Pfc. Hugo Filizetti was an “expert marksman” in World War II. That was his undoing.
From 2012
North Port, Fla. man flew 34 combat missions in a B-24 over Nazi-occupied Europe
First Lt. Adam Kubinciak was the pilot of a B-24 “Liberator” bomber named “Miss Liberty,” part of the 706th Bomb Squadron, 446 Bomb Group, 8th Air Force stationed at Bungay, in southwestern England, during World War II.
Joe McKenney helped kept Military Air Lift Command flying at end of WWII
Joe McKenney of Arcadia, Fla. had just graduated from aviation training at Manhattan High School in New York City in 1943 when he enrolled in the Emergency Defense Training Program to become an aviation mechanic.
Don Smally calibrated cannons during WWII to make them more accurate
Don Smally was a sergeant in the 283rd Ordinance and Ballistic Technical Service Detachment, fighting in Gen. George Patton’s 3rd Army in Europe during World War II.
SOLDIER RETURNS HOME
Arturo Rodriguez-Martin recently returned from a three-month tour as a U.S. Army Reserve doctor.
Luther Johnson shot down in torpedo bomber over Japan; taken prisoner
Gunner’s Mate 2/C Luther Johnson was shot down in his TBM torpedo bomber during an attack on the Japanese fleet bottled up in Kure Bay, Japan in late July 1945. He was the back seat gunner on a ring-mounted .50-caliber machine-gun in an “Avenger,” part of Air Group VT-6 that flew from the deck of…
Man flew some of Merrill’s Marauders to safety
It wasn’t the brightest move on his part, former Sgt. Pete Chisholm admitted more than 60 years later in the comfort of his Southwest Fla. apartment. “I volunteered to help some of Merrill’s Marauders out. At the time I was an engineer on a C-47 (twin-engine transport) flying out of Dum-Dum Air Base just outside…
Maj. Gen. Richard Carr flew F-4s and F-16 fighters in war and peace
Retired Maj. Gen. Richard Carr of Burnt Store Isles was among the U.S. Air Force Academy’s first graduates in 1959. He spent much of his 35-year military career preparing to fight a war with the Soviet Union that never happened. In 1962, he was involved in the “Cuban Missile Crisis.”
Capt. Jean Carr was Air Force nurse during Cuban Missle Crisis and Vietnam War
Jean Carr was an Air Force nurse during the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam War in the 1960s. “I wanted to be a history teacher, but my patents didn’t have the money to send me to college for four years. They decided my twin sister, Joan, and I could both become nurses. So we…
Aviator recalls life and B-29 bombers on Tinian Island
1st. Lt. Guice Johnson was the bombardier on the 12-man crew of the first B-29 to land on Tinian Island during the closing months of World War II. In fact, when Capt. Walter Schroder put down the wheels, the Seabees were still working to build the runway.
He survived Pearl Harbor attack – Seaman Joe Kleiss of Port Charlotte, Fla. was aboard USS Dobbin
Seventy-one years ago today, at 8 a.m. on a Sunday, Seaman Joe Kleiss was aboard the USS Dobbin, an auxiliary destroyer docked in Hawaii, writing a letter home to his mother.
Pfc. Bob Hemingway almost took part in ‘Bay of Pigs Invasion’ of Cuba in 1961
Bob Hemingway of Lake Suzy, near Port Charlotte, Fla. was a junior in high school in New Haven, Conn. when he dropped out of school and joined the Marine Corps. He ended up in the 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division stationed at Camp Lajeune, N.C.
12-year-old North Port, Fla. student loses dad to roadside bomb in Iraq
Twelve-year-old Slade Tully talked to his dad, Green Beret Sgt. 1st Class Michael Joseph Tully, by phone from Baghdad for the last time Aug. 18, 2007. The sergeant was killed by a roadside bomb.
He bombed Tokyo – 1st Lt. Bob Althoff flew 35 missions over Japan in a B-29 ‘Superfortress’
Old “Iron Pants” decreed that the B-29 bombers would fly firebomb raids over Tokyo at 7,000 feet after taking command of the 20th Air Force. The “Superfortress” crews had been flying raids at 25,000 feet, Bob Althoff, pilot of one of the bombers, recalled decades later.
Capt. Ken Heitel flew A-4E ‘Skyhawk’ as ‘Cold War’ warrior in the 1970s
Ken Heitel was a “Cold War Warrior.” He flew an A-4E “Skyhawk,” jet fighter off the USS Independence, a Forrestal Class carrier, as a Marine Corps aviator serving in the Mediterranean during the early 1970s.
Punta Gorda, Fla. man knows all about tsunamis – Seaman George McNeill’s troop ship was hit by a tsunami
George McNeill knows all about tsunamis like the one which devastated large portions of the southeast Asian coast of the Indian Ocean in 2005. He and the sailors aboard the troop transport, SS Denali, were hit by one in November 1942 while sailing from Seattle, Wash., to Dutch Harbor, Alaska.
Old soldier had great career – John Franklin Gay was command sergeant major, fought in 3 wars
When Melitta Gay of Venice called me a while back and said she was going through all her late husband’s stuff from a 31-year military career that spanned World War II, Korea and Vietnam and wanted me to come check it out for possible inclusion in the Sun, I was perplexed. He had already gone…
Norm Meissner served as engineer aboard U.S. flagged ships for 38 years
Norm Meissner attended the United States Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, N.Y. in the 1960s. The “Cuban Missile Crisis” was erupting about the time he left the academy. The U. S. was on the verge of going to war with Russia over missiles the Soviets snuck into the island nation that were aimed our…
He flew with 4 presidents aboard Air Force One – Sgt. John Hames was steward on presidents’ plane
Second of two parts For 15 years Sgt. John Hames of Port Charlotte, Fla. was a flight steward aboard Air Force One.
He flew to Dallas with President Kennedy on Air Force One: Staff Sgt. John Hames was a steward on JFK’s plane
First of two parts When President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline flew to Dallas 40 years ago on a campaign swing through Texas, Sgt. John Hames was the flight steward aboard Air Force One.
