VETERANS RECALL HOW WORLD WAR II SHAPED DESTINIES.

Byline: Michael Coit Daily News Staff Writer

Commanding a company of African-American soldiers who proudly served the Army in Europe helped Jerry Wainess understand this nation's legacy of racism and segregation.

Fighting bloody battles for the Marine Corps in the South Pacific gave William Putney an even greater appreciation for life and sacrifice.

Building island airfields for the Army Air Corps in the South Pacific with only a day off every third week left John Adams hungry for hard work.

The three joined fellow World War II veterans at a Woodland Hills Rotary Club luncheon Wednesday to share experiences that helped shape the young soldiers' lives in the decades to come.

Organizers said the inaugural event, coming during the week before Memorial Day, recognizes living veterans so those who have died are not forgotten. Those on Wednesday's program all are Rotary Club members.

``I thank the lord that I was able to come home and be able to do some good things,'' said Wainess, a retired retail clothing store manager who ran the Saks Fifth Avenue in Woodland Hills.

Wainess, 79, said serving as a white officer commanding a segregated transport company ``made me eternally colorblind.''

A Brooklyn, N.Y., native, Wainess recalled thinking little about racism and segregation until his assignment to a Mississippi base to train and lead the transport company. ``I didn't think it was great, but I was just a kid back then.''

Wainess grew up in many ways during three years of duty across Europe alongside dozens of African-American men he never considered anything less than his equal.

``These are guys that helped keep me alive, and I helped keep them alive,'' he said. ``When they were lying in a fox hole, whatever their color, they were just people. As the war went on, I had a lot of respect for them as individuals.''

War was hell, but except for getting shot at it was better than the Depression, Putney said.

``We had long bread lines around the corner. I worked many days for 25 cents to 50 cents and if you didn't want the work, there was a kid waiting for that job,'' Putney recalled of life in rural Virginia.

When Putney graduated from Auburn University with a degree in veterinary medicine, he could have chosen a safe assignment inspecting meat in the states. Instead, he used the Reserve Officers' Training Corps to get a Marine commission and came out a captain.

``If you were lucky, you got promoted before you got killed. I was very lucky,'' Putney said, recalling in particular the hotly contested island of Iwo Jima. ``I had one sergeant that went up Mount Suribachi with 21 men and came back by himself.''

After the war, Putney, 79, had a notable career as a Woodland Hills veterinarian before retiring.

John Adams was a Los Angeles native who completed North Hollywood High School while in training with the Air Corps. He then was dispatched to a series of island posts with a hearty bunch of older men who built the airfields that gave the Air Corps control of the South Pacific skies.

``I learned the ethics of hard work in the Army. They were kind of a rough bunch, but when you worked around those guys, they didn't know the word lazy,'' he said.

After stints as a Hollywood studio grip and truck driver, Adams enjoyed a 40-year career with the Los Angeles Fire Department. Adams, 74, retired as a battalion chief in Woodland Hills.

The work of these and other veterans during and after the war reflected a tough generation weaned on the Depression and anxious for a better future.

``We all had some doubts. My God, if you were a Depression kid, you wondered what was going to happen to the country,'' said H. Zakary Zeitlin, a retired college administrator who was an Air Corps veteran.

``Surprisingly enough, we had a lot to look forward to. We made the most of the opportunity.''

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