Editor’s Note: In the Third Army during World War II, Bob Lettis of Cooperstown was witness to one of the most memorable episodes: the securing of the bridge at Remagen, the last crossing that hadn’t been destroyed by retreating Germans. After the war, Lettis, brother of former Oneonta Mayor Jim Lettis, taught art in Otsego County and Massachusetts for many years. He is now retired.
On March 11, 1945, we were told to move out. We were to pack up all our gear and join the rest of the battery at Hurth. Little did we know that we were about to participate in a battle that would go down as the turning point in the war against Germany. The Third Army had been predicted to attempt a Rhine crossing at any time. Maybe this was it!
When we joined the rest of Battery B, we headed down toward the river. It became apparent we were to be part of a Rhine crossing. We had not seen any indication of a bridgehead from our OP position, but maybe we had missed it in the dark.
Our convoy soon joined other units heading in the same direction. We kept looking for Engineers and their pontoon, but none were in sight. After heading down toward the river, the convoys came to a main highway and turned south, following the river on the western side. After traveling a few miles, we sighted a railroad bridge in the distance, apparently still intact. Most bridges on the Rhine had been destroyed as the Germans retreated to the eastern side of the river.
It is important that you have a picture of the terrain bordering the Rhine at this point. Over the centuries, the river had cut a gorge into the landscape so that on each side the banks rose perceptibly to a height of several hundred feet. This height advantage is what made our last OP so advantageous. Now that we were down at the level of the river, we looked up in wonder at the imposing hilIs.
What we were looking at was to become known as the Bridge at Remagen. This was the beach-head that would allow American troops to gain access to the Rhineland, the breadbasket of Germany. The bridge was a blackened structure crossing the Rhine and the railroad it served had been a major rail link for German troops defending the border at Holland, Belgium and France. When the railroad ceased to operate because of Allied air strikes, it was converted to a vehicle bridge by covering the rails with planking. At each end of the bridge were twin towers acting as anchors for the structure. On our side, the rail approach was gradual with the tracks running down a small valley to the river and then traveling onto and over the bridge. This easy approach was not the case on the eastern side.
Here the rail line confronted a high hill, so that to continue on its way the Germans were forced to dig a tunnel through the mountain.
We were somewhat puzzled as to how we were to cross. How were we to get onto the bridge with the rail bed several feet high at this point? Our engineers had solved that problem by building a ramp up from the northern side. Our convoy then proceeded to drive up the ramp and onto the rail bed and then to the bridge itself. As I mentioned before, the Germans had put planking down on the tracks so that truck and cars could cross.
The bridge had been captured March 7 by a company of American engineers who happened on the site by chance, surprising the German troops left to blow it up. The Americans were able to dispose of the few Germans still on the bridge, then cut the wire that had been strung to connect the explosives, and finally secured an easy access into heartland of Germany.
Within hours tanks, half-tracks and troops were pouring across, expanding the size of the bridge head. Our unit, one of many, was to help exploit this Third Army advantage.
My description makes the story sound as if it was a leisurely drive from one side of the river to the other. It was far from that. While on the bridge there were German planes flying in from the east, dropping bombs, trying to destroy the structure. American 50-caliber anti-aircraft fire was everywhere. Because the plane had to come in very low to have a chance of hitting the bridge, the bullets being shot from both sides of the river were only a few feet above our heads. God knows how many American vehicles and troops were hit by this friendly fire, but there had to be some with this extensive barrage. The bridge itself was strewn with the carnage of the battle. Disabled vehicles had been pushed aside or into the river. Dead German soldiers lay everywhere. Many years later I found when revisiting the site that the German engineer officers responsible for destroying the bridge had been court-martialed and executed for this failure.
Upon reaching the eastern side of the river, our unit turned right and headed south. We halted a short distance from the bridge and our machine gunners joined the rest of the trigger-happy 50 calibers trying to shoot down the German planes. Also we became aware that there were other attempts to knock out the bridge. The Germans were firing artillery as well, but because of the high hills, the shells were ineffective and landing several hundred yards on the other side of the river. It became clear why we were sent across. We were to locate the source of the enemy fire so that it could be destroyed.
My job, as the sergeant observer, was to locate the OPs for this job. Lieutenant Jalbert and I began our climb up the precipitous hill that bordered the road, with the tasks of locating the sites for the OPs. To begin with, there were houses on the side of the hill so we were able to walk up streets and in between the homes. Soon these ran out and we continued walking up through an open field. When we finally reached the top we decided that this was not a good location for the OPs because right in front of us was another hill, blocking our view. There was nothing left to do but to travel down into the small valley between the hills and climb the next one (hoping that we would not run into the same situation as before). Eventually we were able to find several locations, ones that gave a good view of the countryside for several miles. We went back to our convoy and I took the OP crews to their new OP. They could begin to look for the placement of the harassing enemy artillery so it could be silenced.
Crossing the Remagen Bridge was an extremely memorable experience for me. It was a day full of excitement, horror and fear. Crossing the bridge, being part of the antiaircraft barrage firing at enemy aircraft, and climbing into territory that could have been held by the Germans was a day to remember. Lieutenant Jalbert put me in for a Bronze Star for that day. I received it after the war when I got home.
Several days after our crossing the bridge collapsed and fell into the Rhine. Several pontoon bridges had been constructed by the engineers by then so that the progress into the heartland was not interrupted.