Fred Sauer of Arcadia served on USS Intrepid and Marshall Islands, Philippines in WW II
The USS Intrepid sailed out of Pearl Harbor on Jan. 16, 1944 and headed for Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific during World War II. Fred Sauer of Arcadia served as an aviation electrician’s mate aboard the aircraft carrier.
American POW talked 40 German soldiers into surrendering to him – Lt. William Standish’s fast-talking did the trick
It was 1st Lt. William Standish’s worst nightmare. He and the men in his platoon were charging a German-held house in the fog atop Hill 566, just south of Bologna, Italy, during World War II. The fog lifted and they were standing in the open, 50 feet away from an enemy machine-gun position.
Making Marlene Dietrich’s wish come true
It was a cold, rainy, muddy night in November 1944, Sgt. Ted Sannella was on duty at 1st Army’s Headquarters near Aachen, Germany as Allied forces began their final push into the “Fatherland” near the close of World War II.
Corsair crew chief kept fighters in battle over Okinawa
Paul Gailey, of Burnt Store Marina, Fla., was a crew chief in Marine Air Group 31, Squadron VMF-441, during the Battle of Okinawa, the last major island battle in the Pacific in World War II. As a sergeant, it was his job to keep his squadron of F4U Corsair fighters airborne.
Ed McFadden served aboard USS Colorado during WW II
The toughest day of World War II for 17-year-old Seaman Ed McFadden was partway through the battle of Okinawa in March 1945. That day, he was not at his normal battle station in the foretop lookout 150 feet above the deck of the World War I battleship USS Colorado. That day he was on a…
The Black Hawk helicopter flew down the street with mini-guns blazing
The Black Hawk helicopter’s twin 7.62 millimeter mini-gatling guns blazed away at the insurgents shooting down on the American Rangers from roof tops in the downtown Bakaara Market area of Mogadishu, Somalia in 1993. As the chopper flared out in the middle of the main drag it cleared the roof tops of enemy fighters in…
Marc Good, who fought in ‘Black Hawk Down’ incident, tells his story
Several years after graduating from Venice High School in 1988 Marc Good joined the Army. He beame a medic in Bravo Company, Third Army Ranger Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment. In 1993 B-Company, Third Battalion went to Somalia in the Horn of Africa as part of a United Nations contingent to enforce international law. Their job:…
Every gun on the destroyer was firing at the diving kamikaze – Seaman John Wilson knew he was in harm’s way
Seaman John Wilson knew his ship was in harm’s way when the kamikaze plane at which he was firing continued to grow in the sights of his twin 40-millimeter anti-aircraft guns.
Up close to the enemy – Pfc. Maurice Forgotson was forward observer in WW II
Maurice Forgotson, of Gulf View mobile home park on Burnt Store Road, south of Punta Gorda, Fla. was a forward observer with a mortar platoon. It was part of the 84th Infantry Division, attached to Gen. Bernard Montgomery’s army in Europe during World War II.
For 22 years he served as a Navy yeoman all around the world
From the end of World War II, through the Korean War of the 1950s and halfway into the Vietnam War, late in the 1960s, Granville Pennypacker of Englewood, Fla. served as a yeoman, a Navy administrator, in strategic hot spots around the world.
Cold War pilot tells of time in the sky
Maj. Robert Thompson was a citizen soldier and a “week-end warrior” — a member of the 141st Tactical Fighter Squadron of the New Jersey Air National Guard based at McGuire Air Force Base in central New Jersey.
USS Crevalle led wolf pack through minefield – Seaman 1/C Leonard “Bull” Durham of Port Charlotte, Fla. was aboard
“Hellcats” is what Admiral Thomas Lockwood, commander of submarines in the Pacific, dubbed the first “wolf pack” to breach the Tsushima Straits minefield and anti-submarine nets between the southern island of Kyushu in the Japanese chain and the Korean peninsula during the closing months of World War II.
Pvt. Michael Meehan got Silver Star for taking Korean hill
Michael Meehan of Englewood, Fla. received a Silver Star, the third highest commendation awarded an American soldier for gallantry under enemy fire, when his unit, the 17th Regiment of the 7th Division, was trying to capture a hill held by North Koreans.
Englewood, Fla. man sailed to war in the Pacific – Gerold was 2nd in command on LST-742 in WWII
Carl Gerold was the executive officer on LST-742 in the Pacific during World War II.
He drove his truck through Omaha Beach mine field – Pvt. Bill Price was there on D-Day
Bill Price, who lives in Oxford House, Port Charlotte, was driving a 2 1/2-ton Army truck onto the beach at Normandy, France, D-Day, 60 years ago in June.
Sgt. Andy Pace fought in Battle of Bulge during big German push on Western Front in WW II
Andy Pace of Port Charlotte, Fla. served as a member of Gen. George Patton’s 3rd Army in World War II. He was a battalion radio operator for Headquarters Company, 58th Armored Infantry Battalion, 8th Armored Division.
Cupid helped by U.S. Army – Charlotte soldier gets hitched before shipping out
Cupid is getting a little extra help these days from the U.S. Army and the winds of war.
He flew The Hump 160 times – ‘I flew into the middle of a squadron of Japanese Zeros ‘ – Col. Baxendale
On one of the 160 missions he flew over “The Hump,” Lt. Col. Tom Baxendale ran head-on into a flight of Japanese Zero fighters. He was piloting an unarmed C-46 twin-engine transport loaded with 55-gallon drums of gas.
Col. Charles Milam begins 30-year military career at Okinawa – He served in WW II, Korea and Vietnam
Charles Milam of Port Charlotte, Fla. was a freshman on a football scholarship playing for the University of Arkansas Razorbacks in 1944 when he decided to join the Marine Corps.
