Bob Lane was prepared for an emotional gathering Saturday.
Seeing several fellow World War II veterans is always special, he admitted.
And Saturday marked the first time many of those who participated in a 2008 Honor Flight to the World War II Monument had been back together as a group in the 25 months since.
“But this is the day of days,” he gushed afterward.
For special reason.
Lane, denied an attempt to join the American Legion more than 65 years ago, became the newest member of Iola’s American Legion post Saturday.
Paying his membership fee was Dick Perkins the post’s adjutant, who heard Lane’s story at the conclusion of the gathering.
Lane served in the Army’s 837th Aviation Engineers Battalion, a segregated unit, during the War. The 837th was a part of the third wave of soldiers who invaded North Africa. The group also built a massive runway in Greenfield, S.C., while stateside.
But when Lane returned home to Kansas after the war, he was denied a membership into the American Legion.
Racism was still a part of America’s fabric in those days.
“Heck, not only could I not join the Legion, I couldn’t get in the back door,” Lane recalled.
So he and other colored soldiers formed their own legion, reuniting occasionally, but not to the extent other legionnaires did.
As he told the story Saturday, Perkins was a bit chagrined to hear the story.
“That was a different time. Let’s get this oversight fixed right now,” Perkins said, returning a few seconds later with a membership application.
Perkins filled out the bulk of the information. All that was required of Lane was his signature.
“I can’t believe this,” Lane said, between bouts of his unique folksy brand of incredulous laughter. “I wasn’t expecting this.”
LANE ALSO had a hand in the program itself, a series of slide shows accompanied by music prepared by former Iola mayor John McRae. McRae was among those who traveled with the World War II veterans on the Honor Flight. More importantly for Saturday’s spectators, McRae also recorded hundreds of pictures of the journey, which were shared.
The Honor Flight slide show was followed by several pictures saved by Lane recalling his time in the 837th.
The third and final portion was dedicated to the late Charley Turley, one of the war veterans who died in April 2009.
As Iola Commissioner Bill Shirley noted to the audience, Turley likely would have earned a Congressional Medal of Honor. But Congressional Medals only are awarded if an eyewitness account can be shared, Shirley explained. Turley’s was not because his fellow Marines had been killed in one particularly intense battle.
