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Harbor Springs resident ‘Moose’ Dunne recalls service in the Merchant Marines

Posted on September 20th, 2016

“My orders were to go to San Mateo and to report on Jan. 15, 1945,” Moose wrote. “My departure for WWII has one image fixed in my mind, that of my mother crying as she and father saw me off to war at the LaSalle Street railroad station.” By Tamara Stevens Maurice “Moose” F. Dunne turned 18 on Nov.… Read More

Carl Lewis: Petoskey WWII Veteran recalls service that earned him the Purple Heart

Posted on May 4th, 2016

By Tamara Stevens, Special to Emmet County Carl Lewis, Sr., wears his World War II commemorative jacket with pride. On the right side of the jacket’s front is an embroidered rendering of the Purple Heart, a medal given to soldiers who are wounded in battle. There’s a story that goes along with… Read More

Gordon Wiitanen: Purple Heart recipient has spent a lifetime in service to the US

Posted on February 18th, 2016

By Tamara Stevens, Special to Emmet County All of the World War II memorials in Washington, D.C., have something in common. Each memorial bears a degree of indebtedness to Gordon Wiitanen of Petoskey. Wiitanen personally has helped raise money for every WWII memorial, he said. “I’ve stood in grocery… Read More

Operation Injured Soldiers at Brave Hearts Estate in Pellston: ‘Taking care of our own’

Posted on January 21st, 2016

By Tamara Stevens Brave Hearts Estate is appropriately named. A project of Operation Injured Soldiers (OIS), the estate opened in August 2015 as a retreat center for veterans and their families. Located a few miles west of Pellston in central Emmet County, Brave Hearts Estate is an 8,000 square… Read More

Jon DuBay

Posted on November 11th, 2015

Jon DuBay: Keeping U.S. Army helicopters running during the Korean War

As a helicopter electrician in South Korea, it was Army E4-P Specialist Jonathan DuBay’s responsibility to ride with the pilot on the first flight after he repaired a grounded aircraft. “If I worked on a helicopter to fix it,… Read More

Dr. Richard McMurray, World War II

Posted on May 9th, 2015

Taking care of the wounded during WWII

By Tamara Stevens, Special to Emmet County
In the latter half of 1943, a young man with dreams of going to Europe and fighting for his country in World War II found out his future was being decided for him instead by military leaders. Richard McMurray would not be going… Read More

Gordon Hewitt, WWII Naval Pharmacist

Posted on April 10th, 2015

U.S. Naval Pharmacist enlisted after attack on Pearl Harbor

By Tamara Stevens
Special to Emmet County
There is a marble monument in the city of Clio, just north of Flint. The names of 14 young men are carved into the monument. One of those names is Gordon “Gordy” Hewitt. His sister, Luella,… Read More

Tom Frascone, Desert Storm

Posted on April 9th, 2015

Desert Storm veteran continues to save lives as Emmet County EMS paramedic

By Tamara Stevens
Special to Emmet County
Most Americans watched Desert Storm, the start of the Gulf War, unfold live on CNN television in 1990. Tom Frascone, 47, of Harbor Springs, former Lieutenant in the United States… Read More

Cecil Byrd, WWII, Korean War, Vietnam

Posted on March 10th, 2015

Army Air Corps & Air Force Veteran of three wars

“Cec Byrd is a pilot. From my earliest memories I picture him in his orange flight suit and silver wings. At 80 years of age, he flew a plane from Harbor Springs to Newberry just to take me to lunch. I have vivid memories of him that span more than 50 years… Read More

Craig Smolinski, Vietnam

Posted on December 10th, 2014

‘We were there because our country needed us’

By Beth Anne Piehl

Night time can be the toughest for war veterans. Dreams that put them back in the line of fire, amidst unthinkable tragedies and atrocities, are common — even 30, 40, 50 years later. “There’s a saying, that when Vietnam… Read More