Sgt. Bob Werner printed top secret aerial photos of Russian bases during ‘Cold War’
A Canadian resident with an American father who met his mother while living in the Montreal area, Bob Werner of Bay Indies Mobile Home Park was drafted into the U.S. Army Air Force in 1946. He ended up in Sheppard Field, near Wichita Falls, Texas for basic which was the beginning of a series of…
Nightmare at Nui Ba Den – Combat photographer shot at Black Virgin Mountain
Staff Sgt. Raymond Jewett was a combat photographer in July 1964 attached to the U.S. military Assistance Command in Vietnam.
He missed the war, but didn’t miss the action – Roger Burton was editor of the Bayonet
Roger Burton is no war hero. In fact, he missed the whole war. The infantry corporal was a couple of weeks too late for the Battle of Pork Chop Hill, one of the nastiest engagements of the Korean War.
B-17, B-24 bombers pounded Germany and Japan into submission during WW II
America’s airborne military might in Europe during World War II was hammered home by thousands of four-engine B-17 “Flying Fortress” and B-24, four-engine “Liberator” heavy bombers that dropped thousands of tons of bombs on Hitler’s “Fortress Europe” from 1943 until the end of the war two years later. By then, there was little left of…
He was in 1st Ranger Battalion in WW II – Sgt. Lawrence Gilbert landed in Sicily, Salerno and Anzio
Sgt. Lawrence Gilbert of North Port, Fla. was a member of the 1st Ranger Battalion attached to the 1st Division, part of Gen. George Patton’s 7th Army that landed in Sicily on July 10, 1943 during the middle of World War II.
Lt. Col. Ron Dudley of Venice, Fla. flew C-130 transport on 3 tours during Vietnam War
Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Ron Dudley of Waterford subdivision in Venice, Fla. flew a “Hercules,” C-130A, four-engine transport plane full of troops or supplies on hazards missions to the front lines during three Vietnam War tours.
A soldier’s story – Sgt. Bill Nickell spent 250 days on front lines
“I saw a 60-ton German Tiger tank about 100-feet away. It had nine machine guns and one 88 mm cannon pointing right at us,” Sgt. William Nickell of Punta Gorda, Fla. wrote in his World War II memoirs.
He flew one of last bombing missions in WW II – Lt. Chuck Rauch was B-24 navigator
Two days before VJ-Day, Japan’s surrender ending World War II, former Lt. Chuck Rauch, of Punta Gorda, Fla. was flying as navigator in an all black B-24 “Liberator” bomber. He was on a night mission to attack shipping at the north end of Ie Shima Island, part of the Japanese home islands.
Louie Wilson served aboard destroyer escort USS Barr at Iwo Jima & Okinawa
Before Louie Wilson of Port Charlotte, Fla. joined the Navy in May 1943 he and his late wife, Bea, had a roller skating act on stage in Vaudeville call The Wilson Duo. After boot camp and preliminary naval gunnery training he went aboard a destroyer escort, the USS Barr (DE-576), headed for battle in the…
Troop Carrier Wing kept MacArthur’s ‘island hopping’ going – Sgt. Harold Hayden was a flight engineer on a C-47
Harold Hayden of Punta Gorda, Fla. was a flight engineer aboard a C-47 twin-engine transport plane attached to Troop Carrier Wing 322, 374th Group, 24th Squadron, part of Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s army in the Southwest Pacific during World War II.
Two old war horses recall their service to the troops in WW II, Korea and Vietnam
With her wispy white hair, her frail body and her tiny voice, Harriette Moore is the epitome of someone’s grandmother. Looks can be deceiving.
Seaman Jim Clawson sailed Atlantic a dozen times in transport ship in WW II
A dozen times or more Jim Clawson, who lives in Cross Creek RV Resort north of Arcadia, Fla. on US-17, crossed the Atlantic as the bow gunner on the William Gilles, a merchant ship, bringing tanks, planes and troops to North Africa and Europe during World War II.
Punta Gorda, Fla. man writes book on uncle’s WWII diary
U.S. Army Capt. Leo F. Gowen of Nanticoke, Pa., was a surgeon in an aid station behind the front lines in the 9th Medical Battalion, 39th Infantry Regiment of Gen. Courtney H. Hodges 1st Army that fought through Europe during World War II.
‘Leggy Lady’ was a bomber like no other
Ret. Staff Sgt. Linwood Brown of Punta Gorda, Fla. was tail gunner in “Leggy Lady,” a B-25 Mitchell medium attack bomber, part of the 10th Air Force flying bombing raids in the China, Burma, India Theater in Burma, China and Thailand in late 1944 and almost until the end of World War II in ’45.
Ted Schulz was aboard USS Fiske when she was sunk by German U-boat
Ted Schulz of Port Charlotte, Fla. had already crossed the Atlantic three times aboard a destroyer escort, USS Fiske, protecting transports full of military supplies on their way to North Africa when his ship was reassigned to a hunter-killer group in the North Atlantic searching for German U-Boats.
WWII buddies meet up 55 years later
Bill Tannatt of Englewood, Fla. and Milton Dorr of Worcester, Mass., started out as members of the Yankee Division, the Massachusetts National Guard’s 26th Infantry Division, and ended up in the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division of the 5th Army during World War II.
She’s just back from Bahrain – Cmdr. Cheryl Vanande is also a mom and a county employee
Not only is she a U.S. Naval Reserve commander, but she is probably the only woman in Charlotte County, Fla. who has visited the island of Bahrain in the Persian Gulf repeatedly in the past couple of years and speaks Arabic well enough to get along in that part of the world on her own.
Seaman Charles Kueny had one of the most dangerous jobs in the Navy in WW II
It was March 7, 1944 when Charles Kueny of Punta Gorda, Fla. got drafted. After a month’s basic training, instead of the usual 12 weeks, at Bainbridge, Md. he was sent aboard the USS Escalante a Navy tanker as a loader on a three-inch gun forward.
Operation Tiger was a man-killer – Manasota Key man participated in mock invasion that killed 749 American GIs
Operation Tiger was supposed to be a dry run, a dress rehearsal for the D-Day Invasion during World War II a few weeks away. What it turned out to be was a disaster for the Allied troops that has been covered up for almost 60 years.
