WWII veteran talks about flat feet, unlearned lessons and turning 104
Days away from turning 104, Vernon Ricks couldn't figure it out.
Sitting in his wheelchair on Wednesday, wearing a World War II veteran's cap, flannel shirt and sweat pants, the Thousand Oaks resident thought about the 27 months he spent in the western Pacific, brushes with mortality and battles fought in the Philippines and elsewhere. People praise the sacrifices he and others made. They say he was part of the greatest generation ever.
And yet Ricks, who spends much of his days watching the news, thinks of all the wars and conflict that followed — in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq. He thinks of the turmoil in Gaza and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It frustrates him.
“We’re so messed up,” he said. “I don’t know if all the wars we’ve done have helped our country. I don’t see that it helps.”
Ricks is also puzzled by the focus on his birthday. Born in Glendale on April 16, 1920, when Woodrow Wilson was president, he'll celebrate two days early on Sunday when a drive-by parade is scheduled in his honor. Veterans, friends and police officers are expected to honk their horns when they pass the senior care home where he resides.
Ricks will be with his son and other family members in a driveway decorated with balloons and signs. He's not sure why he’s being singled out or if he really deserves the attention. Still, he’ll likely be smiling ear to ear.
“He’s always smiling,” said Tracy Varnell, assistant administrator for the Select Senior Living care home company. She organized the parade. “He’s the sweetest, kindest and most humble man you’ll ever meet.”
Flat-footed gunner
He grew up in Burbank. His father was an actor who appeared in silent movies, mostly westerns. Ricks was a track athlete who graduated from high school in 1938. He landed a job X-raying aircraft parts for Lockheed.
Ricks was 22 when he was drafted by the Army. He was certain he would fail the physical because of feet as flat as wooden planks. He was wrong.
“They didn’t even look at it,” he said with a laugh. Instead Ricks was sent to basic training in North Carolina and then on a ship to Australia and the Pacific theater of the war. He remembers shuddering when an officer told the troops it might be five years before they returned.
“Five years was my whole youth,” he said. “An eternity.”
He was an anti-aircraft gunner who learned to use radar to track down Japanese aircraft. He was part of a battalion that journeyed across the islands that separate Australia from the Philippines. He was in battles in New Guinea and the island of Luzon. He was on the beach in the Philippines when Gen. Douglas MacArthur landed and declared the country had been liberated from the Japanese.
“I have returned,” MacArthur said.
On one island, Ricks woke up to find a strange looking object on top of a sandbag. It turned out to an explosive device that didn’t explode.
“It was from here to there,” he said, pointing just yards away. “If that had gone off, I wouldn’t be here.”
Germany surrendered in May 1945, days after Adolf Hitler killed himself. Japan surrendered in September after the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Unlearned lessons
Ricks was diagnosed with malaria on the ship that took him back to the states. He was awarded honors that include two Bronze Stars and a ribbon for being part of the liberation of the Philippines. He thinks the lessons brought by the death and destruction of global war were forgotten far too soon.
“We didn’t learn a nickel’s worth,” he said.
But some of the change was dramatic. Ricks was born in 1920, the same year the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote. The war propelled millions of them into the workforce. He remembers coming back from the Pacific and realizing roles had changed. He thought it was amazing and needed.
Ricks spent 25 years working for the film processing company, Technicolor, in the Los Angeles area, moving later to Carlsbad. He was married three times and has a son, Randy, who lives in Thousand Oaks and visits his father nearly every day.
In 2021, at age 101, Ricks was receiving a COVID vaccine in Carlsbad. He was asked if he was interested in an honor flight dedicated to older veterans. He was.
The veterans were flown from San Diego to Washington, D.C., to visit the war memorials. Ricks was escorted by his son who served in the Navy in the Vietnam War. When they returned to San Diego, the airport was packed with people ready to honor the veterans.
“There were hundreds of people lined on both side. People are just cheering and applauding. It was a touching moment," Randy Ricks said.
His father isn’t sure the attention is merited. Others are. They worry about an era that is dying.
“We’re losing the greatest generation,” said Dylan Hull, owner of Senior Select Living. Sitting in the patio of the care home where Ricks resides, Hull spoke directly to the veteran. “We’re losing the patriotism you infused in our country.”
Ricks, who is politically conservative, isn’t sure his generation is better than any other. But he agrees something is vanishing as new conflicts emerge and more people across the world die in wars. That endangered entity is common sense.
“I don’t understand how we lost that so quickly,” he said.
People interested in the drive-by birthday parade will meet up at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, April 14, in the lower-level outdoor parking lot at Los Robles Regional Medical Center, adjacent to the corner of Lynn and Janss roads in Thousand Oaks. The parade will begin at 11 a.m. and pass by the Select Senior Living home at 1959 Hendrix Ave.
Tom Kisken covers health care and other news for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at tom.kisken@vcstar.com.
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This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: World War II vet thought flat feet might keep him out of the war
