Approaching the 83rd anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack on Saturday, some families in Durango are feeling pressure to preserve their ancestor’s World War II legacies before they are lost to time.
According to the National WWII Museum in New Orleans, 66,143 of the 16.4 million Americans who served in World War II are alive as of 2024. Fewer than 7,000 World War II veterans are projected to survive to 2030.
American Legion Trujillo-Sheets Post 28 Sr. Vice Cmdr. Ryan Williams in Durango said he is in the process of digitizing letters and photographs by his late grandfather, Frank Alfred Colley, who served in the U.S. Army in military intelligence in the Pacific theater of World War II.
Colley died in 2009 at age 94, Williams said. Military service runs deep in the family. Williams’ father also served in World War II, Williams himself served in the U.S. Army, and Williams’ son is currently serving in the Army.
Williams said it is up to him to preserve and share his grandfather’s story for posterity. When he’s ready, he plans to take his grandfather’s digitized records to the Durango Public Library where they will be accessible to the public.
Williams said he relates to his grandfather’s accounts of basic training. Modern military rituals and routines aren’t all that different from those of the 1940s.
Likewise, said he understood his grandfather’s reservations about joining the armed forces because he felt the same at one point or another.
Anybody who goes through basic training will experience moments of apprehension or nervousness, he said. Knowing one can’t just quit or walk away doesn’t help the feeling.
“What’s happened here? What have I done? Is this a gigantic mistake?” he said.
He said he never saw combat during his time in the military, but his experience still made him who he is. Reviewing his grandfather’s memorabilia made him appreciate service all the more.
“(Service) really manned me up in a good way,” he said. “But it made me really go, ‘I hope we don’t put anybody else (through) this again. … It made me very conscious as a family member and a veteran that I really hope we can avoid doing this again.”
Colley volunteered for the armed forces after Japanese forces launched their surprise attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941. The attack, which caused over 3,500 casualties, was the catalyst for America’s foray into World War II.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt famously called the day of the attack “a date of infamy,” a moniker that has stuck, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.
Colley was a game warden for what is now Colorado Parks and Wildlife and a volunteer firefighter in Steamboat where his parents homesteaded and his mother founded a library when Pearl Harbor was attacked, Williams said. He had a 2-year-old daughter and his wife was pregnant. She gave birth to their second daughter 20 days later on Dec. 27, 1941.
Colley knew he was about to be drafted, Williams said, so he beat the government to it and signed up voluntarily.
“I am the end of the Colley line,” he said. “... I’m really wrestling with this: How do I memorialize his stuff? He did so many amazingly cool things.”
In addition to serving the public as a game warden, firefighter and member of the armed forces, Colley was a “brilliant” photographer, Williams said.
During the war, Colley photographed the United States Flag raising on the Japanese island of Okinawa, he said. The occasion was reminiscent of the iconic flag raising on Iwo Jima by U.S. Marines atop Mount Suribachi immortalized in film.
Williams said he has 40- to 50-year-old photos his grandfather took that must be stored in a cool environment for preservation. If he doesn’t record the photos and slides, they’ll end up in a landfill and the public will be none the wiser.
“There’s very few World War II vets even alive right now,” he said. “... The family is struggling with that.”
Durango Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4031 Cmdr. David Latham said Americans voluntarily choose to serve in the armed forces today, but the luxury of choice was not always an option.
“Back then, when they were called to go off and do that duty, they did it. They left everything behind,” he said. “... They were leaving their friends and family behind. They were leaving their jobs behind. They were leaving children behind. It was a big sacrifice to make.”
He said it’s an honor to have people willing to sacrifice their lives to fight tyranny and stand up for their beliefs.
On Tuesday, Durango Mayor Jessika Buell recognized Dec. 14 as Wreaths Across America Day, a day to honor deceased veterans with wreaths placed on their graves.
Blue Star Mothers of America Durango Chapter President Jill Williams said a police escort will leave Santa Rita Park at 9:30 a.m., continue past Fassbinder Park and up Cemetery Road to Greenmount Cemetery for a 10 a.m. ceremony on Dec. 14.
After the ceremony, wreaths will be laid across military graves at the cemetery.
cburney@durangoherald.com