Tom Peterson survived ‘Battle of the Bulge”
Tom Peterson’s baptism of fire came during the Battle of the Bulge, the biggest battle on the Western Front during World War II. He was a young 2nd lieutenant commanding a platoon of M-4 tanks, part of the 781st Tank Battalion attached to the 7th Army.
Carpenter’s Mate 2nd/C Bernie Strapp in ship repair unit in Pacific during WW II
Bernie Strapp of North Port, Fla. joined the Navy at 17 in February 1943 during the middle of World War II. Because he had taken carpentry in high school he wound up working in a ship repair unit in San Diego, Calif.
Chris Genovese served aboard the destroyer USS Rodman during WWII
By the time Radioman 3rd Class Chris Genovese and his destroyer, the USS Rodman, reached Okinawa during the closing months of World War II, the ship had taken part in the D-Day invasion, shot down a German JU-88 bomber, 15 Japanese kamikazes, sunk a German submarine during the invasion of Southern France, and escorted President…
Col. Clark received Silver Star for actions at Guadalcanal during WWII – He also saw front-line action in Korea and Vietnam
Col. Al R. Clark of Port Charlotte, Fla. joined the Oregon National Guard in 1935 at the age of 15. Before his 33-year regular Army career was over, he saw action on the front lines in World War II, Korea and Vietnam.
Harry Kaplun, part of 11th Airborne that captured Japanese Prison Camp
Harry Kaplun, who has lived in Venice, Fla. for more than 30 years, was a 22-year-old paratrooper who made a number of jumps as a member of the 457th Field Artillery Battalion of the 11th Airborne Division while fighting in the Pacific during World War II.
Bill Springer flew bomber escort in his P-51 Mustang
Bill Springer will never forget his first night on Iwo Jima, March 1, 1945.
War dogs – ‘Prince’ was his protector in Vietnam
Dan Byrd lived an idyllic life growing up as a kid on Longboat Key off Sarasota, Fla. half a century ago. In those days, he hunted rabbits on the key with his .22-caliber rifle while his mom and dad ran the bait shop and hamburger stand on the south end of the New Pass Bridge…
Ensign David Weaver and Squadron VF-60 arrived on Saipan just before WW II’s end
David Weaver, who grew up in Charleston, S.C. and joined the Naval Aviation Cadet Program in 1943 when he was 21, was sent to the Pacific Fleet and assigned to Escort Carrier Group VF-60 at Saipan.
Love and War in Vietnam and elsewhere
Col. Ivar Svenson, United States Marine Corps, was in charge of plans and operations for the III Marine Amphibious Force headquarters unit stationed in Da Nang, South Vietnam in 1968. Ann Byerlein was head nurse of the intensive care unit at Da Nang Provincial Hospital in May of that year, during the height of the…
Elmer Watson served as medic in 242nd Infantry Regiment in Europe in WW II
When Elmer Watson arrived in Marseille, France aboard a victory ship he was a medic in the 242nd Infantry Regiment. His unit made it to the war in Europe on Dec. 11, 1944, just in time for the Battle of the Bulge.
Ted Sivyer served aboard two destroyers in WW II
Ted Sivyer of Country Club Estates in Venice manned a 20 mm antiaircraft gun on two destroyers, one during the Invasion of Sicily and North Africa and the other at Iwo Jima and Okinawa in World War II.
Japanese Zeros shot down his B-24 bomber down
“Glamour Girl” is what Lt. Joe Hart and his B-24 “Liberator” crew were going to call their World War II bomber. But they never got a chance to paint it on the nose of their four-engine plane because they were shot down by Japanese fighters over China on their second combat mission during WWII.
Herb May of Port Charlotte, Fla. flew as tail gunner in B-24 called ‘Wild Pussy’
A tail gunner in a B-24 bomber dubbed “Wild Pussy,” Staff Sgt. Herb May was on one of the first daylight mission flown by the U.S. Air Force over Berlin in May 1944. He had plenty of company — there were 800 heavy bombers in the armada that day attacking the German capital.
Sgt. Lawrence Stout guarded German POWs in N.C. during WW II
Lawrence Stout of Lemon Bay mobile home park in Englewood, Fla. never fired a rifle in World War II. Because he could type he was made a clerk typist after completing boot camp at Camp Buckner, N.C. in February 1943.
South Gulf Cove, Fla. resident fought aboard the USS Killen in Surigao Strait
Lawrence Frazer of South Gulf Cove, Fla. was a 16-year-old sailor on the main number-2 five-inch gun aboard the USS Killen (DD-539), a Fletcher Class destroyer, during the battle of the Surigao Strait off Leyte in the Philippines on Oct. 25, 1944, in World War II.
Elliott‘s military intelligence unit protected supply base
Paul Elliott was trained as a Russian linguist and military intelligence agent and when he went to Vietnam in 1966. He had to use those skills and more to ferret out saboteurs trying to sneak into Camp McDermott — the main supply base for the 1st Logistical Command that provided American forces with most of…
Pfc. Keith Des Ermia served 28 days in Patton’s 3rd Army before being wounded
Pfc. Keith Des Ermia only fought as a replacement soldier in Gen. George Patton’s 3rd Army in Europe during World War II for 28 days before he was severely wounded by shrapnel from a German 88. He spent the next eight months recovering from his war wounds in hospitals in England and the United States.
Port Charlotte, Fla. man served in Gen. George Patton’s 3rd Army during World War
The first day former Sgt. Mike Labick arrived in Normandy in September 1944 he wound up in a front line foxhole at Saint-Lo as a newly-minted member of Gen. George S. Patton’s 3rd Army.
Cpl. Walter Mitchell ran a truck farm on Guadalcanal during WW II
Cpl. Walter Mitchell of Englewood, Fla. turned part of Guadalcanal, a major South Pacific battlefield in World War II, into a 5,000-acre truck farm once Japanese troops had been defeated.
