Dixon veteran Joe Venier honored for 75 years in American Legion

DIXON – Joe Venier has brightened the days of staff and residents at Heritage Square for more than a year.

Friday, it was Venier’s turn to be pampered a bit.

Venier, 95, was honored by Dixon American Legion Post 12 for 75 years of membership with a commendation, a cake, and a few other refreshments.

“I can’t believe it,” Venier said. “I just belonged for 75 years. This is great, and I appreciate it. It’s very nice.”

Bob Hoyle, Dixon American Legion Post 12 service officer, was on hand for Venier’s big day.

“It’s a wonderful thing being a member of the Legion for 75 years,” Hoyle said. “Being an Army Air Corps veteran is a wonderful thing, too, and we’re honored to be here today for Joe.”

Venier was discharged from the Air Corps in 1945, and was fortunate to not see any fighting in World War II. He was on that path as the war ended. His time in the service, though, was filled with memorable stops.

In 1943, Venier did his basic training in Miami Beach, where he crossed paths with a famous gangster.

“One of the hotels we lived in was called Indian Creek,” Venier said. “Right up the creek about a block was where Al Capone’s house was. He was living there at the time.”

From Miami Beach, Venier went to the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, where he got further instruction.

“I can remember one class we were going to, it was science,” Venier said. “This professor was writing a formula on the wall that went from here to there. Nobody could understand what he was doing. About 2 weeks later, he went to Oak Ridge, and they were working on the atomic bomb.”

After a few months in Knoxville, Venier was transferred to a base in Nashville, Tennessee, where his pilot training intensified.

“There was a field where they were training B-24 pilots,” Venier said. “Night and day, those B-24s would fly over the barracks. You couldn’t sleep.”

Venier next went to Perrin (Texas) Air Force Base, for advanced training for AT-6 aircraft. It was there he witnessed a horrible sight.

“We were marching to the mess [hall] one day, and one of the flights was circling the airfields, ready to land,” Venier said. “One of the planes got too close to the one ahead of it, and it stalled. It came down and crashed about a block from us. We ran over there, and the student and the instructor had their heads against the instrument panel. They were dead. We lost a lot of guys in training.”

World War II ended while Venier was in Texas. He spent the rest of his service time at Chanute Air Force in Rantoul before being discharged in October 1945.

Venier then hitchhiked his way back to Dixon, where his plans were to work at a Zephyr gas station he had worked at during his high school days. Those plans quickly changed.

His father, Lorenzo, had worked at Trein’s Jewelry Store in Dixon, and by coincidence, quit that job the day Joe got back to Dixon from Chanute Air Force Base. Lorenzo convinced Joe to go to work with him, repairing watches and clocks in a small shop inside Campbell’s Drugstore.

“We started from the ground up, I’ll tell you,” Venier said. “We had nothing.”

One year, the Veniers went into Chicago and bought $1,200 worth of jewelry from a wholesaler. It was the seeds that eventually grew into Venier’s Jewelry Store, which opened at its location at 117 W. First St., in 1965. Joe worked there until retiring 2 years ago.

Each workday, he would walk from his house on West Chamberlain Street to the store, twice a day, as he always came home for lunch.

“That’s how I got my exercise,” he said with a smile.


Brian Weidman

Brian Weidman

Brian Weidman was a sports reporter for Sauk Valley News