1991-12-06; Central Michigan Life

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News
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STATE
Two youths shot
at Detroit mall
SOUTHFIELD — Two
Detroit youths were shot at
Northland Mall after an
argument broke out.
A group of youths became
rude to two girls and a fight
broke out when another
group tried to defend the
girls, said Tammy Kelly, 19,
who works in the mall.
One of the youths was
wounded in the back and the
other in the leg. The
wounded youths, ages 15 and
18, where treated and
released from Providence
Hospital.
Police, who arrived on the
scene within minutes,
arrested five youths, including one they believe who
pulled the trigger.
Police Chief Joseph Thomas refused to identify the
victims or those arrested.
NATIONAL
Mass murderer
died Thursday
JOLIET. 111. — Mass murderer Richard Speck, who
shocked the nation in 1966 by
stabbing and strangling
eight student nurses, died
Thursday.
Speck was pronounced
dead, one day shy of his 50th
birthday, at Silver Cross
Hospital, near the Stateville
Correctional Center ■where
he had been held for nearly
^.-4-MM...y&a.rjt>,-~^« Corrections
Department spokesman Nic
Howell said.
Will County Coroner
Duane Krieger said autopsy
results were not immediately
available, but noted that
Speck had suffered chest
pains Wednesday night.
Skinner named
as chief of staff
WASHINGTON — President Bush today named
Transportation Secretary
Sam Skinner to replace John
Sununu as White House
chief of staff, and unveiled
the high command for a reelection campaign that looks
tougher than it did a few
months ago.
In Skinner, Bush picked a
long-time political supporter
and a former federal prosecutor to replace the abrasive
Sununu, who resigned on
Tuesday after months of con-
trovers v.
INTERNATIONAL
Last hostage set
free Wednesday
DAMASCUS, Syria —
Journalist Terry Anderson,
the last American hostage in
Lebanon, was set free Wednesday by pro-Iranian
Islamic radicals and said
faith and stubbornness
helped him survive his
nearly seven-year ordeal.
His release ended a brutal
saga in which Shiite Muslims
kept 14 Americans in chains,
killed three and bedeviled
two U.S. presidencies.
A joyous Anderson grinned
broadly, raised his arms and
warmly greeted friends as he
entered a conference room at
the Syrian Foreign Ministry.
He later left to meet his
6-year-old daughter. Sulome,
for the first time.
Anderson said sheer determination got him through.
"I was lucky enough to
have other people with me
most of the time. ... My faith.
Stubbornness, I guess," also
helped, he said.
Compiled from the
Associated Press and staff
reports ^,J: yy.'-vY:.'<; y;-y.-
Jingle bell rock
Musicians play to needs of the poor
Page 8
Easy win
CMU breezes by Chicago State 92-75
Page 10
Central
Michigan
FRIDAY
December 6, 1991
War memories vivid 50 years later
Local survivor
stil! angry about
Pearl Harbor raid
By Todd Schulz
l I Fir Managing Editor
Oftentimes, 50-year-old
memories seem to gather a little
dust.
But Clifford Yerke's recollection of Dec. 7, 1941, is clean as a
whistle. And the anger Yerke
harbors surrounding "the day
that will live in infamy" is just
as strong as his powers of recollection.
"I'm still mad. I can't forgive
(the Japanese)," said Yerke, a
77-year-old Pearl Harbor survivor from nearby Weidman.
"They should have declared war
and then came. Then we would
have been ready for them."
"To me, it was like murder.
It's like taking a gun and shooting an unarmed man."
Yerke was a 27-year-old
Army Combat Engineer stationed about 30 miles north of
Pearl Harbor at Schofield Barracks when the Japanese surprise attack came that morning
50 years ago Saturday.
At 7:55 a.m., Schofield —
located beside Wheeler Air
Field — received the first shot
fired by Japanese air raiders in
World War II.
"We were getting ready to go
to church," Yerke said. "After
breakfast, three of us walked
out of the mess hall and saw the
planes coming through the
Kolekole Pass a couple hundrcjd
yards away. We could see the
red balls on the wings. They
were coming in low."
Japanese Zeroes covered the
field with machine gun fire,
Yerke said. The fighters also
unsuccessfully attempted to
dive bomb a huge tank holding
the barracks' water supply
before moving on to destroy all
but a handful of U.S. planes sitting on the ground at Wheeler
Field.
Although no one at Schofield
was injured in the attack, Yerke
said the feeling of helplessness
was one he's never forgotten.
"We had nothing, absolutely
nothing," said the Danville
native. "Our rifles were locked
up in the rifle rack. Our
sergeant had the key and he
was probably off in Honolulu
having fun."
