John Albanese was surprised when he opened the door of his Deep Creek, Fla. home Saturday two weeks ago and found Richard Young, his nephew who recently returned from a tour in Afghanistan with the United States Army, standing there.
From 2011
Pvt. Carl Cooley was in 26th Infantry Division, ‘The Yankee Division,’ fought in Patton’s 3rd Army
Five days after Carl Cooley of Grove City, Fla. graduated from Fremont High School in Fremont, Ohio, on June 2, 1943, he took his physical and officially became a private in the United States Army.
1st. Lt. Bob Wachter flew last B-29 mission over Japan in WWII
1st Lt. Bob Wachter of Port Charlotte, Fla. was the navigator on a B-29 bomber called “Old Upper Cut” that flew on the last “Super Fortress” mission of World War II. When his squadron left Guam on Aug. 14, 1945, he didn’t know they would fly not only the last, but the longest bomber raid…
Sam Harris flew secret mission in Vietnam and has flown for airlines for years
Sam Harris of Punta Gorda Isles, Fla. began his military career as a cable-splicer in the Army National Guard in 1970 and ended up in 1979 as a captain in the Air Force. He flew giant C-141 “Starlifter,” four-engine, jet transport planes around the world. In between he has lived a life filled with exciting…
PGI woman served as Army nurse in Philippines during WWII
Former 2nd Lt. J.J. Jones of Punta Gorda Isles, Fla. was an Army nurse who served in the Philippines during World War II.
He was a Korean War POW
Charlie Kukla arrived in Korea in June 1950 as a 19-year-old “grunt” in the 1st Marine Division. Within a week he was a prisoner of war.
Julius Gervan was engine-room chief aboard destroyer Thatcher in WW II
Chief Julius Gervan of Burnt Store Isles subdivision south of Punta Gorda, Fla. was in charge of the forward engine-room aboard the destroyer USS Thatcher II (DD-514) when a kamikaze pilot crashed his plane into the the ship’s super structure and burst into flames killing 14 sailors and wounding 56 more during the Battle for…
Dick Henry of Foxwood made 6 major invasions in ‘Higgins Boat’ during WW II
Dick Henry of Foxwood subdivision in Englewood piloted a “Higgins Boat,” a plywood landing craft, in six major invasions during World War II. However, the closest he came to being killed during the war was in a typhoon one night off Okinawa.
Larry McClure, a ‘Pearl Harbor Baby’ flew rescue helicopters in Vietnam
Larry McClure of Punta Gorda Isles, Fla. thinks of himself as a Pearl Harbor baby. He was born on Dec. 20, 1941 at the Naval hospital in Pearl Harbor. His father was a Navy chief at the time serving with the Pacific Fleet at Pearl. His dad was aboard the carrier USS Lexington when she…
Rotonda man received Silver Star, 2 Bronze Stars in Vietnam War
Walter Levasseur a former master sergeant in the U.S. Army, served two tours of duty in Vietnam in 1967 and 1970. By the time he was through, he had received the Purple Heart with an oak leaf cluster for being wounded a second time, the Silver Star, two Bronze Stars — one for valor the…
Old soldier remembers the Hurtgen Forest and Battle of the Bulge during WWII
Fred Winterbottom has been a soldier for most of his 92 years. Winterbottom, who lives at the Village on the Isles retirement complex in Venice, Fla. with his wife, Gwen, saw service in World War II, Korea and Vietnam.
John Meloney spied on the Vatican, British and Russians after WW II
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second of two parts. World War II was over, but not for Sgt. John Meloney. He was on his way from Oslo, Norway to London where he held a quick meeting with his O.S.S. (Office of Strategic Services) handlers and off he flew to Salzburg, Austria.
John Meloney served as O.S.S. spy and decoder during WW II
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first of two parts. John Meloney was smart and had an ability with foreign languages, that’s why the Office of Strategic Services (O.S.S.), the precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency, selected him to be a World War II spy.
B-24 bomber’s radio operator recalls mission to Dresden
David McKalip flew 30 combat missions as a radio operator on a B-24 “Liberator” bomber during World War II. The mission that made the biggest impression on him 65 years later was the flight that leveled Dresden, Germany.
Englewood Marine took part in ‘Operation Starlite’ first major battle in Vietnam
Jim Mazy, who lives south of Englewood, Fla. was a radio operator in Hotel Company, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division. He was wounded in “Operation Starlite,” the first major battle of the Vietnam War between American forces and the Viet Cong near Chu Lai, South Vietnam in 1965.
Harry Weis served aboard USS Santee at Battle of Leyte Gulf in WW II
Harry Weis of Punta Gorda, Fla. served aboard the escort carrier USS Santee. He took part in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval engagement in World War II. It was the first time the Japanese Imperial Navy used kamikaze airplanes to attack the Allied fleet.
North Port Marine returns from duty in Iraq
Lance Cpl. Chali Wolfrom, a 20-year-old Marine and North Port, Fla. High School graduate, has just returned from a six-month tour of duty in Ramadi, Iraq.
Deep Creek man in 5 Pacific invasions in World War II
Bill Stevens of Deep Creek near Port Charlotte, Fla. was a member of a four-man Coast Guard crew on a plywood “Higgins Boat” that transported Marines and soldiers to South Pacific beaches during five major invasions in World War II.
2nd Lt. Will White was PIO officer at Panmunjom during Korean POW exchange
By the time 2nd Lt. Will White reached Korea in the fall of 1953 the war was over, but the repatriation of POWs at Panmunjom, North Korea was just getting started. The 22-year-old Army lieutenant served as a public information officer for the world press that came to the North Korean border crossing to cover…
Lt. Cmdr. Kristie Robson visits mom in PGI after 6-month tour in Iraq
A flag with a single blue star in the center on a white field surrounded by a red border hangs in the window beside the front door of Kathy Leitsch’s home in Punta Gorda, Fla. A banner on the outside of her house reads: “Welcome Home Kristie Robson , M.D.”
