DYER – Making lifelong friends and travelling the world are what U.S. military veterans remember the most, they said at the annual Veterans Day Prayer Service and Luncheon at St. Maria Goretti on Nov. 11.
“I wanted to serve my country … I saw places I would have never seen and met a lot of people I’d never have met otherwise,” said Steven Wolff, of Crete, Ill., who served in the U.S. Marine Corps as an infantryman from 1965-71. “I served all over the United States, Europe and one tour in Vietnam.”
“He earned a Bronze Star,” added his proud wife Nancy Wolff, who attended their parish’s program with her husband.
Wolff said he lived in Dolton, Ill. when he enlisted at 18. “I wanted to serve, having come from a three-generation military family, and I loved it,” he said.
Stanley Bartniczak, of Dyer, was drafted while living in south Chicago, Ill. and served from 1968-70 in the U.S. Army, working in finance at Fort Rucker, Ala. after attending Loyola University. “I met a number of friends, one of whom, the late Jerry Cak of East Chicago, became the best man at my wedding.”
Father Leonardo Gajardo, pastor at St. Maria Goretti and St. Joseph in Dyer, led the prayer service, leading the guests in an inspiring rendition of “America the Beautiful” an opening prayer, scripture reading and special blessing.
“God of peace, we pray for those who have served our nation to protect and defend our freedom,” he said. “Turn the hearts and minds of our leaders and our enemies to the work of justice and a harvest of peace.”
The annual prayer service, held for about seven years, “isa way of thanking and honoring our veterans who faithfully served our country,” said Father Gajardo as he joined the guests of honor for the catered meal. “Many of these veterans are parishioners and we want to acknowledge them.”
Bernie Tiltges, of Dyer, another of Father Gajardo’s parishioners, shared photos of his service in the U.S. Navy, where he trained at Great Lakes Naval Base, Illinois at 18 and served from 1978-85, mostly stationed at Alameda, Calif. aboard the USS Coral Sea (CV-43). “I enlisted right out of high school ‘to see the world’ and became an electronics technician,” Tiltges said. “I really feel like I grew up in the Navy, joining right out of Crown Point High School, and my service carried me through my career. I’m getting ready to retire after working in electronics at U.S. Steel.”
Proudly wearing his uniform jacket to the luncheon, Ken Foley, a St. Maria Goretti parishioner from Schererville, served in the U.S. Army from 1970-72, or as he recalled, “One year, 6 months, 23 days, 10 hours and 50 minutes.”
He was a telephone exchange man in the Panama Canal Zone, where his wife joined him and worked as a nurse during the deployment. “I met some friends that I have to this day, including Rick Delmar, of South Carolina, who we still vacation with every year in Florida. He and I were waiting to go overseas, writing to our wives, when we met. We mailed the letters, had a beer together and have been friends ever since.”
Larry Sakowski, a St. Maria Goretti from Schererville, said with a smile that he wore the U.S. Army Reserve garrison cap from his service in 1970-76 to the prayer service because “it is the only part of my uniform that still fits.”
A Chicago native, he enlisted and served at Fort Carson in Colorado, Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri, Fort Harrison in Indiana and Fort Dix in New Jersey, as well as Seoul, South Korea. “I was a clerk – instead of a rifle they gave me a typewriter. Part of the time I handled payroll, and everyone treated me well,” Sakowski said.
“One of the things that sticks with me is that the Army is very structured, and I was a structured guy, so every morning I still make the bed, shine my shoes and straighten up the house,” he explained
“He’s neater than I am,” said Barbara Sakowski, who met and married her husband while he was in the Army. “We’ll celebrate our 54th anniversary next week,” she added.
Anticipating the draft, Ray Marsh, a south Chicago native, enlisted in the U.S. Army “about a year out of high school and served in the artillery, doing surveying work,” from 1963-65, most of that time in Fort Sill, Okla.
He admitted wanting to complete his military service while his future wife completed high school, and he returned to marry her in 1966 at St. Mary Magdelene Catholic Church in south Chicago.
“One thing we did was write to each other every single day while he served, and I still have all of those letters,” said Karen Marsh. “We attended the Anniversary Mass at the Cathedral of the Holy Angels this year for our 60th anniversary and it was so much more than I expected, with the luncheon, meeting Bishop (Robert) McClory for photos and receiving a certificate. Everyone was so good to us.”
In his final blessing, Father Gajardo asked God to care for all veterans “with wholeness and love. Shelter them, heal their wounds, comfort their hearts and grant them peace.”
Caption: "May the peace you left us, the peace you gave us, be the peace that sustains our veterans, the peace that saves us all," prayed Father Leonardo Gajardo, pastor, at the annual Veterans Day Prayer Service on Nov. 11 at St. Maria Goretti in Dyer. Reading along is Ray Marsh, a parishioner from Schererville who served in the U.S. Army from 1963-65. (Marlene A. Zloza photo)
