Shaped By War Shaped By War
War changes lives and communities. In photographs and in brief words, “Shaped by War” is an attempt to illustrate war’s ripple effects through families and time. To hear the voices of those featured today go to www.spokane.net/shapedbywar
HEALING
“I don’t go to funerals. I’ve had enough losses. I’m tired of funerals. I know blood and guts and war, and I know violence to its highest extreme. I’ve seen the supreme sacrifice made by young teenagers. You look at him, sometime, the next door kid. You get him on a battlefield and all of a sudden he’s different. He’s changed. Immediately. What happens in these circumstances is accelerated maturation. You can just about double your age. An 18-year-old becomes 36, in mind. But in body and in some of the mind, he’s a child.” Glen Douglas, veteran of three wars
Glen Douglas (above and at right) builds Native American sweat lodges. Glen saw three major wars: World War II, Korea and Vietnam.
In April 1945 he helped liberate Dachau, a Nazi concentration camp, with B Company, 506 Parachute Infantry Regiment.
He was wounded six times in Korea, where he spent a lot of time behind enemy lines with the Army’s 2nd Infantry Division. He served with Army Studies and Observations Group as an adviser in Vietnam.
He recently built a sweat lodge on his property near Colville, Wash., to help veterans deal with combat traumas, as it is helping him.
How war changed his life: He said it made him into a killer, an image he struggles to transform through his Native American spirituality. He strives to heal himself and others wounded by war.
PAIN
“I had no idea it was going to affect me later in life. I have my own paranoia. I don’t understand why. That’s something that bothers me. So we have all these things that bother us and it’s not so much the things that bother us, as it is the question we continue to ask ourselves - Why?” Denny Hughes, Vietnam vet
Denny Hughes (right), 54, went into the Navy in August 1964. He served in Vietnam from 1965 through June of 1968.
Hughes was sent home sick from a spider bite in June of ‘68 and spent three months in a hospital. “There were a lot of things you could die of in Vietnam. It wasn’t always shrapnel or bullets.”
He served during four major campaigns in Vietnam, worked with Special Forces and Force Recon Marines to reconnoiter beaches before and during amphibious assaults.
He now lives on 20 acres in the woods, between Republic and Tonasket. “This self-imposed exile is really like a hell. I can’t have a relationship with the person I love. She can’t leave the city; I can’t go to the city. I don’t fit in.”
How war changed his life: Made him mistrustful of the intentions of groups of human beings.
CULTURE KEEPER
“They told us come here, work hard. Over here is the land of opportunity. If you like to work, you will have food on the table every night, every day. This sound very nice, because in Vietnam when you work, you have to take care of this day. There’s no exact payment like we have, a check every two weeks. There is no security.” Hau Trinh, Vietnamese immigrant
Hau Trinh (above), 22, was born in Cam Ranh, Vietnam, one of eight siblings. He settled in Spokane in 1990 at age 12.
He was born after the Vietnam War; his family was allowed to immigrate because his older half-sibling is Amerasian.
Trinh is a full-time student at Eastern Washington University, majoring in psychology, and he also works two part-time jobs.
On Sundays, Trinh teaches Buddhist philosophy and leadership to youth groups and sometimes helps children read and write their native language at the Vietnamese Buddhist Temple in North Spokane.
He also teaches them how to sing the anthem to the South Vietnamese flag, outlawed in the country of his birth. “You can’t forget your roots, no matter where you live now. We have 4,000 years of history.”
How war changed his life: If the Vietnam War hadn’t happened, Hau would never have had his current opportunities for college and a career. But he lost family members to the war, and he doesn’t live in the culture of his birthplace.
DUTY
“I never felt like I did any big things, but everyone has a job, you know. I just wanted to do the job that needed to be done and come home again. I enlisted, which I felt was a responsibility. And of course I do have what I think is a good work ethic.” Garland “Boge” Enberg, world War II Veteran
Garland “Boge” Enberg (above) served in the Navy from 1942 to 1945 in the Pacific on the USS Cumberland Sound in the Carrier Aircraft Service unit.