John Carlson flew 30,000 hours in Marine Corps and for Northwest Airlines
John Carlson has 30,000 plus hours of time flying Marine Corps fighter-bombers and transport planes around the country and throughout the world for 22 years and another 35 years piloting jets for Northwest Airlines.
Lt. Col. George Hardy flew 45 B-29 missions in Korea and 70 in Ac-119 in ‘Nam
EDITOR’S NOTE: Second of a two-part story. When the Korean War broke out in June 1950 George Hardy’s World War II service was long behind him. He flew a P-51 “Mustang” in the 99th Fighter Squadron as a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, the all-black fighter group, during the Second World War.
George Hardy of Sarasota was a Tuskegee Airman in World War II
EDITOR’S NOTE: First of a two-part story. George Hardy of Sarasota, Fla. was a Tuskegee Airman. The retired lieutenant colonel began his military career as a member of the all-black 99th Fighter Squadron, flying 21 combat missions over Germany during the final two months before V-E Day in World War II in a P-51 “Mustang” fighter plane.
Southwest Florida man landed on Iwo Jima – Among third wave of Marines, Crossley ate roasted chicken during battle
U.S. Marine Pfc. Bob Crossley of Venice, Fla. hit the beach on Iwo Jima in a Higgins boat in the third wave on Feb. 19, 1945. He was a member of the 5th Marine Division, 26th Regiment, 2nd Battalion D-Company.
Sgt. Ed Vuolo and 1st Armored Division threw Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait
1st Sgt. Ed Vuolo of Port Charlotte, Fla. drove into Kuwait on Jan. 17, 1991 aboard a Humvee behind the M1A1 Abram Tanks of “Old Iron Sides,” the United States’ 1st Armored Division as part of “Operation Desert Shield.”
Sgt. Ed Vuolo went to Vietnam with a computer, but used his M-16 during ‘Tet’
Ed Vuolo grew up on Long Island, NY, graduated from high school in 1966 and two years later he was drafted into the U.S. Army.
Jim Crowell fought at Yalu River against Chinese hordes
Jim Crowell of Port Charlotte, Fla. was enjoying himself as an 18-year-old occupation soldier with the 7th Infantry Division in Japan when the Korean War broke out in June 1950. Over night the teenaged soldier was sent to Inchon, North Korea by ship, together with a division or two of infantry and a like number…
George Lentz was B-17 top turret gunner in 8th Air Force
George Lentz of Rotonda, Fla. was a staff sergeant in the 385th Bomb Group, 549th Bomb Squadron, 92nd Wing of the 8th Air Force in World War II. He flew 29 combat missions as an engineer and top turret gunner in a B-17 “Flying Fortress” at the end of the war from a base near…
John Callahan hit the beach at Okinawa in the first wave
John Callahan , of Punta Gorda Isles, Fla., was the coxswain of a Higgins Boat, a plywood and steel landing craft built in the New Orleans area. He and his wooden boat played a part in the Battle of Okinawa, the biggest battle in the Pacific during the Second World War.
Larry Izzo fought at ‘Old Baldy’ and ‘Pork Chop Hill’ in Korea
Larry Izzo of the Oak Forest subdivision in Englewood, Fla. was a 21-year-old corporal attached to the G-Company, 2nd Battalion, 9th Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division in Korea. He was a BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle) man.
George Gallagher served aboard USS Trutta and Razorback in WW II
George Gallagher of Englewood, Fla. was serving aboard the USS Trutta, a Tench-Class submarine, as a motor machinist-mate 2nd/class when they picked up a downed P-51 Mustang fighter pilot who was shot down and adrift almost a week in a yellow life raft in the East China Sea.
‘One-man army’ knocks out two German Tiger tanks in World War II
George Burns, who lived in Punta Gorda, Fla. for 28 years until his death in March 1994, received the Distinguished Service Cross for his exploits with the 104th Infantry Division, “The Timberwolves,” in World War II.
Punta Gorda man fueled Flying Tigers in Burma during WWII
John Andresen of Punta Gorda, Fla. served in the U.S. Merchant Marines during World War II. He is proud of his service to his country.
Lawrence Houle served with 4th Marine Division during Marshal Island invasion
Lawrence Houle joined the Marine Corps in 1943 after graduating from high school in Grosvenordale, Conn. He first served with the 4th Marine Division during the invasion of the Marshal Islands.
Marine repays debt 30 years after death of his platoon sergeant in Vietnam
Capt. Tom Smith United States Marine Corps wrote this account of his tour in Vietnam: “On July 1, 1968, while serving as platoon commander of 3rd Platoon, Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 27th Marines, I received orders for a mission. It was a four-day, three-night patrol to establish various platoon patrol bases and then conduct numerous…
Seaman’s troop ship, Susan B. Anthony, sunk in English Channel on D-Day
Despite the German U-boat packs prowling the Atlantic, Seaman 1/C Bob Frazier survived 10 round-trips in the USS Susan B. Anthony, an attack transport, without a scratch taking troops to Europe in World War II.
Warrant Officer Wm. Remley saw ‘Doolittle Raiders’ fly from Hornet’s deck in WW II
Navy Corpsman Bill Remley of Royal Palm Retirement Home in Port Charlotte, Fla. was aboard the heavy cruiser USS Vincennes watching the “Doolittle Raiders” fly their B-25, twin-engine bombers off the deck of the carrier USS Hornet on their way to bomb Japan four months after devastating the American fleet at Pearl Harbor on Dec.…
Emerald Point resident helped build Atomic Bomb during WW II
A cadre of brilliant young scientists and an army of “hick girls” from the Oak Ridge, Tenn. area secretly processed uranium-235 used in the first atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima at the close of World War II. Scores of FBI undercover agents watched almost every moved made by 100,000 atomic energy workers who reported to their jobs in a community that over night grew out of two farms, but wasn’t shown on any map during the Second World War.
