From Brent Obenour:
I wanted to make the class aware of the brave actions by one of own ’78 classmates. Dennis Otoshi, 33rd Co, had been working as an RN in the San Francisco Bay area. As the Ukranian invasion unfolded, Dennis volunteered with the International Red Cross for assignment in Poland and Ukraine, in either a military or a civilian area. He ended up in Kyiv and has been there for four days as of March 12th.Below is an excerpt of an email Dennis sent to our classmate Greg Baur along with some pictures of Dennis, the apartment building, and a child’s report card blown from the building:
Hi Greg,I am using my gmail because it seems to work better. I have been in Kyiv for four days now and I made my first house call yesterday. Attached you will find three photos of a residential building that was hit by a cruise missile at time 0500. Three confirmed dead, but the building was still too smoky and hot to search for bodies. Soviet era housing also was full of asbestos, so another danger.Russians were just nuisance shelling until yesterday when I counted twenty-seven incoming artillery rounds or cruise missiles. When the cruise missiles are intercepted by air defenses, it makes a satisfying boom. I feel like I am in a WWII movie. Now I know how the USMC felt when the Navy abandoned them in Guadalcanal.It is good to be a sand blower, since I make a small target. Russians shooting at everything with no regard for civilians. It is their way of war.I intend to stay alive so that I can bear witness before God to these crimes against humanity.
Our company has been collecting encouraging comments from our classmates and Greg Baur has been consolidating them to send to Dennis. If any of you know Dennis and wish to do likewise, send your comments directly to Greg Baur at baurg@verizon.net. I know Dennis would enjoy hearing some encouraging words from some old friends.
