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Mildred
"Micky" Axton -
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Micky took her first
airplane ride at age 11 and was
hooked on flying. She learned
to fly in 1940 at Coffeyville
Junior College in the Civil Pilot
Training program. The WASP program
required that all applicants posses
a pilot certificate, so with that
in hand, she joined the program
in 1943.
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Larry Bachman - top of page
Larry Bachman was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on August 20, 1923. He attended Washburn High School and served as Senior Class President. He competed in both football and track. Larry was a first lieutenant and B-24 pilot during World War II and completed 35 missions to targets in Germany and Western Europe.
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John
Bennet -
top of page
In January of 1944 he enlisted
in the Marines and became part
of the 5th Division at Camp Pendleton
in California. From there he sailed
to the island of Maui, Hawaii,
for training at Camp Tarawa. He
was joined by thousands of men
who ranged in age from 16 (or
less in some cases) to fifty.
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Harold
Brown - top of
page
Lt. Colonel, U.S. Air Force
(Retired),1943 - 1965
Harold Brown flew with
the famed "Tuskegee Airmen"
fighter pilot group in World War
II. Named after a flight training
facility in Tuskegee, AL the Tuskegee
Airmen comprised the four
squadrons of the Army Air Corps'
332nd fighter pilot group.
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Larry
Brown - top
of page
Lawrence A. Brown
was a Staff Sergeant in the United
States Army. Larry served 52 months
in World War II including 30 months
in real war – invasion of
North Africa, Sicily and Italy.
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Robert
O. Carlson -
top of page
Bob Carlson entered
the Navy in January 1939. After
boot camp he was assigned to the
USS Oklahoma and reported aboard
in May 1939. He was assigned to
the band with his battle station
being the main mast.
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Lou
Chiquette -
top of page
Lou Chicquette enlisted
in the Army Air Corps Cadet Program
in the summer of 1942. Lou along
with 16 others asked for B29 engine
and gunnery school and training.
The B29 was the first operational
pressurized military aircraft.
Lou was designated a tail gunner
and also trained to be a flight
engineer.
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Howard
B. Christenson
1/Lt, 37th BS., born March 15,
1921. Graduated from Spring Valley
High School 1939; attended University
of Wisconsin. Joined Air Corps
at Fort Snelling, MN January 12,
1942; graduated as pilot, Class
42J October 30, 1942. Flew a B-26
to North Africa and then given
orders to join the 17th BC in
June 1943.
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Dick Cole - top
of page
After completing two years at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, Richard Cole attended a Civilian Pilot Training Program and received a private pilot rating. He enlisted in 1940 and was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in July, 1941.
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Bonham
Cross - top
of page
Bonham Cross and
his crew were assigned the B-25G
model which they flew from Florida
to northern Africa by way of South
America, Ascension Island and
Liberia. From there they arrived
on the island of Corsica where
a runway had just been completed.
Bonham's first of 70 missions
began from there the first week
of February, 1944.
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Bill
Devitt -
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Bill Devitt was
born in St. Paul, Minnesota, on
May 25, 1923. He graduated from
St. Thomas Military Academy (now
St. Thomas Academy) in 1941. As
a result of his St. Thomas training,
he received in 1943 a commission
as a second lieutenant in the
U.S. Army.
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Joe Griffin - top of
page
Joe was born on the 18th of November 1917 in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma. He attended the University of Oklahoma for two years prior to joining the Army Air Corps. He graduated from flying school as a Second Lieutenant on the 31st of October 1941, and was assigned to the 16th Pursuit Squadron in the 51st Pursuit Group, and later to the 78th Pursuit Group.
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Tom Griffin - top of
page
Griffin was born July 10, 1917, in Green Bay, Wisconsin. He graduated from the university of Alabama in 1939. He entered military service July 5, 1939, as a 2nd Lieutenant, coast artillery, by requested relief from active duty in 1940 to enlist as an aviation cadet. He was trained as a navigator and recommissioned in July 1, 1940.
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Ed Haider - top of page
Ed Haider grew up during the depression on St. Paul’s east side. His first love during those early years was baseball and hoped to play in the major leagues, however WW2 intervened. Ed enlisted in the Army at age 20 and joined Airborne in April of 1942.
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Glen
Jenneke -
top of page
Yeoman 2nd Class,
19 years old. On December 7, 1941
the USS Antares was outside of
Pearl Harbor at 0500 returning
from Canton Island and waiting
to enter Pearl Harbor because
the sub net didn’t open
until 0800. They went around in
circles during the time they were
waiting.
