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SALUTE TO VETERANS
THE NORTH PLATTE TELEGRAPH
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2020
‘Dakota’ served in both theaters in WWII
Radio operator Fleck relayed coded messages, sports scores
Fleck was able to get sports scores in Morse code from the main- land United States. “When I was aboard ship, I did the sports scores for the troops,” Fleck said. “I’m not bragging, but I could copy Morse code very fast.” He copied the sports news from San Francisco and made a rough copy that the troops passed around the ship. “After they dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, the war ended,” Fleck said. “I asked for my discharge, but an officer on my ship at the time, the USS Knox, asked me to accompany him back to the Philippines to bring back the American troops.” After that trip, Fleck was discharged and
and thought I’d bet- ter get to North Dakota and sign up,” Fleck said of his war service. “I really didn’t want to be in the Army, so I signed up for the Navy.” He did his basic training at Great Lakes Training Station in Illinois and then was sent to Northwestern University for radio training. He followed that up with fur- ther radio training in California and finally New York. “Before I was put aboard a ship, I was in New York City and that’s where I got the nickname ‘Dakota,’” Fleck said. “The ser- vice people put on a dance for our service- men. I met a girl there and she said, ‘I’ll just call you Dakota,’ be- cause I’m from North Dakota.” Fleck said he was kind of a flirt and one of his fondest memories of that time was when he was in New York City and saw all the pretty girls. He loved to dance, especially pol- kas, and found ready dancing partners while he was there. “Then they put me aboard a ship — the
By JOB VIGIL jvigil@nptelegraph.com Veteran Steve Fleck enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1942 when he was 21 years old and served until Dec. 6, 1945. On Nov. 16, the North Platte resident will celebrate his 100th birthday. “I was working in Torrington, Wyoming,
Job Vigil / The North Platte Telegraph Steve Fleck served as a radio operator in the U.S. Navy during World War II. On Nov. 16 he will celebrate his 100th birthday.
the American pris- oners back to Japan, and one of my cousins, Tony Fleck, was aboard that ship that was sunk down in Manila Bay.” As the radio operator,
Germans stayed in the United States after the war. “They didn’t want to go back,” Fleck said. “Some of them worked in North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska. One of them worked for my uncle up there in North Dakota.” Fleck served in both the European and the Pacific theaters during World War II. “I talked to oth- er ships, but it was all coded messag- es,” Fleck said. “I was in Guam for a while, then they took us to the Philippines. The Japanese were taking
USS Dorothea L. Dix,” Fleck said, “where I was the radio opera- tor.” Fleck said the ship was a troop carrier. “We took a load of troops to Cairo, Egypt,” Fleck said. “We made one invasion from Cairo to Sicily.” The ship was assigned to bring cap- tured German troops back to the United States. “Since I could speak German, I spoke German to them,” Fleck said. “They didn’t want that war. They hated Hitler.” He said many of the
Please see DAKOTA, Page D7
Photo courtesy of Steve Fleck Steve Fleck poses in his naval uniform as he awaits departure across the Atlantic to do his job as a radio operator dur- ing World War II.
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