WINSLOW - To call Jerry Hastings a late bloomer does him a disservice, as he fought in World War II, but he did pick up the banjo in his 50s, married his wife when he was about 60 and just recently started playing violin.
Hastings, 91, Winslow, is an active nonagenarian, he plays banjo at Turner Hall in Monroe at least once a week and can still get around on his own. He's still spry after fighting for three years in World War II, deployed in 1943 to the Philippines, Guam, Leyte and Okinawa and Lejima (or Le Shima) in Japan. Hastings said he fought in five or six beachfront sieges and came away unscathed.
"Out of the hundreds and hundreds of guys who died on the beaches, I was real fortunate," he said, his voice cracking with emotion only slightly.
"Me and my brother, we spent every minute together during the war, even slept in the same foxhole," he said of his brother Ike.
Hastings and his brother enlisted the same day - on George Washington's birthday, Feb. 22, 1943 - at the same time. Hastings was drafted, Ike said he would join him and they enlisted with the service right away hitting boot camp in Maine, then overseas. They were both assigned to the 77th Infantry Division as combat engineers.
Hastings said he was in Okinawa at the same time famous journalist and war correspondent Ernie Pyle was there covering the Pacific Theater - a major theater of war between the Allies and Japan - for the Scripps Howard newspaper chain. Hastings said he saw Pyle for the first time in a ditch while they were under fire from a machine gun on Le Shima.
"We knew there was a machine gunner on us, and I saw him (Pyle) look over the trench and a bullet hit him right in the head and he fell right by my feet," Hastings said.
According to an April 19, 1945 obituary printed in The New York Times, Pyle was driving to the front line and stopped to talk to a commanding officer in Le Shima when machine gun fire erupted out of nowhere. The obituary said Pyle was on his way to a forward command post to observe the front line. Pyle was buried on Le Shima, and a monument stands there in his honor.
Hastings said he had never met Pyle and only saw him the day he fell at his feet.
"Ernie Pyle had been in the European Theater and was going to retire, but I guess he decided to stick it out and report for the Pacific Theater," Hastings said.
He said though he was fortunate to come out without any major injuries, he spent a lot of time hungry and cold in the trenches.
"It was a long time with no food," he said. "One time we were in Le Shima and there was this old cow that was so skinny and bad looking, but we got it and one of our guys was a butcher back home, so he butchered it and we ate the (expletive) thing."
After he and his brother came home in 1946, Hastings started a business selling and repairing radios. He said he was one of the first to adopt TV sets after Radio Corporation of America gave him 50 sets and he sold them faster than "hot dogs."
"I didn't hardly have a dime to my name, and my dad thought I was crazy taking all these TVs. They (RCA) gave me six to eight weeks to sell them all, and I did it. Paid for my whole house," Hastings said of his home in Winslow.
Now he spends his free time practicing violin or playing banjo at Turner Hall with Del Heins and John Waelti.
"I have a lot of nice friends up there even though I'm only half Swiss," Hastings said.
Hastings, 91, Winslow, is an active nonagenarian, he plays banjo at Turner Hall in Monroe at least once a week and can still get around on his own. He's still spry after fighting for three years in World War II, deployed in 1943 to the Philippines, Guam, Leyte and Okinawa and Lejima (or Le Shima) in Japan. Hastings said he fought in five or six beachfront sieges and came away unscathed.
"Out of the hundreds and hundreds of guys who died on the beaches, I was real fortunate," he said, his voice cracking with emotion only slightly.
"Me and my brother, we spent every minute together during the war, even slept in the same foxhole," he said of his brother Ike.
Hastings and his brother enlisted the same day - on George Washington's birthday, Feb. 22, 1943 - at the same time. Hastings was drafted, Ike said he would join him and they enlisted with the service right away hitting boot camp in Maine, then overseas. They were both assigned to the 77th Infantry Division as combat engineers.
Hastings said he was in Okinawa at the same time famous journalist and war correspondent Ernie Pyle was there covering the Pacific Theater - a major theater of war between the Allies and Japan - for the Scripps Howard newspaper chain. Hastings said he saw Pyle for the first time in a ditch while they were under fire from a machine gun on Le Shima.
"We knew there was a machine gunner on us, and I saw him (Pyle) look over the trench and a bullet hit him right in the head and he fell right by my feet," Hastings said.
According to an April 19, 1945 obituary printed in The New York Times, Pyle was driving to the front line and stopped to talk to a commanding officer in Le Shima when machine gun fire erupted out of nowhere. The obituary said Pyle was on his way to a forward command post to observe the front line. Pyle was buried on Le Shima, and a monument stands there in his honor.
Hastings said he had never met Pyle and only saw him the day he fell at his feet.
"Ernie Pyle had been in the European Theater and was going to retire, but I guess he decided to stick it out and report for the Pacific Theater," Hastings said.
He said though he was fortunate to come out without any major injuries, he spent a lot of time hungry and cold in the trenches.
"It was a long time with no food," he said. "One time we were in Le Shima and there was this old cow that was so skinny and bad looking, but we got it and one of our guys was a butcher back home, so he butchered it and we ate the (expletive) thing."
After he and his brother came home in 1946, Hastings started a business selling and repairing radios. He said he was one of the first to adopt TV sets after Radio Corporation of America gave him 50 sets and he sold them faster than "hot dogs."
"I didn't hardly have a dime to my name, and my dad thought I was crazy taking all these TVs. They (RCA) gave me six to eight weeks to sell them all, and I did it. Paid for my whole house," Hastings said of his home in Winslow.
Now he spends his free time practicing violin or playing banjo at Turner Hall with Del Heins and John Waelti.
"I have a lot of nice friends up there even though I'm only half Swiss," Hastings said.