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Jim Schuler
Yardley resident served as a Radiomanin World War II and the Korean War.
Though his one year as an inactive duty reserve soldier was nearly finished, the nationwide legislation to extend such terms drew him back in, and in 1950, he was called to fight in Korea.
Patrolling a large river along the 38th parallel, Schuler was tasked to draw fire from the North Koreans, and call in the Air Force to bomb and strafe (or attack with machine guns) the North Korean gun positions. He and his crew also took South Korean rangers up into North Korea to capture enemy soldiers for interrogation. Suffering a ship attack that claimed the lives of a few of his peers, Schuler was more than ready to come home for good when second stint at war came to an end after 13 months.
Upon his return, Schuler went to work for NCR Corporation (nee National Cash Register Company), where he worked with computers for 39 years before retiring as a state marketing director in 1988. He spent the subsequent years traveling with Diana, “his gal,” to everywhere from China to Russia to Germany to Australia, until she sadly passed away in 2007.
“I’m glad we had the time to travel together,” Schuler says.
These days, Schuler looks forward to the time he can spend with daughter Diane, his other daughter, Susan, and his granddaughters, Emily and Jessica. A born fighter, he recently emerged safely from a bout with cancer, and is focused on maintaining his health.
“Today, I feel good,” he says.
By R. Kurt Osenlund, BucksLocalNews.com
“Any sort of military operation must have communications,” says Jim Schuler, a Yardley resident and veteran who served in both World War II and the Korean War. Communications was Schuler’s specialty, and because of specialists like him (Radiomen, they were called), a great many American soldiers were able to reach their destinations safely and effectively. Now 84, Schuler still distinctly recalls the places he visited during his time served. And why shouldn’t he? His stops included Iwo Jima and Kure, a base next door to Hiroshima.
Before Schuler enlisted in the Navy, he attended the University of Missouri for one semester. Before that, he attended Sullivan High School in Sullivan, Mo. That’s where he was born, to parents James R. and Grace, but he says he grew up all through the Midwest. James R. was a highway contracting superintendent, and wherever the road took him, it took the family (which also included Schuler’s younger siblings, Robert and Linda). Schuler estimates he went to “20-some schools” in multiple states before finally graduating from Sullivan High in 1942.
Schuler enlisted at 17, a year before he could be drafted into the Army. After preliminary training, the Navy sent him to the University of Idaho for three months of communications training, where he’d get to know the radios of a Radioman. From there he headed out to Camp Pendleton, the Marine Corps base in Southern California. After partnering with the Marines for amphibious training, whereby he learned to be part of the liaison communication between ship and shore for incoming troops, Schuler moved on to Pearl Harbor, where he awaited orders.
“It was a personnel reassignment base,” Schuler says of Pearl Harbor. “They took us where they needed us. Some went with the Navy, some stayed behind.”
Schuler, it turned out, was needed in Iwo Jima, which he set out for in 1944.
“I was not engaged in the on-beach fighting, but it was very hostile,” says Schuler, who was based on a ship off the Iwo Jima coast. Helping to direct troops to shore via radio communication, he says the enemy had cannons that could have easily taken out his ship, and kamikaze pilots swirled overhead, attacking when not shot down by the Air Force.
After Iwo Jima, Schuler – who was not assigned to a ship’s company but was instead an “orphan,” going wherever the military sent him – made his way to Kure, a former Japanese naval base five miles from a then-already-bombed Hiroshima. He was performing the same duties, albeit this time on shore. Schuler and his fellow soldiers set up a port authority for radio communication in the village, which was separated from Hiroshima by a mountain range (the very thing that saved Kure from being leveled as well, Schuler says).
In 1945, Schuler left to set up another port authority in Tokyo, which at that point had surrendered, but still needed a properly established communications presence.
“You need that whether it’s war or peace,” Schuler says. “Our function was to direct traffic and to maintain communications with the Navy ships coming into port. They had to resupply and maintain the harmony and control of the country.”
Tokyo was Schuler’s last stop, and in 1946, he returned to the U.S. and was discharged as a Petty Officer First Class. He married is sweetheart, Diana, whom he hadn’t seen since 10th grade in Texas (“We wrote lots of letters,” he says). He completed a degree at Washington University in St. Louis, majoring in accounting and minoring in law, and shortly thereafter, he and Diana had a daughter, Diane. The familsettled down in a home in St. Louis, and then, Schuler got the call – the call that said he wasn’t quite finished with the military.
