Veterans, community remember D-Day in Issaquah

It was 70 years ago Friday that the Allied forces launched the largest seaborne invasion in history, storming the beach at Normandy, France, giving the German Army a serious blow. Veterans who remember D-Day, or served in subsequent conflicts were at Issaquah’s Memorial Park to mark the occasion.

William Geil, 89, was in gunnery training that day, but made it to England by 1945, then served as a navigator on B-17 Bombers, also called “Flying Fortresses.” He had to bail out over Leipzig, Germany, then was captured and held as a prisoner of war for 45 days. General George Patton’s army liberated Geil and the other prisoners.

“I was sort of a skeptic by then,” Geil said. “I wasn’t sure I’d get out.”

He said he was treated as well as can be expected, but some of the Nazis clearly wanted them dead.

When Geil was captured, he was first taken to Weimar, Germany, where the SS interrogated its prisoners. Then, he was moved to a prison camp in Nuremberg, before being transported by train to the south, to Moosburg. The train had to turn back because the tracks had been cut, so they went back to Nuremberg where the allies were firing. But soon the allies figured out these were their guys so he was rescued.

Geil said he got $45 reparation – one dollar for each day he was held. So, he bought his wife, Frances, a watch.

The Geils will both turn 90 in six months, and they will soon celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary.

Many veterans from various conflicts were in attendance, some with their families, some not. They were treated to a buffet donated by local businesses, and music by the Issaquah singers. The event was organized by Issaquah VFW Post 343 Commander David Waggoner.

The highlight of the event was a flyover by four P-51 Mustangs, owned by Paul Allen’s Heritage Flight Museum. Waggoner said they got as low as they could – about 500 feet, to honor the veterans, who were seated under cover on the field. Bright orange smoke flares were set off so the pilots could spot the location of Memorial Field.

Like Geil, Walt Watkins, 86, joined at the tail end of the war, at age 17. He was shipped out in August 1945, serving in the Navy. He was sent to the Philippines, then sailed up the Yangtze River in China, disarming the Japanese.

“It’s six miles wide at the mouth,” Watkins said of the river. “When we got to Shanghai, they’d really trashed the city.”

Cliff LeCompte, a Vietnam veteran, 1970-1971, said his brother-in-law was one of the first Americans allowed in Communist China after that war. He said his brother-in-law was a sports-writer and was writing about fishing all over the world. The Yangtze apparently has excellent fishing, so the Chinese allowed him in because they figured he wouldn’t write anything too controversial. LeCompte served in the Navy on a missile destroyer.

Bruce Meyers was 19 when he joined the Marines. He was the commander of 122 Marines in the Korean conflict, then as a lieutenant colonel. He had 1,500 troops under his leadership post-Korea protecting the waters from the Suez Canal to Gibraltar. Later he put himself through law school, but continued to serve his country, working for the secretary of defense. In the Vietnam War he was the regimental commander at the battle of Khe Sanh on the Laos border. He has written four books including “Fortune Favors the Brave,” and “Swift, Silent and Deadly.”

After the flyover the Issaquah singers concluded with “God Bless America.” The veterans stayed and lingered, no doubt sharing their courageous stories and honoring the brothers they lost.