When Lake County attorney Dave Winer learned about the local inauguration of the Veteran History Project of the Library of Congress he immediately told the organizers about a Highland Park World War II vet who should be included.
Winer paid a visit to the home of Fred Ruben, Winer’s former football coach at Sullivan High School in Chicago, about 15 years ago when he saw a picture of the Nuremberg trials where 21 Nazis were tried for war crimes. Ruben was in it.
Placed in a large frame, Winer said the picture was surrounded by autographs signed by the defendants.
“This is a piece of history. This is beyond belief,” Winer said. “Dude, you have to include him,” he added referring to the initial gathering of veterans who would tell their stories to ether an attorney or judge while it was recorded verbatim by a court reporter.
The 11th annual Veterans History Project gathering takes place Nov. 11 at the Lake County courthouse in Waukegan where preregistered military veterans will tell their stories which will be transcribed by a court reporter and archived in the Library of Congress.
Kasey Morgan, the court’s assistant director of judicial operations and public information officer, said veterans who want to participate in this year’s event should apply by Nov. 3. The forms are available on the court’s website.
Retired Lake County Judge John J. Scully, who spent over 29 years either on active or reserve duty with the United States Navy retiring as a captain, fought in Vietnam and is the son of a World War II veteran. He wishes his father’s story was recorded.
“He was on a ship off Okinawa when the kamikaze pilots were flying,” Scully said. “He wasn’t hit but he talked about it. Ernie Pyle was on the ship. Everybody has a story. It would be nice if we could capture them all.”
Scully was one of three judges — all military veterans — who brought the project to Lake County in 2012. The other two were retired Judge Michael J. Fusz, who was a naval intelligence officer in the reserves for 20 years, and current Judge Michael B. Betar, who was a marine.
Morgan said while all veterans are welcome to participate, there is an emphasis on World War II vets because there are fewer and fewer of them left to share their stories. A person who was 18 the year the war ended in 1945 would be 95 today.
“It’s important for future generations to understand the realities of war,” Morgan said. “That generation was our greatest generation and they are slipping away.”
Starting with a breakfast for the veterans, their families and members of the legal community, Morgan said each vet goes to a courtroom where a judge or attorney prompts them to tell their story before a court reporter.
Winer, who has immersed himself in World War II history, said he has interviewed veterans since the program began in Lake County. He brought three to the initial session including Ruben and his father, Harold Winer, also Second World War vet.
Getting a chance to look closely at Ruben’s memento from the Nuremberg trials, Winer said he saw picture of the people there surrounded by autographs of the defendants including Hermann Goring, Rudolph Hess and Rudolph Streicher.
“He was one of the guards,” Winer said of Ruben. “He was assigned to guard Streicher who was hanged. He would bring him to the courtroom each day. Each guard got index cards and was told to get as many autographs as they could. When they got together in the lunch room, they realized there were enough for everyone to have one of each.”
Scully said he has interviewed a number of veterans including Joe Stack who was at Iwo Jima, and another vet who was a gunner’s mate in the Navy heading to Cuba during the Cuban missile crisis and was assigned to the presidential yacht when John F. Kennedy was president.
“Stack left school at 17 to fight in the war,” Scully said. “He went to Tilden Tech in Chicago. He never graduated. Later they have him an honorary diploma.”
