Del Schipper honored as Jefferson County Veteran of the Month

FROM JEFFERSON COUNTY VETERANS' SERVICE OFFICE

FAIRBURY, NE - Del Schipper was born on a farm between Diller and Harbine, Nebraska.  His parents made a living by farming, consequently Del attended rural grade schools.  None of these schools exist today, but at the time they were one room school buildings, heated by coal and wood in the winter months and sometimes had teachers not much older than the oldest students.  Times were tough in those days.  It was not uncommon for a student to trade orange peelings for bread crusts at school and sandwiches were made at home from whatever was available.

Del attended Fairbury High School, but quit before graduating in order to earn money.  He initially worked for John Beckman, a cabinet maker and house builder.  This was during the “Korean Conflict”  and rather than being drafted into the Army, Del joined the Navy hoping to become a Seabee.  When he entered the Navy at Union Station in Omaha for training he was sent to Basic Training in the Great Lakes near Milwaukee, Wisconsin and spent all four years of active duty on Landing Ship Tanks (LST).  He never got to be a Seabee, thankfully.

His first tour of duty was aboard LST 1126 from San Diego, California to Point Barrow, Alaska by way of Seattle, Washington.  While in Alaska the Navy set up part of a “Dew Line Operation” designed to keep track of the Russians.  This operation consisted of four LST’s and the Northwind Icebreaker.  Once when rocks ripped a hole through the 1126’s boiler room the Underwater Demolition Team (UDT) repaired the hole with a mattress bolted with steel plates.  Without steam to cook food the kitchen crew resorted to using blow torches for food preparation.

Del transferred to the LST 854 in Guam to go to Incheon, South Korea and Japan.  On one of their missions about half way from Hawaii to Japan the convoy of six ships stopped for a swim.   Del can say he was the first of all the crew members to dive into the Pacific Ocean where it was three miles deep.  He spent the rest of his tour of duty on the LST 854 hauling cargo, North Korean prisoners, refugees and servicemen between Japan and South Korea.  They had 196 “Ports of Call.”  Sometimes his LST would leave UDT’s off the coast of Korea a few miles out and pick them up 24 hours later.  Their job presumably was to cut fishing nets to reduce the food supply of the enemy.

The LST’s unloaded 50 gallon barrels of gas on shore during high tide.  When the tide went out they were “beached” with the water 300 feet behind them.  This made them “sitting ducks” until the next high tide.  One time “Bed Check Charlie,” (a term for North Korean pilots) dropped a bomb on the 50 gallon gas barrels LST 854 had just unloaded.  Fortunately Del and his crew members had departed far enough to see a huge fireball, instead of being the fireball.  Another operation consisted of picking up 300 paratroopers off a beach.  When Del realized that one of them was also from Fairbury, he gave up his bunk to Ivan Lloyd while the other paratroopers slept on the tank deck and the main deck.

Del Schipper was released from active duty January 11, 1956, with the naval rank equivalent to an Army sergeant (E-5).  His medals include:  Korean Service Medal, United Nations Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal and the Good Conduct Medal.  Del had married his wife, Jeannette Hayes midway through his tour of duty and once released from active duty returned to Fairbury to work.  His first construction job was to finish the masonry work on the Methodist Church tower.  He worked for K & W Construction until 1964 when he struck out on his own.  He did construction work at the Endicott Brick Yard,  Fairbury and Steele City street paving and even did some masonry work in Long Island, New York.  Over the years he has built or worked on several hundred homes.  He has served on the Hospital Board for four years, is a member of the American Legion Post 24 and VFW Post 3113.  Del is known for being generous with loaning his many items of construction equipment to local people.  He currently lives with his wife, Jeannette, of 68 years in the house they built in rural Jefferson County.