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Lynn Jones - top of page
Born in mercedes, Texas on 16 August 1920, Lynn Frank (Hoss) Jones graduated from high school there. After two-and-one-half years at the university of Texas, he joined the Army Air Corps for pilot training in April 1941.
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Spook
Johns - top
of page
February 1963 embarked
with Carrier Air Group 14 on USS
Constellation (CVA-64) to WESTPAC
returning in September 1963.
May 1964 returned to WESTPAC on
USS Constellation. On August 5,
1964, CAG-14 commenced combat
operations in response to the
“Gulf of Tonkin Incident.”
Returned to CONUS February 1965.
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Lou
Martin - top
of page
Lou Martin, the author
of “Wings Over Persia”
was an Air Force pilot for 22
years, nine of which were overseas,
and 169 combat flight hours
in Vietnam. He returned in 1970
with the rank of Lt. Col. After
leaving the Air Force, he flew
as a captain for Japan Airlines,
and for a charter company in
Tehran, Iran.
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Bruce
McKenzie -
top of page
Shipped out from San Francisco
to Noumea, New Calidonia Fleet
Receiving Center.
July 1944 went aboard the Destroyer
Tender U.S.S. Whitney A.D. 4.
Went from Noumea to Sydney, Australia
for dry dock fumigation and repair.
For 10 days we lived ashore while
the Australians did ship repair.
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Dan Moriarty -
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In 1942, Dan graduated from high school at Enderlin, ND, received a scholarship to attend St. Thomas College, St. Paul, and enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve on November 25, 1942. He went to Boot Camp in January 1943 at Parris Island, S.C. President Franklin Roosevelt reviewed the troops at his graduation, sending him on to Camp Lejeune, N.C. for radio training and then to High Speed School.
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Bud Ollum - top of page
Since WWII tens of thousands of men have served in Airborne units throughout the Armed Forces but only a few hundred of them have made a combat jump. During WWII several soldiers of the 505 Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR) of the famed 82nd Airborne Division participated in 4 combat jumps, Clarence Ollom was one of them.
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Yogi
Pusch- top
of page
Born May 18, 1923.
Liegnitz, Schlesian (Silesia),
raised on a farm in Royn, village
of 500, County Nieder Schlesian,
(Western half of Province of Silesia).
Attended private high School 1933-1940.
The school was part of the Missionary
Community of Herrnhut.
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Ed Sovik - top of page
Sovik was born June 9, 1918 in Henan, China. He volunteered for Marine Corps Aviation August 8, 1941 and was summoned to begin training in Minneapolis, January 29, 1942. Flight training led to Navy Wings and a commission as 2nd Lieutenant USMC at Pensacola, Florida on November 10, 1942.
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Liz
Strohfus -
top of page
Of the 25,000 women
who applied for training
with the WASP’s,
only 1,830 were accepted. Among
those candidates was Elizabeth
Strohfus, of Fairbault, Minnesota.
She and the other women were trained
at Avenger Field, Sweetwater,
Texas.
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Walter
"Bud" Stolpa - top
of page
At age 17, I enlisted
in the United States Air Force,
and I would do it all over many
times if I had the opportunity.
I spent the next 24 years traveling
the globe to protect our nation
with the Armed Forces of the United
States of America, before returning
with my wife and two kids to my
birthplace Winona, Minnesota.
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Ken Swedberg - top of
page
Fireman 1st Class. 20 years old on December 7, 1941. Swedberg’s station was gunner on the 3” gun on the bow, behind the No. 1 - 4” gun, so he had a perfect view of the attack on the sub.
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David Thatcher - top of page
On July 31, 1921, David Thatcher was born in a log cabin on his parents homestead in south central MT. He was the sixth in a family of six boys and four girls, and lived on a farm all his life until he enlisted in the US Army Air Corps at Billings, MT. He was sworn into the service at Ft. Missoula, MT on December 3, 1940.
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Richard Thill - top of
page
3rd Class Ship’s Cook. 18 years old. Thill’s battle station was sight setter on the 4” main battery gun #2. The Japanese attempted to bomb the ship during the attack while they were dropping more depth charges on what they believed were more submarines just off the entrance to Pearl Harbor.
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Joe
Welke - top
of page
Joseph received
commission 2nd Lt. Infantry on
June 16, 1941 and ordered to active
duty. 1st Troop duty July 1941
platoon leader for draftees at
Camp Wolters, Texas for 10 months.
He was assigned to 158th Reg.
Combat Team (Bushmasters) in Panama
for extensive jungle training
to include evaluation of all jungle
equipment, food, clothing, weapons,
medicines and whatever else the
government needed or could dream
up.
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