996
PRESIDENT MAKING HOLIDAY VISIT TO MARINES
LAURA MYERS Associated Press
Dec. 23, 1996 1:00 PM
CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (AP) _ President Clinton made his first official visit to a Marine Corps base today to share a meal and a Christmas message with the troops.
``It's important to us. It's always good to have the commander-in-chief see the cutting edge,'' said Gen. Chuck Krulak, commandant of the Marine Corps, who flew down to North Carolina with Clinton on Air Force One.
In advance of Clinton's visit today, the Marines strung up festive lights, cleaned the base and its streets especially well and worked double time in the kitchen to prepare for the presidential chow line.
``He will be eating off the same trays, walking through the same line as the others,'' said Lt. Col. Harold Juhl, the officer in charge of getting the base ready for Clinton's visit. ``He'll have to pick his own entree.''
On the menu: roast beef, turkey, barbecued chicken and beef stew with plenty of vegetables, fruit and holiday desserts on the side.
Besides Marines on general alert for missions abroad, Clinton was visiting with troops who recently returned from a six-month deployment to the Mediterranean Sea, said White House spokesman Mike McCurry. Camp Lejeune is home to the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit.
Many of the 2,000-plus Marines who returned Dec. 19 found their homes ruined by hurricanes Bertha and Fran that struck North Carolina while they were overseas, causing an estimated $49 million in damages. The 230-square-mile base is still scarred with rows of downed trees.
``He's going to tell these troops representing all troops how much he appreciates the sacrifices they make,'' White House spokesman David Johnson said.
Staff Sgt. Joel Dover, 31, of Flint, Mich., said his home ``lost a couple of trees,'' in the hurricanes, but his family was fine, including his daughter, Cameron, born to his wife, Miriam, two weeks before he returned.
``I'm happy to be back,'' said Dover, sitting among several hundred Marines invited to hear Clinton speak. ``It's a long six months. This visit by the president is just one more thing to be happy about. It's nice to see he knows we're working hard out there.''
Clinton is to return late this afternoon to the White House, where he and his family plan to spend Christmas. He plans to leave Dec. 30 for Hilton Head, S.C., for Renaissance Weekend, an annual intellectual retreat, and on New Year's Day, the Clintons are scheduled to go to St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands for a brief vacation. They are to return to Washington Jan. 5.
In the daylong visit, the president's first to a Marine base, Clinton planned to tour a volunteer center on base, receive a command briefing and address the base community as well as dine at the mess hall.
Before leaving Washington, Clinton engaged in some late Christmas shopping.
Wearing a holiday tie and a Santa pin on his jacket lapel, the president skipped church Sunday and instead trekked across Capitol Hill to the glittering shopping mall at Union Station, the city's Amtrak rail depot.
Shopping alone, Clinton didn't tell reporters what he bought. But he was seen making purchases at two kiosks where he had been admiring bracelets, earrings and necklaces. He returned to the White House toting two shiny green shopping bags while aides followed with two larger bags.
At Camp Lejeune, Lt. Col. Juhl said sprucing up the base for Christmas is an annual chore, but for Clinton the effort was ``enhanced'' a bit. ``It isn't every day that the president comes to town,'' he said.
The last presidential visit to Camp Lejeune was in late 1983 for a somber ceremony. President Reagan and his wife, Nancy, mourned 241 servicemen killed in the terrorist bombing of a Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon.
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A son's memory on Monday, May 15, 2017
Dad was arthritically crippled at around the age of 45. His knees were the worst and came long before his hands became crippled. He was in great pain and would take a hand full of aspirin with a shot of whisky to dull the pain.
It was sometime in the early to mid 1960s that he went to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and had his right knee replaced. It worked well and was free of pain so a short time later he went back and had the second one replaced. It gave him much relief but he did not follow up with the rehabilitation exercises so he never really was able to take advantage of the new knees.
In the 1960s I was too young to know how revolutionary new knees were. It was in the 1990s I was sitting on a plane next to a man and we started talking. When I introduced myself he showed recognition. He asked me if I was named after my father and was I from Nebraska?
As it turns out he was my Dad’s doctor at the Mayo Clinic. The Nebraska Veterans Administration had contacted the Mayo Clinic on behalf of my Dad when they heard that the Mayo Clinic needed a volunteer for an experimental knee replacement procedure. The Dr. said that my Dad was the first total knee replacement they had ever done.
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JUHL, Vivian, 73, of Amherst died Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2003, at Mount Carmel Home.
Memorial services: Saturday at O'Brien-Straatmann-Apfel Funeral Home
Memorials to the Amherst Fire Department
Born May 8, 1930, in Amherst
Parents: Walter and Theresia (Kaps) SIMSHAUSER
Graduated from eighth grade at Watertown Grade School
On June 20, 1948, she married Harold Juhl of Riverdale |
