Automatically charge your monthly subscription to your checking or credit card account through Easy Pay. Make Life A Little Easier... Top County and Local News, Exclusive Local Weekly and Monthly Features, Comics, American Profile and More! E asy P ay Simple • Safe • Secure The easy way to pay your Press & Dakotan bill. E asy P ay Today Today Today Subscribe Subscribe Subscribe 319 Walnut St., Yankton, SD 57078 www.yankton.net 605-665-7811 1-800-743-2968 P RESS & Y ANKTON D AILY D AKOTAN And SAVE Over The Newsstand Price! first met Wayne Barham 44 years ago, in Springfield, S.D. Classes were just beginning at what was then known as Southern State College (SSC). I was a new in- structor, there, in the Social & Behavioral Sciences de- partment. Mr. Barham was a veteran — in more ways than one! Wayne had begun his teaching stint at Springfield two years earlier, in 1967. I was at once impressed with his rather bombastic personality and great laugh. I soon learned that he was one of the most popular and effective teachers at SSC. He loved to talk, to give speeches and generally hold forth wherever there was an audience and, unlike so many others, he always had something to say! As evidence of this, in 1972, Wayne was selected to be the only “on-campus” commencement speaker. His book, “A Spar- row Among the Bluebirds,” appeared on the shelf in 2004 and that’s when I found a copy — in Hy-Vee! Today, you can find a copy at the Yankton Community Library, While it’s essentially a biography, a “slightly embellished” one according to Wayne, Part Two of the book takes the reader back to his experience in WWII as a rifleman in K Company, Ninth Marines. It’s an eye- opener, folks! Randy Dockendorf, of the PRESS & DAKOTAN, interviewed Wayne for Veteran’s Day article a few years back. It’s a great inter- view and we proudly reprint it, here, for this tribute to veterans. DOUG SALL ——— BY RANDY DOCKENDORF Wayne Barham received three Purple Hearts during World War II, but he doesn’t see himself as heroic. “I wasn’t a hero, I was just a survivor,” he said. “There were things that others did for me (in battle) that I would do for them in a minute.” The Springfield man saw some of the heaviest combat in the South Pacific as a member of K Company, 3rd Battalion of the 9th Regiment, U.S. Marine Corps. On today’s Veteran’s Day, Barham doesn’t dwell on him- self or his injuries. Instead, he asks: Why did I get to live when so many around me were killed? “I wonder so often and think back to all those who were killed,” he said. “They were so young. For so many of them, their lives ended when they were 18. I feel so guilty that I’m alive.” Barham was injured on three different occasions. He suf- fered shrapnel wounds, felt a bullet graze his head, was blinded, lost part of his hearing — and survived it all. “I have been blind out of my right eye since 1944,” he said. “A Japanese hand grenade landed in my face. I was blind for three months. They got my sight back in my left eye, and my vision was saved in Philadelphia. In my right eye, I had a sev- ered optic nerve. That’s the only thing they can’t repair in your eye.” Barham survived shrapnel wounds in both legs, suffered in a mortar shell barrage on his first night ashore in combat. “They took me to a hospital ship to remove the shrapnel,” he said. “They were out of painkillers, so they gave me a wooden tongue depressor that I could bite.” After recovering from the wounds, Barham was sent back into combat. “If that happened today, they would just send you home,” he said. “But they sent me back to my outfit.” Barham endured other close calls during his two years in the South Pacific. One time, a mortar shell landed 10 feet from him but didn’t go off in the mud. Another time, nearly a dozen bullets zinged right next to him. On another occasion, Barham was walking on a mountain- side in Guam when he heard a click to his left — and turned to stare into the eyes of a Japanese soldier. “I could reach out and touch him. He had a pistol in my face,” he said. “But Bob Mentzer shot him and saved my life. I’ll never forget Bob. He was from Grand Island, Neb. He sur- vived Guam but was killed at Iwo Jima.” The company commander, Capt. Crawford from North Dakota, was also killed at Iwo Jima, Barham said. Every one of the K Company officers were killed or injured in that cam- paign, he said. “Capt. Crawford was propped up against a rock, trying to read a map,” Barham said. “Then he slumped and was quiet. He had been shot through the head.” On a personal level, Barham was perhaps affected the most by the loss of his good friend, Jack Rich of Springfield. Rich enjoyed playing pranks, setting up an unsuspecting Barham. One time at the Palladium in Hollywood, Rich an- nounced he was cutting in on a large sailor to dance with his girl. “Jack walked up and pushed the sailor away, and the girl gave Jack a big hug and a kiss,” Barham said. “She was from back home in Springfield.” At Guadalcanal, Barham and Rich were serving with 16,000 to 18,000 men in their division. The camp consisted of one big coconut grove with six-man tents. Rich announced he was going to kick a major in his rear end, then walked into the tent and addressed the officer — who was a friend from Tyndall. The unit hit Guam in July 1944, and Rich’s life was cut short when he was killed in battle. However, he continued to influence Barham, who decided to complete college in Rich’s hometown of Springfield. Barham had attended the University of Illinois for three years, then finished his degree in 1950 at Southern State Col- lege in Springfield. After college, Barham taught and coached at Springfield High School and at Rhinelander, Wis. He was also a football coach at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake, Iowa. Barham earned his masters degree in guidance and coun- seling from South Dakota State University in Brookings. He was working as a counselor at Mitchell High School when he re- ceived a call asking if he wanted to fill an opening at SSC’s edu- cation department. He accepted, teaching at the Springfield college from 1967 until it closed in 1984. During the last five years, he served as head of the education department. Barham’s wife, Dorothy, PRESS & DAKOTAN n MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2013 HERITAGE 2013: PAGE 15B ‘A Sparrow Among The Bluebirds’ I “I wonder so often and think back to all those who were killed. They were so young. For so many of them, their lives ended when they were 18. I feel so guilty that I’m alive.” WAYNE BARHAM BARHAM | PAGE 16B RANDY DOCKENDORF/P&D ARCHIVE PHOTO Wayne Barham of Springfield won three Purple Hearts during World War II, and chronicled his experiences in the book, “A Sparrow Among the Bluebirds.”