An old salt from WWII draws honks and cheers at Gig Harbor Veterans’ Day event
Gig Harbor’s Veterans Day celebration had it all —bands, flags, patriotic speeches and military brass, cleverly wrapped up as a 1940s radio play. But it was hard to top the climax — the surprise appearance of a 94-year-old World War II veteran.
Wally Cornman, a Navy veteran who will be 95 in December, was greeted with a raucous chorus of cheers and honking car horns as he mounted the stage in the Uptown Shopping Center on Nov. 11. In a nod to the coronavirus, the audience were in their cars, parked around the stage.
Cornman, who lives in Vaughn, enlisted in the Navy in 1942, a few days after his 18th birthday. He served in a destroyer-escort in the Pacific, and later on a cargo ship.
“People were honking like crazy when they heard that he was a WWII veteran. He was so humble and so appreciative,” said Gig Harbor City Council Member Robyn Denson, who served as master of ceremonies.
In brief remarks, he thanked the people that had come out in the cars to support the veterans.
“It meant a lot to him,” Denson said.
Cornman wasn’t on the program, but a sharp-eyed volunteer spotted him.
“It was a surprise,” Denson said. “He told one of the check-ins that he was a WWII veteran and we worked him into the program at the end. It was an amazing finale!”
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The salute to the area’s veterans was organized like an old-time radio program — Denson even used a period microphone — and broadcast to the audience in their cars on on station KGHP-FM, as well as via YouTube and Facebook.
There was live music from a detachment of the I Corps Army Band from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, and the national anthem was sung by a Navy bandsman, Brenton Mitchell.
Among the speakers were Capt. Richard G. Rhinehart, commanding officer at Naval Base Kitsap, and Lourdes E. Alvarado-Ramos, director of the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs. Gig Harbor Police Chief Kelly Busey, a Coast Guard retiree, also attended.
Alvarado-Ramos, an Army veteran, emphasized the need to support veterans who may be struggling after serving.
“The best way of being able to thank a veteran for their service is to be vigilant,” Alvarado-Ramos said. “When they see a veteran struggling, to find a way to intervene and hopefully make a referral to a veterans organization or the State Department of Veterans Affairs that has many programs to be able to assist. That’s the message I would like our community to get.”
Born in Puerto Rico, Alvarado-Ramos served 22 years on active duty and retired as the command sergeant major of Madigan Army Medical Center at JBLM.
Strict COVID precautions
The event followed strict covid protocols, from having the audience in cars to strict mask requirements for those on stage.
“These were high-level men and women with our military. There were a lot of covid protocols that we had to follow and make sure we gave them assurances they would be safe,” Denson said.
“Even up until the night before, with the numbers rising so much in our area, we heard from the singer of our national anthem that he might not be able to come because of covid,” Denson said. But the singer made it, and the show went on without a hitch.
“It all worked out but we really had to be flexible and innovative and work to make sure that we could honor our veterans but still do it in a way that was respecting everybody’s health,” Denson said.
Betty Lilienthal, vice president of the Gig Harbor Senior Center, thanked “all of the hardworking folks who put together this beautiful and touching tribute to our country’s veterans.”
The mariner’s tale
In an interview with The Gateway, Wally Cornwall said his appearance “was all a spur of the moment” and that he had more he wanted to share.
“I missed something I wanted to say, but I didn’t want to be up there too long,” Cornwall said. ”One thing I wanted to say, I wanted to thank the women of the United States. They went into the defense plants and the aircraft places, they went out on the ocean with binoculars to look for subs and ships. The women did a fabulous job and I wanted to thank them, but I didn’t quite get to it.”
Cornman has a long history in the area. He was born in Naches in 1925 then, in 1936, he moved to Gig Harbor with his family, which was made up of five boys and his stepsister.
“Gig Harbor was a good place to grow up,” Cornman said.
Cornman wanted to be a Navy diver, but a training accident resulted in a case of the bends, so he ended up on a destroyer-escort instead. A shore leave in Wellington, New Zealand, left him with “a little history,” he said.
That history turned out to be a son that Cornman didn’t know he had.
“He came up a year ago and brought five people with him and we had a lovely time together. He’s really nice,” Cornman said.
Cornman says his son was put up for adoption and he only was able to meet him recently.
“We got along wonderfully. Everybody tells me he looks just like me, so poor fella,” Cornman jokes.
Moved by experience
Cornman also has several children in the Northwest.
“I have a daughter on Fox Island and I have another daughter down in Vancouver. Then I have a son over in Coeur d’Alene,” Cornman said.
Cornman said he was moved by how nicely he was treated.
“It was cold outside, and by gosh they brought chairs for us to sit on and there was a heater there,” Cornman said. “I never shook so many hands in my life. The people were wonderful.”
Denson was similarly moved.
“That was probably my favorite part of the whole event because my grandfather also served in World War II. He was a machinist second class in the Coast Guard,” Denson said. “I know how much his military service meant to him and all of his Coast Guard friends.”
“I absolutely identified with Wally. I know how important this was for him.”
Denson said she appreciated the work of the many organizers and volunteers.
“There were a lot of moving pieces and it went really well,” Denson said. “I heard from so many veterans and veterans families that they appreciated it” — especially the opportunity for social bonding.
“I heard from people that this was the first time they had been out of their houses, especially some of the older people, the first time they had been in the car in months,” Denson said. “They came out for this event so that was really heartwarming for all of us.”
Reach Chase Hutchinson at chase.hutchinson@thenewstribune.com
This story was originally published November 18, 2020 at 5:30 AM.
