Putting war in the rearview mirror

ON THE FRONT LINE: Daughter Kim poses with Richard and Betty Seelnacht. Seelnacht’s birthday falls on Veterans Day, a day that carries more significance every year for the Elgin man. Photo/AMBER GLAZE

Seelnacht’s birthday falls on Veterans Day, a day that carries more significance every year for the Elgin man.

Seelnacht, who turned 83 this Veterans Day, was a foot soldier at Omaha Beach in World War II. He had volunteered for the Army at age 17.

He was a second scout at the division line. In other words, he was shooting and being shot at in close proximity. 

Seelnacht’s first overwhelming war memory was seeing the piles of dead soldiers near the frontline.

“I was very sick for a while after seeing that,’’ he says. “Then I said, ‘Let’s do this.’”

Seelnacht was on the front line in WWII combat for about eight months. He remembers the very moment the war ended.

“The last remaining enemies just started running for their lives,’’ he says.

Through it all, he survived with only one artillery wound to the knee.

“I was promised a Purple Heart, but never got it,” he says.

When the war ended there were only a dozen soldiers left in his outfit.

Seelnacht was in the 100th Infantry Division, which held off the elite SS Panzer Unit at Bitche, France. He was awarded the Bronze Star recently for his acts of heroism and meritorious achievement.

Seelnacht was discharged April 13, 1946. He then went to school and graduated from Maritime school as a marine engineer. He was glad to be done with the war.

Seelnacht has lived on a ranch in Elgin since 1969 with his wife, Betty. He is from Pittsburgh, Pa. He retired in 1987 after 37 years of life at sea.

“I would go out to sea and not return for a year at a time,”  he says. “Going to sea was a good life, and I enjoyed rebuilding pumps and engines.”

He hauled oil from Saudi Arabia to Army bases and everything else from grains to jet fuel to and from India, Austria, Russia, Pakistan and Holland, to name a few.

Life at sea consisted of 12-hour work days, seven days a week. There were about 33 crew members on a 700-foot tanker/ freight boat. The sailors occupied their time watching the same movies over and over, but Seelnacht says he also read a lot.

“You would not believe some of those storms in the ocean,” he says. “I would grip the ledge of the bed all night sometimes just not to fall.”

For fun the sailors would get coffees and smokes at night and talk under the vibrant night skylights.

“There were a lot of sharks around the Indian Ocean. We would drag a line and catch a 20-foot shark, cut it open, throw it back in and let the other sharks come up for lunch.”

His life at sea presented a challenge for Betty and the kids.

“I had four kids and didn’t know a soul when we moved to Elgin,” she says.

The day after arriving in Elgin, her husband was called out for a year.

Seelnacht discovered Eastern Oregon as he was parting waters up the Columbia River.

“I kept looking at the setting and it reminded me of Pennsylvania, just not as crowded. So we moved out here,” he says.

Prior to living in Oregon, the Seelnachts lived in California on a property with 32 avocado trees. He told his girls he would get them a horse up in Oregon, and they said, “Let’s go!”

Seelnacht is a child of the Great Depression. He was raised on a small farm, so the family never went hungry. His father was laid off from his job as a master mechanic. Part of his ambition comes from a saying he still remembers from his father, “You have to have a trade. You have to educate yourself or you’ll end up in the coal mines.”

He remembers the Depression well, even as a kid. He says Franklin Roosevelt turned the economy around.

He still recalls references to what was known as “the Hoover Blanket” — a reference to when when people slept on park benches and used a newspaper as a blanket. Now, he says, “Soon it will be the Bush Blanket.”

Seelnacht has not thought much about the Army days until lately. His son asked him to get his “Sons of Bitche” (France) official card so he could keep it along with all his dad’s other awards. A “Son of Bitche” is a high compliment from a comrade.

Seelnacht’s story was brought to light in the April edition of the 100th Infantry Division Association Newsletter.

The Seelnachts have four children and four grandchildren.