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Home My WebLink About2009 Memorial Day J )5 Y.~ T-7 \v as i° € t_ ff 1 •`x r` ~F~. ` is ~ "k ~ `a Z } 2 Kr - s c. E~i&,t LilUiUS uy JEke fviCDeriiiaiiu bove: Zachery Lyerly, 6, holds the Medal of Valor awarded to his late father, Captain Sean E. Lyerly, after he and his mother right) accepted it during a Memorial Day ceremony at the Brazos Valley Elks Lodge No. 859 in Bryan on Monday. Right: Henry ill of The National Sojourners plants one of hundreds of American flags placed near the graves of U.S. veterans Monday orning at College Station City Cemetery. To see more photos in a slideshow, go to www.theeagle.com. Ve.ts share stories of war By MICHELLE CASADY Brazos Valley residents michelle.casady@theeagle.com attended the Memorial Day ceremony at Veterans of Faces weathered and Foreign Wars Post 4692 in worn from years of Bryan. work and service to One of those present was their country were wet with Sonny Franze, 92, a World tears Monday as veterans War II veteran who was and private citizens gath- born in Brazos County. ered to honor those who Franze saw a lot during have died during military his three years with the service. United States Army Air From young veterans of Corps, the predecessor of the conflicts in Iraq and the U.S. Air Force. Afghanistan to those who " I was drafted right off were present at the Battle of the farm in October of the Bulge and the Battle at Normandy, hundreds of See VETERAN, Page A7 f ` F l y.. 5 Tuesday, May 26, 2009 The Eagle . theeagle.com Region/ Obituaries VETERAN: Recalls a visit to a concentration camp Continued from Al Normandy just 10 days after D-Day. 1942," he said. "They had to They were still shelling make a soldier out of a farm the harbor at that time," he boy and didn't have much said. "Mines were exploding time to do it, they needed sol a all over the place. However, diers so badly." s f a the bodies had all been picked For his service, Franze was ~t r up, but there were still awarded five bronze stars, crashed gliders and debris all and was present at some of „ over the beach." the bloodiest and most infa Not all of his service memo- mous battles of the war. But ries are so somber. one event in particular stands "I do remember that Bob out in his mind. ' Hope came over for a USO "The most important part show out in a pasture for us of my term over there was my in Belgium," he said. entry into the Buchenwald Was he a fan of Bob Hope? Concentratfon Camp," he : • "Well, I guess so. I'd have said. probably been a fan of just A sergeant at the time, about anybody at that time." Franze was sent with about 20 Franze also recalls follow men to take the camp, which ing General George S. Patton was about two miles from ` into Paris. their position in Weimar.. "That welcome we got on "We had no idea what to the way into Paris was really expect," he said. "We had something," combat training and were he said. "All the prepared to fight the Germans pretty girls were there wait and take the camp." ing for us." Almost more important On the trip there, he noticed several dead, emaciat s than the pretty girls was the bath he got to take upon ~f 3 ~lti G~ ed bodies littering the road arrival his first in nearly way. When they arrived, it four months. took seconds to realize After seeing so much car- weapons weren't needed to (I nage during his service, overtake the camp. Franze said, he'll always have The Germans had fled days a special place in his heart for earlier to keep the Russians mss'.'" veterans of other conflicts from taking Berlin, and the prisoners were all dead or and those men and women currently serving their coun- near death. The bodies on the try. roadway were those of prison- John Velasquez, a Vietnam ers who had tried to flee; but veteran and senior vice com were so weak they had died in mander of the Veterans of toe process. Eagle photo by Dave McDermand Foreign Wars Outpost 4692, "The ovens were still hot Ruth Waller wipes away tears as she listens to a speech during Memorial Day said he was honored to see from the hundreds of thou- services at VFW Post 4692 in Bryan on Monday morning. Waller's father, moth- Franze among hundreds of sands of bodies that they had er and uncle were veterans in the U.S. armed forces. others in attendance to honor burned," he said. "There were fallen soldiers. hundreds more piled up like have anything else to give. He Franze, then 25, was nearly "Their memories are still hardwood that they didn't was the only one strong deployed to the Pacific after here," he said. "That's what's have time to burn before they enough to still stand and his tour in Europe, but the important to remember. left." talk." atomic bombs were dropped Many Americans take advan- One prisoner was able to He has pictures taken that while he was awaiting trans- tage of the three-day weekend tell him what the Germans day at the camp, but he does- port. to go to the lake or barbecue, had done, n't look at them often. He "I probably just missed but what I appreciate is those . "He gave me his meal tick- keeps them to show others being deployed by a few men and women and children et, too," Franze said. "It's the capacity humans have to days," he said. who come here in observance very valuable to me. He didn't be inhumane to each other. He was on the beaches of of Memorial Day."