Page 3 - Veterans.2017

Contributed Photos
Veteran: Claude Calahan Jr. sits on his front porch with his great-granddaughter. Calahan is a veteran from World War II.
nobody wanted to stay, Calahan said. “He didn’t have to quote any money because we didn’t care about the money, we wanted to go home,” he added.
Pete
In order to eat, the Japanese people had to have a job. Some would come to the base to work and do miscellaneous jobs where help was needed.
There was one partic- ular boy who worked on the base for some time and knew a little English. Calahan and his friends couldn’t pronounce his name and decided to call him Pete, which he seemed to like.
He worked on fixing flat tires around the base and when he was fin- ished, would write OK on them.
“We started telling him about movies we’d seen. The base only had one place where they showed movies and they only
VA guaranteed home loan
A VA guaranteed home loan can be used to buy a home, either existing or pre-construction, or refinance an existing loan. Loans are generally available to:
• Veterans who meet length of service requirements;
• Service members on active duty who have served a minimum period;
• Certain Reservists and National Guard members; and • Certain surviving spouses of deceased veterans.
To determine your eligibility, call 1-877-827-3702.
All qualified veterans have an equal opportunity to
obtain a VA loan. The loans are reusable and do not require a down payment, unless required by the lender or the purchase price is more than the reasonable value of the property. The loans do not require mortgage insurance and a one-time VA funding fee can be includ- ed in the loan, though veterans receiving VA disability compensation are exempt from the VA funding fee. The VA limits certain closing costs a veteran can pay and has staff dedicated to assisting veterans who become delin- quent on their loan.
The key underwriting criteria:
• No maximum debt ratio, however the lender must provide compensating factors if total debt ratio is over 41 percent.
• No maximum loan amount, however the VA does limit its guaranty. Veterans can borrow up to $424,100 without a down payment in most of the country, includ- ing in Union County.
• Published residual income guidelines to ensure vet- erans have the capacity to repay their obligations while accounting for all living expenses.
• No minimum credit score requirement; instead the VA requires a lender to review the entire loan profile to make a lending decision.
Lenders need a certificate of eligibility to prove your entitlement, which can be obtained for most veterans through the eBenefits system. Lenders do have the abili- ty to request the certificate on your behalf.
The VA encourages veterans to talk to several lenders to find one that fits your needs, knows the VA loan pro- gram and offers competitive rates and terms.
El Dorado NEWS-TIMES – Saturday, November 11, 2017 – 3
WWII:
Continued from Page 2
so, had to wrap them in tape because they could get very hot.
When that was done, there was a captain who was about to be dis- charged, but made a con- tract with Coca-Cola to build a plant in Nagasaki, Japan. The plant needed electricity, so the captain took Calahan and some other men to the building in Nagasaki, which was one of the towns affect- ed by the atomic bomb. “Anything that was less than six feet tall was still like it was before the bomb,” Calahan said. “But anything that was taller than that was total- ly gone except the very few things that had steel in them.”
After getting the elec- tricity in the build- ing, the captain offered Calahan and the other men a job for a year, but
showed them at night,” Calahan said. “Pete want- ed to go to a movie, but he was supposed to be off the base when that was going on.
“One night we knew we were going to have a Shirley MacLaine movie and we told him we were going to have a redhead, nice look- ing lady and well, Pete wanted to go. So we got a uniform put on him and he sat between us at the movie,” Calahan said while laughing.
Since the movie was at night, they had to have Pete stay on the base overnight. “We couldn’t get him to go to sleep because he wanted to talk about that movie,” he said.
Dressing Pete up in uniform became a reg- ular thing for the guys. They would dress him up and go to town because he could speak Japanese and would bar- gain with other Japanese when they wanted to buy
something. They just had to make sure to get him back to the base in time to catch the truck so he could get back home.
The sentiment between the Japanese and Americans was decent because everyone was just glad that the war was over. The Americans also made sure the Japanese people had jobs, food and whatever they need- ed to live, Calahan said.
After the war
Calahan returned to Louisiana Tech in Ruston after serving in WWII in 1946 and worked for the National Guard until 1956, when he graduat- ed with an accounting degree.
Calahan went to work for Murphy Oil as an auditor right after gradu- ating and retired in 1986.
Kaitlyn Rigdon can be reached at 870-862-6611 or krigdon@ eldoradone- ws.com.
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Economic impact of veterans
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Economic impact of veterans in southeastern Arkansas
The number of veterans in southeastern Arkansas
million 3,323
Number of veterans in Union County
$21 million
If veterans were an industry, they’d be the fourth largest in the state.
Economic impact of veterans in Union County
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