Ken Lair volunteered for service right after graduating high school in 1943. Then his real education began.
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00:00 Army veteran Ken Lair is getting ready to celebrate his 98th birthday on August 22nd.
00:06 A veteran's voice that is still strong and dedicated, like the day he volunteered for service right after graduation in high school in 1943.
00:14 And that's when his real education began.
00:17 You wanted to fly?
00:19 Well that's what I'd hoped for, but no I wasn't smart enough for that.
00:23 No, Ken Lair discovered his future in the Army Air Corps was solidly on the ground.
00:28 I was slated for radio gunner, but at that particular time they were reducing the number of people in the Air Force and some of us were sent to the ground forces.
00:40 Ken was training at Camp Cook, which is now Vandenberg Air Force Base, when the Allies landed in Normandy in 1944.
00:47 Our platoon leader came in and announced that D-Day had taken place and so of course it was of interest to us, but we didn't have any idea as to what might happen.
01:01 Nearly five months later, Ken was in England with the 11th Armored Division, headed for the French coast and then one of the bloodiest battles of the war.
01:09 Within just a few days, that's when the Battle of the Bulge started. Made a march of 500 miles through Paris into Belgium.
01:19 We were green as grass, the whole division.
01:22 Ken's job was sweeping mines and building bridges, but as the fighting ramped up, he was reassigned to the infantry.
01:28 And there were about probably 25 or 30 men altogether.
01:32 We moved up on this slope, on this hill, and I had frostbitten toes, so I was pretty slow getting out of the half track.
01:41 And the first squad, which I was in, had just gone over a little tiny ridge.
01:49 That's when they were hit by German artillery.
01:52 And I was wounded very slightly and there were others that were killed outright.
01:59 Ken was taken to the aid station and shipped back to England.
02:02 By the time he returned, his company was in Germany and he was under attack again.
02:06 We heard this machine gun going off and all of a sudden a German airplane comes over on fire.
02:12 And I looked up and there was another German Messerschmitt 109.
02:17 And I thought, here's my chance. If I could just shoot this German down, I'll get out of it and go back to my home.
02:24 But my gun jammed.
02:26 From there, his division raced across Germany, meeting little resistance.
02:30 His service ended in Lenz, Austria, when his unit helped to liberate a concentration camp.
02:35 They had forced the German guards to carry those bodies out and they had dug this long trench with a bulldozer
02:44 and they were just stacking the bodies up in that.
02:47 Ken was sent home in November of 1945 and made his way to Bakersfield about five years ago, following the death of his wife, Mady.
02:54 They were married for 65 years.
02:56 Lair will be part of the 47th Honor Flight in October, after Sharon Dickey and Honor Flight team leader had a chat with him.
03:03 I didn't expect to make this trip at all until she contacted me.
03:09 Did she make you go?
03:11 Yeah, she talked me into it.
03:12 It's a belated birthday gift for this grunt who gave so much, so long ago.
03:17 [BLANK_AUDIO]