After the war, a Bronze Star Metal was sent to me in Oneonta. In the years that followed, the citation was mislaid or lost.
I applied to the Army record center to have a copy of the citation sent to me. The only reply I received was that the Record Center in St. Louis had been destroyed by fire and the records were unavailable.
A couple of years ago, I saw a note on the Internet that some of those records had been retrieved, though partially burned, so I send in another request.
On Aug. 20, 2007, I received a copy of the citation (albeit with burned edges) and a new certificate signed by the then-current secretary of the Army and dated 2007.
It took only 61 years to complete this process, but now I can legally say I was a recipient of a Bronze Star during World War II.

By JIM KEVLIN

Within a half-hour of the polls closing at 9 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 3, it was clear that Richard P. Miller Jr., who set aside the title of Hartwick College president 18 months ago, would pick up that of Oneonta mayor.
The Democratic-endorsed independent took 1,078 votes to GOP Alderman Erik Miller’s 894. Jason Corrigan, the feisty SUNY Oneonta senior, garnered 177 votes.
But Dick Miller, to mix metaphors, was just the tip of a Democratic iceberg that, shall we say, sank the Republican Titanic (or, perhaps, Minnow) in and around Oneonta.
Incumbent Democratic Town Supervisor Bob Wood garnered 762 votes to Republican Tony Natalini’s 445.
Wood, however, will have to contend with two Republican colleagues on the town board, as Bill Mirabito (679) and Scott Gravelin (623) narrowly edged the Democratic newcomer, John Frisch (607).
In the vigorously contested race for senior city judge, the Democrat Lucy Bernier (1,259) topped Republican Mike Getman (811) by a comfortable margin.
The icing on the cake: The Democrats reclaimed the one Oneonta-area county rep seat held by the GOP – Democratic newcomer Linda Rowinski’s 298 toppled freshman Republican Rep. Scott Harrington (217) in District 13.
The Democratic incumbents roared back in: County Rep. Cathy Rothenberger (250) handily turned back Craig Gelbsman (145), and Richard Murphy (703) pushed back Janet Hurley Quackenbush (527). Marti Stayton was unchallenged.
It was almost as if the Republicans could see it coming, as the mood was noticeably subdued at state Sen. Jim Seward’s campaign office at 14 Dietz St.
Seward, the county’s highest-ranking Republican, wasn’t up for reelection until next year, but he was intently monitoring the returns popping up on the computer screen in the back room, looking over county Rep. Betty Ann Schwerd’s shoulder. (She eked out a win 458 to 442 over Democrat Keith Carpenter in her Edmeston-based District 10.
Around the corner at the Autumn Cafe, boisterous Democrats were packed shoulder-to-shoulder, cheering as results were announced.
A breathless Mayor John S. Nader, who is retiring at year’s end, charged in, phone to his ear, and announced the mayoral tallies.
“That’s eight wards of eight wards,” he then declared. “That’s it.”
The pronouncement set off a round of “hip, hip hoorays” for Dick Miller, who had arrived 15 minutes before the 9:40 p.m. resolution.
A little after 10, Judge Bernier spoke to the crowd, then Miller gave a speech peppered with good humor.
He pledged to make Erik Miller, his Republican opponent, “a partner in the new administration.”
He nominated Kim Muller, Nader’s predecessor as mayor and another key player in Miller’s campaign, for the Nobel Prize, noting: “She kept John and me from killing each other.”
The reality is that the city Democratic organization – Nader and Muller in the front ranks – embraced Dick Miller’s candidacy as soon as it surfaced that Nader – he was promoted to SUNY Delhi provost, effective Jan. 1 – would have to step aside.
Miller, as a partner with wife Andi in 55 Maple Street Consultants, had already partnered with City Hall on a new round of downtown redevelopment.
The new mayor, who takes office in the new year, said he plans to keep a low profile for the next seven weeks, learning the ropes in preparation for taking office.

