Honoring fallen heroes

On Jan. 21 1945, as Walter J. Mallett strode the catwalk of the U.S.S. Ticonderoga aircraft carrier, he thought to himself how nice the weather was over the South China Sea, how you could see a fly in the sky five miles away, and thus had little fear of a surprise air attack by the Japanese.

Hours later he would be lying on the deck alongside a 500-pound bomb, choking on smoke as the flames neared while 20mm guns blazed away at the attacking aircraft overhead.

Within days he was in a naval hospital in Guadalcanal, and within weeks, not long after he turned 22, he would be at Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides Islands, recuperating in a wooden building with no air conditioning along the equator.

Sixteen months after he was hit, his shoulder blown away, Mallett left the U.S. Naval Hospital in Jacksonville with a medical discharge and a Silver Star, and returned to Carrabelle to rebuild the old fish house that his widowed mother and four younger brothers had struggled with throughout the war.

The right arm of the strapping 6’4” Carrabelle man was now 4” shorter than his left, but he would make due, and build a life for himself, his wife Frances, and his four children.

“I haven’t had my right hand in my pocket or my hand over my head in 66 years,” he said.

But this past Memorial Day, his heart was in his hands and his head was in the clouds, as he represented all the Navy veterans of his “greatest generation” in a wreath-laying ceremony to honor and remember the nation's "Fallen Heroes" at a special commemorative event at the National World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Mallett, 88, stood alongside Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who would later give the keynote address. The Norwegian Chief of Defense, General Harald Sunde spoke in recognition of the service of the Norwegian veterans who fought alongside 99th Infantry Battalion during World War II. Together with Norwegian World War II veterans, members of the 99th Infantry were recognized and honored during the commemoration.

Actors Joe Mantegna, Gary Sinise, and Ron Masak, and singer Nancy Sinatra took part in the remembrance ceremony as well.

“It was really nice, to tell you the truth,” said Mallett, who has lived in Port Richey for the past 60 years. “It made you feel nice. People had their children out there trying to teach them a little history, and have their picture taken with you. It was an honor really.”

The origins of Mallett’s trip has roots in a reunion of veterans of the U.S.S. Ticonderoga, which was first commissioned as an aircraft carrier in 1944, the fourth incarnation of a ship that began as a 17-gun schooner in the flotilla that helped win the War of 1812’s Battle of Lake Champlain.

In that year, Mallett was still carrying in his wallet the port pass been issued two years earlier, after concerned officials wanted to tighten scrutiny following the June 29, 1942 sinking of the British freighter the Empire Mica off the coast of Cape San Blas.

In fact, Mallett kept both his port pass and his draft registration in his wallet for six decades, until it was lost just three months ago.

“It was to prove you weren’t a German spy, and it said to keep it on your person at all times,” he said. “So I still had mine. I’m a law-abiding citizen.”

As a member of the original crew of the Ticonderoga when it was commissioned as an aircraft carrier, Mallett was a “plank owner,” one of the first 10 men who were part of the original reunion in New Port Richey.

But all are gone now, and the reunion has swelled into an enormous gathering held in Washington. Mallett wanted to be part of the 40^th reunion, and to attend the Memorial Day concert that weekend.

But his youngest son, Robert, a journalist who is now an Orlando attorney, decided to go even further, and made arrangements with James Fisher, executive director of the Friends of the National World War II Memorial, for his father to take part in the ceremony.

Accompanying Mallett and his youngest son on the trip were eldest son Walter Jr., now of Weeki Wachee. Walter Jr., who like daughter Susan Frances had been born in the former Apalachicola Hospital at the old Army-Air Force base, is a veteran of service in the Air Force’s Minuteman missile program.

Also accompanying Walter Mallett on the Washington trip were middle son Victor Mallett and wife Janet, of Port Richey, both of whom work with the Pasco County school district.

Mallett’s younger brother, Army veteran Lester Mallett, and wife Barbara Ann, of Port Richey, were also on hand.

As it turned out, with so much going on that weekend, Mallett missed out on much of the Ticonderoga reunion, although he does cherish the piece of the flight deck that was presented him as a member of the original crew.

“After I got so involved in this thing I didn’t get to participate in a lot of the reunion,” he said.

From his window at the hotel, across the street from the Pentagon, Mallett could see the stirring sights of the nation’s capital. “We had a ball,” said Mallett. “My son told his brothers that this was once in a lifetime.”

Through a friend of a friend, a pilot for Delta Airlines, Robert Mallett arranged for a trip up the Potomac aboard a 40’ yacht with twin diesel engines, followed by dining along the waterfront.

The next day the family took in the sights of Washington, traveling in a rented limousine. At one point, the hundreds of motorcyclists that were part of “Rolling Thunder” treated the limo regally.

“Everybody was waving, and it looked like we had a motorcycle escort and the president or somebody was coming by,” said Mallett. “We had a wonderful time.”

On Sunday night, May 29, Mallett had front and center seats for the National Memorial Day Concert, co-hosted by Sinise and Mantegna, both of whom have dedicated themselves to veterans’ causes and supporting troops in active service.

The 90-minute broadcast featured appearances and/or performances by General Colin L. Powell (Ret.), Kris Allen, Dianne Wiest, B.B. King, Hayley Westenra, Forest Whitaker, Jason Ritter, Daniel Rodriguez, Yolanda Adams and Maestro Jack Everly as well as numerous military bands and choruses

“We sat right behind the politicians,” said Mallett, with a laugh.

On Monday morning, accompanied by his youngest son, Mallett represented the thousands of Navy men and women, living and dead, who served this nation during World War II.

This time, old age has joined injury in preventing his good arm from being lifted above his head, but none of that mattered.

As the wreath was placed, and Mallett lined up in solemn tribute, it must have felt like the entire Navy, and all who went before, had their arms snapped to their brow in crisp salute.