Remember to Thank Our Veterans

THE WOODLANDS, Texas -- Whether it is a family member, friend or neighbor, there are veterans everywhere in The Woodlands. They come from all different backgrounds, but they all have one thing in common: they risked their lives to fight for our country. In honor of Veteran's Day, here are the stories of a few local servicemen and women.

Norma Bomer
Norma Bomer, who fought in World War II, is one such example of the age diversity found in veterans. Born in 1930 to a very wealthy mother who chose traveling above parenthood, she lived with her father and siblings until she was nine, when her father died. After that, she and her siblings went to live with her grandparents.

She was then sent to live with her mother in Florida, who did not exactly feel like becoming a mother after all those years. In turn, her own mother helped her to concoct a story, faking her age and sneaking her into the air force at only 14 years old.

Although Bomer was years younger than many of the people she served with, she still thinks of her time in the air force as “good productive growing years.”

She is now a member of the Underage Veterans of America and is in volume three of America’s Youngest Veterans, where more can be read about her intriguing history in the air force.

Marge Brown
Woodlands resident Marge Brown, a nurse at the 178th general hospital in France during World War II, enlisted in the Army in 1944. One of her most remarkable feats was caring for the soldiers during the notorious Battle of the Bulge.

“I was very fortunate to be able to use my skills to help my country and the wounded who were the bravest that you would ever want to meet,” Brown said.

Women Veterans
Besides serving in WW II, Bomer and Brown have something else in common: they are both women veterans.

In 1997, the government dedicated the gates of Arlington Cemetary to serve as the Women in Military Service for America Memorial. However, Brown urges others to take notice that the group and the memorial still need money.

Jim Volin
“Every person does their job,” army veteran Jim Volin said. “That’s what makes up the military. They all take the same risk. We don’t choose the positions we get put in. We get put in there by sometimes fate and sometimes training. It’s a way of life.” Graduating from West Point gave Volin the chance to serve as an officer, opposed to starting from the bottom.

“My father said if you got to do this then you ought to go in as an officer,” Volin said. “With that, we started applying to various schools: West Point, Annapolis, New England Coast Guard Academy, ROTC, Naval Reserve Officer Training. I was accepted to West Point and it was a very prestigious offer that I had and I thought that that was a really great place to go to school.”

Although he originally decided to go into the military because he knew, due to the draft, that he would eventually have to enlist anyway, Volin enjoyed his time serving.

“I wouldn’t have stayed 23 years [if I didn’t enjoy it],” Volin said. “I got out mainly because I had five kids and I had to get them settled somewhere.”

During his 23 years, Volin, who was in the service during the time of the Vietnam War and the Cold War, served in places such as Fort Sill, Chicago and Hawaii.

While that may not seem as cool as traveling overseas to serve, Volin knows that every job in every place counts.

“The people behind the scenes are important too,” Volin said. “It’s a safer life, but a less glamorous life.”

Also, while in Hawaii, he served under Admiral McCain while McCain’s son, Sen. John McCain, was a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

Two other men who know what it is like to serve their country are Harlen Thornhill and Frank Tranfa, who both fought in the Korean War.

Harlen Thornhill
Harlen Thornhill, who is featured in Who’s Who of America 2009-2010, was an aviation structural mechanic for the Navy from 1951-1959 and served in the Korean War.

As a mechanic, he worked on P4M Mercaders, which were big patrol bombers, and P2V6Ms, which were anti-submarine patrol bombers. In November 1961, after switching over to the International Guard, he was called up during the Berlin Crisis.

Thornhill continued his career with aircraft mechanics until he retired. He has been working part time at Lone star Executive Airport since May 2000 in the maintenance and engineering staff. Overall, he has been in aviation for 57 years.

“I picked up all my aviation knowledge as I started in the navy and I like aircraft,” Thornhill said. “And it continued the rest of my life.”

As long as he was in the military and as many stories as he is sure to have, there is one moment in particular that he enjoys retelling.

During the Korean War, when he was still in the navy, Thornhill was on a flight crew and they were going on a practice bombing mission. He was sitting in the back of the plane during take-off and when they were about 200 feet in the air, he stepped on a camera hatch, went through it and caught himself with his arms.

Thankfully, since he had on a harness but no parachute, an officer pulled him back in. It is now one of his favorite stories to tell because, as he says, he gets many “Oh my God’s!” from people first hearing the story.

Frank Tranfa
Frank Tranfa also remembers many funny stories from his time in the navy and served in the Korean War.One such memory involves a marine going to Korea that attempted to take a goat on the airplane with him.

“I think he stole it somewhere,” Tranfa said.

Eventually, the marine, a former farm kid, was separated from his beloved goat, but it took about ten big navy members to wrestle it out of his arms.

Tranfa enlisted in the navy because President Truman asked people to join. He was not forced; he simply wanted to do what his country needed him to do. Tranfa, like Thornhill, worked with airplanes while serving in the Navy. As an aircraft mechanic, he maintained aircraft and repaired broken airplanes. He was a metalsmith and took care of all of the metalwork, welding and general aircraft maintenance.

He joined in 1950 and his time ended in 1953, when an armistice was signed between the fighting countries. While in the navy, he served for a year in Hawaii, a year-and-a-half on Guam, six months in Japan and spent his last year in California.

After that, he went to college and majored in mathematics. He never went back to the military, but he still appreciated his time there and knows that it was beneficial for him as a person.

“Overall I think military service is very beneficial to young people,” Tranfa said. “It teaches you self-discipline, self-reliance, cleanliness and how to accept authority and responsibility.”

Whether they served in World War II or the current war, veterans are everywhere in The Woodlands. So take the time to look around and thank the veterans in our community. They all have very interesting stories, experiences and advice to share with those around them.

“You only remember the good times,” Thornhill said. “The bad times seem to fade away with age. They were all good. I don’t regret any of the time I put in the military and I would definitely advise it for a young person. It teaches them discipline and responsibility.”