Honoring service: ‘It is so important to remember'
11/11/09 | 20 comments

Honoring service: ‘It is so important to remember'


By Sharon Kiley Mack
BDN Staff
Norman Dineen

MACHIAS, Maine — We drive by a cemetery in May and there are all the little American flags, each standing with miniature dignity at the grave of an American veteran.

We watch a Veterans Day parade and solemnly clap for a group of aging soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen who served in America’s wars.

But what of the stories behind these heroes’ ribbons and medals? Who are these men and women, and what were their experiences?

“It is so important to remember,” Robert P. Coles, 85, of Machias said recently. “If you don’t remember your heritage, you are adrift.”

Coles was playing cribbage at the American Legion Post 9 in Machias recently, talking about his service. He is a rarity today — a Pearl Harbor survivor.

Coles participated in 17 battles in the Pacific, from Pearl Harbor to Okinawa, from the Coral Sea to Midway. He was 17 years old when Japanese planes attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

“I’m not a warrior,” he said. “I’m a serviceman. We served. If we don’t remember that, we’re going to go through it all over again.”

Norman Dineen of Calais is full of war stories — tales of his five brothers and his father, Daniel T. Dineen, all of whom served in the Navy and the Air Force.

Dineen has been placing plaques in Calais’ Veterans Park to honor his family and he’s worried that no one will remember the story behind those markers.

“My dad was on a ship in the Pacific when it was hit by a kamikaze raid,” Dineen said. “Of 39 men on the boat, only nine survived.”

Dineen said he was 10 years old when his father came home from the war.

“He and the other vets talked,” Dineen said, “and I remembered the stories.”

“It is so important to remember anyone who put on a uniform,” he said. “They served. They served this nation and a lot don’t come back.

“Up here in the Calais cemetery, there is Dick Groves’ brother Steven who was shot down at the Battle of Midway. Next to him is his brother Lawrence who spent four years in the hospital after he was shot up at the Battle of the Bulge,” Dineen said. “And then there was Doc. Everyone in town knew that Malcolm ‘Doc’ Foster survived the Bataan death march.”

And he added, “Our freedoms were purchased at a very hard price.”

Robert Coles recalls every detail of Sunday morning, Dec. 7, 1941. He was an ordinary seaman acting as a lookout on the USS Bagley.

“I had just left the mess hall and was chewing my toast when I looked up and saw the aircraft coming in with a big red circle,” he said.

At first Coles thought it was maneuvers, but when he saw and heard the explosions, he knew the U.S. fleet was under attack.

“I turned and ran to the Number Two 50-caliber machine gun and broke the padlock off the ammo locker with a wrench,” he said. Coles had never had training on the big gun but managed to load it and shoot and hit the first two torpedo planes.

During a break between the first and second waves of the attack, Coles stood on the deck as a lookout.

“We were steaming out to sea and Chief Gunner’s Mate Skinner told me the whole Japanese fleet was out there. The only thing that held me up from falling down was that my pants got caught on the door handle.”

Coles said, “I know what I did. I did the best I could. But this isn’t about my service. I’m insignificant.”

Coles said it’s important to remember, as we still fight wars today, that the country is divided.

“Is it right? Is it wrong? Our job is to simply serve,” he said.

“War is the most terrible thing humankind can do,” Coles said. “War is killing people to change their minds and stop the fighting. The more often a nation wages war to a stalemate, the easier it becomes for that nation to accept defeat. That is what we have been doing since World War II — taking defeat. We have to remember our heritage.”

Coles said that on this year’s Veterans Day it is important to remember the military’s wives, mothers and sweethearts.

“They have a harder time, wondering, ‘Where is my Charlie and is he alright tonight?’

“We must remember, remember and say, ‘Thank you for saving my freedoms.’”

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Comments
20 comments on this item
On 11/11/09 at 3:12 AM, noreasternelly wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

thankyou for saving my freedoms.

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On 11/11/09 at 5:11 AM, FunnyValentine wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Thank you all for protecting us and saving our freedoms. Please continue to do so as this is America, home of the free and the brave.

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On 11/11/09 at 8:51 AM, timb0723 wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Thanks Robert. Thanks Norman. And thanks to all of you who have fought, and who are fighting, for our freedoms.

