Veterans Spearhead Publication of WWII and Korean War Stories

MARENGO - As a veterinarian, Kenneth "Doc" Fettkether of Marengo would tend to farmer Stanley Kovar's animals near Victor. They became friends because of that, but have grown much closer in the last couple of years for another reason.

These men are veterans of war - Doc (right) in the Korean War and Stanley (left) in World War II - and they've collaborated with backing from the American Legion in Marengo to gather other Iowa County veterans stories. The two books published right before last Veterans Day - one with stories from 140 WWII veterans and the other with 70 stories from Korean War vets - have nearly sold out their 800 total copies.

"I've had people stop me in the street I don't even know and rave about them," Doc says.

"Everybody says it should have been done a long time ago," Stanley adds.

Stanley had seen similar books before, including one from Poweshiek County published in 2009. He approached the American Legion in Victor.

"They voted it down," Stanley says. "Younger members felt the Legion shouldn't be selling books.

"That was ridiculous," he adds. "In the era when I was growing up, the people were World War I veterans. Now they're all gone. Nobody knows what all they done."

Stanley, 87, was born west of Blairstown and finished the eighth grade. After learning to be a machinist in Minnesota, he couldn't find a job so went to work on a Vinton farm. In 1942 when he received his draft notice, the farmer offered to pull some strings to keep him out.

"No," Stanley told him, "don't do that. They call those guys draft dodgers. I don't want that."

By October of ‘42 he was in the Army. "I got in the infantry," he says. "Hurrah!"

Doc, 82, born in Lowden, was too young for WWII. His father was a butter maker in Massillon and he learned the trade after they moved to Bankston in Dubuque County.

"I was 11 years old on Pearl Harbor Day," Doc says. "I remember my mother running over (to the creamery). She'd heard it on the radio."

So, at 19, when the Korean War had started, Doc enlisted in the Navy. He wanted to fight for his country, but a physician at the Great Lakes Naval Station said he had heart trouble. Then, six months later, he got his draft notice and passed three checkups in Des Moines before taking a nap. "When I woke up," he laughs, "I was in the Marines."

Stanley wound up slogging through the water from a landing craft to the beaches of France on D-Day, June 6, 1944, to chase the German soldiers back home. As he held the rifle above his head, machine gun fire surrounded him.

"The water was so full, there were 2,000 dead soldiers flat face down in the water," he recalls.

He fought his way across France and Belgium into Germany.

Doc, who thought he was headed to Korea, was asked to explain his greatest achievement.

"I took a Model A engine apart, rolled it around and put it back together again in 24 hours," he said.

He wound up in Japan where, behind the scenes, he rebuilt planes and jets, occasionally flying to Korea on test flights.

Stanley and Doc will readily tell you their stories. A lot of veterans won't. Or haven't. Which is why, on this Memorial Day, these friends are proud to know their efforts make a difference.

"Most anybody," Doc says, "You read two or three of these stories and you keep reading."

There are a lot more stories to be told.

Comments: (319) 398-8323; dave.rasdal@sourcemedia.net