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Happy 100th birthday, Earl Schroeder

Daily Press - 9/29/2019

Sep. 29--APPLE VALLEY -- World War II Army veteran and longtime Chicago Cubs fan Earl Schroeder said he's looking forward to turning 100 on Saturday and for this year's baseball season to end.

"I don't know what happened to my Cubs this year, but the end of this season was ugly," said Schroeder, who was featured in the Daily Press during the 75th Anniversary of D-Day.

Schroeder was drafted into the military at 22. He served from 1941 to 1946 in the 1251st Combat Engineer Battalion, rising to a chief warrant officer in supply.

Schroeder said he doesn't know how he made it to 100. He added that he looks forward to celebrating his 125th birthday.

"The folks at Trinity Lutheran are going to throw me a party this weekend. Living to be 100 is a pretty big deal, so I'm ready for what anyone throws at me," said Schroeder, who lives at Whispering Winds Senior Living in Apple Valley.

With Cubs memorabilia hung on his wall, Schroeder pointed to a framed certificate that shows he's been a member of the "Die-Hard Cub Fan Club" since 1929. The certificate is signed by Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Ernie Banks, nicknamed "Mr. Cub" and "Mr. Sunshine," and former Cubs executive vice president and general manager Dallas Green.

"I was born in Indiana and started following the Cubs when I was about 10," Schroeder said. "I used to listen to Harry Caray on the radio. When they won the World Series in 2016, I screamed, 'Woo hoo!'"

Holding his Cubs Jersey, Schroeder said on his 95th birthday, his family took him to Wrigley Field in Chicago to watch the Cubs play.

"I was shocked and beyond excited when we received a police escort from our hotel to Wrigley Field," Schroeder said. "The police shut down the streets just for us."

On Sept. 20, middle schoolers from the Builders Club at Heritage School in Phelan held a birthday party of Schroeder. The event was attended by First District Supervisor Robert Lovingood's office staff and organizer Todd Anton, who teaches history at the school.

Anton said the Builder's Club is the middle school example of Key Club, a Kiwanis youth service organization which has hosted the annual High Desert Veterans Dinner for 25 years.

Anton said the event included Schroeder sharing his life story and students serving cake and "showing Earl some love and respect on his special day."

In June, the Daily Press featured Schroeder's humorous story regarding the Allied invasion of Germany in 1945. The story included Warrant Officer Schroeder and his colleagues locating, recognizing and liberating a brewery/distillery in Monchengladbach, about 10 miles west of Düsseldorf.

As part of engineer troop, Schroeder and his men left the brewery to get assistance and containers for the alcohol. When they returned, they discovered another troop had started to take some of the beer for themselves.

Pulling rank, Schroeder was able to fill five beer barrels and 100 five-gallon gas cans for his division before allowing others to fill their canteens, helmets and other items with beer.

Much of the beer was consumed shortly after it was distributed to the 1251st. But Schroeder and several officers agreed to save a few cans to celebrate the end of the war in 1945 and to remember those who lost their lives.

Shortly after D-Day, Schroeder and Troop 1251 were stationed in Paris, where the men built numerous bridges. During that time, he was invited to a dinner in which General Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower made a surprise appearance.

In 2013, Schroeder was invited on an Honor Flight, where he visited Washington, D.C. He toured several sites there, including the World War II Memorial. During his trip, he met Sen. Bob Dole and Dole's wife, Elizabeth.

Schroeder, a father of three, has been married twice in his life.

Whispering Winds Senior Living Specialist Jessica Borzilleri said Schroeder is "cute, funny and has a great sense of humor."

"He has a couple of girlfriends," she added, "and during our wine social, he has one glass of red and white."

Cards and gifts may be sent to Earl Schroeder at Whispering Winds Senior Living, 11825 Apple Valley Road, Apple Valley.

Reporter Rene Ray De La Cruz may be reached at 760-951-6227, RDeLaCruz@VVDailyPress.com, Instagram@renegadereporter, Twitter @DP_ReneDeLaCruz.

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