SENECA — Carl Weisenberg peered over the back deck of his daughter’s Seneca home and took in a deep breath of cool autumn air as he gazed out at the amber foliage of the backyard.

He’ll turn 98 soon. In that nearly century he’s experienced the tenderest parts of life, having raised three children during more than 50 years of marriage, but he has also experience the horror of war.

Weisenberg is a veteran. His life’s journey would take him from the streets of Manhattan to the blood-tinged shores of Okinawa, and from the Pacific back to the states.

Born in 1911, he was raised near the corner of 106th Street and Park Avenue and, as he grew, he honed a skill for working with engines and automobiles. He got a well-paying job as an auto mechanic in New York City. He married and had two children — a daughter, Carroll, and a son, Kenneth.

On Dec. 7, 1941, he made the decision to sacrifice his serene life. He was 30 years old.

‘HAD TO DO

SOMETHING’

Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, killing 2,400 people and motivating an entire generation to action.

“I felt like I had to do something,” Weisenberg said. “We were mad. I was like everyone else. It was a terrible thing the (Japanese) did. And I had a wife and kids and a good job, but I felt I should try to do whatever I could.”

Weisenberg told his wife he wanted to see if he could enlist, and a reluctant but devoted Antoinette told him to follow his heart. By September 1942, he had completed Navy boot camp in Newport, R.I., and was pulling in $96 a month as a motor machinist.

“I said ‘let me keep enough money to buy my cigarettes and I’ll send my wife the rest,’” Weisenberg said.

By 1943, his ship the LCI 475 had snaked through the Panama Canal and docked in San Diego before heading to Pearl Harbor. From there the LCI 475, which had originally been intended to be a landing craft in the Pacific theater, went to locations such as Guam, New Guinea and Leyte in the Philippines as an assault ship.

“We did nothing but fire rockets,” Weisenberg said. “We’d fire all of our rockets to soften up the beach before landings and go back to Pearl Harbor to get more.”

Eventually, he was promoted to chief petty officer. He was charged with operating the ship’s eight engines and commanding the engine room’s 11 men. On more than one occasion he had to man a machine gun post at the rear of the boat as the ship eluded aerial assaults.

In 1942, General Douglas MacArthur famously vowed after the fall of the Philippines to the Japanese that he would return. He did — and Weisenberg was there to see him do it.

WITNESSING HISTORY

Before the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October 1944, MacArthur made good on his promise. In one of the most iconic moments of World War II, the general proclaimed “I have returned,” as he waded through knee-deep water on the shores of Leyte.

“I’ll always remember him stepping right in the water off of the boat,” said Weisenberg, who was on picket duty nearby at the time.

A victory in the Leyte Gulf was followed in 1945 by the bloody battle of Okinawa.

“That was the big one,” he said. “We staged at Kerama (a batch of islands near Okinawa), and were sent to soften up the island for the troops. That’s when we caught a lot of fire.”

He still remembers seeing dead Japanese pilots floating by his boat after their planes had been shot down. During the battle of Okinawa, more than 150,000 Japanese and Allied casualties were reported through fierce close-combat fighting, along with desperate kamikaze missions by Japanese.

Weisenberg, however, always had faith.

“It didn’t bother me. I knew I was on a good ship, and I had a good captain,” he said. “He always told us ‘let’s get ’em.’ That’s just the way we were.”

By August 1945, with numerous victories in the Pacific under his belt, Weisenberg headed for Pearl Harbor, and ultimately Oakland, Cal. By the time he arrived back in the United States Japan had surrendered.

‘I’LL NEVER LEAVE

YOU AGAIN’

“I did what I had to do,” Weisenberg said of his military career today. “I just did my job. I made sure my engines were always ready to go, and did what needed to be done.

“When I got back to New York, and I met my wife in Grand Central Station — I still remember the exact words — I told her, ‘I’ll never leave you again.’”

The two remained married until her death in 1992. They built a life together in St. Petersburg, Fla., where he opened up his own auto mechanic business.

For the last three years, Weisenberg has been living with his youngest daughter, Linda, and his son-in-law, Tom. Linda works for Clemson University, while Tom is a longtime employee of Square D.

“I like it here,” Weisenberg said. “It’s pretty here, and I get to spend time with my family.”

andrew@dailyjm.com | (864) 882-2375