Arnold Heins survived Pearl Harbor
Cpl. Arnold Heins escaped death when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor 61 years ago today because he had just gotten off dining room duty at the mess hall at Hickam Field in Honolulu.
He flew a ‘Gooney Bird’ over “The Hump’ in the China, Burma, India Campaign
It was a little hard to read, but the handwritten account of Maj. Thomas Lemery’s World War II career in the China, Burma and India Theater flying supplies in a C-47 Transport to the British 14th Army in Burma was a wonderful supplement to his fading memory.
1st Lt. Bob Normile flew Gen. MacArthur to the surrender ceremonies ending WWII
First Lt. Bob Normile, now living in Pine Brook in Venice, Fla. was copilot of the C-54 that flew Gen. Douglas MacArthur from Manila to Okinawa, Japan on Aug. 28, 1945, for the surrender ceremony ending World War II.
Pfc. John Silvani landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day plus 3; he was wounded at St. Lo a few days later
John Silvani grew up in an Italian neighborhood in Detroit, Mich., graduated from high school about the time World War II began and went to work at the Ford plant in Dearborn as a teenage tool-and-die maker after receiving a military deferment.
T/Sgt. Howard Dillingham nearly shot down in B-17 over Osha Buren
It was the railroad yard at Mannheim, Germany that was almost T/Sgt. Howard W. Dillingham’s and the other seven members of his B-17 bomber crew’s undoing.
He was at The Bulge – Pfc. Floyd Gantzer was in the 17th Airborne Division
Trained as a paratrooper at Fort Benning, Ga., in July 1944, former Pfc. Floyd Gantzer was attached to the 193rd Glider Infantry Regiment, part of the 17th Airborne Division at the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium in January 1945 during World War II.
John Flower served in the ‘Fighting 69th PX Detachment’ during ‘Cold War’
John Flower of Oak Forrest subdivision Englewood, Fla. said facetiously, “I was a corporal in the U.S. Army’s ‘Fighting 69th, PX Detachment’ on Adak, in the Aleutian Islands in 1946”. He ran a bowling alley for the troops on the godforsaken atoll.
He served aboard USS Shangri-La off Okinawa
The carrier USS Shangri-La sailed out of Pearl Harbor in early April 1945, headed for the war zone.
Lt. Harold Hewitt built bridges for the 9th Army in Europe during WWII
A couple of months after D-Day, 2nd Lt. Harold Hewitt of Port Charlotte, Fla. landed on Omaha Beach in Normandy, France, with the 252nd Engineers Battalion, part of Gen. William “Tex” Simpson’s 9th Army fighting in Europe during World War II.
Rodger Craig served in Korea and Vietnam before becoming ROTC instructor
Rodger Craig had just graduated from high school in 1950 and signed up to be a Marine about the time the Korean War started. He was in boot camp at Parris Island, S.C. when war broke out.
Deep Creek, Fla. man spent 22 years in Navy; served in WWII
Tom Edwards of Deep Creek, Fla. was a Navy man through and through. He joined the Navy when he was 17 on Nov. 25, 1940 — his birthday — and made it his life for 22 years .
Army was turning point for 17-year-old Punta Gorda, Fla. soldier – Abraham Coleman received two Purple Hearts while fighting in Korea
Former Cpl. Abraham Coleman joined the U.S. Army in 1947 at 17, “just to get the hell away from Punta Gorda.” He wanted to find a better life with more opportunities for a young black man than living in a small Southern town.
Homer Beach ‘Buffalo’ driver in 3rd Marine Division at Iwo Jima during WWII
Homer Beach was a “Buffalo,” amphibious vehicle driver, in the 3rd Marine Division. The 20-year-old corporal drove assault troops ashore on Guam, Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima during World World II.
Port Charlotte, Fla. man was a 10th Mountain Division sniper in Italy – Partridge got shot at Riva Ridge
A harmonica stopped a bullet from hitting Pcf. Al Partridge ‘s heart during the 5th Army’s assault in Italy’s Apennine Mountains in January 1944.
Marine Pfc. Frank Garcia attacked in first wave at Iwo Jima
A week after the Japanese bombed the Pacific Fleet based at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941, dragging the United States into World War II, Frank Garcia joined the U.S. Marine Corps.
Ensign Harlan Twible recalls sharks, sea and fight for life after USS Indianapolis sank
Minutes after the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis‘ bow was blown away by a torpedo fired by Japanese submarine I-58 on July 30, 1945, Ensign Harlan Twible was treading water in the shark-infested, inky waters of the Philippine Sea.
His LST made the invasions in Sicily and Normandy – Ensign Wolhuter served aboard LSTs 349 & 208
* George Wolhuter took all of the black and white photographs presented here with his twin-lens reflex camera. He also developed and printed them aboard ship in the darkroom on his LST. Ensign George Wolhuter was a gunnery officer aboard an LST which took part in the invasion of Sicily, a secret Malaysian invasion, and…
POW writes diary while in WW II prison camp – Lt. Martin Fetherolf writes about his B-17 going down
“The DAY of Aug. 17, 1943 was to be, perhaps the most important and certainly the most eventful of my life to date,” the late Martin Fetherolf of Punta Gorda Isles, Fla. wrote in his “War Log” from Stalag Luft-3 in the heart of Germany during World War II. It’s where he spent most of…
Bible helped Pfc. Bill Waits survive Stalag 7-A in Germany during WW II
The steel-plated gold cover on the outside of Bill Waits’ “Heart Shield Bible” he carried in his breast pocket while a rifleman in the 26th Infantry Division during the Allied invasion of France in the closing months of World War II was inscribed in flowing script: “May this keep you from harm.”
Jap sub sunk in Tokyo Bay by USS Sea Devil
The enemy submarine, I-374, sailed out of Tokyo Bay into the open Pacific shortly before sunrise on Sept. 22, 1944. Capt. Ralph Styles, skipper of the sub USS Sea Devil, was laying in wait submerged near the harbor’s entrance.
