CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - Veterans Day is this week and two a Vietnam veteran and World War II veteran are remembering their service and thinking about our country's future.
“Freedom is not free,” said Vietnam veteran Anthony Ward Sr., who lives in Berwyn.
From 1967 to 1971, Ward served four tours of duty in Vietnam. He said young people should remember and serve.
“Maybe they need to go and do their share to ensure that our freedoms are for the next century,” said Ward. “We had a draft, I had a lottery number of 17, which meant I was going when I joined the Navy…I think many of these young people would benefit from the good order and discipline that is instilled in every military veteran- Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard, Space Force. Good order and discipline would be instilled in them, and they’d be better citizens,” Ward said.
Carl Liture is a lifelong Chicagoan who served in the Pacific aboard the USS Shangri-La in World War II.
He spoke to WBBM last month on the West Side while standing near a memorial dedicated in 1946 to honor veterans of World War II and is now dedicated to veterans of subsequent wars as well.
Liture recalled the day that the war ended.
“We came back, put our pilots out, we came back in, and we anchored with the same pier, and we were able to see the signing of the peace papers from our flight deck,” Liture said.
He was asked about how times have changed between those patriotic days of the 1940s and now.
“I don’t know how these young people today can make a living, even though they get big money,” Liture said. “I remember working just getting a few pennies a day. I was bringing home more money than my dad, and he was working in the factory.”
Liture, like Ward, believes there should be a national call to service.
“At least two years, every gentleman should be in there. All the young gentlemen that are in high school that don’t want to go to college that would be a good place for them…I think they should have it more. They should continue to draft.,” said Liture.
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