LINCOLN -- Observing Veterans Day for two U.S. Navy veterans from Lincoln is all about remembering the flag.
"The flag means something to me," said Roy G. Rinehart, who joined the Navy in 1951 after he graduated from Lincoln High School.
"I respect it. I think about the people who didn't come home who fought for the right I have to respect that flag."
George Schooler said he echoes the sentiments of his fellow veteran. Schooler graduated from Lincoln High in 1952 and joined the Navy when he was 17 years old.
"I respect the flag and I disrespect any person that disrespects the flag," Schooler added.
Rinehart served the U.S. Navy for five years and made three trips to Korea during his service, two on a destroyer and one on a troop ship. He worked in the radio shack on his last cruise and was editor of the ship's newspaper.
After he retired from the Navy, Rinehart finished out his military career with the Arkansas National Guard. He bought a farm in Cane Hill and farmed cattle and chickens for the next 50 years. He's since sold the farm and retired.
Rinehart said he was only on Korean soil one time during his five years and had this story to tell about his trip. He had taken mail to headquarters and filled his pockets with candy bars. On his return trip, he saw a young girl and handed her a candy bar. Within 30 seconds he was surrounded by children.
He gave out candy and still had some left when he arrived at the compound.
"We pitched the rest of the candy to the children and then had to go into the compound."
Schooler served the U.S. Navy for 20 years and his job on the carrier was to "put airplanes back together when they had poked holes in them."
He served toward the end of the Korean War and most of the Vietnam War.
"We flew 12 hours a day and then worked on them the other 12 hours," Schooler said.
He served in a fighter squad on the carrier and said some of the planes were making 12 missions a day.
"After three times hitting the deck, it tore up every one of those planes," Schooler said. "An F4 would hit the deck at 180 to 200 miles per hour and they are heavy."
Schooler was inspired to join the Navy by two uncles. He remembers seeing them in their sailors' uniforms and thinking those were the greatest things.
"There was never a doubt in my mind from when I was 10 years old what I was going to do," Schooler said.
He added, "The Navy was good to me. I was a country boy who never had been away from home. They didn't kill me and they fed me. I've got lots of good memories."
On shore duty, Schooler taught radiography of metals for four years in Jacksonville, Fla. He also served on the west coast in San Diego, Calif.
Schooler and his wife returned in Lincoln in 1971 and he began an appliance service for Sears. He has since retired from Sears but still works periodically on applicances as requested by customers.
General News on 11/09/2016