WWII vet reflects on Navy days

Nov. 10—It was August 1942, just a few months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, when a fresh-faced 19-year-old Seymour "Cye" Zwirn found himself at a United States Navy recruiting station in Manhattan, New York.

Born and raised just a few miles away in Brooklyn, New York, the now Kokomo resident said he remembers the boys in his neighborhood back then telling him he was crazy to enlist, but he just felt compelled to fight for Uncle Sam.

"My brother had already enlisted in the Army Air Corps as a twin-engine flyer and did many missions in Europe," Zwirn told the Tribune. "But I didn't want to go into the Army. I was a water guy. I specifically wanted to go into the Navy. ... I never thought about the consequences. It was just something that I had to do."

But it took a year for the Navy to actually call upon Zwirn, who had already been accepted for naval pilot training.

Then around 1943, Zwirn was sent to a naval aviation training camp in Olathe, Kansas, before being sent once more to various colleges and universities throughout the country for further education in fields like engineering, aeronautics and meteorology.

And it was at one of those stops, in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, where Zwirn said he first flew an airplane.

Eventually, all of Zwirn's training brought him to the Bunker Hill Naval Station, now Grissom Air Reserve Base in Peru, where he spent about six months in primary flight training.

Zwirn also met the love of his life while at Bunker Hill Naval Station, he noted, a Kokomo woman named Roberta, though Zwirn affectionately called her Bobbie.

The pair were married for 62 years until her death in 2009.

After leaving initial aviation training in Indiana, Zwirn then headed for Corpus Christi, Texas, where he eventually obtained his "wings" and pilot's certificate. He then found his way to Jacksonville, Florida, where he was assigned to a dive-bombing squadron.

"I had to sign a yearly contract with the Navy for one more year, one more year, one more year," he said, "and finally in 1945, I was assigned to the Carrier Midway. Its port was in Norfolk, Virginia."

In all, Zwirn would spend five years in the United States military.

And while he is proud of his service to this country, he said there was still one thing that eluded him during his tenure in the Navy.

He never saw combat.

"The war ended before I got assigned to a combat zone," he said. "I enlisted because I thought I'd get into combat, but I never saw it. When I was assigned to a fleet, it was the Atlantic fleet, not the Pacific fleet. I wanted to get into action. ... When the war ended, I was very disappointed because I had not been in a combat zone.

"And I brewed over it until I finally came to the realization that if I had been assigned to a combat zone, I might not be sitting here talking to you (Tribune)," Zwirn added. "I might have been one of the casualties. I felt better about not having been in combat when I looked at it that way. But I was definitely ready to go if they put me there."

These days, Zwirn looks back on his military days with a smile on his face.

At 99, his eyesight has now failed him, he admits, but Zwirn's memory is still sharp as a tack.

And though he doesn't consider himself a hero for his time spent during World War II, Zwirn said he was taught a lot of lessons while in the military that he has carried with him throughout his life.

"To me, the most important thing I learned is to stick with something," he said. "Learn as much as you can, and be reliable, too. Case in point, take learning. We never stop learning. Twice in my Navy career, I was taught to fly two different kinds of combat airplanes. And they didn't have two cockpits, one for a student and the other for an instructor. In the military, there's just one. They hand out a book and say, 'Here, read this and then go fly it.'

"And I was able to do it because I understood the importance of learning," Zwirn added. "... On one occasion, I was assigned to a squadron, and they told me to take an old beat-up Helldiver (dive-bomber) and fly it to Norfolk. Then, I was to come back with a new Skyraider (attack aircraft). And I did. You know why? I read the book, and I did it. See? We never stop learning."

Zwirn also said he feels fortunate to call himself a member of what is often coined as the "Greatest Generation."

"It means a lot in that that generation did not have its handout to be served and supported," he said. "It was about doing for yourself everything you could possibly do before seeking help. ... Nowadays, it's a group fighting with another group over some kind of dispute. Some are imaginary, some are real, but instead of talking about it, they just do strange things to each other. ... As for myself, I've been a very blessed man."