Editor's Note: Bert Yockey is the uncle of Scott Cawelti. He sat down with him for an in-depth interview

WATERLOO - Longtime Waterloo resident and World War II veteran Bert Yockey is among the last survivors of the "Greatest Generation."

Only recently has he talked about his wartime experiences in the "Diaper Division," meaning the Army's 75th Infantry Division. They were tagged "Diaper" because they were all raw recruits entering the war relatively late. Trained and quickly shipped off to Europe as the war wound down, they fought in some of the fiercest final battles of the war.

Born in 1920, Yockey was drafted in 1943, two years after he married.

After basic training, he showed an aptitude for mechanical repairs and was sent to artillery repair school in Maryland.

Though he left school after ninth grade, he showed extraordinary skill as a student. His old artillery school notebook, which he keeps with other war memorabilia, is a model for perfect handwriting, grammar and detailed drawings in colored pencil. For accuracy and clarity, it probably could be used as a lecturer's source book.

Nothing special, he says. "I kept good notes because if I didn't fix those pieces right, guys were going to get killed."

He served his hitch as an Army Tech 3 sergeant, assigned to repair field artillery pieces. Whatever Army gunners could fire, Yockey could fix.

From artillery school he was sent to Belgium in November 1944 where the fighting was heating up. The Germans mounted a major counteroffensive known as The Battle of the Bulge due to its shape on maps. These green GIs fought in one of the coldest winters on record and suffered terrible hardships. Many froze to death during the fighting in the Ardennes Forest, and many others lost feet and hands to frostbite or to "trench foot," where their skin rotted from being encased in wet leather for days on end.

"I swore I would never be cold again," he laughed. In fact, he moved to Texas for several years, but family ties brought him and his wife back to Waterloo.

Like so many men who survive cold, disease, shelling, small arms fire, snipers and seeing death close-up, young Bert Yockey saw humanity's best and worst. By mid-year 1945 he was helping stabilize a defeated Germany, and eventually visited Dachau, where he confronted the nightmare of the Holocaust. "I saw trees with their limbs worn off because of all the hangings. We had to guard our rifles and machine guns so newly freed camp inmates wouldn't kill their former guards."

Would he go again?

"Yes. I'd go for the men in my unit. I made the best friends I've ever had. We all stuck together, helped each other, did what we could to survive. I stayed in touch with them for years. Now they're all gone."

Now 88, Yockey has survived with a sharp mind and able body. He returned home, mustered out of the Army, and eventually became vice president in charge of manufacturing for Titus Manufacturing's factory in Waterloo. He eventually opened four other factories around the country for Titus and continued to work there until he retired in 1978.

Yockey also fathered three children, all of whom now live out of state, and after retirement began working with stained glass. At least 100 Tiffany-style lamps came out of his basement workshop. They're masterpieces of that difficult craft, monuments to his patience and meticulous attention to detail. All of his lamps start with his drawings, and Yockey could well have become a commercial artist had he chosen that path.

Among his wartime memories, Yockey recalls arriving in Waterloo in early 1946. He was greeted at the bus station by his young wife, Lela, (now his wife of 67 years) who had suffered nightmares about his not returning from the war.

"He came home just after Christmas on the bus - that was the best present I ever got," she said.

Bert remembers that long ride from Norfolk, Va., to Waterloo with a mix of relief to be back and fear for the future.

"I had no job and no prospects," he said, and almost re-enlisted because he needed work. Then Lela intervened and told him that if he rejoined the Army, she'd never speak to him again.

"She probably saved my life," he said with a smile, "because one of my buddies rejoined, and he was killed within a year."

Yockey stayed in Waterloo and found work at the Waterloo Register, which eventually led to his management position at Titus Manufacturing, a company that made heating and cooling outlets.

Bert Yockey proudly shows his Bronze Star, an Army medal for courage under fire. It states in part, "Working under fire and in unfavorable conditions, adverse weather, and for periods as long as 24 hours, he repaired and maintained artillery pieces of the division so that no weapon was gone from its position for more than six hours. He repaired field pieces while in the gun emplacements and at times while under counter battery fire. The untiring efforts of technician Yockey reflects great credit upon himself."

Not bad for a guy with a ninth-grade education.

Contact Scott Cawelti at newsroom@wcfcourier.com.