Yerke travels to Owosso
Saturday to receive a Pearl Harbor    Commemorative    Medal
See PEARL Page 2
Pearl Harbor survivor Clifford Yerke, 77, vividly remembers the
events of Dec. 7,1941. Yerke, who lives in Weidman, is still unable
LIFE Photo/Nile Young
to forgive the Japanese forces which attacked U.S. bases without
warning.
WW SI shaped a man; a family, a lifestyle
I remember vividly my first
lesson in World War II history.
It wasn't in a classroom. It
was sitting next to my father as
he pulled a uniform and Minolta
camera from the metal cabinet
in our back room. I was 4 or 5
years old.
The uniform. Army green
with campaign ribbons and his
name on the chest, seemed too
small to fit my father. I remember how excited I was to see
these sacred things. My father
was important, these things
seemed to say to my young eyes.
The way he handled the camera, tot). He revered it. I wasn't
allowed to carry it hut he let me
touch it, my nimble fingers running quickly over the black box.
Then he showed me a few-
snapshots. One was of some
friends standing next to what
looked like a big hill. Later I
learned   it   was  Mount Aso.  an
active volcano. Other photographs showed my father and
others wearing uniforms and
smiling.
He told me these things were
souvenirs from World War II.
"What is that?" I asked.
He tried to explain it. but I
didn't understand. I wasn't
really listening. I was more
interested in the camera and
the bright stripes on the uniform. These were real to me.
Since that first lesson, I've
learned much about World War
II. I'm not an expert and I don't
know a lot about specific battles
or the fighting mentality. I don't
know any war secrets or have
the answer to why any of it ever
happened.
I know my father.
He was 14 and target practicing with a .22 rifle when Pearl
Harbor was bombed. His first
thoughts were of how he wanted
to go to Japan and fight.
In 1946 — a year after the
atomic bomb was dropped — my
father joined the Army and was
shipped to occupied territory in
Japan. He was 19.
In fact, it was 45 years ago
today he started the trek from
Traverse City to Japan, via Chicago and California. He set sail
Friday, Dec. 13 on the S.S.
Pomona Victory from California, on a 13.000-ton ship with
1 .300 troops on board. The
Pomona    Victorv    docked    in
Yokahama Dec. 26.
He was a private first class
who later became a platoon
sergeant. He was with the 21st
infantry regiment. 24th infan-
trv division, stationed in
Kyushu. He received a WWII
Victorv Medal, the Army of
Occupation Meda.l and a Good
Conduct Medal.
He joined the Army to escape
northern Michigan and his
father with whom he never-
agreed. In search of adventure
and purpose, he was a young
man with a mission.
Not only was he angry with
his father who didn't seem to
want his son to grow up to challenge authority, but he was
angry with the war. Like many,
he wanted to show Japan that
America would not tolerate the
war or be defeated.
See COLUMN Page 2
Pilot makes emergency landing
By Jennifer Chrisman
LIFE Assistant News Editor
A Rosebush pilot brought his single-engine
plane to an emergency landing in Midland County
Thursday afternoon after the engine quit and he
could not restart it.
"The engine quit," said Don Strong, 62. "If you
were driving your car on cruise control at 60 or 70
miles per hour and someone reached over and
turned the key — that's what it was like."
It was Strong's first emergency landing since he
began piloting in the 1960s and he had no problems with his first attempt, he said. Passenger
John Simms, 37, also of Rosebush, watched for an
easy landing area.
"We were over a solid wooded area," Strong said.
"We had to work around that. We just picked the
best route down."
That route left Strong and Simms unscathed.
"We just put on our heavy clothing and started
walking," Strong said. They walked almost 2Vz
miles in about 90 minutes before reaching the
woods' edge, where a rescue team located them.
The plane, however, was not so lucky.
"T think there's a lot of damage," Strong said.
"We tore one wing half off.
The Department of Natural Resources and
Michigan State Police Mount Pleasant Post joined
the Midland County Sheriff's Department in the
search, a sheriffs department spokesman said.
The spokesman did not know how many people
were at the scene. Search crews responded at 2:37
p.m. At 8:20 p.m. they were waiting for wrecking
crews to pull but searchers' vehicles which got
stuck in mud and snow.
Crews planned to return to the   siu±   today.
Deromedi withdraws,
stays put at Central
By Steve Coon
I Ir-F  Sport'- Wnter
CMU football coach Herb
Deromedi walked the sidelines
during close games ail season
long. Little did he know he'd have
another neck-and-neck battle in
the off-sea.son.
Deromedi, Central's winning-
est coach, withdrew his application Wednesday morning for the
head coaching job at the University of New Mexico. Lobo Athletic-
Director Gary Ness hired Southwest Texas State coach Dennis
Franchione for the position Wednesday afternoon.
But Ness
said it was a
tough decision.
"It was
extremely
close, it really
was," Ness
said. "It was
not an easy
decision."
Deromedi
said he     DEROMEDI
looked at   both  situations before
he decided to withdraw.
See HERb Page 5