“Any sort of military operation must have communications,” says Jim Schuler, a Yardley resident and veteran who served in both World War II and the Korean War. Communications was Schuler’s specialty, and because of specialists like him (Radiomen, they were called), a great many American soldiers were able to reach their destinations safely and effectively. Now 84, Schuler still distinctly recalls the places he visited during his time served. And why shouldn’t he? His stops included Iwo Jima and Kure, a base next door to Hiroshima.
Before Schuler enlisted in the Navy, he attended the University of Missouri for one semester. Before that, he attended Sullivan High School in Sullivan, Mo. That’s where he was born, to parents James R. and Grace, but he says he grew up all through the Midwest. James R. was a highway contracting superintendent, and wherever the road took him, it took the family (which also included Schuler’s younger siblings, Robert and Linda). Schuler estimates he went to “20-some schools” in multiple states before finally graduating from Sullivan High in 1942.
Schuler enlisted at 17, a year before he could be drafted into the Army. After preliminary training, the Navy sent him to the University of Idaho for three months of communications training, where he’d get to know the radios of a Radioman. From there he headed out to Camp Pendleton, the Marine Corps base in Southern California. After partnering with the Marines for amphibious training, whereby he learned to be part of the liaison communication between ship and shore for incoming troops, Schuler moved on to Pearl Harbor, where he awaited orders.
“It was a personnel reassignment base,” Schuler says of Pearl Harbor. “They took us where they needed us. Some went with the Navy, some stayed behind.”
Schuler, it turned out, was needed in Iwo Jima, which he set out for in 1944.
“I was not engaged in the on-beach fighting, but it was very hostile,” says Schuler, who was based on a ship off the Iwo Jima coast. Helping to direct troops to shore via radio communication, he says the enemy had cannons that could have easily taken out his ship, and kamikaze pilots swirled overhead, attacking when not shot down by the Air Force.
After Iwo Jima, Schuler – who was not assigned to a ship’s company but was instead an “orphan,” going wherever the military sent him – made his way to Kure, a former Japanese naval base five miles from a then-already-bombed Hiroshima. He was performing the same duties, albeit this time on shore. Schuler and his fellow soldiers set up a port authority for radio communication in the village, which was separated from Hiroshima by a mountain range (the very thing that saved Kure from being leveled as well, Schuler says).
In 1945, Schuler left to set up another port authority in Tokyo, which at that point had surrendered, but still needed a properly established communications presence.
“You need that whether it’s war or peace,” Schuler says. “Our function was to direct traffic and to maintain communications with the Navy ships coming into port. They had to resupply and maintain the harmony and control of the country.”
Tokyo was Schuler’s last stop, and in 1946, he returned to the U.S. and was discharged as a Petty Officer First Class. He married is sweetheart, Diana, whom he hadn’t seen since 10th grade in Texas (“We wrote lots of letters,” he says). He completed a degree at Washington University in St. Louis, majoring in accounting and minoring in law, and shortly thereafter, he and Diana had a daughter, Diane. The familsettled down in a home in St. Louis, and then, Schuler got the call – the call that said he wasn’t quite finished with the military.
Though his one year as an inactive duty reserve soldier was nearly finished, the nationwide legislation to extend such terms drew him back in, and in 1950, he was called to fight in Korea.
Patrolling a large river along the 38th parallel, Schuler was tasked to draw fire from the North Koreans, and call in the Air Force to bomb and strafe (or attack with machine guns) the North Korean gun positions. He and his crew also took South Korean rangers up into North Korea to capture enemy soldiers for interrogation. Suffering a ship attack that claimed the lives of a few of his peers, Schuler was more than ready to come home for good when second stint at war came to an end after 13 months.
Upon his return, Schuler went to work for NCR Corporation (nee National Cash Register Company), where he worked with computers for 39 years before retiring as a state marketing director in 1988. He spent the subsequent years traveling with Diana, “his gal,” to everywhere from China to Russia to Germany to Australia, until she sadly passed away in 2007.
“I’m glad we had the time to travel together,” Schuler says.
These days, Schuler looks forward to the time he can spend with daughter Diane, his other daughter, Susan, and his granddaughters, Emily and Jessica. A born fighter, he recently emerged safely from a bout with cancer, and is focused on maintaining his health.
“Today, I feel good,” he says.
posted by BucksLocalNews at
1:48 PM
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