Ray Kari was a front line medic in the Pacific – he was shot in the head by a sniper
Pvt. Ray Kari was the youngest, least-trained medic in Company B, 169th Infantry, 43rd Division when he waded ashore in the middle of the night on a small attol just off New Georgia Island in the southwest Pacific a lifetime ago.
‘Jap Zeroes were diving on our fantail, I ordered: ‘Blast the SOBs out of the sky!’
After 20 years of service in the U.S. Navy, Eugene Maresca retired in 1983 as a full commander. He served three years in the regular Navy and the rest in the Naval Reserve.
Corsair fighter pilot recalls World War II
Wally Weber of Burnt Store Country Club didn’t have to sweat the draft during World War II. His father was the chairman of the local draft board in the little town in Oklahoma where he grew up.
U.S. Navy pilot almost Japanese hero in WWII – Capt. ‘Slim’ Russell flew off USS Saratoga at Guadalcanal
“At Guadalcanal, I was almost a war hero to the Japanese,” Allard Guy “Slim” Russell of Sarasota, Fla. said with a smile. “I dropped my first 500-pound bomb on the 75-mile long, 25-mile-wide enemy-held South Pacific island.
Soldier’s WW I diary a treasured memory of the part he played in ‘The Great War’
A Farewell to Arms, tells the story of Lt. Frederic Henry, the main character in Hemingway’s novel about a World War I ambulance driver who deserts his unit because he can no longer face the maiming and killing on the front lines he had to endure. Anne Hilliard of Arcadia, Fla. whose father, Wesley Norman…
Master Chief Herb Schmaeling served aboard USS Wasp, part of Adm. ‘Bull’ Halsey’s task force
By the time Master Chief Herb Schmaeling retired from the U.S. Coast Guard in 1971 he had served in the Navy aboard the aircraft carrier USS Wasp in World War II and during the Korean and Vietnam wars.
Fly spy – Punta Gorda man flew secret missions behind the ‘Iron Curtain’
“Ferrets flights” are what they were called. They were aptly named because the super-secret missions in modified B-29 bombers immediately after World War II were made to ferret out information about the Soviet Union’s most sensitive military sites.
He took part in ‘McNamara’s Last Chance’ over Vietnam in 1967
Sgt. Ed Schuppenhouer was part of what was called, “McNamara’s Last Chance” when he served as a counter-insurgency specialist aboard an EC-121R four-engine Super Constellation in Vietnam in 1967-68.
‘Suddenly, I saw the Zero coming toward me’ – Sgt. Mel Clark rode shotgun in dive bomber during WWII
“We were flying over Rabaul at 15,000 feet and went into a dive in our (Douglas Dauntless) SBD dive bombers. Suddenly, I saw this Japanese Zero coming toward me. The pilot looked right at me as I started firing,” former Sgt. Mel Clark recalled six decades later.
1st Lt. Bette Horstman says Japanese POWs were her best patients in WWII
Bette Horstman of Port Charlotte, Fla. was a physical therapist who graduated from Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. near the end of World War II, joined the Army and was sent to Saipan as a 2nd lieutenant to help the troops recover from war wounds.
As a naval engineer Capt. Arthur Anderssen helped keep the U.S. Navy afloat
Arthur Anderssen of Burnt Store Isles south of Punta Gorda, Fla. graduated from Auburn University in 1962 on a Navy ROTC scholarship and joined the Navy immediately to complete his four year obligation. Thus began his 26 year military career.
Port Charlotte man survived WWII torpedo attack
Nine German torpedo boats attacked eight American transport ships in Lyme Bay off the southern coast of England near the village of Slapton Sands in South Devon, during the wee hours of April 28, 1944. By dawn, 749 Americans died and 1000 more were casualties of war.
Sgt. Richard Nolan kept P-40s, P-47s in the air in WWII
Richard Nolan of Deep Creek, Fla. enlisted in the Army a year before the United States entered World War II, never dreaming it would be a six-year, world-shattering event for him and the rest of the human race.
He escaped 6 Chinese soldiers while driving to Seoul to get mail for 25th Division
It was 1953 and the Korean War had ground to a halt when Dick Cooley of Columbus, Ohio got word to report to his local draft board.
Vietnam POW presents prison garb to Military Museum
Charlotte Sun (Port Charlotte, FL) – Sunday, April 15, 2007 Capt. Luis Chirichigno was piloting an Army Cobra attack helicopter high above a couple of low-flying observation copters eight miles south of Duc Lap, South Vietnam, on Nov. 2, 1969. What happened next would make this Peruvian-born American chopper pilot a POW for the next…
As WASP in World War II – Gwen Linder flew many military aircraft
She was one of the 1,074 Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASP) who flew military aircraft stateside in World War II. They replaced male pilots who were then sent into combat.
Cpl. Ed Zanck provided hot showers for troops in Gen. Mark Clark’s 5th Army
Ed Zanck of Farmington Vista condominium complex, Plantation subdivision south of Venice, Fla. was drafted into the Army in early 1942. He took part in the Invasion of North Africa and served in Gen. Mark Clark’s 5th Army throughout much of the Italian Campaign.
They captured U-505 – Art Coelho served on USS Pillsbury that boarded German sub
Seaman 1st Class Art Coelho of Port Charlotte, Fla. wasn’t aboard the USS Pillsbury (DE-133) when she took part in the sinking of the U-515, a German submarine, off the Madeira Islands in the Atlantic near the North African coast. However, he was on her two months later when the same destroyer escort helped capture…
Arcadia, Fla. man survived Tarawa ‘bloodbath’
Seaman 3rd Class Howard Halsey was a 20-year-old assigned to a 20-millimeter anti-aircraft gun on the destroyer USS Kimberly off Tarawa, a tiny island in the Central Pacific.
John Socotch – torpedoman aboard USS Barbero in WW II
John Socotch was a 20-year-old torpedoman when he went aboard the USS Barbero (SS-317) submarine in Freemantle, Australia Aug. 9, 1944. The new Balao Class sub sailed to war into the South China Sea, between Japan and China Sea, on her first combat patrol Oct. 4.