1st Lt. Ken Stetson received DFC for fire bombing Japanese cities in WW II
1st Lt. Ken Stetson, was at the controls of a B-29 “Superfortress” the crew named “Tanaka Termite” when it was attacked by Japanese fighter planes while flying in formation over Mount Fuji on their first of 30 combat missions to Japan.
German bullets flying over Pfc. Vito Mancine’s head ‘sounded like a whip cracking’
Pfc. Vito Mancine of Port Charlotte, Fla. was a 21-year-old Browning Automatic Rifleman when he landed in Normandy, France, about a month after D-Day, June 6, 1944. He was a member of the 5th Division in Gen. George Patton’s 3rd Army.
Pvt. Bob Boliere was in the horse cavalry in 1938 before joining Navy during WW II
At 90 years old, Bob Boliere of Stillwater Villas in Englewood, Fla. may be the last of the U.S. Army’s horse cavalry.
Thelma Daida served as surgical nurse in U.S. Air Force in Vietnam in 1966
1st Lt. Thelma Daida was a surgical nurse working in the only in-country U.S. Army Air Force Hospital in Vietnam in 1965 located on the giant airbase at Cam Rahn Bay. It was an exciting time to be a 20-year-old nurse serving in Southeast Asia.
Lemon Bay High School grad back from Afghanistan
Sgt. 1st Class Larry Reyes was recovering several years ago from injuries sustained in a tour with the 301st Military Intelligence Battalion that returned from Afghanistan. He and his wife, Michele, were vacationing at the home of his mother, Linda Reyes, in North Port, Fla..
Roy Kroesen fought with the 696th Field Artillery in WWII
Ninety-one-year-old former Sgt. Roy Kroesen of Rotonda commanded “The Priest,” a 105 mm, M-7 self-propelled Howitzer in World War II that looked a lot like a tank. He served with the 696th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, which came ashore at Pont-Scorff, France, on Aug. 7, 1944, and fought through France, Belgium and Germany, eventually meeting the Russian Army at the Elbe River near Berlin.
Cpl. Sam Burns shot down 2 JU-88 bombers over Tunisian desert in 1942
The barrel of Cpl. Sam Burns’ .50 caliber machine-gun glowed red from the heat of 1,000 bullets. He was firing at the twin-engine German JU-88 “Junkers” bombers strafing their artillery outfit in the Tunisian desert of North African in December 1942.
Lily Marlene was the song they liked the best
It was a voice from the past typed in blue on the sheet of yellowing copy paper that dropped from the little book about the 2nd Armored Division’s exploits in Europe during World War II.
He served with Audie Murphy in WWII – Murphy received 33 commendations
Ed Kantz of Punta Gorda, Fla. served in the 15th Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division of Gen. George Patton’s 3rd Army during World War II. He also soldiered through Italy, France and Germany with Audie Murphy, the most decorated soldier in World War II.
Dorothy Arft of Harbor Cove joined Navy during Korean War to see the world
Dorothy Arft loves the Navy. She spent one four-year hitch in the service as a seaman and 29 years working as a civilian employee for the Navy.
Frank Bloom flew F4U gull-wing Corsair fighters during WW II and Korean War
Frank Bloom joined the Marine Corps Aviation Cadet Program while still in high school and learned to fly F4U Corsair fighters during World War II. He was called back during the Korean War.
Lexington Manor resident piloted B-17 on 30 combat mission during WWII
Harold Kloth of Lexington Manor in Port Charlotte, Fla. flew 30 combat missions as the pilot of a B-17 bomber nicknamed “Royal Flush” as part of the 8th Air Force in Europe during World War II.
Sgt. Sol Shuman of Lake Suzy was injured by enemy mine during Korean War
Sol Shuman of Lake Suzy, east of Port Charlotte, Fla., was a platoon sergeant in the Indian Head Division, 2nd Infantry Division that went to Inchon, North Korea with Gen. Douglas MacArthur and his troops, in January 1951. Mac Arthur was headed for China.
Henry Horst was aboard the USS Benham when she was torpedoed off Guadalcanal
The exploding Japanese torpedo sheared off 15 feet of the destroyer USS Benham’s bow during a night engagement off Guadalcanal on Nov. 14, 1942. Machinest-mate 3rd Class Henry Horst was two decks down in the magazine of the ship’s number one, five-inch main gun when disaster struck.
John Brophy was too skinny to go to war during Korean Conflict
John Brophy of Heron Creek subdivision in North Port at 21 was 6-feet 3-inches tall and 120 pounds when drafted in 1951 during the Korean War. He was too skinny to fight.
Richard Perrin made chief chef at RK’s Café after serving 20 years in Navy
Before Richard Perrin became chief chef and owner of RK’s Café at Bobcat Village Center, North Port, Fla. he was an air traffic controller aboard the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson serving in the Gulf of Oman when Saddam Hussein marched his troops into Kuwait in 1990 launching “Operation Dessert Storm” which started the Gulf…
Nick Melone remembers how he captured Japanese flag
Nick Melone of Port Charlotte, Fla. sat in a big gray cushy chair, a tether running from his nose to a nearby oxygen bottle. He reached for a folded flag stuffed in the top of a blue plastic storage tub of World War II memorabilia. The 89-year-old Marine sergeant shook the folds out of the…
Harbor Cove’s couple’s son is new director of U.S. Army Band in D.C.
When it comes to martial music and popular songs of a certain era, Col. Thomas Palmatier, recently appointed commander of the U.S. Army Band stationed at Fort Myer, outside Washington, DC., is the Army’s “Music Man.”
