Adena’s last WWII veteran shares his story

Louis “Louie” Basich has been a member of the Adena American Legion Post 525 for 70 years. This year, he is the first veteran that Poppy Chairman Libby Core gave a poppy to this year.

“I chose him to recieve the first poppy because he has always been a kind gentleman to me,” she said. “He is also our only World War II veteran.”

Basich will be 98 years old this August and was 17 when he enlisted in the Army Air Corp. “They didn’t call me up until I was 18,” he said. “I wanted to serve my country. We were getting ready to fight the Japanese and I wanted to be part of it.”

His desire was to be a pilot but the Army decided he’d make a better airplane mechanic so that’s what he did for his two years of enlistment, one full year of that served in Panama.

“I qualified for the cadets and then I went to Keister Field,” Basich said.

From Mississippi, he was sent to Texas and prepped for the invasion. “We were all loaded up, ready for the invasion when president Truman dropped the atomic bomb. So we didn’t have to go to the invasion.”

After that, he went to Panama before deciding not to re-enlist, being discharged in 1946. Five years later he was married to his wife, Mary, and stayed with her until her death in 2015.

Basich has three sons, all married to wonderful women: Michael to Vickie, Mark to Denise, and Mitchel to Missy. They’ve collectively blessed Basich with 10 grandchildren. One of his grandsons is in the Marines.

He had few family members who joined the military before him. “I had an uncle and an aunt,” Basich said. “The uncle, he was an officer in the infantry and he’d been over in the Pacific from right after Pearl Harbor. He went all through the Pacific. He fought every battle in the Pacific and survived. And I had an aunt who was an Army nurse. She was over in Europe.”

Basich grew up in Adena and still lives there on his land that was bought by his parents just before he enlisted. He stayed in Adena because he loves it there. He grew up a stones throw away from his current home. Two of his kids live next door so he can see them often. He spent his time after the military working in construction and carpentry, building houses. He built most of his own home, adding to it as he needed.

Although he was not able to become a pilot like he wanted, Basich was able to serve his country as a young man, attaining the rank of corporal. He said he liked being in the Air Corp. and enjoyed working on the planes. He was a good mechanic, despite the short timeframe he was there.

“I’m proud of you for it,” Core said as she presented the first poppy.