Facing death in a B-29 while bombing Japan in WWII
By Jim Hussmann Special to the Sun After graduating from the Air Corps’ Navigation School in San Marcos, Texas in December 1944, Jim Hussmann of Plantation Golf and Country Club south of Venice, Fla. was ordered to report to Alamogordo, N.M., where he and 10 other airmen specialists were to begin training as B-29 bomber…
North Port, Fla. man sailed Atlantic with Merchant Marines
John Baumer went down to the recruiting office in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he grew up to enlist in the Army in 1942 and ended up in the Merchant Marines before he walked out.
Earl Schworm caught Soviet bombers during ‘Cold War’ at ‘Intercept Capital of World’
Earl Schworm, who lives in Boca View condominiums in Placida, Fla., served as a member of U.S. Air Force’s Control and Warning Battalion 932 in what became known as the “Intercept Capital of the World” during the “Cold War” of the 1950s. His job: tracking Soviet strategic bombers trying to penetrate U.S. air space.
Pvt. Dan Hartnett jumped with 82nd Airborne in largest action in World War II
“WITH AMERICAN AIRBORNE FORCES, in Germany, March 24, 1945 — The greatest single airborne operation in all history was successfully launched east of the Rhine shortly before noon today by cooperating British and American forces.
He fought aboard destroyer USS Beale at Battle of Philippine Sea and Okinawa
From the pages of the diary he kept aboard the destroyer he served on– the USS Beale (DD-471) — Ray Pomeroy of Rotonda, Fla. was able to recreate two of the biggest sea battles of World War II he fought in: The Battle of the Philippine Sea and the Battle of Okinawa.
Port Charlotte, Fla. man served at Saipan, Leyte Gulf, Guam and Okinawa in WWII
D-Day was June 15, 1944. It was the baptism of fire for the crew of the new attack transport USS Comet (APA-166) off Saipan Island in the Pacific’s Marshall Islands chain during World War II.
Jimmy Stewart taught Englewood man how to fly
Jimmy Stewart taught former 2nd Lt. Nick Radosevich of Englewood, Fla. how to fly a B-17 and B-24 bombers during World War II.
Phil Lockwood hit Normandy beach with 29th Infantry Division in WW II
Phil Lockwood of Port Charlotte, Fla. was in the 175h Artillery Company attached to the 29th Infantry Division that stormed Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944 spearheading the Allied invasion of Europe during World War II.
North Port, Fla. resident serves as Army reporter-photographer in Iraq
Specialist Bryanna Poulin of North Port, Fla. is a gung-ho Army reporter-photographer attached to the 25th Infantry Division station at a desert base called “Cob Speicher” just outside Tikrit — Saddam Hussein’s hometown.
Ken Rivers of Port Charlotte, Fla. steered Destroyer Mansfield into battle in Tokyo Bay
By the time Ken Rivers of Port Charlotte, Fla. was 20 he had taken part in seven major engagements in the Pacific in World War II aboard the destroyer USS Mansfield (DD-728), participated in the first naval battle of the war in Tokyo Bay and attended the Surrender Ceremony on Sept. 2, 1945 when the…
P-47 Thunderbolt squadron cleared way for Patton – 2nd Lt. Bill Wells flew offense at Battle of the Bulge
For their support of Gen. George Patton ‘s 3rd Army that stopped the German offense in World War II at Bastogne, Belgium, during the Battle of the Bulge , 2nd Lt. Bill Wells’ P-47 Thunderbolt squadron received a Presidential Unit Citation.
Two sailors meet 40 years after Vietnam War
Forty years after rockets rained down on their Tango Boat operating in South Vietnam’s Cau Lon River delta country, killing or wounding all seven crew members, Soan Ngo, skipper of the beleaguered boat, and Jim Milstead, his American advisor, were recently reunited in Venice, Fla. thanks to the efforts of a friend and the internet.
PGI resident fought 36 days at Iwo Jima
Russell Holland of Punta Gorda Isles, Fla. was a corporal in the 5th Marine Division on Feb. 19, 1945, when his unit went ashore on the first day of the battle for Iwo Jima. It was one of the major battles in the Pacific during the closing months of World War II.
On a day that will live in infamy – He was aboard USS West Virginia during Pearl Harbor attack – Baker 3rd Class Dale Augerson was making pies
When the Japanese attacked the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941, Baker 3rd Class Dale Augerson had just put a batch of apple pies in the oven aboard the battleship USS West Virginia. The battleship was moored at “Battleship Row,” together with most of the fleet’s other capital ships.
Flying radar missions over North Sea was scary and boring ‘Cold War’ duty
George Burger of Rotonda, near Port Charlotte, Fla., was a radar operator aboard a four-engine Navy Super Constellation patrol plane flying out of Argentia Naval Air Station, Newfoundland in the mid 1950s during the “Cold War” searching for Soviet missiles and submarines as a member of Airborne Early Warning Squadron 13.
Seaman 1st Ed Blissick sailed into battle with 20,000 cases of Pabst Blue Ribbon
Just like Mr. Roberts, who served aboard the USS Reluctant, Seaman 1st Class Ed Blissick of Gardens of Gulf Cove near Port Charlotte, Fla. served on a similar attack transport, the USS Montague, AKA-98, during the final months of World War II.
Ed Lukach got DFC for bombing German 88 guns near Berlin in B-17
Like a lot of other young men his age, Ed Lukach wanted to be a pilot when he signed up at 19 for the Army’s Aviation Cadet Program in 1942 near the start of World War II.
‘Sky Queen’ almost shot down by German 88s
This interview first appeared in the Charlotte Sun newspaper, Port Charlotte, Fla. on Sunday, March 5, 2006 and is republished with permission. Learning to fly a Stearman PT-17 “Kaydet” fabric-covered, two-seat biplane at Carlstrom Field in Arcadia, Fla. in 1943 was a far cry from piloting a B-26 “Marauder” twin-engine attack bomber against a heavily…
Don Fowler saw action at Iwo Jima, Okinawa during WWII
Don Fowler was born in Arcadia, Florida in 1925. “I was going to graduate from DeSoto County High School in 1943, but I joined the Navy to see the world that March,” Fowler, who lives in Rotonda, Fla. said more than six decades later.