He was born in Ekalaka, Mont., in 1919 and has lived in Eastern Washington for most of his life. For 54 years, he has been a member of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 51 in Spokane.
He works at least 15 hours a week at Healthcare for the Homeless, where he manages a clothing bank and helps run of a day labor program. He also volunteers at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Spokane.
He has been honored by the Governor’s Veterans Affairs Advisory Committee with the Outstanding Veteran Volunteer award.
How war changed his life: The sense of responsibility that got him to enlist set the tone for a life of service to his community.
ADVENTURE
“I wanted adventure and I got it. We got to see interesting things. I rather enjoyed the fact that I saw a lot of Italy, France and Germany from the back of a GI truck. We got along as a group very well.” Edna Flage, retired Army nurse
Edna Flage, 84, (top) was a U.S. Army nurse from 1940 to 1944.
She grew up in rural Colorado. He father was a forest ranger.
The Army beckoned her because “I wanted to see the world and I didn’t want to get married and have babies right away.”
She served with the 95th Evacuation Army Hospital, a mobile tent unit that followed the advance of U.S. troops through North Africa, Italy, France and Germany.
During the war, she escaped in a lifeboat from a British hospital ship that was bombed Sept. 13, 1943, off the coast of Italy.
How war changed her life: She got her adventure and saw the world. When she returned home, she married, had a son and worked 22 years as a Veterans Affairs nurse in Spokane.
RIPPLES IN THE POND
“I would not at this point encourage my son to go into the military. I don’t see any real benefit to my son. In some ways, it’s actually a detriment. It’s not what it once was - a badge of honor.” Guy Lounsbury, Vietnam survivor
Guy Lounsbury, 52, (left and above) served in Vietnam from October 1967 to March 1969 with the Marines’ 2nd Combined Action Platoon.
In an explosion during combat on March 18, 1969, he lost both legs and most of his right hand.
He returned to the United States for intensive rehabilitation, graduated from college and has worked for the Department of Veterans Affairs ever since.
His job with the Spokane Veterans Affairs Medical Center is to “provide for outpatients anything that doesn’t come in a pill bottle.”
How war changed his life: He can’t play sports, go huckleberry picking, canoeing or camping with his beloved children, Kristin, 12, and Geoff, 10. “I am forever in a wheelchair, and that’s a very big change. But because I am a veteran, it opened doors to education. And I got a terrific job.”
PEACE
“We have conscientious objector status. If they call us, we wouldn’t refuse to serve, but we would refuse to bear arms. It was mentioned in the Old Testament, `An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.’ If somebody hurts you, you can hurt them back. But in the New Testament, you should love your enemies and turn the other cheek.” Philip Gross, 25, Hutterite
The Spokane Hutterian Brethren (top) live on a farm between Airway Heights and Reardan.
Their Christian religion preaches pacifism and does not allow members to kill or go to war.
But the Hutterites support the government, believing it’s ordained by God to maintain order.
About 60 people live on the Hutterite farm.
The Hutterites believe in a strict division between church and state, reflecting a belief in two kingdoms: the heavenly kingdom of God and the worldly kingdom of humans.
The Hutterites will not own firearms for the purposes of self-defense.
How war has changed their lives: Young Hutterite men register with the Selective Service. In the past, Hutterite men have served in non-combat roles during times of war.
NEXT GENERATION
“I’m scared to die. I’m scared of war. But it has to be done somebody has to do it. And I thought I was the one. And I had the mentality, so I decided to step up and serve my country. I’m very proud of myself for what I did.” Pvt. Justin Staab
Justin Staab, 19, (above and at left) is a U.S. Marine.
Stabb was valedictorian of the Lewiston High School class of 1999. He enlisted because the Marine Corps “would give me a lot of experience, make me stronger and help me to grow up and better my person.”
He recently finished boot camp in San Diego. It ended with the Crucible — 54 hours of constant physical and mental trials designed to test and strengthen the individual’s role within the platoon.
His father thought enlisting was OK. His mother was worried. His grandmother “went into a couple week prayer-fest trying to break me or something so I wouldn’t join.”
How war changed his life: He gave up college scholarships to “do his duty.”