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On 11/11/09 at 10:37 AM, LilMikey wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Well stated Mr. Cole and thank you.

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On 11/11/09 at 10:48 AM, LilMikey wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

"A veteran - whether active duty, retired, national guard, or reserve -

is someone who, at one point in his or her life, wrote a blank check made

payable to The 'United States of America', for an amount of 'up to and

including my life.'" (Author unknown)

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On 11/11/09 at 11:32 AM, DisgustedAmerican wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

HMMMM some of these commentors Thanking Veterans - obviously, FYI - some of these Veterans you "Thank" are Gay/Lesbian Vets......."thank you Veterans for Risking your life/limb for me and OUR country..but as far as Equality goes - sorry..we heteros are Better then you ,and deserve better treatment then you"! ..................is that it?

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On 11/11/09 at 11:38 AM, DisgustedAmerican wrote: Click here to view hidden comment         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden
On 11/11/09 at 1:53 PM, ralphmcdevitts wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

disgusted. it's so cliche, but if you don't like it please leave.

you and my opinion are much different. we are different in the fact that I'm willing to bet you hate me and i really just don't care about you...all i want to defeat your political agenda, no more no less.

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On 11/11/09 at 2:40 PM, MaineSurvivor2 wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you can read this in ENGLISH, thank a Veteran!

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On 11/11/09 at 3:08 PM, LilMikey wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

You know what I find even more disgusting, people who want to use this day to criticize.This day is about Veterans. Not about gay marriage for or against..not about healthcare..not about cap and trade..today is to commemerate VETERANS.

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On 11/11/09 at 4:02 PM, DisgustedAmerican wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

lLilmikey - yea, commemerate the Veterans for RISKING THIER LIVES FOR YOU.....but DON'T Treat them Equally under the Law.......they don't need your false Thanks.

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On 11/11/09 at 4:14 PM, LilMikey wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

disgustedamerican...and don't YOU USE THE VETERANS for YOUR being pi**sed off about a vote that you don't like. My thanks is NOT false and NOT motivated by any agenda. And I accept the thanks being given to ME and others..like you said who risked MY and their lives.

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On 11/11/09 at 5:56 PM, MaineSurvivor2 wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

This is Veterans Day. It's time to remember the hundreds of thousands of servicemen and women that made our lives possible by giving their lives for our freedom! Thank them, as well as God, for the liberties that we have today. We, the United States of America, are the most free country on the planet and freedom comes with extreme sacrifices. Don't ever forget how or why we live the way we do. Thank you.

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On 11/11/09 at 6:07 PM, ElectraGlide wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

I do not know who thumbed down disustedamerican statements

They were and are just as valid as anyones on here

the message about there were and are Gays in the Military

is a Strong message for today as any other

and whom or who ever did it

has disHonored this DAy more then alot of others

all over other threads today

go ahead and thumb me DOWN

I just Don`t CARE

NEV 67-72 So Theereeee

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On 11/11/09 at 6:55 PM, MaineSurvivor2 wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

I very rarely, if ever, agree with anything you post ElectraGlide, but I have to admit, even though I don't agree with DisgustedAmerican's posts either, they shouldn't the "thumbed down."

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On 11/11/09 at 7:45 PM, LilMikey wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Twasn't I! I said what I had to and am sure he/she did too. I agree on the no thumbing down. I vote NO on that issue.

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On 11/11/09 at 7:48 PM, LilMikey wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Besides, I could read his/her posts and didn't see them hidden. How does one know they been thumbed anyway? If a comment is hidden, I click on it and I can read it and it doesn't go back to being hidden. Is that the only thing giving someone the thumb does? Never really understood this feature anyway.

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On 11/11/09 at 7:50 PM, LilMikey wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Heck I have even thumbed myself and it didn't do nothing.

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On 11/11/09 at 7:51 PM, LilMikey wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Hmmm...that somehow just doesn't sound right..lol

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On 11/12/09 at 5:50 PM, freewill wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

LOL LilMikey, forget the finger that's old school, now we give people the thumb! Thank you for serving and voicing your mindful opinion, without you and people like you there would be no US.

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