Fronted by a couple of patriotic wartime posters including the famed Rosie the Riveter "We Can Do It" pose, a large American flag and several blowups of World War II photographs, seven octogenarians remembered their war experiences Monday at California Lutheran University.

The event, sponsored by the university's department of history, was a Veterans Day salute to "Our Greatest Generation."

The panel presented four Army Air Corps veterans, one sailor, an Army paratrooper and a former pilot with the German Air Force who flew four combat missions against the Russians at Stalingrad in 1942.

George Muennich's memory of entering a defeated Poland in 1939 was going to a nightclub and hearing "fantastic music," such as "The Tiger Rag," and wondering how such talented people could lose a war.

A U.S. citizen since 1968, the Simi Valley resident proudly held up the photo of a younger man.

"This is my son, who has served 22 years in the United States Air Force," he said.

History professor Richard Derderian moderated the program that drew a large audience to Cal Lutheran's Lundring Events Center.

Among the memories were those of Jerry Cole of Oxnard, who recounted being a teenager aboard a B-17 bomber and seeing flak for the first time: black explosive puffs level with his aircraft.

That's when it hit him. "I remember saying, These guys are trying to kill me.' "

Darrel Larsen of Ventura flew B-17 and B-24 bombers. He went on 35 missions before his plane was shot down. He was captured by the Germans but later escaped.

Simi Valley Navy man Keet O'Brien talked about his ship sailing into Okinawa's Buckner Bay during a terrific storm and being tossed by huge waves.

Leonard Zerlin of Thousand Oaks received the Silver Star for freeing a stuck bomb that could have blown him and his crew into eternity. Yet, he said, "I got buddies buried in France. They are the heroes."

Rosie Nolan of Camarillo, a paratrooper, survived D-Day, the Battle of the Bulge and Operation Market Garden, the abortive attempt to wrest the Netherlands from the Germans.

He held up a toy clicker used on D-Day.

"In the darkness you go click-click," he said.

"If you hear a click-click in return, you know you're OK. If you don't hear it, you shoot him."

Al Thompson of Thousand Oaks was a high-speed radio operator whose expertise was guiding Allied aircraft to safe landings in England.

After the program, audience members were able to chat with the veterans.