Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2503 present the colors at the opening of the Holocaust Program "Patriotic Evening" that drew a large crowd to Maple Ridge Resort Lifestyle Communities on Thursday, June 25.

Patriotic evening at

Maple Ridge draws

overflow crowd

by Sandra Stenglein

Veterans of World War II and survivors of the Holocaust came together on Thursday, June 25, for a night of remembrance. The theater at Maple Ridge Resort Lifestyle Communities was filled to capacity.

"We had to turn people away," said Kay Hayden, organizer of the event. The evening was advertised as a "Patriotic Evening" Holocaust Program. On display tables just outside the theater was WWII and Holocaust memorabilia on loan from the Jewish Community Center in Omaha. Guest speakers included Bill Williams, organizer of the Heartland Honor Flights, and Holocaust survivor, Bea Karp.

The program began with the presentation of colors by Honor Guard Post 2503 in full uniform. Pastor Elmer Murdoch of Step Up to Life Ministry was emcee for the evening and opened the program with comments about the importance of remembering the WWII era.

"It is good to remember these things. We should not forget the sacrifice given for our privileges. We honor those who served and survived and we remember those who died. They gave away all their tomorrows so we could have our todays," said Murdoch.

Murdoch introduced 93-year-old Eddie Ohm and his daughter Carmen Dau from Elkhorn. Ohm connected with the audience by identifying his WWII rank, unit and battles fought, as daughter Carmen helped him don his accordion.

"This thing weighs 40 pounds. I used to just pick it up with one hand and slip it on, now she (Carmen) has to strap it on for me," said Ohm. As the audience clapped and sang along, Ohm played his accordion, going through a rendition of WWII songs and polkas including Beer Barrel Polka, In the Mood and Sentimental Journey.

"It was like being at the USO," Pastor Murdoch commented as he returned to the podium. Next Murdoch introduced Bill and Evonne Williams, who stood to be recognized by the audience. They are responsible for organizing the Heartland Honor Flights for WWII veterans.

Bill Williams took the microphone and gave a brief history of how he and his wife became involved in the nationwide effort to get WWII veterans to Washington, D. C. for a visit to the WWII Memorial. Seven veterans who had been on the Honor Flights from Nebraska were present in the audience, and Williams had them stand. The men were wearing their red Honor Flight polo shirts and black ball caps.

Williams shared anecdotal experiences he has had on the seven Nebraska Honor Flights he has conducted. Williams said that a total of 1,500 Nebraska veterans have had the opportunity to make the one-day round trip from Omaha to Washington, D.C. One of his stories told of how airport security searched the veterans' belongings as they boarded the plane rather than making them go through the terminal.

"It was a good thing they did; almost all those guys were carrying a weapon Ð pocketknives," Williams said. According to Williams, on every flight security collected a bag full of pocketknives. "On one of the flights the pilot retrieved the bag from security, then gave it to the attendants telling them to Ôreturn these to the owners'," Williams said.

Williams also shared the story about one amputee for whom the climb to the plane's fuselage was a challenge. The veteran did not want to be carried aboard the plane. The compromise was that two young Marines, who were in full dress uniform, walked on either side of him as he struggled up the stairs on crutches.

"That just shows the grit and determination of these guys," Williams said. Williams told about Donald Dragoo, the only veteran to die on the trips. Dragoo died in flight as they were returning to Nebraska. Williams told the audience that the incident triggered many calls suggesting changes in the criteria used to select the veterans to take on the Honor Flights. "I said, if we only took the healthy ones, we could put them in a taxi," said Williams, the audience responding with laughter.

After Williams finished telling about the Honor Flights, he introduced several veterans from the audience. Wally Jung of York, a WWII aviator had recently had experienced flying on a B17, fulfilling a life-long dream. He attributed that opportunity to having been part of the Honor Flights and credited Evonne and Bill Williams for their efforts in providing the opportunities for the veterans.

Roger Peters of Valley, Nebraska was dressed in his original WWII uniform. Peters took the opportunity to share one of his WWII stories. Peters told of an incident that happened May 10, 1945, two days after the end of the war. He was with his unit in Wittenberg, Germany, where he had found an old motorbike in a barn and decided to take it for a "spin." He found himself in a forest area when the motorbike sputtered and stopped. The road seemed deserted, then suddenly he saw a figure coming toward him.

