Staff Sgt. Edward Butler was a belly gunner in a B-24 and flew 36 missions in the Pacific during World War II.
His bright blue flight jacket has the names of the planes he flew in and the places where his crew unloaded their bombs on Japan.
Today, he was at Littleton’s Ketring Park for Veterans Day — joined by a couple of hundred veterans from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Only two of his crewmates are still alive.
“It means a lot to me,” Butler said of Veterans Day. “All these guys, I loved them all. All my buddies are gone to the post everlasting.”
His buddies in that B-24 were Rapp, the tail gunner; Irving, the upper gunner; Bagford, the nose gunner; Zaepfel, the radio operator; and Paradise, the engineer.
He has memories, such as on April 2, 1945, when the bombers surprised the Japanese fleet in Hong Kong and, with precision, unleashed 1,000-pound bombs on the ships below.
The plane he was in was dubbed “Patches.” As they pulled away after dropping their bombs, a shell hit the No. 3 engine, putting it out of commission. But Patches still flew. They were able to make it back safely to a Pacific island.
Rick Dawson, who served with the U.S. Marines in Vietnam, also was at the ceremony.
His thoughts, he said, were primarily about “the older guys” — the World War II and Korean veterans. Dawson knows those men and women are dying. He knows that they went through what he went through.
“You can’t compare wars,” said Dawson. “Bullets are bullets,” no matter which war they were fired in.
Wayne Coleman, 82, guarded Japanese prisoners in the South Pacific during World War II.
He said Veterans Day is special.
“I think it means a great deal to the country,” said Coleman. “To me, it means honoring these people who fought these battles and lost their lives. It needs to be remembered.”
Littleton Mayor Doug Clark told the group: “We are here today not to glorify war and not to honor war. We are here today to honor the individuals who served their country, those who answered the call of duty. We honor those who served their country and, thereby, their fellow citizens.”
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
