Tonawanda News

May 30, 2010

Memorable McKernans

By Bill Wolcott
The Tonawanda News

— — OLCOTT — Memorial Day, formerly known as Decoration Day, commemorates U.S. men and women who died while in the military. The sons of Samuel and Mary McKernan of Olcott had lots to remember.

There were eight boys in the family. Two boys died as youngsters, five served in World War II and a sixth made a career in the Navy. The youngest sons, Joe and Bob, are still alive.

• Elbert was a gunner on a B-17 and was killed over Germany. He was buried with his crew at the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis.

• Jim flew with the Flying Tigers in a B-24 and was shot down over Burma. He spent 14 months in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. When he enlisted, Jim was 187 pounds. He came out weighing 61 pounds.

• Sam Jr., the oldest, served in the Air Force and became postmaster in Olcott. He died in 1997.

• Roy, who died in 2009, was a lawyer in California. He was in the Army and in charge of docks at a Belgium port.

• Joe, the seventh son, didn’t have to go in the service, but wasn’t told about that until he served on a destroyer for two years. Joe, 82, and Ann, who have been married 58 years, live in Olcott.

• Bob who lives in Florida, joined the Navy after the war, became a master chief and made the Navy a career. A good athlete at Barker High School, he was on the Nautilus when the world’s first nuclear submarine was christened in 1954.

Prisoner of War

Jim’s ordeal lasted, even after being rescued from the Rangoon Jail by the British. “He didn’t talk,” said his widow, Ruth, who lives on Godfrey Road in Newfane. “He was so emaciated.”

Jim was kept in solitary confinement and taken out each day to be interrogated and beaten. According to his wife, he had a tarantula for a pet and a hole in the floor for a toilet.

Jim was half-starved, shriveled and extremely nervous. He suffered from what is now called post-traumatic stress disorder from the physical and psychological trauma. His stomach shrunk and he could only eat very small portions of food when he got home. His teeth were missing, either from being knocked out by his captors or through malnutrition.

Bridge over River Kwai

Jim’s crew went down in a B-24 on a Fying Tigers Squadron mission to bomb the bridge over the River Kwai. “He said the plane hit into the trees in Burma and the next thing he knew, he was hanging from a parachute in a tree,” little brother Joe recalled.

“Only three got out of the plane,” Ruth said. “His parachute was caught in trees. The other two were captured but did not live through prison camp.”

After the war, Jim was unable work for a long time, then General Motors gave him a job in the engineering department in Lockport.

“They were very cooperative in every way,” Ruth said. “They were good at letting him get his strength back after the turmoil he’d been through.”

Jim and Ruth had six children, one of whom has died. The children are scattered from North Tonawanda to California. Jim died in November 2004.

‘Elbert went quick’

Joe learned of Elbert’s death and Jim’s imprisonment while he was aboard ship. “Elbert went quick, but they didn’t find the remains of the crash for months,” Joe said.

The “Paisano” was piloted by Lt. Robert L. Duncan. On March 3, 1945, the bomber was involved in a mid-air collision with “Lucky Lady” at Schonbeck, Germany. All nine Paisano crew members, 95th Bomb Group, 336th Squadron, were killed in action. Sgt. McKernan was the bombadier.

Joe didn’t have to go

Sam Sr. ran the roller skating rink and Carousel Park in Olcott, and Mary, who died at 103, was the postmistress. Joe was a good skater and met his bride-to-be at a North Tonawanda roller rink.

Joe was a Seaman First radio man and served on the Bristol 857 Destroyer in the South Pacific, including Pearl Harbor. “We were all over the place,” Joe said. “We were under fire two or three times — you just keep going. When you’re aboard ship, you don’t know what day it is sometimes, you cross the dateline so much.”

The Bristol received one battle star for her World War II service and two battle stars for her Korean service.

“When you’re out there, there ain’t nothing but water,” Joe said. “You are damned glad to see land and get home as fast as you can. They got me home quick. I found out I didn’t have to go because of the Sullivan Act.”

“They still drafted me. Nice guys!” Joe said. “The old man (captain) told me that aboard ship when we came up through the Suez Canal. Then he got me off the ship as fast as he could. He said, ‘Get going, there will be a plane here to pick you up.’ ”

Although proposed after the World War II battle deaths of the five Sullivan Brothers serving the U.S. Navy aboard the USS Juneau in 1942, no “Sullivan Act” was ever passed by Congress related to family members serving together. However, a 1942 article forbids commanding officers to forward requests from brothers to serve in same ship/station. The decommissioned USS The Sullivans (DD-537), named for the five brothers, is displayed at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park.

Joe wouldn’t want to do it again. “We had duty all the time. They kept you busy. It was four hours on and four hours off while the war was on. ... If you had to be there, you had to be there. It was for your country,” the veteran said.