"He was gaunt, couldn't have weighed more than 110 pounds. He wore a concentration camp overall that was so dirty the stripes were brown instead of black," said Peters. As the man approached, Peters said he gestured to him asking for help in getting the motorbike started again. They were successful and Peters said the man broke out into a toothless grin.

"He was just so happy to have done something. He was so glad to be free," said Peters through tears. Peters said that he will never forget that smile. It is a reminder how valuable it is to be free. Before Pastor Murdock introduced the special guest speaker, Carmen Dau sang El-Shaddai.

In introducing Bea Karp, Murdock shared that, while visiting with her during dinner, he had recalled his recent experience visiting the Holocaust museum in Washington, D.C. "When you take God out of things, everything goes wild," Murdock said. Karp, an Omaha resident, is a Holocaust survivor who speaks mainly to school groups about her experience in Nazi Germany and in concentration camps.

Born in Germany in 1932, Karp tells her story in a soft voice that keeps the audience hushed. She tells of how her father lost his textile business when the Nazi regime made it illegal for Jewish people to own a business. She tells of her parents losing their home and being forced to move to Karlsruhe to live with relatives.

Karp told the audience that when she speaks to school groups she emphasizes how hurtful words can be. She tells children about how she and her sister were mocked and teased for being Jewish, as they went to and from school in the early years of Hitler's regime. "We were puzzled by the posters displayed around the city depicting what a Jewish person was supposed to look like," said Karp. "We didn't look like the posters," she said.

Karp told the audience of her father's strong belief that someone would come and stop Hitler. "He had a strong faith in God and believed in the goodness of people," Karp said. She said that her father didn't want to believe the rumors that Jews were in danger and passed up the opportunity to flee when her grandmother and uncle left for England. "Then Kristallnacht happened," Karp told the audience.

"My father went out to see if he could help put out the fires in the synagogues and he didn't come back for weeks," she told the audience. She said that when her father returned they discovered he had been held in a forced labor camp.

Shortly after that, the Nazis knocked on their door and told her mother to pack. Karp told of having tried to retrieve a beloved doll from the living room. The Nazi soldier told her she wouldn't need the doll where she was going and that she should give the doll to him. "If I couldn't have it, I wasn't going to let him have it, so I threw it at the hearth and the porcelain face of the doll shattered," she said.

Karp went on to relate what it was like on the trip to the concentration camp. She told the audience that they were transported on an actual train, not on cattle cars, but were given no food or water for many days. "I'd go along the windows and lick the condensation; I was so thirsty," she said.

Once at the concentration camp her family was separated, men in one camp, women and children in another. She said that during the day children were guarded in a barracks but were allowed to play board games. One day Karp decided that she and her sister should visit her father. They went to the entrance of the men's camp and told the Nazi guard they were there to visit their father. The guard was not cooperative, so Karp kicked him in the boot, grabbed her sister's hand and ran into the camp. When they found their father, he was overjoyed to see them. He had an egg hidden away and took it out to share with them. When he broke the egg open, it had blood in the yolk so he threw it against the barrack wall. Karp explained that her father was an orthodox Jew and their food laws forbade ingesting the blood of an animal.

"At first I was angry at him, I was so hungry, and I ran to the wall intending to lick the yolk from the wall. Then I realized a great lesson; my father had not compromised his principles. I have remembered this all of my life," Karp told the audience. Eventually Karp's mother signed a form allowing Karp and her sister to be placed in the care of a French organization that took children from the concentration camps and cared for them in special children's homes. The Nazis closely watched the homes, but the children did live a little better life.

"I was in 14 of those homes," Karp said. Her last "home," before the war ended was in a Catholic convent. The nuns taught them the catechism and the rosary. "At one point I told the nuns that I wanted to become a Catholic, so they (the Nazis) wouldn't hunt me down. The nuns told me to come back after the war if I still thought I wanted to be Catholic, but by then I decided I didn't want to lose my heritage," Karp said.

Karp finished up by telling of being reunited with her grandmother and uncle in London in 1945. She said over time they discovered that both of her parents had perished in Auschwitz. "At the age of 12, I realized what freedom means. You don't need to be afraid. I am so lucky to live in this country. That is why I speak out, why I tell my story. Freedom should be everywhere," Karp said.

After a long ovation of applause, Karp took a few questions from the audience. Most asked about where to learn more and she referred them to Beth Dotan at the Jewish Community Center, who oversees the Holocaust display. The evening ended with closing remarks from Pastor Murdoch and the singing of God Bless America.