Local veterans discuss the true meaning of Memorial Day.
By Ryan O’Quinn / Special to The Malibu Times
Memorial Day for many gives an excuse to take an extra day off work and go to the beach or water skiing on a lake and mark the beginning of summer. But for many war veterans, it is the time to remember fallen heroes and to be thankful for the ultimate sacrifices that Americans made on the battlefield in this nation’s wars and conflicts.
On Sunday, local World War II vets gathered at Diesel, A Bookstore in Malibu for a book signing and reading from Jerry Jackson’s book, “Remembering: Stories From the World War II Pacific.”
“We have a tendency to forget what so many guys have done in connection with our nation’s history,” veteran Leon Cooper said. “I just came back from Antietam [the National Battlefield in Maryland] where 23,000 Americans were wounded or killed in the Civil War.”
Cooper, now 86, has been a Malibu resident for 45 years and saw combat in six different invasions during World War II, starting with Tarawa and ending with Iwo Jima.
Tarawa, an island about 2,500 miles southwest of Hawaii, was one of the bloodiest battles in the U.S. Marines history. It is strategically located in the central Pacific as a gateway to the Philippines. U.S. casualties at Tarawa numbered 3,400 and the Japanese lost 4,700.
Cooper has made it his recent mission to shed light on the fact that Tarawa beach is covered with garbage. Cooper said, because of the garbage piles, the Marines monument is located some distance from where the actual landings occurred.
“It’s so easy to forget what so many have done in defense of our country,” Cooper said. “I hated every day of the four years I was in the Navy, but looking back, I was glad I was involved in a small way in protecting our country.”
Malibu resident Marjorie Dukatz was a Marine and served her country in numerous ways. She was a “Rosie the Riveter” during the war, working in factories in support of the war effort. She was also an entertainer with the USO and an airplane spotter, among other jobs. Dukatz is president of the Gold Coast Women’s Veterans Association.
“My brother was out to sea when World War II broke out and I had a very close friend who went down on the Arizona,” Dukatz said. “I did anything there was to be done.”
Dukatz went to Oregon to replace farmers there who went into service. She fell on her first day of work and broke her ankle. She was then recruited by the Civil Air Patrol as an airplane spotter looking for and recognizing aircraft on the coast.
“What made me decide to go into the Marines was I was engaged to a young man who was killed on Iwo Jima and I decided I needed to do something a little more worthwhile.” Dukatz said. “There was a lot of heartbreak in those days. On the home front we were writing to fellas all over. It was our duty to keep up morale.”
Dukatz arrived at Marine headquarters in Washington, DC on the day the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.
“The next morning the officers took us in and told us [about Hiroshima],” Dukatz said. “It was like the end of the world.”
Among Dukatz’s Marine duties was what she dubbed “clean up after the war:” filing stacks of paperwork and helping to create lists of which soldiers got to come home first based on a points system.
Others gathered at the book signing lost friends and family during wars.
Hayden Gallagher, a Malibu resident since the 1940s, was a member of the Continental Air Command.
“I lost my favorite cousin during the war,” Gallagher said. “The war changed my life quite a bit.”
Gallagher was trained as a bombardier and flew various aircraft including B17s and B24s.
Ken Dimin of Malibu was a Navy pilot for four years beginning in 1942 and served in Africa, Italy, France and Yugoslavia.
“I lost a lot of friends in the war and I think about them. That’s what Memorial Day means to me,” Dimin said. “I am 86 now and the odds were I wouldn’t make it to 25.”
Dimin was stationed throughout Europe and following the war was sent to Curacao. He said one of his memories was having Douglas Fairbanks Jr. as his superior in Italy for about three months prior to the Southern France invasion.
Forty-six year Malibu resident Vincent Cortazzo said revenge was his motivation for joining the Navy following the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Cortazzo, who was living in Staten Island, New York, could not join the military without parental permission because he was not old enough. On his 17th birthday he convinced his father to sign him up so he could join the Navy.
“My dad didn’t want me to go but I went anyway,” Cortazzo said. “It was a great learning experience and makes you appreciate life.”
Cortazzo was a radio operator for the Navy’s 5th Amphibious Corps and recalled several brushes with death. Once he and five others were dropped off on a beach and after digging into their foxholes, realized they were on the wrong beach with no support. They were rescued a short time later and transported elsewhere.
Another time, Cortazzo was aboard a ship that was transporting the 5th Marine Division from the South Pacific to Hawaii and spotted his brother-in-law walking up the gangplank. Cortazzo calls it a one in a million chance.
“You should respect the fellas that gave their lives,” Cortazzo said. “You should also respect the ones that came back. People tend to forget.”
Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, dates to 1868 when flowers were first placed on graves of fallen Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. Various states began recognizing the day until 1971 when Congress officially passed the National Holiday Act. It is formally recognized on May 30, and traditionally celebrated the last Monday in May.
Malibu author Jerry Jackson captured the sentiment of those in attendance at the signing on Sunday by summing up what Memorial Day means to him.
“For those of us that remember and those of us that care, Memorial Day is a significant moment of reflection of what so many did with the sacrifice of their lives for the freedom we have today.”