Another WWII Veteran Passes
(This is something I wrote for today's Beaumont Enterprise. I decided to transplant it to the blog.)
This time every year, World War II veteran and Pearl Harbor survivor Luther “Luke” Trahin pays a visit to The Beaumont Enterprise newsroom.
The retired Navy officer would shuffle past my office windows, armed with a stack of information on Dec. 7, 1941. He would be here on a mission, wanting to know about Day of Infamy news coverage.
Sometimes, he had suggestions and bristled at hints of hesitation.
For almost six years, I got similar visits in November for Veterans Day, June for D-Day and May for Memorial Day.
Since starting work here in April 2001, I counted on Trahin to keep The Enterprise on its toes in regard to covering the commemorative events.
But Veterans Day this year came and went without him. I feared he had become ill or disabled. I knew he sure as heck wouldn’t forget.
Nevertheless, I anticipated his appearance this week as another Dec. 7 approached. He was most passionate about making sure people remembered Pearl Harbor.
On Wednesday afternoon, I learned that he was not coming.
A relative called with the news that the Beaumont native had died at age 89 after a brief hospital stay following a leg injury.
As it was with my father — a World War II veteran who died in January after an ill-fated carotid artery procedure — pneumonia set in and led to an irreversible spiral of deteriorating health.
For years, Trahin, a South Park High School graduate, has been the face of Southeast Texas military remembrance, looking crisp in his uniform as he delivered speeches to crowds during countless ceremonies.
“He was my hero,” said Trahin’s nephew, Tim Rivette, a Beaumont resident who works for Chevron and called to tell about Trahin’s passing. “He always made you feel good about yourself. He was a real people person.”
I feel the same way about my dad, who influenced my soft spot for World War II veterans such as Trahin.
In November 2005, Trahin invited me to play a ceremony-closing taps at the Veterans Day event at the Beaumont Civic Center — and I didn’t hesitate to accept.
The next time I played it in front of an audience was at my father’s graveside services at the Houston National Cemetery.
Trahin will be buried there next week in Section S1 — the same section where my father was laid to rest in January, a cemetery spokeswoman said by phone Wednesday.
Seeing as they died only 11 months apart, their gravesites will be close — fewer than 100 yards, the spokeswoman said.
With World War II veterans dying off nationally at a rate of 1,000 a day, by various estimates, that section sadly is filling up, leaving us survivors to carry the torch of remembrance.
I haven’t visited Houston National Cemetery since my dad’s burial. I’m not ready to go just yet.
But I will visit someday soon, and when I do, I’ll bring my two young sons with me and pay respects to two heroes.
This time every year, World War II veteran and Pearl Harbor survivor Luther “Luke” Trahin pays a visit to The Beaumont Enterprise newsroom.
The retired Navy officer would shuffle past my office windows, armed with a stack of information on Dec. 7, 1941. He would be here on a mission, wanting to know about Day of Infamy news coverage.
Sometimes, he had suggestions and bristled at hints of hesitation.
For almost six years, I got similar visits in November for Veterans Day, June for D-Day and May for Memorial Day.
Since starting work here in April 2001, I counted on Trahin to keep The Enterprise on its toes in regard to covering the commemorative events.
But Veterans Day this year came and went without him. I feared he had become ill or disabled. I knew he sure as heck wouldn’t forget.
Nevertheless, I anticipated his appearance this week as another Dec. 7 approached. He was most passionate about making sure people remembered Pearl Harbor.
On Wednesday afternoon, I learned that he was not coming.
A relative called with the news that the Beaumont native had died at age 89 after a brief hospital stay following a leg injury.
As it was with my father — a World War II veteran who died in January after an ill-fated carotid artery procedure — pneumonia set in and led to an irreversible spiral of deteriorating health.
For years, Trahin, a South Park High School graduate, has been the face of Southeast Texas military remembrance, looking crisp in his uniform as he delivered speeches to crowds during countless ceremonies.
“He was my hero,” said Trahin’s nephew, Tim Rivette, a Beaumont resident who works for Chevron and called to tell about Trahin’s passing. “He always made you feel good about yourself. He was a real people person.”
I feel the same way about my dad, who influenced my soft spot for World War II veterans such as Trahin.
In November 2005, Trahin invited me to play a ceremony-closing taps at the Veterans Day event at the Beaumont Civic Center — and I didn’t hesitate to accept.
The next time I played it in front of an audience was at my father’s graveside services at the Houston National Cemetery.
Trahin will be buried there next week in Section S1 — the same section where my father was laid to rest in January, a cemetery spokeswoman said by phone Wednesday.
Seeing as they died only 11 months apart, their gravesites will be close — fewer than 100 yards, the spokeswoman said.
With World War II veterans dying off nationally at a rate of 1,000 a day, by various estimates, that section sadly is filling up, leaving us survivors to carry the torch of remembrance.
I haven’t visited Houston National Cemetery since my dad’s burial. I’m not ready to go just yet.
But I will visit someday soon, and when I do, I’ll bring my two young sons with me and pay respects to two heroes.
posted by Brian Pearson at 10:03 AM
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