Geneva native recounts wartime in 'Flat Bottom Odyssey'

With degrees from Marmion Military Academy (1937) and Notre Dame (1941) in hand, 22-year-old Gene Jaeger became one of many young men from the Tri-Cities area to enter the military in 1942.

Jaeger was about to find out that being a senior-grade lieutenant and executive officer on a Navy LST (Landing Ship Tank) was a far cry from his classroom studies and enjoying his quiet hometown of Geneva.

Because of his keen recollections and attention to detail, we can all relive Jaeger's experiences in his recently published book, "Flat Bottom Odyssey."

He started writing three years ago about his experiences aboard the 328-foot cargo ships that were designed with doors and ramps for unloading tanks, jeeps, half-tracks and supplies on beaches.

"My niece Betsy (Jaeger) Lawson is an artist living in West Virginia now, and she is the one who arranged the book, really sparked it and got it in order for me," said Jaeger, who self-published the book through his Prairie Ocean Press company.

Jaeger said the main point of his book was to show there wasn't time to fully train the enlisted sailors and it eventually took a band of untrained young men to work on these ships for the first time and "unload heavy tanks and guns on a beach under fire."

And that fire came in the form of landings Jaeger and his men made in North Africa, Sicily, Italy and Normandy. He said the heaviest fire he endured was in Italy, but his landing on Utah Beach in Normandy was nothing like the firestorm experienced on Omaha Beach.

"We took a ... pounding in those landings and these were just 18-year-old boys," Jaeger said. "Through some sort of fluke, I got my officer's training, probably because I was older than most of the guys and had graduated from college."

The executive officer was sometimes referred to as "the old man" by the Navy seamen, Jaeger said. "And sometimes that 'old man' was no older than 26," he added.

Jaeger said the LST cargo ships encountered far more danger in World War II because they had to land on beaches, rather than in Allied-occupied ports, as they did in World War I.

"The enemy held control of all of the sea ports in Europe and the Pacific, so we couldn't just sail in and unload," said the 90-year-old Jaeger, who currently lives in Henry, outside Peoria, but comes to Geneva often to visit his sister, Mary, and friends.

"After Normandy, we then trained to attack Japan," Jaeger said. "But the A-bomb ended the war."

Of all of the experiences he encountered, the one he found himself least prepared for was the difficulty in being in a flat-bottom boat during a rough tide.

"If you were in a storm, boy that was something," Jaeger said. "After a few hours of that, you'd just as soon jump off the boat as do anything else."

"Flat Bottom Odyssey" is available at Townhouse Books in St. Charles, the St. Charles Heritage Center and the Geneva History Center. More information is available by contacting Jaeger at g.jaeger@mchsi.com.

Marine's leadership lauded: Tyler Heisey graduated a year early from St. Charles East in 2008 with one purpose in mind - to join the Marine Corps at age 17.

It didn't take long for Lance Cpl. Heisey to make his mark by recently earning the Navy Marine Corps Achievement Medal for his work as a squad leader on the flight deck of the USS Essex.

While his home base is 29 Palms, Calif., Heisey had been deployed on a Marine Expeditionary Unit in the Pacific from January through April.

The Navy and Marines honored Heisey for his excellent leadership of an 11-man flight deck crew that performed numerous humanitarian missions in dropping food, mail and medical supplies in the Philippines.

Barbecue and benefits: Veterans of the military service and their families can hear the latest about benefits available to them, while also enjoying a barbecue.

That opportunity occurs from noon 2 p.m. Saturday, July 10, at the V-B-QUE at Bickford of St. Charles, 2875 Campton Hills Road.

It marks the second time Bickford of St. Charles, a senior living facility that opened a year ago, has offered the veterans' barbecue event that is open to the public.

"The veterans' benefit barbecue is something that all 42 Bickfords do companywide," said Rebecca Riedstra, community relations director at the local facility. "If the weather cooperates, we're hoping to have between 50 and 100 people attend."

Veterans who attend will hear experts from Law Elderlaw provide an update on benefits, but an emphasis of the event is to honor veterans as part of the week of Independence Day. For details, call (630) 587-8800.

Fireworks and mosquitoes: We'll be celebrating our country's independence and watching fireworks tonight as we take the time to remember the sacrifices of our Founding Fathers, and also the likes of the older veterans and the young Marine mentioned in today's column.

We hope everyone enjoys the shows in Batavia, St. Charles or the Cougars game in Geneva.

Keep your supply of mosquito spray nearby. Something tells me that with all of the rain we've had, and the forecast for hot and humid weather and maybe more rain, we have the perfect storm brewing for a lot of bites. dheun@sbcglobal.net