Veterans Day 2010 commemorates the experience of veterans from the many wars the United States has fought.
For Scotts Valley’s Tom Cutting, it brings back memories of his three years as a soldier during World War II.
“It will be 66 years in April that we landed on Okinawa,” Cutting said while sitting in his home in Scotts Valley.
A Scotts Valley resident since 1970, Cutting recently recalled his time in the U.S. Army as a young man.
Cutting had his draft number called in 1944, while he was still in high school in Redwood City. After several months of study at San Jose State, he was sent to basic training in Fresno, where he received specialized Air Corps training.
“Most of us were drafted,” Cutting said. “It was a different feeling, because you wanted to get into the fight. You’d seen the John Wayne movies, and war is not like that.”
When Gen. Douglas MacArthur gave the word to invade the Philippines in 1945, Cutting was pulled from Air Corps training, put into the infantry as a private and shipped to Hawaii for jungle training.
“They put us on a ship and said, ‘You’re going to battle,’” Cutting said. “They didn’t tell us where.”
On Oct. 20, 1944, Cutting and the rest of the 96th Infantry Division pulled ashore in the Philippines. On April 1, 1945, the 96th went ashore in a full assault on Okinawa, Japan. After 14 days on the island, clearing caves of enemy soldiers, Cutting was injured in combat.
“Someone threw a grenade out,” he said. “Before I saw it, I was injured on the leg and ear.”
After several months in a hospital in Guam, he returned to the division. He received a Purple Heart for his combat injury, and he also received a Bronze Star.
Cutting was sitting on Manila Bay in the Philippines when the war ended in August 1945.
“We hadn’t heard a thing about the bombing, and suddenly the news came down that the war was over,” Cutting said.
Cutting was shortly after discharged at the rank of staff sergeant. He returned to the United States and got a job with the Seaside Co. at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, where he spent the majority of his working career.
Now, retired at 86 years old, he will attend an honorary Veterans Day dinner at Scopazzi’s Restaurant in Boulder Creek as a proud veteran.
“You’re certainly proud you served your country at a time when it was really needed and you really looked forward to going in,” Cutting said.
At a glance
What: Veterans Day dinner
When: 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 11
Where: Scopazzi’s Restaurant, 13300 Big Basin Way, in Boulder Creek
Cost: $40 in advance, $45 at the door; $35 for military veterans. Tickets are available at Redwood Keg, Joe’s Bar and Boulder Creek Hardware and the SLV Museum
Info: 338-8382
