A Glimpse into the Life of a WWII Veteran
By: Rebecca Jeffrey
Updated: November 19, 2012
Marine Sergeant Claude Ogden volunteered in Huntsville for the Navy in 1943 at the ripe age of 17.
A Marine recruiter then asked for two volunteers to switch to the Marines. No one did, so they chose two names out of a file cabinet, Ogden being one of them.
"I can say right here that war is not what you saw on movies like Casa Blanca," Ogden said.
He vividly remembers serving our country amidst gunfire when arriving to Okinawa, Japan.
"Those doggone Japanese had an idea that they'd like to streak with the airplanes. You'd look out of that Higgins boat and see a streak coming to you and bullets hit in that water and come straight towards you."
He was shipped off to Australia, then to combat in Okinawa. Though he wasn't a pilot, 8 men were chosen to learn to fly. With only 3 weeks of flight training, he lifted off.
It was a flight over the ocean, nearly 70 years ago that forever changed his life.
The Japanese shot his plane, stalling the engine and sending him into the water.
"The only place that looked like it was close enough that I could make it to was behind the Japanese line."
He said he intended to make it out alive. Ogden said it could have only been God that got him back home.
He swam to an old pineapple plantation and for three weeks the fruit kept him alive. He then hiked through enemy territory back to his base.
He learned then that the war was coming to an end.
"I was in with a group in a briefing room being briefed on what was going to happen when we went into the main land of Japan. So that word that it was over with and we didn't have to do that was a great relief. "
Now being a veteran makes him even more grateful for the life he's lived.
"You have a great deal more appreciation for life. You know what life's about. You appreciate the little things."
So for those who have served and are still serving our country, Ogden had one thing to say.
"I appreciate everyone of them that's trying to do what's right. If the leadership is wrong, I still appreciate the people that's on the ground."
