NOVEMBER 1999 - Our Members Answered The Call: They Served Their Country At Home And Abroad And Returned To Serve the Public Here In Massachusetts - As we continue to profile members in our version of The Greatest Generation, this month we are featuring Helen Schmidt, Ronnie Hayes, and Tom Convery, all of whom came of age during the Great Depression and Second World War.

Helen Schmidt, of Jamaica Plain, was a teacher in the Boston School System when World War II broke out. Hearing that the Navy was looking for volunteers with a math background to serve as WAVEs (Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service), she signed up.

"I took a Navy exam, passed, and before I knew it, I was in Northampton for training," she said. "I was commissioned as an ensign and sent to the Naval Powder Center in Indian Head Maryland."

"Duty at Indian Head entailed testing gunpowder at different temperatures. The Navy was testing new gunpowder that could deliver greater range for the guns on their ships. They wanted to know how the gunpowder would work in various climates around the world," Schmidt said. "It was interesting duty....Needless to say no one was permitted to smoke."

Her next duty station was at the Newport Naval Hospital in Rhode Island where she felt her "greatest sense of fulfillment" during any period of her life.

"I was working with sailors who had suffered horrible wounds. Many had lost arms or legs and others had been blinded."

"I was helping those who had not completed high school to earn their equivalency certificates and college credits. Although many of those sailors were still in their teens, they were men in my eyes, not boys. Some couldn’t get out of bed, so their bed became their classroom. We taught right in the wards or wherever it was feasible."

"Some of these young men taught me a thing or two about life, and courage in the face of adversity. I probably got just as much out of our relationships as they did."

Schmidt feels that the GI Bill was one of the "greatest benefits" to come out of World War II. "Educationally, it opened the door for millions of ex-GIs. It closed the gap between the haves and have-nots in America," she said.

In 1946, Schmidt resumed her teaching career, but she was still on reserve status and when the Korean War broke out, she was called back into active duty.

"I was stationed at the Pentagon where I worked on statistics and the assigning of our ships and aviation units. Life in Washington was interesting. There was always the feeling you were at the center of the world’s activity."

When the Korean War ended,` Helen returned to Boston and went on to become head of the math department at Girls Latin High School from where she retired in 1977. Margaret Carroll was the headmaster at the time. Having combined active and reserve duty time of over 20 years in the Navy, she was also entitled to a military pension.

Helen has left Jamaica Plain which she "loved very much" and is now living in Osterville with her sister Dorothy Feeney. Dorothy’s husband Martin, who is deceased, was a former City of Boston elementary school principal.

"I don’t think we have enough discipline in the schools these days. Kids dress like they’re going to the beach. When I was teaching ,we had a Memorial Day assembly each May and if the boys didn’t wear a tie, they couldn’t attend. We also had a character education period each morning after saluting the flag... We taught the youngsters how to conduct themselves in society. Times have certainly changed," were some of Helen’s comments on education.

And has Helen read the Greatest Generation? "Yes I have. It was an excellent book. Tom Brokaw has always been a favorite with me. Every generation has its good and bad, but I think that ours was mostly good."

It was November 1942 and Ronnie Hayes, age 16, a junior at Taunton High School, couldn’t wait any longer. Using an altered birth certificate, he joined the Navy and was off to "fight the Japs."

After boot camp at Great Lakes Naval Training School, he was assigned to the USS Wichita as a gunners mate. He was soon in action in the South Pacific where the U.S. was slowly and methodically taking control from Japan.

Hayes had almost survived the Pacific war unscathed until Okinawa, the last island in a chain of islands to be taken before the pending invasion of Japan. In desperation, Japan unleashed a kamikaze attack on American warships. Most of the planes were shot down, but the few that did get through caused gruesome casualties among crew members, one of whom was Ronnie Hayes on the Wichita.

Hayes was hit with shrapnel in his back when a kamikaze exploded on contact. With a compound fracture of his vertebra and serious intestinal injuries Ronnie needed expert medical attention if he was to live.

