Archives > McKinney Courier-Gazette > News
Print
E-mail
Comment
Rate
RSS
Share
Local WWII veteran talks of service, simpler times
Photo courtesy of Robert Braley - Herbert Becker, 97, was a radio operator with the U.S. Marine Corps during the Allied Occupation of Japan during World War II. Becker, who came to the area in the 1960s, now resides at Colonial Lodge Assisted Living in McKinney. His grandson, Justin, recently served with the National Guard in Iraq.
By Chris Beattie, cbeattie@starlocalnews.com
Hanging pristinely above the bed is a telling memoir of a distant life.
Veterans Day comes and goes each year, but that life - that which it honors - hinges onward at Colonial Lodge in McKinney, on Herbert Becker's honorable discharge from the U.S. Marine Corps.
He served in a time few are left to remember.
Becker, 97, doesn't boast or babble in his recollections. In that different time, things seemed simpler. Enlist or get drafted.
As an 18-year-old farm kid in Coffee County, Kan., he could have been deferred. Anyone working in agriculture - wheat farmers, ranchers, the whole lot - had that option because "everybody likes to eat," he says.
Instead, he and two buddies, all new high school graduates, went to the nearest recruitment office. They were going to be in the Navy.
"When we got there, the Navy line was down the aisle; there must have been 50 guys waiting to volunteer," Becker recalls. "We went to the Marine Corps because the line was shorter."
Becker signed up in 1941, soon after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, and spent four years as a radio operator. He deployed to the Solomon Islands in 1943 and later served in the Occupation of Japan.
He digresses when asked about the experience, a reserved pride in his eyes and thoughts. His next point is just as simple: "I got discharged from the Marine barracks at Treasure Island four years to the day, because in that day if you signed up for four years, you served four years and didn't get out a day early."
Once out, Becker went to junior college and the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) in his home state, where he earned a Master's in chemistry with a minor in physics. Technical and science fields had a big draw after the war, he says.
Along the way he met his late wife, Edna, and stayed married to her for nearly 40 years. He worked for a veterinary medical supply and manufacturing company in Kansas City before moving to Dallas in the 1960s.
"I've got to thank the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate because if it hadn't been for the GI Bill, I might not have had the wherewithal, because even at that time tuition was $4,000-$5,000 a year," he says, well aware of today's price of higher education.
Becker, a chemical engineer by trade, spent decades with Texas Instruments until 2004. Other than his framed wall-hanging and reminiscing, little else speaks to his long-ago patriotic service. In the wake of Veterans Day, his opinion is brief: "It's a national holiday, and the nice thing about it is you get a day off and get paid for it."
He admits that the local Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) post has a "pretty active group" of fellow WWII veterans. But Becker downplays his service, telling how he turned down a promotion to 1st Lieutenant when the Korean War broke out. "I didn't like the idea of going to Korea, and my wife didn't think much of it, either," he says.
The Becker military line draws on, though, from both sides of the family. Edna's father served in WWI, and Becker's grandson, Justin, joined the National Guard in high school and just got back from a tour in Iraq.
Because of her father's and husband's service, Edna is buried at the Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery. Her gravestone sits fourth on the front row facing the administration building, next to an empty spot reserved for Becker.
"You have to have an appointment from a member of Congress on a select committee because not everybody gets in," Becker said. "That's the last honor the country can pay me."
But an honor that must wait for at least a while. Becker keeps busy at Colonial Lodge playing bridge, chatting it up with retired engineers, school teachers and health professionals, he says.
His younger sister and her husband, another WWII veteran, live in Kansas, far in distance and time from the veteran connection. Becker's framed past will outlive him, above his bed.
Until then, others need not look to it to remember that past. Just a few minutes with Becker will suffice.
"When you're in your late-90s, you're not a kid anymore," Becker said. "You only get to serve once, and you only get to live once. I'm not as active as I used to be, but I'm as active as I want to be."
The following are comments from the readers.
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
You must register with a valid email to post comments.
Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Registered users sign in here:
Become a Registered User
- Return to: News «
- Home «
- Top of Page ^