Joe worked at FMC in Middleport for 21 years and has been a member of the Olcott Fire Co. for 63 years. Joe and Ann have visited Elbert’s grave site at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery.

Contact reporter Bill Wolcott

at 439-9222, ext. 6246.

White House Dullards not Thinking Green

Recently the Obama White House ordered a 747 and fighter plane to fly by the Statue of Liberty in order to get a photo for the White House web page. It was wrong on at least two counts. The first is that it caused a panic in New York City and lost productivity as workers fled their places of business. Not exactly what we need: lost economic activity during a severe recession. Secondly flying a 747 and fighter jet takes a lot of jet fuel. This is expensive not exactly fiscally responsible. Also think of the CO2 emissions and the potential for global warming if you believe in that. The Obama White House is not thinking very green. I would bet a picture of the Air Force One and the Statue of Liberty could have been produced digitally in a photo shop program with a lot less cost. Obama's staff can't vet cabinet appointees relative to taxes nor do they act economically, fiscally or environmentally responsible. What are the dullards thinking?

Of Dullards and Buffoons

During my undergraduate college carreer at the SUNY College of Forestry at Syracuse University I was exposed to a philosophy developed by Vaughn Bode' in a running cartoon strip in the Daily Orange: "Cheech Wizard." In the world of the Cheech Wizard there were only two kinds of beings Dullards and Buffoons. It wasn't until I discovered Ambrose Bierce's Devils Dictionary definition of a Dullard that I began to realize that the Cheech Wizard's world provided a useful model of our own. Bierce's definition of Dullard follows:

"DULLARD, n. A member of the reigning dynasty in letters and life. The Dullards came in with Adam, and being both numerous and sturdy have overrun the habitable world. The secret of their power is their insensibility to blows; tickle them with a bludgeon and they laugh with a platitude. The Dullards came originally from Boeotia, whence they were driven by stress of starvation, their dullness having blighted the crops. For some centuries they infested Philistia, and many of them are called Philistines to this day. In the turbulent times of the Crusades they withdrew thence and gradually overspread all Europe, occupying most of the high places in politics, art, literature, science and theology. Since a detachment of Dullards came over with the Pilgrims in the Mayflower and made a favorable report of the country, their increase by birth, immigration, and conversion has been rapid and steady. According to the most trustworthy statistics the number of adult Dullards in the United States is but little short of thirty millions, including the statisticians. The intellectual centre of the race is somewhere about Peoria, Illinois, but the New England Dullard is the most shockingly moral."

Bierce did not define Buffoon. But in the Cheech Wizard's world if you weren't Dullard then you were a Buffoon. So how do we apply the Cheech Wizard's world to our own? Its all about power and out of power. I was a middle manager so to those I bossed I was a dullard while to those who bossed me I was a buffoon. So it is easy to see why it is so hard for a person to accept that they are either a Dullard or a Buffoon since they are likely both but not simultaneously.

Applying this to politics and our two party government. The democrats who currently control congress and the presidency would be dullards while the republicans would be buffoons. Indeed president Obama would be the dullard in chief. Right before an election all candidates are buffoons while the voters are dullards. Right after an election the successful candidate becomes a dullard while his opponent stays a buffoon and the voters status changes to buffoons. Now being dullard does not preclude one from engaging in buffoonery. Indeed the chief buffoonery of a dullard is to indicate that he is looking out for us buffoons.

In this world you are either a dullard or a buffoon. The only exception I can think of is David Letterman who is a dull buffoon.

Buffoonery from Washington

Got a notice I would recieve one-time payment of $250 in my next Social Security check courtesy of economic recovery bill (congress) and President Obama (signature). Thank you, all of you working people who will contribute. It feels great to be entitled. Maybe if I write my congressmen and promise to vote for them next time they will send me more of other peoples' money. Enough buffoonery. I still pay enough to the IRS on my pensions and social security that this is a one time tax refund. Watch out Obama has promised tax increases so you will pay for anything you get. (Hmmm--maybe I should call "you will pay for anything you get," the no free lunch theorem.) In any case my buffoonery pales when compared to that of our congressional clowns and the Buffoon in Chief, Obama.

Clown in Chief, Obama

Oh boy!! The clown in chief, Obama, met with his cabinet today, April 20, 2009, and set out a goal to save $100 million in government spending. If he does this every week during his presidency (roughly 200 weeks if we are fortunate enough he only has one term) he will save $20 billion, 2.5% of the $800 billion stimulus package. Of course he thinks he can fool us as we don't know the difference between million, billion, and trillion, they are all big numbers. This was his first cabinet meeting in three months so maybe I'm fooling too, about the $20 billion. Seems like a Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme: spending billions and trillions while saving millions. This was Obama's response to the taxpayer outrage vented at the tea parties. Clearly he is clowning for the boob tube cameras.