The daily monitor leader., 1945-04-17

ed that he wos the soldier
kondt had mentioned.
Well, we admit we were en-
barrassed b cause Cpl.
Frederick w. Behnke, 25, of 23-
Mile road, near Waldenburg.
didn't have a single campaign
ribbon on his tunic We
started the interview cautiously,
like a low-rated challenger spar
ring his first round with the
worlds champion.
During the small talk" in the
preliminaries and while
we were still wondering wheth-
er or not Kandt had been kid
ding us the word "over-
seas" slipped from Behnke's lips
quite casually giving us the
first clue to this unassuming
sort of hero without campaign
ribbon showing.
"Where's your overseas rib
bon?" we queried, still won
dering why a man who had
been overseas wouldn't be
wearing at least one ribbon.
"Oh!" he said, with an en-
barrassed smile. Il don't
wear ribbons They make
people ask too many questions.
l gave them to my mother, she
gets a kick out Of them"
The interview then pro-
ceeded on a more staple foot
ing and from the Waldenburg
veteran we pried loose the in
formation that the ribbons
now in the possession Of his
mother, Mrs. Fred Behnke,
are:
The Presidential Unit citation;
the Infantry Combat (rifleman)
ribbon; the Asiatic-Pacific with
three or four stars; the Pur-
pie Heart; the Pre-Pearl Harbor
the American Defense, and the
Good Conduct ribbon.
He won them at the Fiji Is
lands, Guadalc anal (four
months), New Georgia, New
Caledonia, Green Island and
Peleliu. He arrived at
Guadalcanal in May 1912,
when the Japs were at their
strongest and the slaughter
was greatest and stayed in the
fight four months until yellow
jaundice and malaria sent
him back to Fiji. He
was wounded in New Georgia
in the back and hips but
went back into invasion ac-
tion, mostly with the First
Marines until after Peleliu
was taken.
The reason he's home now
being patched up at Grille
Hospital, Cleveland is that
during the turmoil of consoli-
dating the Yanks' gains on
Peleliu. az ton army truck
backed up and ran over him. Z.
Broke his back and crush
ed his chest so badly that a rib
punctured one lung. En-
cased in a plaster cast he was
sent home. ..
So IL you see heavily built
GI walking around with his
gait a bit awkward. re-
member he's still wrapped up
in plaster. But don't look
for any campaign ribbons on
his chest.
WITH ALL RESPECT to
Mayor Bert Wagner, the sched-
uled speaker who was unable
to attend, the High Twelve Club
of Mount Clemens Monday had
a REAL headline speaker :.
all because of the ingenuity
(and panic) of Commissioner
Guy Verkler, who was program
chairman. At the last minute,
Bert was unable to make it. So
when time came for the after
luncheon speech, Verkler got on
his feet and, with one eye on his
watch, stalled for time. He told
the club they were going to
hear a speaker of national re-
nown, a man whose name was
on every front page and on ev-
cry tongue. At precisely the
right minute, Guy concluded {.
MAY / now present the
President of the United States"
and someone in the back
ground deftly turned on the ra-
dio and it was Henry S. Tru-
man.
A unique service to farmers
throughout the county Is De-
ing offered freely by conser-
vation-lover Frank Provost,
OF 274 North avenue, Mount
Clemens. Frank will hatch
out pheasant eggs found in
nests uncovered in Spring
blowing, II only farmers
will bring the eggs to his
hatchery. When the young
'uns are full-fledged, Frank
will return them to the farm
of their origin, where they
will be released to maintain
the pheasant flock. Prevosts
electric incubatOrs produced