Page 4 - Senior Times South Central Michigan - July 2016 - 23-07

Page 4 Senior Times - July 2016
SERVING OUR NATION: RALPH DODGE By: Gale Fischer
“Honor to the soldier and sailor everywhere, who bravely bears his country’s cause. Honor, also, to the citizen who cares for his brother in the field and serves, as he best can, the same cause.”
~ Abraham Lincoln
Celebrities serve a critical role in our society for not only our youth but for adults as well. With names and pictures of sports stars, musicians and movie stars scoured
over television screens and magazine covers, these individuals, whether they like it or not have inherited the title of natural role models and on some levels even heroes. Although the spotlight under which these individuals compete and entertain us provides a natural backdrop for the importance of hard work, smart decision making and the mantra of never giving up, the roles that these stars play as heroes are not quite the same as the heroes who have served our country, fighting for and protecting our freedoms throughout the history of our nation.
Veterans made huge sacrifices, for our present and future, as they served our nation unconditionally. Often they are our silent heroes.
With this month’s theme for the Senior Times centered around Veterans, Battle Creek resident and WWII Vet, Ralph Dodge, provides the perfect storyline for June’s featured senior.
Ralph’s story began in Auburn, New York, November 13, 1925. Ralph was born on Friday the 13th, but his life is proof that the hoax of this unlucky day and date is just a myth. As a youngster he and his older brother and two younger sisters spent much of their childhood moving around. “My father was
an evangelist and a minister so we moved around and eventually moved to Williamson, New York just before my sophomore year in high school.” Ralph and his family settled in Williamson where Ralph graduated from high school in 1943. Upon graduation, at age 17, Ralph enlisted in the Marines in the middle
of WWII.
Ralph recalls boot camp as being one of
the most challenging experiences of his life. “I went to boot camp at Parris Island, just off the South Carolina coast. This was a very tough experience. Boot camp was about 14 weeks and they really tore you down mentally, emotionally and physically, only to build you back up.”
Ralph’s indoctrination into boot camp pre- pared him for anything he was about to face physically and emotionally as a US Marine in WWII, but he would still need more train- ing to educate him for his specific role in the war as an aviation radio operator. “After boot camp I went to aviation radio school in Jack- sonville, Florida for about two months. This became my occupation in the war.
My job was to communicate with the people on land through Morse Code. Morse Code is a combination of dots and dashes that represent every letter of the alphabet.”
Ralph was part of a team that relayed important messages for the US Military
as well as transporting high-ranking officials
from one island of the Pacific to another.
“I was on a C-47. We carried troops and high level officers, but the majority of time we carried top-secret messages. During those message flights there was just the regular three-man crew: the pilot, a navigator
and the radio operator. We were also the navigation for fighter planes to go from
one island in the Pacific to another. These fighter planes didn’t have navigation so they would follow us. We were their “Mother Goose.” We flew at an altitude of 2,000-5,000 feet.” At these altitudes, in this part of the world over seventy years ago, air travel would be anything but comfortable.
Ralph spoke of the turbulence common with many of his flights. “Currents and downdrafts in the Pacific created a great deal of turbulence while flying. There were times when we dropped so fast our heads would bump up to the ceiling. The next second,
we were pushed back down to the floor. We only wore seatbelts on takeoffs and landings.”
Although Ralph didn’t spend any time in direct combat, danger lurked with every flight. To go down in the Pacific during that era left slim odds of survival. Between shark infested waters and enemy war ships and fighter planes, it was like being thrown into the middle of a forest fire with no escape route. Although the C-47s were equipped
with parachutes, protocol was to never
use them if the plane was going down in the ocean. Pilots were trained to try and level out the plane (wheels up) on the water’s surface, hope for the best and use the flotation rafts that were a part of each plane’s supplies.
When not in route by plane, Ralph and his company spent time on some of the small islands in the Pacific. Some were uninhabited while others had natives but none of these islands had a modern infrastructure. Military engineers, both Navy Seabees and some from the Army, would come into these islands to
Miles For Memories
Sept 17, 2016
Join the Miles For Memories signature event to help change the impact of dementia in Calhoun County.
HOW CAN I PARTICIPATE?
• 5K Fun Walk or Run
• Community Stroll
• Create a Team
• Become a Sponsor
• Become a Volunteer
• Sign up for the tailgate party
CAN’T PARTICIPATE THAT DAY?
Send Your Donation To:
Battle Creek Community Foundation
32 W. Michigan Ave, Ste 1, Battle Creek, MI 49017
Make Check’s Payable To:
“BCCF/Miles for Memories”
Supporting Calhoun County programming. Collaborating on early stage research.
MORE INFORMATION
www.scenepub.com/milesformemories Call (269) 979-1412
Follow us on Facebook or Twitter@miles4memos
Online registration is now open at www.itsyourrace.com.
Sept17,2016
Sept 17, 2016 • 9am BATTLE CREEK, MICHIGAN
BATTLE CREEK, MICHIGAN