Page 6 - Aerotech News and Review, Nov. 3 2017

‘Ochsner Day’ declared for D-Day veteran
by Dennis Anderson
special to Aerotech News and Review
LANCASTER, Calif.—The thing was, at 94 years old, and on the mend from some pretty seri- ous surgery, Henry Ochsner, (CQ) of California City, really did not much feel like getting out of bed.
His four great daughters, and his wife, Violet, were being persuasive as possible. Wouldn’t he please put his World War II vintage Eisenhower “Ike” jacket on so that he would present well for “picture day?”
Ochsner did, ultimately, put on his “Ike” jacket, the one with the medals on it. And he did don a very particular black baseball cap. The one that says “Co. E, 101st Airborne Division, 506th Para- chute Infantry Regiment.”
It was a little more than “picture day” at a skilled nursing facility near downtown Lancaster. From a distance of around 40 miles, it was “Henry Ochsner Day” in California City, but that extended all the way into Lancaster where Och-
sner was recuperating.
California City Mayor Jennifer A. Wood read
the Proclamation of “Henry Ochsner Day” into the record, with the appropriate “Whereas” pre- amble.
In a real way, it was “Henry Ochsner Day” anywhere in the world where people prize their liberty and freedom.
Ochsner, in or out of bed, presides as a surviv- ing member of the company that was nicknamed the “Band of Brothers,” in the Stephen Ambrose book, and the Emmy Award-winning HBO mini- series that was produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks.
Heading on a vector well past his 90th birth- day, Ochsner remained as determined Saturday as when he climbed aboard a C-47 “Gooney Bird” transport plane, headed for the French coast at Normandy on D-Day.
Ochsner had shed his origins in a glider infan- try regiment because he didn’t like a crash landing his unit mostly walked away from during a train- ing mission in England.
“A first sergeant came over and asked us if anyone wanted to be a paratrooper, and I said, ‘I’ll go. Take me,’” Ochsner said during a recent interview.
So, Ochsner jumped into the D-Day fray, but did it the way he wanted to, “standing on my own two feet.”
It will never be forgotten what 101st Airborne paratrooper Ochsner and his “Band of Brothers” did on D-Day, through the siege of Bastogne, and all the way to Adolf Hitler’s “Eagles Nest” alpine retreat.
He was among those who could — for the rest of their lives — say that they were the ones who ended Nazi tyranny and brought World War II to a close with the unconditional surrenders of all the Axis forces they had defeated.
The government of France remembers. On Sept. 18 at the National Cemetery in Westwood, Calif., Ochsner was awarded the highest honor the nation of France can bestow, Chevalier (Knight) of the Legion of Honor.
Ochsner’s wife and family were there, along with Kirk Milton, the family friend who escorted Ochsner in France at the 70th anniversary of the D-Day invasion at Normandy.
“Boy, if you can just imagine, the stories he had to tell,” Milton said.
It was not long after Sept. 18 when Ochsner was honored by the French Consul General that he was injured, changing a tire.
“He never should have been changing a tire, but that is dad,” said one of his four daughters, Sandra Ochsner Ahrens.
The tire change accident put Ochsner into the hospital, and a stint in rehab, and he is on the mend.
On Oct. 21, just a little over a month after re-
Courtesy photograph
World War II “Band of Brothers” paratrooper Henry Ochsner looks at his honors with daughter Sandra Ahrens Ochsner.
ceiving the honors of France, Ochsner was a little grumpy about leaving his recovery bed and put- ting on the old “Ike” jacket with his decorations, including the Legion of Honor.
In the community room of the Ellison John Transitional Care Center, Mayor Wood was wait- ing, along with a representative for State Sen. Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, and State Assembly- man Tom Lackey, R-Palmdale, who represents California City in the state Legislature.
It has been a year of honors for Ochsner: The
Legion of Honor, and a luncheon at High Desert Medical Group to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Henry and Violet Ochsner’s marriage after World War II.
About two dozen friends and relatives waited in the community room, which was festooned with red,white and blue bunting, and Activities Direc- tor Misty Montagna (CQ) had a poem that she composed in Ochsner’s honor. Her poem honored all veterans, but there was an illustration on it of the end of World War II in Europe, that depicted the “Band of Brothers” paratroopers taking a rest break atop Adolf Hitler’s mountain retreat, the Eagles Nest.
There was a big cake, too.
Ochsner’s wife of 70 years, Violet, walked out behind the wheelchair, and she was joined by all the daughters, Sandra, Lenelle, Susie and Jackie.
Also waiting for him among the friends was the Rev. Ron Sparks, the Ochsner family’s pastor, and a career Army Reserve chaplain, joined by Matt Jackson, a Navy veteran who commands Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3225 in Palmdale. Seeing Ochsner, wearing his “Ike” jacket and ball cap with the 101st Airborne Division’s “Screaming Eagle” insignia, Jackson teared up.
“It’s just such an honor to meet you, sir,” Jack- son said. “An honor and a privilege.”
Ochsner teared up a bit also, and at first, seemed a bit overwhelmed.
Mayor Wood read the California City procla- mation, and Richard Cook, representing Lackey and Wilk, presented Ochsner with a flag flown over the state Capitol.
“We just want to thank you, and honor you for what you have done.”
Ochsner jumped on D-Day, and also in Hol- land, for Operation Market Garden, a massive airborne operation intended to end the war by Christmas, 1944. But when that did not work out, Oschner spent Christmas in a Belgian city called Bastogne, surrounded by Nazi forces that demanded their surrender. But that also never happened. The response to the surrender demand from a 101st Airborne commander was “Nuts.”
“We got into Bastogne in anything that rolled,” Ochsner said. “I rode on a DUKW.” The amphibi- ous vehicle, pronounced “Duck” was among the rolling convoy that put the 101st Airborne into Bastogne where they succeeded in holding the
See VETERAN, Page 7
November 3, 2017
Henry Ochsner was one of 10 U.S. World War II veterans honored by France Sept. 19 at the National Cemetery in Los Angeles. The 10 GIs were honored by the French government for their World War II service and awarded The National Order of The Legion of Honor in the Rank of Chevalier (Knight). This is the highest honor France bestows on it’s citizens and foreign nationals.
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Photograph courtesyof the French Consulate, Los Angeles