Rebecca Rager greets her grandfather Alfred Zieg during his 100th birthday celebration in the Gramercy dining room on Saturday.
KENNETH FERRIERA, Journal Star
WWII veteran Alfred Zieg speaks with family and friends during his 100th birthday celebration Saturday.
KENNETH FERRIERA, Journal Star
Alfred Zieg (left) sits with his youngest great grandchildren Monroe (pink) and Maverick Knoop (grey) and his oldest great grandchild Isaiah Heinicke during his 100th birthday celebration.
KENNETH FERRIERA, Journal Star
Alfred Zieg (right) hugs his friend Naomi Maske during his 100th birthday celebration Saturday.
A local World War II veteran will celebrate his 100th birthday Wednesday, but declared this week he’s “gonna be 21 again.â€
Alfred Zieg, a former first-class electronics technician in the Navy, was born on May 31, 1923, in Waco to Henry and Alma (Hinze) Zieg.
As one of nine siblings, Zieg was in the middle of five brothers and three sisters. Only a younger brother remains today.
His father worked as a depot agent for the railroad after moving to America from Prussia. Zieg too would join the railroad industry in Las Vegas after graduating from Scribner High School in 1941.
But when he was 19, Zieg’s life changed forever. In December 1941, he traveled to Reno, Nevada, where he enlisted in the Navy.
“I always favored the Navy, but to come back home, I figured I had the best chance in the Navy,†Zieg said. “I found out it could’ve been the worst choice for the ships we lost and the guys.â€
He knew the draft was coming and signed up for a program where he would learn the radar system. However, Zieg never went through Naval basic training and he didn’t know how to swim.
Eventually, Zieg would board the AGC-9, also known as the USS Wasatch, which launched Oct. 8, 1943. During WWII, the USS Wasatch was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater, where it would earn four battle stars for her service.
The ship, along with two other command ships, had to be kept secret because they would be a high priority target for enemy planes and submarines.
About 900 crewmen were aboard the USS Wasatch with Capt. Alford M. Granum in command. War hero and military leader Gen. Douglas MacArthur and Adm. Thomas Kinkaid occasionally boarded his ship as well. To Zieg’s knowledge, he is the last surviving crewman.
Zieg would become a first-class electronic technician, helping take care of all the transmissions that were being sent to each ship in addition to changing the antennas. He was known as “Antenna Al†because he was the only one who would climb some 100 feet above water without a harness to change an antenna.
Zieg met his future wife, Thelma, in high school when his family moved to Scriber. He later reached out to Thelma asking for her brother’s military address, which she sent via letter. Thelma continued to write to Zieg nearly every day that he was away and he wrote back when time allowed.
“We were busy,†Zieg said. “We didn’t sit there with our feet up on the desk and enjoying the nice scenery. We went there to get the job done.â€
Listen now and subscribe: | | | |
Yet, through all the months on the ship, he still found beauty in the dullness and time to write back to Thelma.
“You sit on the fantail of a ship with the moon shining and the moon shines all the way down the water to the ship. There’s some beautiful things that if you want to take the time to do it,†Zieg said.
The men on board did have some occasional fun. He recalled seeing Comedian Bob Hope and Actress Dorothy Lamour perform on the Island of Samar in the Philippines.
On Feb. 22, 1946, Zieg returned to Scriber on his first discharge for 30 days, and he asked Thelma to marry him, even though the two had never been on an actual date. They got married on March 24, 1946, and were married for 62 years before her passing in 2008.
“She was nice and she liked everything simple,†Zieg said. “When you meet the right one, it blends and you know. It’s hard to describe.â€
The couple had three children together — Nancy, Tom and Jim — who all live in Lincoln. Tom was stationed in Vietnam for the Navy for four years. His other son Jim wasn’t in the military, but still had to live with the effects that WWII had on Zieg.
“When Jim was in the fourth grade, he had to have a kidney removed and they related that back to me,†Zieg said.
Zieg was contaminated with radiation while stationed in Japan. For more than 40 years, Zieg has had to take coumadin, also known as warfarin, to help treat the leukemia that has formed throughout his body. He’s lost most of his hearing and said his lungs are scarred worse than a lifetime smoker.
After 38 months of service, Zieg was discharged on Feb. 22, 1946, after returning to the United States from Taku, China.
“I was lucky,†Zieg said. “The good Lord walked with me the whole time I was in the service. The Lord took me to war, and the Lord brought me back.â€
Many military members of WWII were not so lucky. Zieg still recalls the painful memory of having to find his fellow service members in the water.
“That’s part of my life and it’s a part I can’t forget,†he said.
Through it all, Zieg said they went to win freedom, which he wants people to enjoy.
“To win the war, we could win freedom. Freedom of everything. … That’s what we fought for and that’s what we intend to keep. And if we have to go back again to do that, it’s got to be that way,†Zieg said. “You got to enjoy every day. Maybe tomorrow is a day you won’t get to enjoy because you’re gonna be gone and that’s the way it is. It will always be that way.â€
And he’ll enjoy that freedom this week, with plans to visit a Nebraska staple — Runza — with friends for his birthday.
“That’s what I’m gonna have, a Runza hamburger and a strawberry milkshake,†he said.
U.S. states with the most World War II veterans
U.S. States With the Most World War II Veterans
The percentage of US veterans continues to decline each decade
The total veteran population has declined by nearly 5M over the past 10 years
California and Florida have the most WWII veterans
The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s 80-hour course for structural collapses was completed by 15 new rescue specialists from Southeast Nebraska.
Alfred Zieg (left) sits with his youngest great grandchildren Monroe (pink) and Maverick Knoop (grey) and his oldest great grandchild Isaiah Heinicke during his 100th birthday celebration.