‘Makes tears come to my eyes’: Rockford veterans from WWII to Vietnam eras reflect on service, gifted ‘honor blankets’

Stanley Primmer was knocked unconscious and blown out of his shoes after a Japanese kamikaze pilot dropped a bomb and then slammed the aircraft into the U.S. Navy veteran’s ship during World War II.

The strike hospitalized the Rockford farmer, now 98, killed three of his shipmates and wounded 34 others off the island of Okinawa, Japan, in 1945.

Primmer said the near-death experience is sometimes tough to talk about.

“It just happened,” he said. “I was just fortunate.”

Jonas Babcock Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution presented Primmer and three other Rockford-area veterans – Allen Lewis, Ivan Willmschen and Art Grewe – with red, white and blue “honor blankets” and certificates Saturday at Palouse Country Assisted Living in Fairfield.

Grewe is a World War II Navy veteran. Neil Davey, a U.S. Army Korean War veteran, was not present Saturday, but also will receive a blanket and certificates for his service.

Rae Anna Victor, regent of the Jonas Babcock Chapter, said the nonprofit women’s service organization recognizes veterans’ service throughout the year with honor blankets.

LaVonne Whitaker, regent of the May Hutton Chapter, said during Saturday’s ceremony that the five 42-by-42-inch “lap-sized quilts” were made by May Hutton Chapter members.

Willmschen said Saturday’s recognition “really hits home,” and planned to lay the blanket, which was folded on his lap Saturday, on the back of his couch at home.

“Makes tears come to my eyes, you know,” Willmschen said as he cried. “It’s so wonderful that everybody’s doing this for us.”

Willmschen, 94, grew up on a farm 2 miles outside Rockford and worked at a bank until he was drafted into the Army in 1951 during the Korean War.

Willmschen said he served as a military policeman for 18 months in Vienna, Austria. There, he worked alongside British, French, Russian and Austrian soldiers and attained the rank of corporal.

He said Austria was “very nice,” but when he got there, many buildings that had been reduced to rubble from bombings during World War II were still in ruin.

“You couldn’t even walk down some of the streets,” Willmschen said.

The city was mostly cleaned up by the time he left, he said.

Willmschen served six years in the Army Reserve after he was discharged in 1953, said Victor, who read the veterans’ military service records to them and their loved ones while they were presented with their blankets and certificates.

He said he owned and operated Rockford-Worley Insurance Agency for 37 years after his service.

Willmschen said he still lives in the Rockford home he and his late wife, Alene, built 68 years ago. She died in March , about two weeks after the couple celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary.

“She was a wonderful lady,” Willmschen said. “God, I miss her every day.”

Meanwhile, after joining the Navy in 1944 and training in San Diego, California, Primmer was assigned to LST-534, which stands for Landing Ship Tank.

The ship was ordered to Okinawa with other forces for the island invasion.

Primmer was wounded on June 22, 1945, when the 18-year-old gunner was aboard the LST-534. The sailors had unloaded troops and weapons when the enemy plane was seen approaching the bay filled with ships. Primmer started firing at the Japanese plane, which then dropped a bomb and crashed into Primmer’s ship.

He left the military in 1947, and 60 years later, was awarded a Purple Heart medal from U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Spokane, for his injuries off Okinawa.

Primmer, who wore a blue Navy hat Saturday, spent his life farming near Rockford, got married and had six children.

He still lives in his Rockford home where one of his sons takes care of him, said Doug Primmer, one of Stanley Primmer’s sons.

Over 15 people and four generations of the Primmer family attended Saturday’s ceremony.

Doug Primmer said his father moves around well for his age.

“At 98, it’s always a blessing,” said Jody Cornwall, one of Stanley Primmer’s six children and who recited her father’s military service during the ceremony.

Lewis, a captain in the U.S. Army, also saw “tense situations” during his time in Vietnam, according to Victor.

Lewis, who wore a crimson Washington State University bucket hat Saturday, was an ROTC cadet and graduated from WSU in 1960.

He was sent to Vietnam in 1963 as a military adviser, Victor said.

After arriving in the country, she said Lewis and fellow soldiers were ambushed.

Lewis and his cohorts bailed out into the grass alongside a road and emptied their sidearms as his sergeant fired a .30 -caliber machine gun from their vehicle.

Later, Lewis searched a young man whom U.S. troops brought into camp and found a live grenade, Victor said.

She said Lewis eventually returned to the U.S. to help prepare recruits for the escalating war in Vietnam. He was discharged in 1965.

He and his wife, Karen, farmed in Worley and Rockford until his retirement.

Each veteran, who sat with their honor blanket and certificates, received applause after they were recognized.

Gail Kopp, who grew up in the Rockford area, said she’s known the four veterans, who were present Saturday, for years.

“Not only did they serve their country, they all came back and served their communities their whole lives,” she said.