By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
A chronicler of veteran stories, retired Army Lt. Colonel Milt Toratti of St. Joseph, is working on five books with several requests pending.
Toratti recently finished telling the story of veteran, Larry Ralston, who grew up in Carthage and served in World War II. Toratti says Ralston served in a division that came in behind the initial surge at Normandy, a unit that lost 3,887 men with another 347 missing. It suffered 15,541 wounded.
“Over 20,600 soldiers in that division. So, it turned over a few times. His regiment alone turned over six times,” Toratti tells KFEQmmunity. “All of the bodies, the numbers of soldiers and he survived. And I was able to write his story.”
Ralston received his book in October as he celebrated his 101st birthday. Now in hospice, Ralston shares his book with visitors.
Toratti recently helped 102-year-old Harold Searcy of Dearborn commit his story to paper. Searcy entered the Navy after graduating from Weston High School, serving in the V-5 Program, a training program designed to rapidly train combat pilots.
Toratti says he finds the stories of veterans fascinating.
“Piece of history; people just don’t know about it until you sit with a soldier and then you start doing the research and research and research and put it all together,” Toratti says.
Toratti says veterans tend to struggle to tell their families about their service, but will open up to him.
“We just start talking, because it’s a veteran-to-veteran conversation,” Toratti says. “It’s not an inquisition. It’s not an interrogation. It’s simply talking veteran to veteran.
Toratti has helped more than 100 men tell their tales of serving in the military. Now, he is working with two women to tell theirs.
Toratti has co-authored “Angel of Mercy,” the story of Carolyn Joyce “Abby” Auclair of Ohio who served as a nurse in the Vietnam War.
Toratti also is working with the Vietnam interpreter for Gen. William Westmoreland, the commander of US forces in Vietnam, to tell her story.
Toratti says the veterans who chronicle their stories have to be ready. Toratti acknowledges that now that he is in his 80s, he likely won’t be able to get to the 34 requests from veterans to help tell their stories.
You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