Otto Glass in Air Force months before Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor
Otto Glass was the first young man in his hometown of St. Mary’s, Ohio drafted in World War II. He went in the Army Air Force almost a year before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
Larry Haynes fought with 17th Regiment, 7th Division during Korean War
When the Korean War broke out in June 1950 Larry Haynes of North Port, Fla. was a 19-year-old Army corporal serving in H-Company, 17th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division in Japan.
Abe Wolson recalls one mission worth 20 years of service
Former Lt. Col. Abe Wolson of Port Charlotte, Fla. served 20 years in the U.S. Marine Corps. He piloted Marine Corps 1, the presidential helicopter, during the administrations of Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. He served three tours in Vietnam in 1961, ’67 and ’72, flying helicopters in combat for Special Operations missions, among other…
Tom Cory kept a B-45, America’s first atomic bomber, flying in the 1950s
Tom Cory of Buttonwood Village mobile home park, Punta Gorda was an aviation mechanic who kept a “Tornado,” B-45C, atomic bomber flying. It was America’s first four-engine jet bomber built during the Korean War era of the early 1950s to deliver an A-bomb to an enemy target.
Cpl. Don Vicalvi fought on Bougainville and the Philippines in WW II
John Vicalvi’s discharge notes he received two Bronze Service Arrowheads and two Bronze Battle Stars on his Asiatic-Pacific Theater Campaign Ribbon for two landings and two major battles: Bougainville and the Philippines.
B-24 ‘Liberator’ crew saved by Yugoslav partisans
Staff Sgt. Raymond Hook , radio operator on a B-24 Liberator called the “Hubba-Hubba,” and the other eight members of his crew were shot down on their sixth combat mission to destroy a German oil refinery during the final months of World War II.
His eyes kept him out of Air Force and Navy, but Army gave him a thumbs up
Lowell McCarty want to be a fly boy. “I tried to enlist in the Air Corps when I was 17. I passed the written exam with no problems, but when I took the physical exam they found out I was color blind and they told me, ‘We don’t want you!’” the 84-year-old Port Charlotte man…
Sgt. Pat Farino served 2 tours in Vietnam with ‘Screaming Eagles’
Pat Farino of Port Charlotte, Fla. went to Vietnam in 1968 with the 101st Airborne Division. He was a 22-year-old airborne trooper who served with the ‘Screaming Eagles’.
North Port Fla. man flew 35 combat missions over Nazi-occupied Europe
Bill Schultz flew from a field in Foggia, Italy, as the pilot of a B-17 “Flying Fortress” in World War II. The 87-year-old North Port, Fla. resident, who lives in the Lazy River manufactured home park, was a member of the 301st Bomb Group, 419th Bomb Squadron, 15th Air Force 65 years ago.
Warrant Officer II Charles Myers fought Army’s administrative war for 2 decades
Charles Myers was born and grew up in the Panama Canal Zone in Central America in 1933. At 21 he enlisted in the U.S. Army on May 17, 1954 under agreement between the U.S. and Panama.
Dick Holmes was a crew chief on C-47 ‘Gooney Bird’ during WW II
At 17, shortly after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Dick Holmes of North Port, Fla. tired to enlist, but his mom wouldn’t sign him into the military. The following year he was drafted and ended up joining the paratroopers.
Jim Jarvis survived sharks after sinking of USS Indianapolis in WW II
Four days after delivering the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan to Tinian Island in the Pacific during the final days of World War II, the USS Indianapolis was hit by two torpedoes from a Japanese sub. She sunk in 12 minutes and her demise resulted in the biggest loss of life in the U.S.…
Capt. Eugene Pentiuk received a Purple Heart at the Siegfried Line in WW II
Eugene Pentiuk joined the Michigan National Guard in 1939 on a dare from a buddy. They signed up shortly after graduating from high school in Pontiac, Mich. He and his friend trained for a year in the Louisiana wilds as members of the 32nd Infantry Division.
He flew ammo, food to Marines under siege at Khe Sanh during Vietnam War
Lt. Fred Buckingham flew his C-130 “Hercules,” four-engine transport plane to Vietnam just in time for the North Vietnamese Army’s siege of the Marine base at Khe Sanh, the biggest single battle of the war, and the enemy’s massive Tet Offensive, where every major city and many American military bases were attacked in a countrywide…
Swabbie becomes interpreter during invasion of France
Roland Petit of La Casa mobile home park in North Port, Fla. served aboard an LST (Landing Ship Tank) and ashore as an interpreter in World War II. It wasn’t easy. He had to fight his way into the Navy.
Drennon Judy served aboard Battleship Pennsylvania during WW II
Drennon Judy was a quartermaster who served aboard the Battleship USS Pennsylvania. He saw action during many of the major battles in the Pacific during World War II.
Albert Reale remembers the Okinawa typhoon most about WW II
What Albert Reale of Port Charlotte, Fla. remembers most about World War II are not the battles, but the typhoon that ravaged Okinawa during the final weeks of the war.
Venice man delivered ‘Top Secret’ messages to MacArthur, Eisenhower
The old man held a shadow box of World War II memorabilia on the couch beside him at his home on the Island of Venice. There were first lieutenant silver bars, dog tags, a picture of a serious-looking young officer, and a gold medal with a yellow ribbon and two attached bronze battle stars signifying…
‘I never flew a combat mission in my B-17, I was lucky,’ John Ross
John Ross, who until relatively recently lived in North Port, Fla. for 33 years, was the pilot of a B-17 Bomber during World War II. He and his bomber crew were members of the 388th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force flying out of a field near Cambridge, England.
B-47 bomber crews loaded with hydrogen bombs were told it was the real thing
Donald Gatrell of Port Charlotte, Fla. was a crew chief on a B-47 “Stratojet” six- engine nuclear bomber during the early 1960s. One mission stands in his mind after more than half a century.
Merchant Mariner makes 3 world trips supplying troops during WWII
Ralph Weir graduated from Kings Point, the Merchant Marine Academy, on Long Island, N.Y., during the middle of World War II. He went to sea as a cadet-midshipman aboard a liberty ship full of war supplies, the John Carroll, sailing out of San Francisco, Calif., for Australia on June 3, 1943.
