I was talking to Suzi (Snyder) Taylor, daughter of Gladys Snyder (Aunt Gladys to me) the other day and we got to talking about Uncle Snyd and Uncle Maf (I never knew how to spell it but that is how i said it, Maf). They were both in WWII. Uncle Maf would talk more about the war than Uncle Snyd but Uncle Snyd was a prisoner of war and in the Batan March and I was around him a lot.
I worked many an hour on Uncle Snyd's farm in Kansas just north of Grainola, Oklahoma, but one day I decided to ask him about his experience. Here is what I remember him sharing with me:
As most of you know or should know about the BATAAN DEATH MARCH in the Philippines is most soldiers never made it back to America. Uncle Snyd was a prisoner for about 2.5 years where in his words, "they did their best to kill me". For the remainder of his life, he suffered a lack of feeling in the bottoms of his feet and was legally blind due to starvation. My recollection of the stories is that Uncle Snyd went in at about 200 lbs. and came out 110 lbs. with what was called dry beriberi which is a deficiency of vitamin B-1. For the remainder of his life he refused to eat rice and chocolate. During those years he was fed very little rice and it was bad rice filled with maggots. Occasionally he got chocolate and it was rancid (spoiled). He ate bugs, like roaches and grasshoppers to get protein and stay alive. He shared that when they were marching or about any situation that if a fellow soldier stumbled or fell you were not allowed to assist them else you would be shot on the spot and the falling person would be shot. You were to march over the body. Also, you were not allowed to stop to relieve yourself, so you were constantly soiled from urine and crap plus generally everyone had diarrhea.
I never really asked him why he volunteered for the military, but most did it out of loyalty for their country, America. He never talked about it except the one time I remember asking as we drove to the farm. You see, he could not drive himself so one of us had to drive him everywhere he needed to go.
He served for me and you so that we could live in a country with freedom and opportunity. He lived for a higher principal than self. I would also say that he shared with me that the cruelty put on him and others was the worst of human behavior. Uncle Snyd never cursed that I remember but upon that day he let it loose as he spoke about the treatment by the Japanese.
I can't remember whether it was Lewis Morris or Beth Shumate but one of them gave me an assignment in the 6th or 7th grade to write a paper about Grainola. Just FYI, I still have that paper / notebook and it sits right here in my office. Anyway, I interviewed about every person in and around Grainola about its history and its people. What I found was that almost every man and woman were involved in that war in some way. Arnold Jones, Paul Jones, my dad, Gladys Snyder, Uncle Bill Snyder (Suzi's and Billy's dad) all served in one way or another. I even found one person who fought in WW I and II and I am sorry I forgot his name. He lived right east of Don Casselman on the south side of the street.
What I learned is that Grainola was full of heroes, not because they fought on the front lines but the fact they served a higher purpose than themselves. They respected each other and the laws of the land and the leadership of our country (sure wish that was as easy today).
So what do you learn in the Osage?
- Heroes are available if you look for them
- Principles are important and we should respect and uphold them
- We all can handle more than we think or want
- None of us deserve to cry about our troubles or complain about our circumstances until we walk in those shoes
