SUN CITY â Dick Tanney may have never seen combat during his service with the Army, but heâs nevertheless proud of his past.
Tanney, who served as a replacement in the seventh infantry division of the 35th signal battalion, spent years trying to enlist â but kept getting turned away.
He, like many other Americans, wanted to join the Army shortly after the United States joined World War II, but there was just no need for additional soldiers â since the war was entering its final leg.
âIt was a different story, World War II. If you werenât in any of the services, people would stop you on the street and ask you why you werenât enlisted. I donât remember how many times I would get the 4-F (military code for âRegistrant not acceptable for military serviceâ), but I kept trying. I was waiting to get drafted, but they werenât taking any enlistments. Whatever I had to do, I wouldâve done my duty,â Tanney said.
When the call finally came, Tanney would find he was asÂŹsigned as a replacement and would be sent to Okinawa for occupational duties.
âWe knew [the war] was ending, but we didnât know it would end as quickly as it did,â he said, adding his division was set to invade the southern Japanese islands until the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan. âThen it was over. Our mission was cancelled.â
Tanneyâs division was reassigned to Korea to continue occupational duties, and he would stay there until the spring of 1946, when he was discharged from the Army.
One of their first missions? Occupy Seoul to prevent Russian forces from entering.
âThatâs where the 38th parallel was established. The Russian Army was training the North Korean Army to invade the south. Once we got to Seoul, they didnât put up a fight â they didnât want to get involved with us,â Tanney said.
He adds that his division is also responsible for the formation of an early version of the Korean National Police â though it wasnât a fighting outfit. Tanney said, âIt should have been, but it wasnât.â
Tanney received one medal for his service, awarding him for the attempted Japanese occupation, but that medal has since been lost. As have most of the documents affiliated with that time: âThey kind of just got lost in the shuffle. Iâve lived in three different places since I returned home.â
However, the memory is still there. So much so that the Sun City resident recently completed an Honor Flight to our nationâs capital. While Tanney had read up on the flights and seen a couple of profiles on television, he really had no initiative to sign up â though it did interest him. It wasnât until his grammar school buddy, who served in the air core during World War II, called him up and said he had signed the two of them up that the gears started turning.
âHe said he wanted to go with me so he didnât have to go alone,â Tanney said, chuckling.
And on May 14, that flight was achieved. Tanney flew out of Midway Airport and toured the memorials in Washington, D.C., stopping for the longest duration at the World War II monument.
âWe were treated with a little bit of dignity. We formed ranks and the third division boys marched past us with the flags and saluted us. Of course there was the honorary wreath laying ceremony, and I was able to get my picture taken by the Illinois statue,â he said.
While he mingled with fellow veterans, discussions never went too far into specific combat duties.
âWe really didnât have too much time at these memorials, but I always had my one funny answer prepared. Some of these fellas [that I had gone with] had really been through a lot, had seen a lot of combat and whatnot,â he said. âWhen weâd talk about the kinds of things we saw, I mentioned I didnât see comÂŹbat, but that I was still a hero. They would ask how, and I would reply that I shot our company cook, saving the lives of hundreds. That got a good laugh.â