June 12, 2013

WWII vet Godfrey, 94, a member of the 'Greatest Generation'

By KATHY ROE BUTTRAM

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CENTRE — Billy Godfrey, 94, was having a busy day recently. He had spent the morning with Fred Hunter, a reporter at Fox6 News, being interviewed for the station's “Absolutely Alabama” segment. The Birmingham news crew had barely packed up its equipment when fellow residents at Cherokee Village were asking questions about Godfrey’s turn in front of the camera and calling him “a star.”

In the afternoon, he was being interviewed again.

“News travels fast. All you've got to do is get to be 90 years old, and everybody wants to interview you,” he joked.

But it's more than age that makes people want to talk to Mr. Godfrey, a longtime teacher and former school board member in Cherokee County.

He is one of what Tom Brokaw calls “the Greatest Generation,” the men and women who grew up during the Great Depression and went on to serve in World War II.

They did not fight for fame and recognition, but because it was the “right thing to do,” Brokaw wrote.

Godfrey, a U.S. Marine, wasn't thinking about fame during the war years. He was doing his duty and trying to stay alive.

When he and a couple of his buddies volunteered for military service, they thought they were joining the Navy. “But when we went to Birmingham, they put us in the Marines. They said, 'You've got good eyesight, and you're healthy.' It shocked us. We didn't believe it.”

It was true. It was 1944. Godfrey was a Marine and on a journey that would take him to the other side of the world. After several stops in the United States, he went to Pearl Harbor and the Philippine Islands.

“Then we joined [Adm. William] Halsey's Third Fleet and worked the East China Sea” on an aircraft carrier, he said. “It was an all Marine carrier with 365 enlisted Marines plus officers and pilots. It was a good deal if you were assigned to the Marines.”

Godfrey was a plane handler.

“We just had one little deck and about 20 feet. We had crackups pretty often.

“One new plane came in too low. It hung on the gun turret. We pried it over and it went into the ocean. We said, 'Buy more war bonds.' We were just kids.”

Godfrey said the closest he came to getting killed was three days before the war was over.

“We couldn't get the anchor up. There we sat on an aircraft carrier, a sitting duck. There was a transportation ship we were beside. A kamikaze hit the transportation ship,” he said. “If he had chosen us, he would have blown us sky high. But you don't worry about it when you're doing your job. I do remember thinking that I would hate to go this far and get killed.”

Godfrey still remembers celebrating when the war was over in August 1945.

“We had just finished morning chow and they came on the PA system and said, 'The war is over.' You could have heard us for 10 miles hooping and hollering. A short sailor came up to me and said, 'I want to kiss a Marine,' and he kissed me on the cheek. No more torpedoes, no more kamikazes.”

One of the grimmest jobs Godfrey remembered was picking up American POWs in Japan.

“They were starving. I remember one of our guys who ate 12 slices of bread he was so hungry,” Godfrey said. “I have a hard time forgiving that.”

For some, the memories of World War II are fading, and for many, it's a line in a history book. The inevitable march of time is taking its toll. With the death last week of Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), there are no World War II veterans serving in the U.S. Senate. Two remain in the U.S. House of Representatives.

At the end of the war, our nation was home to nearly 16 million veterans. Now, about one million WWII veterans are still alive, but when they die, many stories will die with them.

“Billy Godfrey's experience encapsulates why we need the stories of World War II veterans recorded,” said David Crum, director of the Cherokee County Historical Museum.

Margaret Eubanks, manager of Cherokee Village, where Godfrey is a resident, said it is an honor to have him and other veterans at the Village.

“They served their country and we have learned so much from their experiences and the wonderful stories they tell us,” she said.

When Godfrey attended the military funeral of a veteran and most people did not understand what he had done in the war and the importance of his service, Godfrey realized the need to preserve his own story, Crum said.

Godfrey has written a book about his experiences as a Marine and compiled a small memorial for the museum. It includes a flag, a New Testament, a photo of Godfrey in uniform, a pin that says “Rifle sharpshooter,” and a list of the places he saw. At the end of the list, he wrote, “Free at last.”

Godfrey, who lived most of his life in the Alexis community, was free at last and ready to come home.

“People would say, 'Why did you come back to Cherokee County?' after seeing the world. I said, 'because it's a good place.'”

The Post will publish a series of profiles on World War II veterans. If you or someone you know served in the military in World War II, call 256-927-4476 or send email to info@postpaper.com.