Bob Arnold spent 2 years aboard the destroyer USS Massey showing the flag
Bob Arnold became a Navy man just like his dad. His father served aboard the USS Langley, American’s first aircraft carrier, before World War II.
1st. Lt. Richard Burns almost shot down in his F-84 in Korea
1st Lt. Richard Burns almost “bought the farm” on his 95th combat mission over North Korea in his F-84 “Thunderjet.” His squadron’s objective: knock out an enemy bridge.
Resident recalls going into battle wearing a ring he made aboard ship
Warner Heinrich of Port Charlotte, Fla. was a Browning Auitomatic Rifleman who served in the 43rd Infantry Division in the Pacific during World War II. He saw action at Guadalcanal and Leyte in the Philippines.
Pfc. James Johnson protected an Atomic Bomb during war games at Ft. Polk
When James Johnson joined the 82nd Airborne Division, an elite fighting force, in the fall of 1955 as a 20-year-old soldier he took part in one of the largest ground maneuvers the Army ever staged in the United States.
Library of Congress receives 100 DVDs for ‘Veterans History Project’
For the past year, in addition to writing war stories about local veterans, I’ve provided DVD interviews of these same veterans to the Library of Congress’ “Veterans History Project.” This week I reached a milestone in these interviews. A couple of days ago I sent 25 DVDs and supporting material on each disk to the…
Pfc. Harold Snyder served in 2nd Division of Pattons’s 3rd Army in WW II
Harold Snyder was a rifleman and anti-tank gunner in the Indian Head Division, 2nd Division, in Gen. George Patton’s 3rd Army in Europe during World War II.
Dave Wade crewman in B-45, first jet bomber in America’s air defense
David Wade of Overbrook Gardens in Englewood, Fla. was a crewman aboard a B-45 four-engine jet bomber during the Korean War era. It was this country’s first jet bomber after the Second World War designed specifically for a nuclear payload. Wade returned from a tour in Korea and Japan and ended up at the Air…
Former Sgt. John Zajdlik served with the 1st Cavalry Division in Vietnam in 1968-69
John Zajdlik had a reason to dislike the Communists. He and his family escaped Communist rule when they took control of his Czechoslovakian homeland shortly after the end of World War II.
Bob Rogers was awarded 3 Purple Hearts; almost captured by VC during Vietnam War
In September 1968, on his second tour of duty in Vietnam, Spc.-5 Bob Rogers’ squad walked into a Viet Cong ambush near Chu Lai in the Que Son Valley and was almost captured by the enemy.
Sgt. Fred Strass remembers ‘Gardelegen Massacre’ at close of war
Fred Strass was a rifleman in an infantry company that fought in Europe during World War II. He served as a sergeant in K-Company, 406th Regiment of the 102nd Infantry Division.
Aviation has been the life blood of Bill Stowe’s family
Aviation for Bill Stowe’s family is a way of life. For 38 years he worked as a civilian employee for U.S. Air Force Systems Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio overseeing the testing and development of some of this nation’s most important military and civilian airplanes.
His P-51 was shot down over Germany – Jack Miller spent 9 months in a German POW camp
Jack Miller loved his P-51D Mustang fighter. Twice he was shot down when he was a 20-year-old 2nd lieutenant serving as a member of the 354th Pioneer Mustang Group, 9th Air Force stationed in France during World War II.
1st Lt. Rex Anderson fought Russian MIG-15s in his F-86 over Yelu in Korea
1st Lt. Rex Anderson (Ret.) of Burnt Store Isles tangled with Russian MIG-15 fighters over the Yalu River in dogfights during the 100 combat missions he flew in an F-86 “Sabre Jet” during the Korea War. The commendation accompanying the second Air Medal he received doesn’t tell the whole story.
82nd Airborne was still an elite outfit in ’55 despite the fact there was no war
When Randy White went into the Army and eventually joined the 325th Paratroop Regiment in 1955 his unit was a far cry from the one that flew into Normandy, France in gliders on D-Day to fight the Germans.
Jerry Steimle served the country for 25 years in the Air Force and National Guard
Former Staff Sgt. Jerry Steimle of Port Charlotte, Fla. was a crew chief on an Air Force transport plane, refueling plane and helicopter who has been involved in many of the United States of America’s civilian and military adventures during the past forty years.
Col. Charles Brox spent 30 years as ‘Citizen Soldier’ and loved it
Charles Brox Jr. of Punta Gorda, Fla. was a “Citizen-Soldier” in the U.S. Army Reserves for almost 30 years. He retired a full colonel and commander of the 1209th Garrison Command, headquartered in New York State.
Lt. Col. Bill Brown flew KC-135 tankers in Alaska, Vietnam and Japan
Lt. Col. Bill Brown was flying a “Red Anchor” mission off the Russian Coast out of Thule, Greenland in his KC-135 refueling tanker when he got an emergency call on his radar scope.
Sailor fought in 4 major Pacific battles during WWII
Earl Swillum went aboard an LST as a “90-Day Wonder” third officer and sailed into the war zone at the Battle for Saipan. Before the fighting in the Pacific was over he and the LSTH-121, which also served as a hospital ship, took part in three other major battles during World War II.
Cpl. Willard Irwin was member of ‘Desert Air Force’ in North Africa in WW II
Cpl. Willard Irwin was a member of the 64th Fighter Squadron, 57th Fighter Group that provided tactical air support for British Gen. Bernard Montgomery’s 8th Army during the North African Campaign in World War II. They were known as “The Desert Air Force.”
Maj. Gen. James Andrews had his ‘Fail-Safe’ moment one day in 1977
Maj. Gen. James Andrews of Punta Gorda, Fla. graduated from the United States Air Force Academy in 1970. He spent most of his 30-plus years in the service flying Strategic Air Command tankers, commanding air wings and serving in various capacities from Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense to Air Mobility Commander and Inspector General.
