Newport Harbor post celebrates American Legion’s 99 years with reunion of WWII and Korea vets
The American Legion’s Newport Harbor Post 291 had another reason to celebrate Thursday beyond the legion turning 99 years old.
Korean War veterans were thrilled to hear that North Korea planned to hand over remains from 200 of their brothers in arms to coincide with the 65th anniversary of the armistice that ended the fighting.
“I think it’s a great thing … and it should have happened 50 years ago,” Korea veteran Bob Duff said.
Duff, a real estate investor from Newport Beach, served during the war with the Army’s 40th Infantry Division, which suffered its last casualty just two hours before the midnight armistice.
Newport Beach’s American Legion post, the state’s largest with 4,200 veterans, hosted a lunch Thursday for 300 people, including many World War II and Korea veterans. Mike Schubert, first vice commander of the post, said his organization has hosted such parties for 10 years to reunite the oldest groups of veterans while they’re still alive.
“They don’t see their pals unless they come to this,” Schubert said.
Among the World War II veterans who reunited Thursday were Earl Dahleen, 92, of Corona del Mar and Darrell Lightner, 94, of Newport Beach. Dahleen proudly donned a baseball cap emblazoned with the Marine Corps seal as he talked about his deployment to the Pacific with a Marine scout bombing squadron.
His squadron was 300 miles from Japan when it received word of the Japanese surrender ending the war and preventing an Allied invasion that was expected to cost thousands of lives.
Lightner, a former Navy meteorologist aboard the USS Enterprise, showed up wearing a Hawaiian shirt with a pattern including ships from his era. When asked why it was important to him to attend the Newport Harbor post’s party, he said, “If nothing else, to see the other oldies.”
After wrapping up the lunch of lasagna and salad, post Commander Doug Nye invited Korean War veteran Warren Morris, 88, of Orange and World War II veteran Leander Kelter, 95, of Huntington Beach to help him cut a chocolate cake with a ceremonial saber.
Though the number of living World War II and Korea veterans decreases each year, Schubert said the post’s event continues to grow.
“They’re the guys we can always count on,” he said. “This is a great generation.”
Daniel Langhorne is a contributor to Times Community News.
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