His first operation took place on the Wichita itself before he could be transferred to the hospital ship USS Samaritan for a second operation. He was then flown to a MASH unit on Saipan where a surgeon from the states was "operating on bad cases."

"He took out several feet of my small intestine and performed a temporary colostomy. I never ate for almost three months, lived on intravenous glucose and went from 175 pounds to 95 pounds," said Hayes. "I had peritonitis real bad and they had trouble controlling the infection."

Further lengthy hospitalizations followed in Honolulu and Oakland, California where with the colostomy removed and now weighing 112 pounds, Ronnie took an "unauthorized" liberty before being sent to Chelsea Naval Hospital for nine additional operations over the next 14 months.

It was while at Chelsea that Ronnie met his future wife Barbara McDonald who worked for the telephone company. "I still only weighed 120 pounds when we were married on August 31, 1947. Being a Protestant and my wife a Catholic, we couldn’t get married in the church, so Father McGinnis married us in the rectory."

After his discharge the couple settled down in Winthrop, Barbara’s hometown, where Ronnie worked at several jobs including the Post Office while he earned his high school diploma and attended the Boston Business Institute on Commonwealth Ave.

In 1951, he began a career with the state’s DPW that lasted 31 years. "Before I retired as a principal planning engineer, I worked on many projects. Routes 128 and 495 were two of my most memorable. I immensely enjoyed my career and the many fine people who were with me at the DPW. Angelo Amato (State Retirement Board Member) was a good friend and a hard worker on behalf of the union."

The Hayes’ now divide their time between a cottage on Plymouth’s White Horse Beach, that was built by Ronnie’s father, and Bradenton, Florida from November to May. "We have a place at Sugar Creek Country Club Mobile Home Park near the Pittsburgh Pirates spring training camp. Any of my friends are always welcome to drop by if they are in the area," offered Ronnie. "We call it ‘God’s Waiting Room’." With three sons and 7 grandchildren the Hayes also have frequent visitors from within the family.

Ronnie Hayes closed the interview by saying, "This country has been good to me." While displaying massive scars on his stomach and back, he praised the V.A. Hospitals and the medical treatment he’s received. "I also receive a V.A. pension in addition to my state pension, which really helps," he mentioned.

Ronnie, after what you have been through, you deserve both pensions and then some. Typical of many members of this "Greatest Generation", you have never complained, but simply proudly displayed your Purple Heart and went on with your life.

"Because it was our duty." That was Tom Convery’s no nonsense explanation of why he left Medford High in his junior year the day after he turned 17 on February 15, 1943. "It was the duty of young men to serve their country in time of war," he added.

"I wanted to be a ball turret gunner on a B-17. I had visions of shooting down German planes over Europe. It would have been dangerous, but exciting."

Unfortunately, it was not meant to be. Upon completing basic training in Biloxi, Mississippi, Convery was sent to Fort Benning, Georgia for airborne training. But during paratroop jumps he injured his right knee and was immediately sent to Camp Meade, Maryland and to France as an infantry replacement.

While in France as a member of the 106th Infantry Division, he was assigned as a squad leader in Company L, 422 Regiment. Several of his friends were among those troops in the 106th that were captured in the Battle of the Bulge, but Company L was able to escape the fierce German counterattack.

Although his company saw considerable action as allied forces forged their way into Germany, it was the battle with the elements that sticks in his mind. "We were wet, cold, and exhausted from lack of sleep." Misery, more so than the Germans, typified the daily life of an infantryman. "Thank God for the American GI sense of humor and the ability to laugh at how miserable we were."

After being discharged in 1946,Convery returned to prep school and on to Fitchburg State College where he earned a degree in education. He landed a teaching job in Haverhill but it only lasted a few weeks. He had remained in the reserves and when the Korean War broke out he was called to active duty.

As it turned out, active duty lasted for 17 years. While in Korea he received a direct commission from technical sergeant to second lieutenant. After returning to the states, he found that military life appealed to him and he remained on active duty until 1967, long enough to earn a pension. Now it was time to return to teaching.