IF YOU GO: Dianna Heldman performs Berlioz’ “Nights Of Summer” and other works, 8 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 14, SUNY Oneonta’s Hunt Union Ballroom.

Al Cleinman, president, Cleinman Performance Partners, presents the company’s Founder’s Award to Dr. Bill Lusk, retired optometrist, at an open house at the company’s expanded headquarters at 341-343 Main St. on Thursday, Oct. 29. Lusk gave Cleinman his first job – yardboy – and interested him in the field. The company provides consulting services nationally on the business side of optometry. At right are Senator Seward and Rob Robinson, chamber president.

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Americans, we’re told – and in our heart of hearts, believe it – aren’t asked to do much.
And so to Oneonta, where there’s a crying need for bricks-and-mortar projects.
To name just a few: a new roof for the YMCA, renovations to the U-C-C-C-C-C-A’s Wilber Mansion, a delightful community venue, the redo of the Oneonta Theatre. And that’s just the beginning.
There’s the United Way of Delaware & Otsego Counties, certainly, but that fundraising, now in progress – check www.helpuwaydo.org/ on how to contribute – goes to people needs: LEAF, Opportunities for Otsego, Planned Parenthood and the like.
But construction needs? We’re dependent on the kindness of strangers, (and state Sen. Jim Seward, R-Milford, who has been a stalwart in that regard).
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Someone was talking the other day about an old coal town in Pennsylvania that was equally challenged.
What’s more, it seemed that every time the phone rang someone was asking for something.
In that case, the local chamber of commerce formed a committee, which, first, determined that the community – much less prosperous than our City of the Hills – could raise about $1 million a year.
If an entity needed to launch a capital campaign, it would approach the committee, which would give it a time slot.
Year one, the library raised $1 million for an expansion. A couple of years later, a fledgling YMCA raised $1 million to convert a former Armory into a facility.
Not only did the committee slot the fund drives – you in 2003, you in 2004, etc. – it developed expertise in fundraising, and could advise prospective fund drives, help them find appropriate consultants, and so on.
It worked out just fine.
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Oneonta, with its stable employment base, could probably do much better than $1 million, (although why be greedy?)
The Otsego County Conservation Association comes to mind as a case in point.
In 2006, the OCCA thought it wanted to raise $30,000. It opened conversations with Amanda May, the retired Bassett fundraiser who can be enticed from time to time to spearhead drives associated with the environment or the arts.
$30,000 is hardly worth going after, she observed. So the OCCA decided to seek $300,000 over three years. As it turned out, the money was raised in 10 months, a testimony to the good will the organization enjoys: People believe it’s a good value.
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This story could be duplicated time and again, but only if we get organized.
Oneonta’s new mayor would be well advised to make common cause with Rob Robinson, the Otsego County Chamber president, to get this kind of program in place.
Americans – Oneontans and Otsego Countians included – want to contribute. But you have to ask them.

