Bismarck Tribune - North Dakota News - WWII vet publishes autobiography

WWII vet publishes autobiography

Apr 14, 2008 - 04:05:05 CDT

CONWAY, Ark. (AP) - Omer Lemire, a World War II veteran and witness to the Holocaust, sold the first copies of his newly published autobiography at his well-attended 93rd birthday party.

Lemire has been "writing down his memories" since the 1970s, niece Kathy Valdez of Oregon said. Over the last few years, Valdez and Lemire have worked to edit and compile the writings into a book, "Badlands, Birdhouses and Battlefields: The Memories of Omer Lemire."

The Conway resident turned 93 last month.

The book begins with an account of Lemire's birth on March 30, 1915, in a sod shack in the North Dakota Badlands. Born seven weeks premature, Lemire was wrapped in flannel and placed in a size-7 shoebox on the open door of the family's cook stove to keep warm.

His family would face the hardships of the Great Depression, dust bowl, plagues of grasshoppers and the Great Influenza Epidemic of 1919, but his parents, George and Evelina Lemire, kept the family's spirits high.

"They always said, 'We may go hungry, but we'll keep our spirits up as long as we have music in our house,'" Lemire writes.

Lemire joined the United States Army in the mid-1930s, and visited Conway with a fellow soldier and Conway native. Here he met his future wife, Jackie. He was discharged in 1938, he writes, and "went straight to Conway where I asked Jackie to marry me."

The couple had two sons by November 1942, when Lemire was drafted. Due to his previous service he was immediately made a sergeant, instructing troops on close order drill at Camp Fannin in Texas and being placed in charge of the firing range there.

As World War II was winding down, Lemire's company commander proposed that the two ask to be transferred to the European Theater of Operations.

"How many had we trained and sent into battle only to be killed?" he writes. "Neither of us knew what war really was. We felt like hypocrites."

By January of 1945, Lemire was on his way to Europe aboard a captured Italian luxury liner converted into a troop ship. He was assigned to Gen. George S. Patton's 3rd Army as a combat engineer and tasked with bridging rivers.

The last bridge his unit built was over a tributary of the Danube River in Germany, a few miles southwest of the Dachau concentration camp. In early May, 1945, Lemire's unit was urged to visit the newly liberated Dachau camp in order to be a witness to the atrocity for their children and grandchildren.

"I believed that we would be witnessing a historical event," he writes, "but had not idea what I was about to experience. This singular event changed me for the rest of my life.

"Across a fence we could see piles of what looked like bodies in stacks like cords of wood about five feet high and 15 feet long. ... This first sighting was so traumatic that some of us vomited. Some of us had seen dead people before, but not like this."

Using a "liberated" camera, Lemire took about a dozen photos, some of which are reprinted in the book. The original photos are housed at the University of Central Arkansas Archives.

"I wanted this recorded for history and to show that I had actually witnessed this madness," he writes.

To this day, Lemire suffers from flashbacks and recurring nightmares of Dachau.

UCA Archivist Jimmy Bryant uses Lemire's photos in teaching an American History class. While attending Lemire's birthday party Sunday, Bryant said Lemire is one of Conway's treasures and a vital link to events "separated from us now by time and distance."

"A lot of the time, when you talk about this, people imagine it happening to someone far, far away," Bryant said. "When I show my students Mr. Lemire's photos and tell them that he lives only a few blocks away, it brings it closer; it makes it more real for them."

Lemire's 88 year-old brother, Ed Lemire of St. George, Utah and also a World War II veteran, attended the birthday party.

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Comments

Kathy Valdez wrote on Apr 28, 2008 1:56 AM:

" If anyone would like to purchase a copy of my Uncle Omer's book which I helped him write and now distribute for him, please contact me: Kathy Valdez, PO box 211
Mt. Angel, OR. 97362 "

Dorothy Holt (Niece) wrote on Apr 15, 2008 10:52 PM:

" I am proud to see my Uncle Omer has finally written his story for all to read. For those who find his life interesting I would suggest you search out my Aunt Eleanor's writing also. Her story lines about the our family are also historical facts. My mother was Uncle Omer's oldest sister and surrogate mother Helen. She loved listening to her family play music. They all played multiple instruments.

Way to go Uncle Omer... Keep it up. "

REX wrote on Apr 14, 2008 4:03 PM:

" Thanks, Omer. My dad was an Army Air Corp Vet, I think the 380th Heavy Bombardment Group (gotta look it up). B-24 Gunner, 27 missions, Pacific Theatre. He took the GI Bill and got a degree in journalism. He worked PR all his life. I used to beg him to write about the war, I'm a history freak you see. Back in the sixties he said "no", it hadn't been long enough. In the seventies and eighties he said, "no", been too long. In 1980 my dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer. I told him, "It's now or never." He wrote. At the time he was taking a short story writing class at American University in Washington D.C. A group of people published their short stories in a paper back form at their own expense.. I have two copies, onw signed by my dad and the other by the rest of the authors. Not all of it is about the war. I would be willing to share it with you if you wish. It is precious to me. "

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