Army medic veteran remembers bell better than WWII’s ‘Battle of the Bulge’
Although he served as a private in a medical unit in Gen. George Patton’s 3rd Army, took part in the “Battle of the Bulge” and the Hurtgen Forest Campaign, two of the worst battles on the Western Front, what Andrew Napolitano of Venice, Fla. remembers most about World War II is a small bell he…
2nd Lt. Stephen Leopold was Vietnam MIA for almost 5 years before his release
POW Camp 101 is what it was called. The camp was a hell hole located 20 miles outside Hanoi, North Vietnam. It’s where 100 American MIAs languished during the Vietnam War and nobody in the United States knew they were there.
2nd Lt. Stephen Leopold was Vietnam MIA for almost 5 years before his release
It made no difference that 23-year-old 2nd Lt. Stephen Leopold was a Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University who served as a member of the U.S. Army’s elite Special Forces in Vietnam. Three weeks after arriving in country he was captured by the North Vietnam Army near Ben Het, in the jungles of Two Corps,…
Rotonda resident survived USS Liberty attack during Israel’s ‘Six Day War’ in 1967
Mickey LeMay of Rotonda, Fla. is a survivor of the 1967 attack on the USS Liberty, an American spy ship caught up in the Arab-Israeli “Six Day War.” When the strafing, bombing and torpedoing of the converted freighter by Israeli fighter-bombers and gun boats stopped, 34 American servicemen were dead and 171 wounded.
Marjorie Morris served in Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps in WWII
Before she signed up for the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps in World War II, Marjorie Morris , who lives North Port, Fla.’s Jockey Club, said she led a rather cloistered life.
Ed Scarff of Venice fought in two services in three wars spanning 30 years
Ed Scarff had a 30 year military career that spanned two services and three wars. He enlisted in the Navy in WWII as a teenaged machinest-mate and ended up joining the Air Force’s Aviation Cadet Program and flew jet fighters in Korea and Vietnam.
USS Arizona survivor Vernon Olsen remembered
Vernon Olsen, 91 — who survived the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor aboard the battleship USS Arizona, swam away from the carrier USS Lexington as it was sinking during the Battle of the Coral Sea months later, and took part in the Bikini Atoll atomic bomb tests after the war — died Friday, April 22,…
He was a peacetime warrior in the 82nd Airborne in 1955
Long before he joined the 82nd Airborne Division as a peacetime warrior in the mid-1950s, Lou Drendel of Venice was fascinated with things military. It began when he was a kid and his father built balsa wood airplane models for him.
Victor Craig, former Air Force loadmaster, took part in many military adventures
Victor Craig of Harbor Heights near Port Charlotte, Fla. spent 21 years in the Air Force serving as a loadmaster. He was a sergeant in charge of loading giant cargo planes properly, flying with them to their destination and getting the planes quickly unloaded.
Bill McDermott was an APC gunner with 11th Armored Cavalry in Vietnam
Bill McDermott of Lake Suzy, east of Port Charlotte on the way to Arcadia, Fla. wound up as a 1st lieutenant in the 11th Armored Cavalry Division based in Three Corps in the northern jungle of Vietnam. He was a graduate of DePaul University and a member of the school’s ROTC program.
Medic Looks Back On Epic WWII Battle
Combat Medic Sgt. Larry Earle was freezing his backside off in December 59 years ago.
He fought at Okinawa the last big battle in the Pacific
Right out of high school Clyde Leininger, who lives in Alligator Mobile Home Park south of Punta Gorda, Fla. joined the Naval Aviation Cadet Program to become a pilot. Before he got his wings the program was canceled in October 1944 because the Navy had too many pilots.
Pfc. Mark Vanderveer took part in Battle of Hürtgen Forest during WW II
Mark Vanderveer only fought in one major battle during World War II, but it was a doosie. He served as a PFC in E-Company, 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Division of the 1st Army during the Battle of the Hürtgen Forest fought along the Belgium-German border.
Old soldiers never die – Venice resident among oldest West Point grads
Col. James Oliver Stephenson of Venice, at 93, may be the oldest West Point graduate in southwest Florida.
1st Cavalryman rode to war in Huey
Jim Surber was a dogface in Company D, 6th Battalion, 1st Air Cavalry Division in Vietnam from March 1967 to March ’68. He rode to war in Huey helicopters.
Prisoner of War bracelet ‘part of my son’ says mother
The cheap, cerise-colored, aluminum bracelet on her right arm was battered and worn. Every day for the past 25 years, Vera Creed of Port Charlotte, Fla. has had it on.
‘Fuzzy’ Fazekas was Navy corpsman at Royal Victorian Hospital in ’44
When Eugene “Fuzzy” Fazekas of Spanish Lakes mobile home park in Nokomis, Fla. sailed to war as a corpsman with Naval Advance Group 56 in 1944 he hadn’t been given any medical training.
Navy nurse Millie Edsall treated sailors from D-Day Invasion during WW II
Millie Edsall was a registered nurse working in a doctor’s office in Joliet, Ill. when the Second World War erupted. At 20, in 1938, she graduated from St. Joseph’s School of Nursing in Joliet.
Seaman 1st Class Martin Warnke saw MacArthur land at Leyte during WW II
Martin Warnke of Port Charlotte, Fla. was a spotter on a 20 millimeter anti-aircraft gun aboard landing craft (LST-66) that brought troops ashore at 15 major invasion beaches in the Pacific during World War II.
He took President Roosevelt to Malta to Attend the Conference at Yalta
Angelo Marinelli is the swabbie in the center. He and his buddies had just dropped FDR off at Malta and were touring the island on a sunny Sunday. President Roosevelt met with Egyptian King Farouk aboard the USS Quincy in July 1944. Photo provided Boatswain’s mate Angelo Marinelli knew something big was up when a bathtub was brought aboard his ship, the heavy cruiser USS Quincy, in December 1944 while it was moored at the Boston Navy Yard.