To the Editor:
In its Oct. 23 editorial on the Fox-Bassett affiliation Hometown Oneonta has demonstrated that a solid grasp of the facts need not be a prerequisite for expressing an opinion. While I always support the rights of the free press, one would hope that there would be some effort to glean the facts before opining in such a public forum.
Both Fox and Bassett have historically been successful in pursuing their respective missions. Fox has always been and continues to be an excellent community hospital. Bassett, since its founding in 1927, has always pursued a much broader mission that encompassed the provision of primary and specialty care to a larger geographic region, research in both basic science and community health, and the training of physicians and other allied health professionals.
I share the author’s healthy respect for what has been accomplished under Dr. Streck’s visionary leadership. However, to imply that Bassett’s prominence as model for rural healthcare only emerged during his tenure belies the contributions of such luminaries as Dr. George Miner Mackenzie, who pioneered the salaried group practice model that has since been widely emulated, and the establishment of the Bassett annual payment plan in 1941, which was a precursor of modern health maintenance organizations, in addition to that of Dr. James Bordley III, who oversaw the formal affiliation with Columbia University in 1948 and the development of a research program in the 1950s and ‘60s that fostered the early work of Nobel laureate Dr. E. Donnall Thomas among others.
It was this legacy of innovation that led the Carnegie Commission to cite Bassett as a model rural health system in 1971.
Secondly, the author states “Fox’s board was right to resist its absorption into the ever-growing medical behemoth, even as hospitals in Cobleskill, Little Falls, Delhi and Sidney succumbed.”
Wouldn’t it have been worth the time to research the circumstances surrounding each of these affiliations before characterizing them as hostile corporate takeovers? In each of the instances cited, community members who cared about their local hospital actively sought affiliation with Bassett in the face of increasing financial distress.
Since becoming Bassett affiliates, each of these institutions has demonstrated significantly improved financial performance while sustaining and adding to the services in the community. If there is any remaining doubt that these institutions have been well-served by their affiliations with Bassett, one need only travel to such neighboring communities as Stamford, Hancock, Ilion and Herkimer, where the local hospitals that failed to successfully pursue such affiliations are but a distant memory.
We would encourage Hometown Oneonta to contact board members at the Bassett affiliates to gain their perspective on the relative merits of affiliation.
I’m not sure that anyone but the author sees the Fox -Bassett affiliation as “an affirmation of Bassett’s Weltanschauung.” Having been a proud member of the Bassett team for more than 25 years, I can say that Bassett’s world-view (or Weltanschauung for those non- German speaking) espouses that those of us who choose to live in rural areas shouldn’t have to sacrifice access to outstanding medical care based upon that choice.
It would seem that this is a world-view that we would all actively embrace, rather than merely accept with a resigned sense of inevitability, as the author suggests.
Finally, if we have learned anything from the current healthcare reform debate, it’s that classic economic theory does not prevail in the business of healthcare. Adam Smith’s observation, “Monopoly is a great enemy to good management,” is a catchy quote, but it has nothing to do with our evolving health system, and it has no bearing whatsoever on Bassett’s current affiliations or its future affiliation with Fox Hospital.
The facts indicate that, quite to the contrary, Bassett’s past affiliations (which would never come close to any legal definition of monopoly) have indeed led to benefits for the communities where hospital boards took a pro-active role in defining their future.
We would hope that, in the future, Hometown Oneonta would spend a little more time researching the facts prior to shooting from the hip with ill-informed opinions. If you choose to do the research, you may indeed write a future opinion piece that congratulates both the Fox and Bassett Trustees for acting in the best interests of their respective institutions and the patients they serve.

MICHAEL STEIN
Executive Director
Government &
Community Affairs
Bassett Healthcare

To the Editor:
President Obama said: “Our goal is not just to rebound from this recession, but to start building an economy that works for all Americans, where our stock market isn’t only rising again but our businesses are hiring again. That’s our goal.”
Our economy is in much better shape now than it was when Obama took office. Last January, our work force was hemorrhaging 700,000 jobs a month and our financial system was on the brink of collapse.
The Obama administration has put more than $1 trillion into bolstering financial institutions, giving them liquidity and presently they’re again making lots of money. Now, we need to loan money to the people who create most of the jobs in this country, and that is small business.
Last year, the Bush administration loaned $700 billion to the multibillion-dollar financial institutions. That money didn’t go to community banks that make the loans to small businesses that create 65 percent of the new jobs in this country.
A lot of small businesses in this country need loans to survive the recession. The Small Business Administration must start backing up larger loans, so that banks actively seek people with SBA loans.
The Obama administration has initiated a federal program whereby a small-business person can go to a bank for a loan and it’s backed by the federal government. That is the way our taxpayer dollars helped Wall Street to send the Dow Jones Industrial over $10,000.
Wall Street got its money and access to the capital. Now, it’s Main Streets turn.

JEREMIAH O’LEARY
Delhi

To the Editor:
I think the idea for branding Oneonta with “The Hills Are Alive” is great, creative and exciting. I hope it takes off.
I enjoy Hometown Oneonta, celebrate your success and wish you more of the same in the future.

ROSE BEERS
North Franklin