Englewood man flew 18.5-hour bombing mission in B-24 to knock out Japanese oil refinery
Hager Blair of Quails Run condominium in Englewood, Fla. was a Kentucky country boy who lied about his age and joined the Army at 16. After graduating from radio school, he volunteered for aerial gunnery school and ended up in 1942 taking gunnery training in Fort Myers, Fla.
Skip Libby of La Casa served in 3rd Marine Division in Vietnam in 1965
Two days after graduating from high school in 1963 Skip Libby of La Casa mobile home park in North Port, Fla. joined the Marines and went to Parris Island, S.C. for basic training. Two years later he was sent to Vietnam as a member of the 3rd Marine Division, the first division of Marines in…
Warrant Officer Mike Goff received 2 DFCs in Vietnam while flying ‘choppers
Warrant Officer Mike Goff never saw “The Valley of Death.” He wasn’t one of the 400 soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Division surrounded and attacked by 2,000 North Vietnam soldiers at the La Drang Valley in mid-November 1965.
Typhoon was worst day of World War II for John Wisse
It wasn’t the bombing of the carrier USS Franklin off the coast of Japan on March 19, 1945, or the attack by 31 Kamikazes on the four destroyers leading the Franklin’s task force off Okinawa on April 14, 1945, that John Wisse of Rotonda, Fla. considers his worst day in World War II.
Eisenhower knew Battle of Bulge was coming – 1st Lt. Ray Walker of Punta Gorda gave him the word
Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, supreme commander of Allied forces in Europe in World War II, knew a couple of weeks ahead of time the Germans were planning the huge offensive that became known as the “Battle of the Bulge,” according to Raymond Walker of Punta Gorda, Fla.
Ray Starsman produced manual for building International Space Station
Producing the manual for designing the International Space Station was the most important and satisfying job Col. Ray Starsman of Punta Gorda, Fla. ever had during a long and varied working career.
Capt. Ray Starsman commanded 105 mm Howitzer battery in Vietnam
“I was a 27-year-old captain who commanded Delta Battery, 1st Battalion, 5th Field Artillery, 1st Division. That battery was the longest serving unit in the history of ‘The Big Red One.’ It went back to the Revolutionary War when its original commander was Alexander Hamilton,” the 72-year-old retired Punta Gorda, Fla. bird colonel said. “That was kinda cool.”
Charles Bright’s great-grandfather wounded in Civil War battle
When Charles Bright, a 90-year-old Port Charlotte, Fla. World War II veteran was a child, his great-aunt gave him a “Valor Certificate” written, signed and presented to Capt. Herbert Thomas, his great-grandfather, by his battalion commander, Col. Jacob G. Frick after the Civil War.
Jefferson Askew made 38 Atlantic convoy trips during WWII
Jefferson Askew joined the Navy at age 23 in 1940, almost a year before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. By war’s end, he had made 38 trips across the Atlantic in a minuscule destroyer escort, the USS Amick, helping to protect 150-ship convoys making the hazardous voyage to Europe during World War II.
Sailor takes cruise and sees the world during Korean War era
Otis Manchester of North Port, Fla. always wanted to go to sea and see the world. His father had served in the U.S. Navy during World War I and he volunteer for the Navy a year before the start of the Korean War.
2nd Lt. Ted Weatherhead flew 101st Airborne to D-Day jump, June 6, 1944
Ted Weatherhead was a 21-year-old green 2nd lieutenant and co-pilot of a C-47, twin-engine, transport plane — a member of the 316th Troop Carrier Group, 44th Troop Carrier Wing, 9th Air Force — that dropped 19 fully-equipped 101st Airborne paratroopers behind enemy lines on D-Day hours before the June 6, 1944 Allied invasion of Normandy…
He was Dauntless dive bomber gunner in WWII
More than 60 years ago, former Sgt. Robert Martin of Englewood, Fla. was a back seat gunner in a Douglas Dauntless SBD single-engine dive bomber flying against Japanese fortifications on Bougainville in the New Georgia Islands in the Pacific during World War II. He was a member of Marine Dive Bomber Squadron 234.
Canadian sailor swept mines from waters off Omaha Beach on D-Day – Ensign Francis Currie served aboard HMCS Bayfield
Francis Currie of Port Charlotte, Fla.was 15 years old when he joined “The Ladies From Hell,” the Canadian Blackwatch Regiment, in 1938 a year before England declared war on Germany beginning World War II.
Don Lumsden of Englewood, Fla. oldest living “Frogman” in U.S.A.
At 90 Don Lumsden of Boca Royale subdivision in Englewood, Fla. has the distinction of being the oldest living “Frogman” in the United States of America. He learned about this honor a few days ago from Mike Howard, Director of the Seal Museum in Fort Pierce, Fla.
‘Billy’s Filly’ was the most beautiful and best fighter in WWII’ – Bill Fowkes of Punta Gorda flew 37 combat missions in this P-38 Lightning
“Billy’s Filly” is what he called her. She was the sleekest, most beautiful, best fighter plane there was in World War II, according to Col. William Fowkes of Punta Gorda, Fla., U.S. Air Force retired.
Stepdaughter paints last birthday gift for dad who flew a P-51 in WW II
A gorgeous but lethal P-51 Mustang fighter plane knifing its way through puffy white clouds seemed to fly off the wall at De Carter Brown’s Port Charlotte, Fla. studio.
Phu Bai was Lt. Col. John Campbell’s baptism of fire after decades in Corps
John Campbell was gung-ho to join the Marine Corp. He quit high school in his sophomore year at 17 and became a “Leatherneck” in 1946.
Capture of the Tachibana Maru
The Tachibana Maru was the only Japanese ship captured under sail by the U.S. Navy during World War II.
War Tales 