My father was born March 8, 1916, on the family farm near Humphrey Nebraska. Emil was the 6th child of Aloysius (Louie) Veik and Cecelia Fuchs. He had 5 sisters: Clara, Marie, Connie, Theresa, Sr. Estelle; and 2 brothers: Anthony and Art. It was from Anthony and Art that I learned a lot about my Father. DadŐs youngest brother Art was part of a B-29 bomber crew in the U S Army Air corps stationed in India during the war. Emil received his education from St. MaryŐs Catholic School near Humphrey Nebraska and went to Colorado for post graduate school returning to Nebraska.

Times were hard in the 1930s: no money, few jobs, but my dad got anxious, wanted better. His best friend Ted Braun also had the same ambition. So the two of them headed out to Colorado and did a few corn shelling jobs for a buck a day plus room and board. When that work ran out they wandered to Denver and points south along the eastern slopes of the Rockies and later on into New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma.

Broke, they went home to Nebraska. His friend went on to Rock Island, Illinois and later urged him to come to Rock Island to work. He went and had a hard time finding a job but finally landed a job working for the Army Corp of Engineers in Rock Island, Illinois surveying the Mississippi River to make it navigable. His crew worked from Dubuque, Iowa to Hannibal, Missouri constructing the lock system on the river. (In 1971 to 1975 I lived in Hannibal and never new this.) When this job phased out he went out to Colorado again and worked on a ranch. After about 3 months he was back in Nebraska but decided to go back to Rock Island Illinois, as that was home to him. There he worked at the Rock Island Arsenal until he heard from Uncle Sam.

March 30, 1941 he was inducted into the Army in Chicago Ill. Fort Bragg, North Carolina was basic training where he was assigned to a Field Artillery Unit and then went to Camp Forrest, Tennessee. In December of 1941 he reported to Camp McQuaide, California and then was transferred to Camp Roberts, California.

After being in California for a couple of years and before going over seas, Emil married my mother, Irene M. German on Thanksgiving Day November 25, 1943. Emil and Irene grew up together as there parents had adjoining farms. While in California, my parents lived in San Jose, California.

The beginning of March his Battalion received orders to go overseas. March 19, 1944 they arrived at Camp Hatheway, Vancouver, Washington. They embarked aboard the U/S Army Transport "KOTA AGOENG" on March 30, 1944 and sailed down the Columbia River and down the coast to San Pedro, California, where they stopped for fuel. April 5th they set sail for parts unknown. They finally off loaded in Milne Bay New Guinea then going to Oro Bay and on to Finschafen. They back loaded on the USAT HOWELL COBB on 9 AUG off loaded at Maffin Bay on the 15th. They fired their first combat mission on 26 Aug and continued combat operations until October 12th, when LSTs arrived, upon which they were loaded for the next operation. The seas were rough and it took 40 hours to move all their equipment across the beach and into the LSTs. They spent one day in Hollandia where they joined the convoy for Leyte, P.I.

They were to strike on the east coast of Leyte, near the capital city of Tacloban. They arrived in San Pedro Bay off Red and Blue Beach Sunday October 22nd and disembarked from LST 744 as soon as the weather and operations would allow.

Dad and his 155 MM Artillery Unit were involved in close heavy fighting till early January, when his unit was pulled off the front line to make preparations to back load and move North and go in to action on Luzon.

On Monday January 8th, 1945 my father drowned while washing a tractor (an M-4 tracked vehicle used for towing the 155mm Long Tom gun) in the Labiranan River. His body was buried at the U S Armed Forces Cemetery, Leyte, which was about eight miles south of Tacloban, Leyte. My father is now at buried in the Manila American Cemetery Plot A, Row 8 Grave 29.

I was born on October 2, 1944 in San Jose, California. Shortly after my birth, my mother and grandmother moved back to Nebraska. My mom and I were living at my father's parents' farm when she received word of my father's death.

My mother remarried Howard L. Kosch on June 7, 1949. I now have another wonderful Dad and 4 brothers and 2 sisters.

On May 24, 2007, my husband and I went on an AWON tour of the Philippines with the main event for us to visit my father's final resting place.