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It was no contest once Army veteran Obie Wickersham’s name was first
mentioned to receive the Yuba-Sutter Outstanding Veteran of the Year 2007
award.
The longtime Yuba City resident served with the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne
Division during World War II and the 2nd Infantry Division in Korea, where
he was held as a prisoner of war.
He now shares stories about his experiences with airmen at Beale Air Force
Base and students at local schools as well as helping care for the veterans
war memorial in Yuba City.
And when Stephanie Ruscigno, commander of Disabled American Veterans Chapter
9, told other veterans about Wickersham’s nomination, the response was
often, “‘Obie is a great guy’ or ‘I would be proud to support Obie,’” she
said. “Nobody could hold a candle next to him.”
Wickersham received the annual award on Dec. 1 at ceremonies during the
Yuba-Sutter Veterans’ Town Hall 2007 in Marysville. Veterans organizations
involved included local chapters and posts of the American Legion, Veterans
of Foreign Wars and AmVet as well as event organizer DAV.
“I knew I had been nominated, but was surprised” to receive it, Wickersham,
82, said Thursday at his home.
Wickersham was the first person whom 2006 award winner Eric Hellberg thought
of when asked for a nomination. “The name that came to my mind ... was Obie,”
he said. “There’s so many people I thought of,” he added, “but after looking
at the criteria - not only service in uniform but what you’ve done since
you’ve been out of uniform,” there was no other.
Hellberg served in the Air Force during the 1950s.
The award’s standards include good moral character, good family values,
military and community service, and advocacy for veterans, Ruscigno said.
This year’s award also considered veterans of World War II who were featured
in the first Torch of Freedom event held in October in Marysville. Next
year’s will feature the Korean War, she added.
Wickersham, a graduate of Yuba City High School, started talking about his
war experiences after seeing the movie “Saving Private Ryan” in 1998.
Since then, he has spoken to classes at the Airman Leadership School at
Beale Air Force Base about every four weeks, has been a guest speaker at the
Air Force Academy several times and, though some have suggested he write a
book about his experiences, made tapes about his war stories for his
daughters, Christie Mullins of Chico and Barbara Wickersham of Sacramento.
“They want to hear about my experiences in Europe,” he said about speaking
at Beale Air Force Base as a member of the recently disbanded California
North State Chapter No. 1 of Ex-POWs. “What you did, your POW experiences
and how you survived it.”
He also likes to tell funny stories about his time in the conflicts.
“There’s funny things, even during wars,” he said. “That keeps you going.”
Wickersham said he enjoys talking to the airmen. “Just to see these kids
makes me feel good,” he said.
He has attended All American Week in Fort Bragg, N.C., for the past 15
years, went to a POW convention in Honolulu and traveled to Holland three
times, visiting the site of Operation Market Garden, a 1944 World War II
campaign in which he was involved
He even donated the uniform he wore in the jump to the National Liberation
Museum in Nijmegen, Holland.
But though Wickersham has been invited to memorial events in Korea, he
hasn’t returned. The invitations don’t allow for a visit to the site of the
POW camps in North Korea.
“It’s too far to go for dinner,” he said.
After talking about his time in the service and the importance of the
veterans’ memorials in Yuba and Sutter counties, he said, “I believe in the
guys and what they’re doing” in the current war. “It bothers me when people
are not backing veterans.
“I still love the service, love the people,” he added. “I don’t begrudge
anything I did in either war.” |
