Coins DIG

Combat medals, badges and bronze stars stand at attention surrounding 87-year-old Maj. Gen. John Raaen's living room; tokens of distant memories brought vividly back to life and gleaming along the painted walls.

His is no lone archive of war here in the Mayflower Retirement Community. There are rooms like Raaen's just down the hall, around the corner or up a stairway, beckoning tales of heroes just waiting for visitors to take an air-conditioned stroll down memory lane.

Raaen is among the many retired military personnel living at the Mayflower Retirement Community turning a wistful eye toward the life they once knew and the friends, comrades and family they honor this Memorial Day.

And the memories spun behind his front door would fill volumes. Raaen turns raconteur when nostalgia hits him just right. As a small child, seeing his own father serve as an officer in the Army gave him the inspiration to follow in his footsteps.

"Being an Army officer meant the chances were about 90 percent in those days that I would become one too," he said. "And at the tender age of kindergarten, first, second and third grades he was stationed at West Point, so I got to see what cadets did … and decided I wanted to be one of those guys in gray too … so that's how I got into the Army."

He entered the military academy at West Point on July 1, 1939 and three months later WWII began.

His class finished about five months early and he was graduated into the Core of Engineers, but soon realized he was better suited for infantry.

"I found out very quickly I was not an armored officer; I thought like an infantry officer; I reacted like an infantry officer," he said. "So the first opportunity I could I got out of armor and into infantry."

Raaen said although his dad first inspired him to join the Army, Lt. John Honeycutt Hinrichs became his mentor throughout his career.

"He interfered beneficially always in my career," he said. "He was so smart and in such high positions that he knew things that were going to happen a year or two in advance … and he shoved me around in my career so that I would ahead of the power curve."

He also said although he didn't appreciate the help he received at the time, he now thinks back and realizes how instrumental Hinrichs was to his career.

"I never could have gotten where I got if it hadn't been for him guiding my career at critical points to make sure I had the experience I needed," Raaen said.

Ninety-five year-old Mayflower resident Cmdr. Muriel Dubuc also appreciates the experience she received in the military and is grateful for the time she served.

"The Coast Guard was the only service that was training their women officer cadets at the academy… so I picked the Coast Guard," Dubuc said. "And it was one of the luckiest decisions I ever made."

She soon found herself working as a Coast Guard recruiting officer swearing in both men and women, and earning the respect of her piers throughout the years.

Dubuc was married in 1945 to an Army officer and remained married until he passed away 58 years later.

Like so many others, Dubuc appreciates the time she and her husband spent serving our country. She will send flowers to his burial site, back home in Maine, to commemorate his life on Memorial Day. She is also a charter member of Women in Military Service for America Memorial, which maintains Arlington National Cemetery, the place where so many heroes will be remembered on Memorial Day, May 25.

Source: wpmobserver.com