You find Barney Leone’s display case a little over halfway through “Secrets of World War II” — a new, revealing exhibition opening this weekend at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley.
It’s a fascinating look into the lives and actions of the soldiers, sailors and Marines who made it home, but never talked about their war experiences to anyone, not even their own fathers who had served in World War I.
They kept their stories inside almost their entire lives, until one day they found a reason to finally open up. Most have passed on, and their stories and artifacts for the exhibition have come from relatives.
Barney’s still with us, still serving at 97 as an ambassador of goodwill and information. It’s just him, his old flag from his fuel ship and a roomful of high school seniors with a keen interest in World War II history. They’re the reason Barney finally opened up.
“When he came in (to the library) to share his stories with us, Barney brought with him the flag from his ship at Iwo Jima,” said Melissa Giller, who interviewed World War II veterans for the exhibition, ultimately choosing six to be honored with special display cases. “I will never forget Barney’s interview.”
He was a 23-year-old motor machinist mate second class manning one of the 20-millimeter guns on the USS Nemasket, a fuel ship anchored 150 yards off shore at Iwo Jima. As the first wave of Marines went in, Barney gave them a thumb’s up sign and salute.
Not one Marine looked over and acknowledged it. They just stared straight ahead, clutching their rifles in front of their faces. They knew the hell storm that awaited them.
Barney knew he wouldn’t be seeing half these guys again and he was right. The 36-day assault claimed 26,000 American casualties, including nearly 7,000 dead.
“As Barney shared that story with me, he was holding his flag to his face, as if he was on that landing craft, and the flag was his rifle,” Giller said. “He was totally focused on the war ahead of him. He was there at Iwo Jima that day. It was intense and emotional.”
The iconic raising of the American flag atop Mount Suribachi, which Barney witnessed through a pair of binoculars from his ship – shouting excitedly to the other sailors, “It’s OUR flag. We’ve won!”
As he passed the binoculars, Barney looked up at the flag on his own ship. It was old and weather-beaten from the many battles the ship had gone through, and he knew it would soon have to be burned at a flag retirement ceremony. It didn’t seem right to just let it die.
“I got permission from the quartermaster to put it in my locker, and never tell anyone on ship I had it,” Barney said. “When I got home I put it in the closet and never talked about it, even to my father who served in World War I.”
And, that’s where it stayed for the next 65 years until he received a call in 2010 asking if he would speak to a group of seniors at Oaks Christian High School in Westlake Village who were taking an elective class on World War II history.
An elective class. Those kids wanted to be there, they didn’t have to. Barney said yes and got his old flag from the closet. He’s been invited back to Oaks Christian and many other schools every year since, and has shoe boxes filled with touching letters from kids thanking him.
Some days, he says, he’ll just sit for hours in the living room of his West Hills home rereading those letters, always finding himself fighting back tears.
We talked this week in that living room, by a fireplace that had two framed photographs on the wall above it – one of his father at 20 going off to fight in World War I, the other of him at 20 going off to fight in World War II.
Barney became a preacher when he got home after three years of war. He married a young girl who fell in love with him sight unseen. She had met his mother while he was gone, and listened to her proudly talk about her son fighting for his country.
“I was in church one day just after getting home talking to a few of the girls who had been writing me while I was overseas when I noticed a girl just standing alone behind them staring at me,” Barney said.
“I had the funniest feeling I knew her, but I had never seen her before in my life. Do we know each other, I asked her? She smiled and told me about talking with my mother, who never told me.”
At the base of their favorite tree in the front yard of their home is a plaque honoring the memory of Phyllis Leone – the girl who fell in love with him talking to his mother, and later became his wife for 56 years.
“When I was just starting out as a young pastor, I had an older preacher come up to me after one of my talks, put his hand on my head, and say, ‘Little brother, you stay humble and God’s going to use you.’ That’s been the story of my life.”
The “Secrets of World War II” exhibition will be at the Reagan Library through Oct. 9. Stop by and pay your respect to the 40th president of the United States, and the 16 million men and women who served in World War II. www.reaganfoundation.org
And, while you’re there, save a little time for Barney.
Dennis McCarthy’s column runs on Sunday. He can be reached at dmccarthynews@gmail.com.