100-year-old veteran credits snake bite for saving his life during WWII

NANCE COUNTY, Neb. (KOLN) - Bennie Rinkol was born on the 13th of August 100 years ago. His sons were born 13 years apart, and his wife Verleen Rinkol is 13 years younger than him.

“And he added this on, I was his 13th girlfriend,” laughed Verleen beside her husband Bennie.

Some peg the number 13 as unlucky, but this Polish farmer was lucky enough to be bitten by a snake, while fighting World War II.

“When we got up, my hand was swollen from here, clear up to here,” said Bennie, gesturing from his fingers to his elbow. “I mean, really swollen.”

He spent time away from the infantry to recover in the med bay.

“And I took 36 shots of penicillin to clear the venom,” Bennie said. “In three weeks, they finally had the venom all cleared.”

Then his captain picked him up to bring him back to the frontlines of the Philippines.

“He says, ‘While you were in the hospital for 30 days, your platoon was completely wiped out,‘” Bennie said. “And he said, ‘If you’d have been there, you’d have been a goner too.‘”

The war took a toll on the American soldiers he served alongside.

“The guy second to my right lost his mind completely,” Bennie said. “He pulled his gun over to this side and he got three of our soldiers and I thought if I’d never moved, he’d have had me.”

Bennie survived many scrapes with near-death experiences to later drive a commander around Japan in a Jeep, right after the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

“We got down about a quarter of a mile, and it was barricaded because the radiation was so thick,” Bennie said. “The commander was out there with his big binoculars, looking at it and taking a whole bunch of notes.”

When the war ended, Bennie bid farewell to Japan and returned to the Genoa area, where he farmed until a decade ago.

“I said, ‘68?’ That’s too young,‘” Bennie chuckled. “I didn’t quit working until I was 90.”

Today, Bennie and his wife Verleen go past his family’s original farmstead anytime they attend mass at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in the Krakow township.

The community held a 100th birthday bash for Bennie on Aug. 13, 2024. This year, Governor Jim Pillen awarded Bennie with a “Celebrating 80 Years of Victory” medal, as a part of an initiative to recognize Nebraska’s living WWII veterans.

At 100 years old, Bennie fills his days running occasional errands and even mowing his own lawn.

He is especially proud of his antique tractors. One is an International Harvester Model 666 that was built in 1973. The other Super MTA was built in 1953.

“This is my bigger tractor,” Bennie said, resting his hand on a lawn mower. “I mow my lawns with it because I bag everything, and I mow around the buildings.”

He credits his good health to never smoking.

“He doesn’t want to drink water either,” Verleen said. “In the service, they’d be on their walks. Each one had a canteen of water. When some of them ran out, they’d say, ‘Rinkol’s got water.’ And he didn’t drink enough.‘”

Instead, he drinks coffee every day with friends. While he rarely gets aches and pains, Bennie has a dent in his finger, which reminds him of his good luck and his blessings.

“So still today, I think the good Lord and the snake that saved my life,” Bennie said.

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