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Celebrating Veterans Day Through A World War II Survivor

Dee and World War II paratrooper Chuck Breit sit in their backyard on the Withlacoochee River in Inglis Saturday afternoon.
Dee and World War II paratrooper Chuck Breit sit in their backyard on the Withlacoochee River in Inglis Saturday afternoon.

<i>Dee and World War II paratrooper Chuck Breit sit in their backyard on the Withlacoochee River in Inglis Saturday afternoon. </i>

Floats and fire trucks, tractors, motorcycles, and walkers led veterans through Inglis on Saturday during the 2014 Levy County Veterans Day Parade.

At the front of the lineup, World War II paratrooper Charles “Chuck” Breit, 88, sat front seat in a white Cobra Mustang convertible, talking cars and war.

When Breit speaks of the war, you can feel him traveling back to 1942 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Breit was a 17-year-old orphan working an ice truck when he signed up for the war.

“I got tired of people saying, ‘why aren’t you in the service?’” the veteran said.

So the 6’0, 185-pound teenager went to join the navy, until they rejected him.

“He said we got a full quota. We can’t take you,” he said.

Breit walked across the street to the army recruiting office to sign up and be a pursuit pilot, but he failed the eye exam.

“If I can’t fly the d*** things, then I’ll make them fly me,” he said.

Breit joined the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment, and two years later found himself jumping into one of World War II’s most dangerous battles on Corregidor Island in the Philippines.

World War II commander Lieut. Gen. James M. Gavin, wrote in his book ''Airborne Warfare'' (1947) that the Corregidor was the most dangerous and perfect jump that’s ever been done.

Gavin was the man in charge of the 82nd Airborne and the paratroopers that jumped over Normandy.

“Everyone knows about D-Day, but I bet you don’t know about Corregidor,” he said.

At 8 a.m. Feb. 16, Breit was less than an hour away from the island fortress but asleep mid-flight.

His 10-minute warning came. Breit put on his 80-pound backpack packed with ammunition, weapons, equipment and ration.

Five minutes remaining.

The pilot slowed to 110 mph and hit the green light.

“Go!” The jumpmaster motioned at Breit.

Knees bent and tight, feet angled down, elbows tucked, chin down and fists guarding your face.

The 600-foot drop was half the distance paratroopers were trained to jump, with 23 seconds till they hit ground.

“We were getting shot at when we were jumping,” Breit said. “The place was so small, we were dropping six men at a time.”

Some men were hit in the air and some hung in trees. Of the 2,022 paratroopers that jumped, 25 percent were injured, veteran Gordon L. Rottman wrote in “US Army Paratrooper in the Pacific Theater 1943-45.”

“We lucked out,” Breit said.

The 19-year-old found his parachute later from the jump and rolled it up into his ammunition box.

Today the parachute is on display at the National Infantry Museum at Fort Benning, Georgia.

Breit said his three years in the war was exactly what he imagined when he enlisted.

“You get shot at, you don’t like it, nobody likes it,” he said. “You just make sure you get them before they get you.”

Though Breit said the hardest part was not having anyone to name as beneficiary.

The army administration even created Breit’s family tree to find any lost relatives still alive but found none.

“I distinctly remember one particular day on Corregidor of places, laying there and thinking, Jesus if something happens to me right now, nobody would ever know,” Breit said. “That was one of the worst feelings.”

Now Breit has Aeris “Dee” Breit. The two met in Miami when she was at a party.

He was reading the newspaper and drinking coffee on the back of his boat when she walked by on the dock.

“You know it’s like a story book, or a movie picture or whatever they’re called,” she said.

Mrs. Breit said it didn’t take long for Mr. Breit to start telling his war stories.

“Can you believe I was only six when he enlisted?” she said.

Parade committee chair and retired letter carrier Ruth Ruppert, 58, met the Breits at the U.S. Postal Service when they first moved to Inglis 20 years ago.

“They’re the epitome of good people,” she said. “Chuck would give you the shirt off his back.”

Ruppert said six World War II veterans were in the parade Saturday, including Breit.

According to the US Department of Veteran Affairs, only 10 percent of World War II veterans are living.

“There’s not many of us left now of course,” Mr. Breit said. “But we’re hanging in there."

The Breits had the last bi-annual reunion at their house for the 503rd Parachute Regimental Combat Team with a showing of 15 or so veterans.

Though Breit will be 89 on Christmas Day, he keeps himself busy with his boat “Sea Imp” - the same boat from when he met Mrs. Breit.

And that boat is the same 1940 Elco the Navy used in World War II.

<i>Veteran Chuck Breit salutes during the nation’s anthem during the 2014 Levy County Veterans Day ceremony at the Inglis Community Center Saturday.</i>

<i>Veterans wait for the 2014 Levy County Veterans Day parade to begin at the Yankeetown School field Saturday morning.</i>

<i>Junior ROTC student Alexis Benitez, 15, talks with Dee and World War II veteran Chuck Breit before the 2014 Levy County Veterans Day ceremony at the Inglis Community Center Saturday.</i>

Mary is a reporter who can be contacted by calling 352-392-6397 or emailing news@wuft.org.