No one veteran has the same stories as another, has witnessed
the same tragedies, or recalls the same fond memories of time spent
serving his or her country. As Americans remember their loved ones
who have gone to war, think of friends and family in Iraq, and
recount the war stories their grandparents and parents told them as
children, no two tales will be alike. But for four local veterans,
a love of liberty and country binds them together.
Hollister – No one veteran has the same stories as another, has witnessed the same tragedies, or recalls the same fond memories of time spent serving his or her country. As Americans remember their loved ones who have gone to war, think of friends and family in Iraq, and recount the war stories their grandparents and parents told them as children, no two tales will be alike. But for four local veterans, a love of liberty and country binds them together.
Battling from behind the front lines
Lolita Pinuela is an unlikely patriot.
The daughter of a half-Japanese Hawaiian mother and a Filipino father, Pinuela grew up loving America and “never considered (her) family Japanese,” she said. But when the US government began shipping Japanese residents off to concentration camps during World War II, Pinuela’s family was pegged.
“My father pleaded our case to a judge in San Benito County, and we were very fortunate that he listened and we didn’t have to go to the concentration camp,” Pinuela said.
Still, Pinuela’s love for the United States was unfazed. After graduating from San Benito High School and attending junior college, Pinuela decided to enlist in the Women’s Army Corp. in 1944 when she was 21 years old.
“I remember being a little girl playing with my sister in the yard, and I told her girls could be in the Army. She said ‘No they can’t!’ So I decided to make good on my promise,” Pinuela said.
She was sent to Des Moines, Iowa for basic training, then to Atterbury, Ind. for dental technician school.
Pinuela worked in the military typing, filing and posting supplies in Walla Walla, Wash., then went on to work as an Army dental technician in San Francisco. Women were not allowed to serve overseas, she said.
The troops who came to the hospitals she worked in were often young and shell-shocked, and she remembers one in particular who was blind.
“I remember he was very angry. There was a baseball game and he was sitting on the bleachers. He was mad because he couldn’t see the game.”
But still, Pinuela does have some happy memories of her time in the military. One in particular she remembers vividly.
“One day I remember someone coming in and saying ‘Shirley Temple is here!’ She was my favorite actress, so I ran over to where she was and threw open the door. She was in there combing her hair and she just said ‘Oh, hello,'” she said imitating the young actress.
Pinuela married her husband, also in the military, in 1946 after she was released from duty. At 80 years old, she has been living in San Juan Bautista for the past 60 years, where her home is full of red white and blue blankets, American flags, and plaques from the various Veterans organizations she is a member of.
“I’m still very patriotic and proud to be an American,” she said.
The call to adventure
Elayne Reyna will be the first to admit her belief system is a dichotomy. The former Korean War medic believes all young people, after graduating high school, should spend a year in active military service. She also believes, however, that conflicts between nations should be resolved through “compassionate communication and peaceful dialogue.”
“I see both sides,” she said. “I wouldn’t want anyone to join the Army as a warrior during war time unless they felt they had a calling to it. (The military) is intense, and sometimes it impresses the mind forever. But it was one of the most valuable experiences of my life.”
Reyna joined the Air Force after graduating from high school. She was not able to afford college tuition, she said, but had always wanted to fly and see the world. So, when an Air Force recruiter spoke to them, Reyna, her sister, and a friend, thought it sounded exciting and decided to sign up. Reyna said this was a good move, since she got an education in spite of not being able to attend college.
“I got an education I never could have received from a medical journal,” said Reyna, who became a certified surgery technician at Hazel Hawkins after the war.
Reyna spent three years with the Air Force working with downed pilots and burn victims, treating troops with spinal chord injuries, working in the psychiatric ward, and serving as the “suicide watch” for troops in basic training, who she said often decided they didn’t want to finish.
Today, Reyna said her biggest passion is working as a mentor for young women and helping veterans. Having suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) after working with injured and dying troops, she eventually discovered painting was a way to work through her disorder.
“It’s particularly gratifying and helpful for those with PTSD to do creative arts. I want people to realize we’re not only military vets on duty, we also have creative talents,” she said.
Vietnam a lifetime ago
Standing in front of an auditorium full of elementary school children at Spring Grove school, Jim Perales was ready to make a sales-pitch for the military.
“If you want to get out of Hollister and see the world, join the Air Force!” he enthusiastically told the children at the school’s Veterans Day assembly Wednesday.
Perales, a Hollister native and veteran of the Vietnam War, joined the Air Force in 1955 when he was 19 years old. He had already spent three years on the National Guard.
During his five “hitches” as a flight engineer in Vietnam, he flew cargo and “medi-vacced,” or airlifted, American soldiers and dead Viet Cong troops out of the country during 1965 and 1966.
“The biggest problem for me was to medi-vac all the wounded and deceased. A lot of times we had to medi-vac the enemy’s deceased, too. It was a mess,” he said.
After retiring from the service in 1978, Perales joined the California Highway Patrol. He retired in 2000 and says he now, “has a very normal, peaceful life,” although he is still involved with the Veterans of Foreign Wars and is following the current war in Iraq.
“It’s a necessity for our troops to participate in the Iraq war due to the terrorism. I fully support our troops 100 percent. I’ve been there and I’ve done that,” he said.
Still serving today
SPC Adam Britton was “medi-vacced” out of Iraq by air in June after the vehicle he was in was hit by Iraqi troops. He suffered injuries to his right arm and elbow, for which he still needs surgery, and was sent back home to Hollister. But he’s already ready to go back to the war.
Even though he was attacked by Iraqis, “I don’t hold it against them. You can’t hate an entire people just because some of them are bad,” he said. “It’s a beautiful country, and 75 percent of the people I met there were very nice and supportive. They would slaughter their own animals to bring us (troops) lunch.”
Britton joined the Army in 1988 when he was 17 years old, but dropped out after three years of service.
“I was young and I didn’t understand what it was all about,” he said.
But after four years out of the service, he decided to re-enlist because he felt he needed to do something for his country.
On Dec. 26 of last year, Britton and 11 other soldiers based in San Jose volunteered for deployment in Iraq and were sent out. Britton said even though he volunteered to go, he had mixed emotions about leaving.
“The same reason I wanted to go was the same reason I wanted to stay. I had a family here, but I wanted other people to be able to enjoy the same rights they have,” he said.
Britton’s wife, seven-year-old stepdaughter, and six-year-old stepson stayed behind, along with his children from a previous relationship.
“The spouses have a harder time than the soldiers, because they’re left to do everything themselves, and they never know what’s going to happen,” he said.
After being air-lifted out of Kasul, off of Baghdad, Britton came back to Hollister to a very different life than that he had left.
“It’s really lonely, because you’re used to being around military people. Your family is happy to have you home, but you’re a different person than they remember. When you’re walking down the sidewalk, you’re looking for people to jump out at you or for bombs on the side of the road,” he said.
The support he said he sees for the American troops in Iraq, though, is great. He said these troops are lucky, since soldiers in wars like Vietnam had so little support back home. That, he said, was the biggest difference between this war and others in the past.
“Every generation has its sacrifice,” he said, but his has been worthwhile. “When I left Iraq, the women were working in the hospitals. Before we got there, they were treated like animals. I have two daughters of my own, so seeing the look of pride on the women’s faces made it all worth it for me.”
Jessica Quandt is a staff writer for the Free Lance. Reach her at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or at [email protected].
