Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutTony Varisco, Brazos Valley Heroes One in a series of tributes to'-rnernbers of "The Greatest II Generation" who served our country during World War II Tony Varisco Jr. of the Steele Store Community of Brazos County has called the family farm home for all his 86 years. ~My parents were immigrants from Sicily. My mother was from a fairly well-to.do family and the house I was born in, you could see the stars though the roof at night. I remember my mom saying: 'For this I came to America.' We worked hard, and my parents made sure I studied hard because my Dad wanted me to be a doctor In the worst way. I just wanted to be like him, a farmer. "I went to Steele Store School and then Bryan High, which was located where Fannin Elementary now sits on 29th Street. In 1937, I attended A&M and graduated in 1941 with a pre- med degree. After MM, I helped on the farm because I knew I was going to be drafted soon. Soon turned out to be May 1942. ~l was sent to Ft. Sam Houston and then Camp Barkley near Abilene. I wanted to be a pilot, but with my eyesight I didn't have a chance. Instead, because of my pre.med degree, the Army sent me to the medical corps. I trained in Aurora, Colorado, and was then shipped to Camp White in Medford, Oregon, where they formed the 76th General Hospital. ~On February 14, 1944, the 76th boarded a train in Vancouver to Camp Miles Standish in Boston, Massachusetts, to head to England over the Great Northem Route. We boarded the George Washington on February 27th and we landed at L1andulano, Wales. We ended up at leominster, England, at a new brtck hospital the English had built. ~We got there just In time to set up for the first casualties arriving from the D-Day invasion. In August we followed across the Channel, landing at ~h Beach on August 16, 1944. We lived in tents at Carentan, France, for a while and were then sent to liege, Belgium, where we set up a tent hospital. It wasn't any ordinary tent; this was a 1,000-bed hospital. We would need It because of the Battle of the Bulge. Of these two major battles during the war, D.Day and the Battle of the Bulge, we had the most and worst casualties from the Battle of the Bulge." Varisco and the 76th were able to remain at liege for the remainder 6f the war. The war came to them - and not just in the fOrfTl of wounded soldiers. liege and England bore the brunt of Germany's rocket attacks. ~We were told that over 1,500 VH1 's and 2's passed over or landed at liege. The sound of buzz bombs, which is what we called' them, was pretty much a constant. N; long as you could hear the buzzing, you were safe. It was when the buzzing stopped that you better run for cover.' " ~One day the buzzing didn't stop, it just kept getting louder and louder. I looked outside our lab tent and I saw a buzz bomb that looked like it was going to come through the door. I yelled for my buddy to get out. Just as we hit the ground outside, it passed just over the tent and hit the motor pool directly behJnd. ~l often heard that survival sometimes just depended on good luck. My 25th birthday occurred on January 8, 1945, and it was also the luckiest day of my life. Instead of going to my lab tent to start worK the first thing that ~oming, I decided to get a birthday haircut. While getting my haircut at our barbershop, a buzz bomb came over and hit nearby. We ran over to help the wounded, because buzz bombs always left wounded. "When I got there, I realized it was my tent where I would have been working. Everyone, except for one guy in the tent, had been killed. Twenty-five men were killed that day, and if I hadn't decided to get a birthday haircut that day, there probably would have been 26 killed. We buried them in a cemetery Just north of liege. I've always wanted to go back and visit that cemetery but haven't been able to. Now I want to more than ever." Varisco and the 76th were disbanded in November 1945 and were sent home. "I headed home on December 15, 1945, on an old, leaky Uberty ship. I was more worried about surviving that voyage back than going over or at any other time during the war. I was discharged on February 8, 1945, at Camp Fannin, Texas, near Tyler. [ married my wife, Josephine Salvato, three weeks later. "My father offered to send me to medical school but I told him I had rather farm with him. He and I farmed together for the rest of his life and I have farmed with my son, Tony Varisco III, since. Although the Army wouldn't let me fly, I became a civilian pilot, had a crop-spraying business and owned and flew several planes. I've gotten to do the two things I've loved to do, farm and fly. . "Looking back now, I would do. it all over again if asked. We saved lots of boys' nves, and I feel good about that." The name of Tony Varisco Jr. can be found on the Brazos Valley Veterans MemoriaL If you know of a World War II veteran a whose story needs to be told, contact Bill Youngkin at (979) 260-7p30. " you would like to add someone's name to the 6Tazos Valley Veterans Memorial, names must be submitted by August 15, 2006, In order to be engraved on the memorial by this year's Veterans Day observance.