Sean C. Morgan
The Jefferson post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Post 4065, inducted a 93-year-old World War II veteran from Sweet Home as a lifetime member on Nov. 30.
William “Bill” Bell joined the Army in 1944 and served as a truck driver.
“It’s something that had to be done,” Bell said of his military service. “ I did something that saved the world.”
“It’s an honor and a pleasure for me to be here,” said Post Commander Mo Wilson, whose father was a veteran of World War II and whose grandfather was a veteran of World War I.
Post 4065 had no World War II veterans left among its members, Wilson said. Bell becomes the post’s only World War II veteran.
“Bill is still leading the way,” Wilson said.
And at 93, “it’s very unusual,” he said.
Bell has been an annual member in the past, and he helped build the Sweet Home post, number 3437, said his sister Carol Janell Knox, president of the Post 4065 Auxiliary.
“I decided it was time he became a member of the post,” she said, turning to her brother and continuing. “I did this for you, for your 93rd birthday. I’m very proud to be your sister.”
Bell was a sharpshooter with the M1, and he served on Tinian Island, Knox said. “They found out he knew how to drive a truck, so they made him a truck driver.
“He told me years ago – he didn’t know it at the time but he helped load the (atomic) bomb on the (aircraft) Enola Gay that ended the war,” she said, referring to the bombing of Hiroshima.
Bell left the Army in 1946 as a corporal, earning the Asiatic Pacific Service Medal, the Good Conduct Medal and the Victory Medal.
Born in 1920, Bell moved from North Dakota to the Oregon coast, the Twin Rocks-Rockaway area, with his family in 1937. He moved to Sweet Home following his discharge and began logging with his brother-in-law, John Postma. He worked into his 70s, for Jim Stock, before deciding he needed to retire.
“I’m his youngest sister,” Knox said. “I took care of our parents for a number of years, and I just want to take care of these two (Bell and his wife, Verna).”
“I think it’s great getting the recognition he deserves,” said Bell’s son, Jack Bell. “They all do. They did it not for the recognition. They did it because it needed to be done. They did it to save their country. Our country was in danger, and we knew it.”