When not social distancing, Kentucky Legionnaire remains active, playing golf and volunteering at a nursing home.
Dale Reid enlisted in the Navy after the Pearl Harbor attack. He was later assigned to the USS Essex, which operated out of Pearl Harbor in late 1942.
“I enjoyed it, I really did — after I got over the seasickness,” he said.
Reid, a seaman first class, was a gunner mate on the Essex. “Once we got out there, our airplanes would bomb the islands that had Japanese, and we would work toward Tokyo. As we got closer, they were preparing to surrender.”
After the war, the Essex headed to Bremerton, Wash.
“When I was in the Navy, I was never homesick,” Reid said, adding that when he heard about the signing to end the war, he remembers thinking. “I’m glad it’s over. I’m ready to go home now. ”
Upon reuniting with his wife, Reid also met his 3-year-old son for the first time. “She must have shown him pictures of me because as soon as he saw me, he ran right toward me.”
Later Reid traveled to New York City to see the Essex, which was being decommissioned at the Brooklyn Naval Yard. He toured the ship and learned that he could take anything as a souvenir that was not buckled down. Reid secured a pair of binoculars from the ship. He used a similar pair to scan for enemies in the ocean.
“They’re still a good pair of binoculars,” he said. “I don’t use them too much now. Once in a while I’ll use them. But you have to reset each eye before using them.”
He remembers seeing kamikazes throughout the war.
On Nov. 25, 1944, the Essex was hit by a kamikaze, which landed less than 100 feet away from Reid’s position. “You could feel it,” he said, adding that he lost three of his buddies in that attack that killed 14 sailors. “I think of them every so often. It kind of brings me back to what happened.”
Reid left the Navy in November 1945 but his public service did not end there. Afterward, he worked at the Dayton, Ohio, Fire Department for 31 years, following his father who worked there for 25 years.
“My dad always told me that if something happened to someone and you could help, help them. If you can’t help them, get someone who can.”
Today, Reid remains active, although his activities have been curtailed due to the coronavirus pandemic. He usually shares his stories with community groups, golfs weekly and volunteers with his wife at a local nursing home, playing Bingo with the residents. “We enjoy it. It’s a lot of fun. And the residents enjoy having us come down there too.”
He’s been a member of The American Legion for 31 years, including the last 12 with Post 219 in Alexandria, Ky. “We all have a good time together.”
Reid turned 96 on April 15. That day, the post’s American Legion Family members surprised him outside his home with a rendition of "Happy Birthday" while adhering to social distancing rules.
"He deserved more than a phone call I thought," Auxiliary 219 member Beth Skulas, who organized the tribute, told a local TV station. "People were willing to come out and support him, and that's what our American Legion Auxiliary does. We all showed up and brought some smiles to his face."
Steve Weber, a fellow post member, is inspired to have Reid and a few other veterans from the Greatest Generation as members.
“It means the world to us,” he said. “This is about remembering. It’s our history. We’d like to carry that forward as far as possible.”
- Honor & Remembrance