- Last Updated on Thursday, 29 October 2015 18:13
By Michael P. Mauer
When World War II veterans Earl Birdy and Andy Yatsko get together on the last Thursday of each month at the Thompson Run Athletic Association on Ball Avenue in West Mifflin for their Veterans of Foreign Wars meetings, they are keeping up a long tradition of being at the same place at the same time.
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| From left to right, members of West Mifflin Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 914 Intrepid Earl Birdy, Andy Yatsko and James W. Leerberg. All three men served on the island of Guam in 1945 during World War II. |
A tradition of more than 70 years, that is.
Both veterans were stationed on the small, western Pacific Ocean island of Guam in August 1945. Yatsko served there as a Navy Seabee with the 144th Naval Construction Battalion, while Birdy was attached to the Marine Third Amphibious Corps.
Although the two Post 914 members arrived on Guam after most of the heavy fighting had ended, they weren’t exactly basking away on an island paradise. While the battle to take control of the key outpost had effectively ended by August, 1944, a number of Japanese soldiers refused to surrender and continued fighting.
“We were charged with going on patrol and coaxing out as many Japanese who were hiding on Guam as possible,” said Birdy. “Most were very cooperative. We’d put them on transports and help them back to Japan.”
Following his service on Guam, Birdy was transferred to the First Division, Sixth Marines, based in Tianjin, China. After leaving the Marines, he attended and graduated Slippery Rock University. As a Seabee, Yatsko worked on Guam as a metal smith and a welder, helping repair buildings and vehicles. He said he has found memories of his year-long tour there.
“What I remember most are the guys that I worked with,” said Yatsko. ‘We had a very good outfit.”
Yatsko served in both the active Navy and the reserves until he was honorably discharged in 1954. He worked for the National Biscuit Company as a warehouse foreman for nearly 50 years before retiring in 1993.
Both men are long-time residents of the Mon Valley and each raised their families here. Birdy and his wife, Shirley, recently celebrated their 63rd wedding anniversary in July. Yatsko has been married to his spouse, Anna Mae, since 1947.
Yatsko and Birdy each serve as officers in VFW Post 914. The former Seabee functions as both the Distressed Comrades Committee Chairman and Advocate General, while Birdy is a Post Trustee. Despite their ages, each takes his duties with the VFW seriously and both are rarely absent from meetings.
The two West Mifflin veterans who served on Guam in 1945 used to be a trio. Former Post member James W. Leerberg was stationed on the island at the same time as a captain in the Army Corps of Engineers. He died at the age of 95 this past August.
For more information about VFW Post 914 and its activities, contact Commander Jake Bradich at: 412-464-9838.