Tom Gould was Navy medic with 1st Marine Division in Vietnam
Looking back on it all, Tom Gould of Venice says, “I was 17 and just out of high school. I was a rebel without a cause. My father told me I had three choices: ‘I could get a job, go in the service or go to reform school.’
The little book that gave American GIs their first taste of England during WW II
Getting it right: This little book was given to all American GIs who set foot on English soil during the Second World War. Its purpose: To teach them British customs in a hurry.
Art Nicholas and family on beaches at Normandy on 65th Anniversary of invasion
His dark blue ball cap with the orange patch and gold lettering read: “SCOUTS AND RAIDERS, 1942-1945, U.S. NAVY WW II, WE LEAD THE WAY.” It was what Art Nicholas of Englewood, Fla. wore when he, his wife and two grown daughters visited all five beaches in Normandy, France on the 65th Anniversary of the D-Day Invasion during the summer of 2009.
Bill Lutgen got 3 Distinguished Flying Crosses in Vietnam flying A-37 fighter
Bill Lutgen of Venice, Fla. flew 378 combat missions in an A-37 fighter-bomber in Vietnam, received three Distinguish Flying Crosses and 19 Air Medals for his efforts and retired from the Air Force after 20 years in the service.
Old Soldier went back for her
A VFW chaplain said a few words, two soldiers in dress uniforms folded an American flag into a precise triangle and handed it gently to the widow, a rifle squad fired three volleys and Taps was played as 50 mourners bowed their heads.
South Pacific romance – Love letters sustain WWII couple
His story could have been a page out of “South Pacific,” Rodgers and Hammerstein’s hit musical set in the Solomon Islands during World War II.
Bob Bolling served aboard USS Salerno Bay, an escort carrier, after WW II
Bob Bolling missed World War II altogether. He signed up for the navy in 1946 right out of high school. After boot camp in Bainbridge, Md. he went aboard the escort carrier USS Salerno Bay, CVE-110, in Norfolk, Va.
Pete Self fought in Italy with 5th, France with 7th, Germany with 3rd Division
Pete Self of Englewood was a rifleman in H-Company, 143rd Regiment of the 36 Infantry Division when he first came ashore at Naples, Italy on Sept. 9, 1943 during World War II.
Ken Armstrong served in British Royal Marines 22 years during ‘Cold War’
Ken Armstrong was a command sergeant major in the British Royal Marines when he retired from Her Majesty’s service after 22 years. He joined the “Bootnecks”–Marines– in Glasgow, Scotland shortly after graduating from high school in 1947.
Kil Kilcauley fought in 3 wars: WW II, Korea, Vietnam during 25 year career
Kil Kilcauley of North Port has seen a lot of life in his 97 years of living. He’s fought in three of this country’s wars–World War II, Korea and Vietnam–and lived to tell about it.
Sgt. Richard Smith provided life blood for fighting World War II
Richard Smith of Port Charlotte, Fla. served in the 500th Port Battalion, an all black unit in World War II, that kept front line troops supplied with ammunition and equipment.
Sgt. Harold Glover fought at Salerno, Anzio, Monte Cassino, France & Germany during WW II
Harold Glover of La Casa mobile home park in North Port, Fla. was a sergeant in the “Fighting 36th Infantry Division” that first saw battle in North Africa in World War II, went on to Italy and before the war was over made the invasion of Southern France and marched into Germany. He received three Purple Hearts while fighting at Salerno, Anzio, Monte Casino and finally crossed the Rhine River into Germany at war’s end.
Glasgow girl recalls the Luftwaffe bombing city during city during WW II
Jean Cole was an 11-year-old Scottish school girl when the Germans marched into Poland in September 1939 starting World War II. She lived in a Glasgow tenement with her parents, twin sister and little brother.
He survived Battle of Ripcord with 101st Airborne in Vietnam
Dale Tauer of Punta Gorda, Fla. was a member of the 1st. Battalion, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne Division–The Screaming Eagles. In July 1970 he fought on a hill top in The Battle of Ripcord, the last major battle involving Americans in Vietnam’s A-Shau Valley against the 324th Division of the North Vietnamese Army.
Floyd Cole flew 30 combat missions over German territory piloting a B-17
Floyd Cole piloted a B-17 bomber on 30 combat missions over Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II. He was a member of the 452nd Bomb Group, 8th Air Force that flew from a field near Norwich, England.
Cpl. Robert Stilson of Alameda Isles, Englewood fought on Iwo Jima 19 Feb. 1945
Robert Stilson of Alameda Isles Mobile Home Park in Englewood, Fla. was a 19-year-old Marine Corps corporal who charged ashore from a Higgins Boat onto the black sandy beach at Iwo Jima on the first first day in the second wave –Feb. 19, 1945– to play his part in one of the major battles in the Pacific during the closing months of World War II.
Thomas McLean arrived at Okinawa aboard USS Tollberg near end of WW II
Electrician’s Mate 1st Class Thomas McLean’s war in the Pacific lasted a little over three months. He sailed aboard the USS Tollberg, APD-103, for Pearl Harbor arriving April 22, 1945.
Iwo Jima photographed by Lou Lowery a Marine photographer 60 years ago
Dick Honyak walked into the Charlotte Sun newspaper office in Englewood, Fla. six years ago and dropped a big, thick, loose leaf notebook full of 8 by 10 black and white photographs on my desk. The historic photos were of the Marines taking Iwo Jima from the Japanese at the close of World War II.
Petty Officer Jerry Hemphill first to intercept Japanese surrender
Jerry Hemphill served aboard the USS Missouri as a Japanese intercept operator. He was the first American to intercept the official code from Tokyo that the emperor was calling it quits. World War II was almost over.
