On the door to 101-year-old Kenneth Rehm’s living space at The Bristal Assisted Living in Sayville, signs reading “Welcome,” and “World War II Veteran” proudly hang.
But for the Sayville resident of over 70 years, honors and titles relating to his service in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific during the later years of World War II don’t compare to the sacrifices his fellow soldiers made.
“I’m not looking for anything special because I’m a veteran,” Rehm said. “I just feel in my heart that I did what was expected of me.”
Ahead of Veterans Day, and the 85th anniversary of the United States entering World War II after the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Rehm reflected in detail on his three-year military career, youth, and the life he’s carved out in Sayville in the decades since.
Born in Queens on April 3, 1925, Rehm moved to Holbrook at age 12 after his family winterized a summer home they built on Blossom Street, where a young Rehm collected water at a community well, and ate meals cooked by kerosine.
A graduate of Holbrook’s Union Avenue School eighth-grade Class of 1939, placing third out of eight, Rehm would later graduate from Sayville High School in June 1943.
“In July, I was in the Navy,” Rehm said.
By that point in the war, the Allies had routed German and Italian forces out of North Africa, while the Soviet Union gained momentum on the Nazis in Eastern Europe. In the Pacific Theater, U.S. forces were also gaining ground on the Japanese military, with victories including the liberation of Alaska’s Aleutian Islands.
Rehm found himself in Lower Manhattan completing his physical exams and paperwork for military enlistment. Originally wanting to join the U.S. Army Air Forces, Rehm was denied due to a perforated eardrum he suffered as a child. Walking around the recruitment areas, Rehm recalled a U.S. Army master sergeant tell him, “The Navy needs a good many like you.”
From there, Rehm conducted his boat training at the former Sampson Naval Training Station in Romulus, N.Y., and later set sail for the South Pacific Ocean after taking a train to California.
Sometime during training, Rehm discussed his experience taking a business class in high school, leading his superiors to assign him as “Storekeeper Second Class” in Australia. Stationed in Brisbane, where Gen. Douglas MacArthur was headquartered, Rehm would help transport and supply submarines and aircraft aboard “flattop” aircraft carriers in the Southern Pacific Ocean.
“I served my time in the Navy, but it wasn’t a shooting time,” Rehm said. “God was on my side, maybe that’s why I’m here for [over] 100 years.”
Rehm said he and his crew almost never faced danger, being so distant from combat areas, but a few occasions made them feel uncomfortable.
“There were problems at different times… When you’re on a flattop [aircraft carrier] and you have a moonlit night and you have heard that there were enemy submarines, not in the neighborhood, but close… and we didn’t have an escort or anything,” Rehm said.
But much of Rehm’s time was on land, with fond memories including horseback riding on nearby ranches that led to the ocean, and rowing with crewmates in a tight river, then hurriedly navigating away from a large boat approaching them.
After Japan’s surrender in 1945, Rehm stayed on base in Australia for another year to finish inventory on remaining parts sold to The Netherlands. About a year after returning home, Rehm learned about the G.I. Bill from his sister-in-law, and attended night classes at Pace University.
Rehm would take his accounting experiences to the Discount Corporation of New York, a primary dealer in U.S. government securities, where he made a 44-year-long career. Starting as a clerk in the bookkeeping department, Rehm advanced through the ranks, eventually becoming the corporation’s comptroller.
In the mid-1950s, Rehm moved into the home he built by hand alongside his father on Pine Street, where he raised five children with his late wife Eileen. Today, Rehm has 12 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.
Rehm recently moved out of his beloved Pine Street home, but said he hopes a young couple can move in and build a family of their own. And reflecting on the charming little town that’s grown up alongside him, Rehm has a positive outlook.
“For Sayville residents, I wish them all well,” Rehm said. “I wish that they continue with the spirit they have always had towards Sayville. Sayville has always been a prosperous little town, and it’s prosperous because the people in it are thinking of one another.”
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