Uncle Mel speaks to LHHS students

Uncle Mel speaks to LHHS students

“Uncle Mel” Kusin was 15 years old on Sunday, December 7, 1941. His niece, Lake Highlands High School Social Studies teacher Tracey Bishkin, invited the World War II veteran to speak to students Friday about the events of that day and how they led him the war in Europe. There wasn’t a cell phone texter or a squeaky seat fidgeter in the entire LHHS auditorium.

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Mel was at home in Texarkana studying that fateful Sunday morning while his mom visited with friends.

“Since TV hadn’t been invented, she phoned me, breathless, to have me turn on the radio,” he told the students. “The Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor.”

Over 3500 killed or wounded. Eighteen warships, including all 8 battleships of the Pacific fleet, damaged or destroyed. 350 destroyed or damaged aircraft.

When he returned to school Monday, “teachers were somber or dazed, like we were. Everyone was in shock.”

By noon, school was dismissed for President Roosevelt’s “a date which will live in infamy” address, which Mel read with Roosevelt’s intonation.

“From your history you know the rest,” continued Mel. “Germany and Italy, which were already at war with the rest of Europe, joined Japan in their war against us and the world was totally aflame.

“The next day, school resumed but it was never the same again. For the rest of that week and continuing for the next few weeks, every few days one or two boys would be missing from classes. They had gone downtown to enlist in the Navy, which accepted 17-year-olds. The Army accepted only 18 and up. After that, some girls began grumbling that the Navy should let them volunteer, also.”

Mel graduated high school in 1942 at age 16. He took a Greyhound bus to Austin, asked for directions to the UT campus, walked in with a copy of his transcript and enrolled. Tuition was $35 per semester. He found a room at a nearby boarding house and walked over to the band hall to join the Longhorn Band.

Mel told the students about wartime difficulties, such as food and gas rationing, women working in factories, victory gardens and Japanese internment camps. Though they had read about them in texts, most hadn’t heard first-hand accounts.

It was a time, he told them, of Democrats and Republicans cooperating for the good of the country.

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Mel Kusin at LHHS

In 1943, the Army began accepting 17-year-olds, “and like an army of ants, a bunch of us went down to sign up.” After processing and training, he was on a ship overseas on his 19th birthday, January 12, 1945.

His unit was assigned to Patton’s 3rd army and arrived in Bastogne, Belgium just days after the Battle of the Bulge. It had been a turning point of the war, with both sides suffering heavy casualties but Germany left permanently weakened. His combat ended on V-E Day, May 8, 1945. The war ended after Japan’s surrender.

The return of American soldiers was based on priority, he told students – married with children first, married without kids next, and so on. So he stayed a while. He was redeployed to Rheims, France as a musician to play big band music for soldiers. On the first anniversary of V-E day, his band led a giant celebratory parade down the Champs Elysees. Just behind him in jeeps waving to the crowd were General Eisenhower and Charles de Gaulle.

“For me, an unforgettable experience as the biggest parade ever held in Europe with our little band representing the United States and presenting the winning generals of World War II to the public.”

When he returned home, Mel and 2,200,000 other Americans used the G.I. Bill to finish their college educations.

“Our country emerged from WWII stronger, more confident, and certainly the most overwhelmingly powerful nation the world had ever seen.”

After retiring from the family business, Mel has studied at Oxford, competed in the over-80 100 yard dash and started a new business, Devil’s Own Chili. He has four grown children, 8 grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.