2nd Infantry trooper went to Korea a month after war declared
Alex Magno was a 17-year-old Italian boy from Chicago who joined the Army and ended up in L-Company, 3rd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division in Korea a month after the Korean War broke out in June 1950.
Pfc. Billie Hopkins received 3 Purple Hearts fighting in Europe during WW II
Billie Hopkins, who winters at Little Charlie Creek mobile home park in Wauchula, was only 5-feet, 3-inches tall and weighed 112 pounds. His size made him a perfect candidate to be a ball turret gunner on a B-17 or B-24 bomber in World War II. But the Air Corps didn’t want him because he was…
He twice crashed in B-24s and shot down 2 German fighter planes
Former Staff Sgt. Charlie Collins of Brookside Bluff mobile home park north of Arcadia was a member of “The Cottontails.” He flew as nose gunner in a B-24 “Liberator” four-engine bomber during World War II. His bomb group had cotton bulbs painted on their tails, thus the “Cottontails” moniker.
Lt. Col. John Murphy received 2 DFCs in Vietnam flying choppers and spotter planes
John Thomas Murphy was a Marine pilot who flew helicopters and observation planes in Vietnam during his two combat tours. He received a Distinguished Flying Cross on each deployment while piloting an H-34 helicopter and a OV-10 Bronco twin-engine spotter plane into withering North Vietnam Army fire.
Marine loses two yellow tractors in the Aleutian Islands fighting the Cold War
Fred Holzweiss of Englewood, Fla. was a first lieutenant in the 1st Engineering Battalion attached to the 1st Marine Division in Korea in 1953.
Ensign Jim McKinney forced Soviet sub to surface with water hose in Sea of Japan
Jim McKinney is a Navy man. So was his father and so is his son. Jim was a career naval officer who served during the Cold War as a commodore of a squadron of hydrofoil boats in Key West equipped with Harpoon, ship-to-ship guided missiles. His father, Adm. Eugene McKinney, was skipper of two World War II submarines: the USS Salmon and the USS Skate. He received three Navy Crosses and a Silver Star for Valor for the combat missions he made. Brad, Jim’s oldest son, is the commander of the Explosive Ordinance Department at the Navy’s facility at Panama Beach.
‘Cold War’ warrior returns home after fighting dictators, drug runners south of border
Former 1st Sgt. Ken Drew was a “Cold War” warrior. He spent most of his 23 years in the Army as a Spanish-speaking, military intelligence expert who served 14 of those years fighting South and Central American dictators and drug lords. Toward the end of his service he did a hitch in Iraq during the height of “The Surge,” interrogating high profile Iraqi detainees.
Bernie Harris made 40 trips across Atlantic, Pacific in WW II as Merchant Mariner
Bernie Harris of Loveland Courtyard condominium in Port Charlotte, Fla. made 40 trips across the Atlantic and Pacific during World War II sailing in Esso tankers bringing aviation gasoline and fuel oil to the troops. After the war he joined the Navy and served four years as a submariner aboard the USS Trout—SS-566.
Lt. Leslie Nielsen ditched his B-17 in English Channel on 28th combat mission
It was June 20, 1944 and 1st Lt. Leslie Nielsen was on his 28th combat mission over Nazi occupied Europe during World War II with only two more missions to fly. Their target: an oil refinery in Hamburg, Germany.
Jim King and his buddy, Charley, found out about life before serving in Vietnam
Jim King and his buddy, Charley Carr, joined the Army right out of high school. The two 18-year-old California boys got an education about life long before they reached Vietnam and faced the enemy.
Pvt. Andy Ellul of Emerald Point fought as mortarman during Korean War
Andy Ellul of Emerald Point condos in Punta Gorda, Fla. arrived in this country from the island of Malta on Christmas Eve 1950 as a 21-year-old immigrant. He went to work for the Ford Motor Co. in Detroit. Two years later he found himself serving as a private in the 461st Heavy Mortar Battalion holding a defensive line along a river near the 38th Parallel that would separate North and South Korea.
He served aboard the Edmund Fitzgerald shortly before doomed ore boat sank
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald was more than a popular ballad made famous by Gordon Lightfoot more than three decades ago. It was a way of life for Frank Stelzer who served as second engineer aboard the doomed ore freighter six months before she went down with all hands in a monster storm on Lake Superior Nov. 10, 1975 with 26,000 tons of iron pellets.
1St. Sgt. Jim Tankersley of Brookside Bluff fought with Patton, Bradley in Europe
1st Sgt. Jim Tankersley, who lives in Brookside Bluff Condominium Park north of Arcadia, Fla. was in charge of ground communications for the 95th Infantry Division’s artillery battalion. He and a squad of 25 soldiers laid and maintained the phone cables connecting division headquarters with front line troops during some of the major battles in Europe in World War II.
Vern Nelson served aboard PT-108 in the S.W. Pacific during World War II
By the time Radioman 2nd/Class Vern Nelson came aboard PT-108 in the South Pacific in 1944 the torpedo boat had seen lots of action against the Japanese in World War II. As part of Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron FIVE the 80-foot plywood craft first operated out of the Panama Canal Zone starting in July starting in 1942.
Jim Broom found out being a truck driver in Vietnam could be deadly
Jim Broom of Edgewater Manor, Port Charlotte, Fla. was no war hero. He was just a Specialist-5th class who drove a five-ton dump truck and got shot at by the enemy in Vietnam in 1967-68 while serving with the 815th Engineer Battalion for 11 months and 15 days.
He spent 39 months at sea on a Coast Guard cutter off Greenland during WW II
Although Russell Clark was a strapping 6-foot, 2 ½-inches tall, 210 pounds and physically fit, the Marines wouldn’t have him; neither would the Navy or the Coast Guard. The reason: the 21-year-old was married with a child on the way.
War Tales 