http://donmooreswartales.com "Tell it like it is..." Fri, 25 May 2012 16:54:27 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ http://s2.wp.com/i/buttonw-com.png http://donmooreswartales.com http://donmooreswartales.com/2012/05/25/martin-fetherolf/ http://donmooreswartales.com/2012/05/25/martin-fetherolf/#comments Fri, 25 May 2012 08:38:27 +0000 Don Moore http://donmooreswartales.com/?p=6049 ]]> http://donmooreswartales.com/2012/05/25/martin-fetherolf/feed/ 1 Don Moore This is 2nd Lt. Martin Fetherolf of Punta Gorda Isles who served as a navigator aboard a B-17 bomber shot down over Germany during World War II. He kept a "War Log" while in a German POW camp. Photo provided by Tess Fetherolf The "Sitting Bull" lost three of its four engines to German fighter planes and anti-aircraft flak while on the first raid on enemy ball bearing plants at Schweinfurt, Germany. This picture was drawn by Fetherolf and included in his "War Log." Provided by Tess Fetherolf This was the first page in Lt. Fetherolf's "War Log" he wrote while a POW. The B-17 bomber he served as navigator on was shot down over Germany during World War II. Provided by Tess Fetherolf Lt. Fetherolf drew this picture of Stalag # 3 where he and hundreds of other downed U.S. Air Force officers spent most of their time behind a barbed wire enclosure. He was a POW for more than 29 months until freed by Gen. George Patton's 3rd Army. Provided by Tess Fetherolf http://donmooreswartales.com/2012/05/23/bill-waits/ http://donmooreswartales.com/2012/05/23/bill-waits/#comments Wed, 23 May 2012 08:38:10 +0000 Don Moore http://donmooreswartales.com/?p=10251 ]]> http://donmooreswartales.com/2012/05/23/bill-waits/feed/ 0 Don Moore This badly damaged picture of Pfc. Bill Waits of Nocatee, who served in the Army's 26th Division with Gen. George Patton's 3rd Army in France, spent seven months in a German POW camp before he was liberated along with another 110,000 other Allied prisoners. Photo provided This collage of Pfc Waits WWII memorabilia includes a picture of himself, a letter he wrote home to his mother while in a POW camp, the bible with its daily notations in it and his Honorable Discharge. Sun photo by Mary Auenson Gen. George Patton arrives in his Jeep during the liberation of Stalag 7-A near Munich, Germany during the closing days of World War II. By this time Waits had been transferred by boxcar to Munich by the Germans and was still a POW. Photo provided Waits holds the "Heart Shield Bible" his mother gave him that he carried in his breast pocket while serving on the front lines in France. He used the margins of "The Good Book" to record his daily thoughts during the months he was held prisoner in Stalag 7-A in German. Sun photo by Mary Auenson http://donmooreswartales.com/2012/05/21/ralph-styles/ http://donmooreswartales.com/2012/05/21/ralph-styles/#comments Mon, 21 May 2012 08:38:28 +0000 Don Moore http://donmooreswartales.com/?p=6053 ]]> http://donmooreswartales.com/2012/05/21/ralph-styles/feed/ 0 Don Moore Capt. Ralph Styles, former skipper of the USS Sea Devil, holds a shadow box full of medals including two Navy Crosses, two Legions of Merit, Navy Unit Commendation, a solid gold submarine pin for being awarded two Navy Crosses. In the background is a banner with the USS Sea Devil's emblem surrounded by five Japanese rising sun flags indicating five enemy war ships sunk or damaged and seven white flags with red centers denoting seven enemy transports sunk. Sun photo by Don Moore Capt. Styles is pictured seated front and center with the entire crew of the USS Sea Devil who compiled a formitable battle record during the closing days of World War II in the Pacific. Photo provided The 94-year-old mariner stands beside the ship's bell in the front yard of his 100-year-old Siesta Key home. Sun photo by Don Moore Capt. Ralph Styles in his early 39's when he was commanding the Sea Devil during World War II. He had just received his first Legion of Merit and his first Navy Cross. http://donmooreswartales.com/2012/05/18/ray-kari/ http://donmooreswartales.com/2012/05/18/ray-kari/#comments Fri, 18 May 2012 08:38:54 +0000 Don Moore http://donmooreswartales.com/?p=10229 ]]> http://donmooreswartales.com/2012/05/18/ray-kari/feed/ 0 Don Moore Ray Kari, who winters at Lettuce Lake Campground, had an "out of body experience" after being shot while serving as a medic in the Pacific Theatre in World War II. Sun photo by Jeffery Langlois http://donmooreswartales.com/2012/05/16/eugene-maresca/ http://donmooreswartales.com/2012/05/16/eugene-maresca/#comments Wed, 16 May 2012 08:38:41 +0000 Don Moore http://donmooreswartales.com/?p=10024 ]]> http://donmooreswartales.com/2012/05/16/eugene-maresca/feed/ 0 Don Moore Eugene Maresca of Buttonwood Village mobile home park in Punta Gorda, Fla. served a three-year hitch in the regular Navy and spent the next 17 years as a Naval Reservist. He was a full commander when he retired in 1983. Photo provided The USS Everett F. Lawson, DD-830, was a World War II Fletcher Class destroyer converted to a more powerful ship with twice the main gun fire power when Maresca served aboard her in Vietnam in the 1960s. Photo provided This is Maresca at 67 at home in Buttonwood Village mobile home park. Sun photo by Don Moore http://donmooreswartales.com/2012/05/14/wally-weber/ http://donmooreswartales.com/2012/05/14/wally-weber/#comments Mon, 14 May 2012 08:38:32 +0000 Don Moore http://donmooreswartales.com/?p=10217 ]]> http://donmooreswartales.com/2012/05/14/wally-weber/feed/ 0 Don Moore Capt. Wally Weber returns from a mission in his Corsair fighter. When this picture was shot, he was flying from Peleliu Island in the Pacific. Photo provided Pictured in front of a Corsair fighter plane are the pilots of Marine Corps Squadron VMF-113. The shot was taken on Espiritu Santos Island in the New Hebrides in the Pacific in July 1944 during World War II. Photo provided At 82 Weber looks through the pages of his World War II flight log. The old fighter pilot flew 150 missions over enemy territory during the war. Sun photo by Don Moore http://donmooreswartales.com/2012/05/11/slim-russell/ http://donmooreswartales.com/2012/05/11/slim-russell/#comments Fri, 11 May 2012 08:38:25 +0000 Don Moore http://donmooreswartales.com/?p=5993 ]]> http://donmooreswartales.com/2012/05/11/slim-russell/feed/ 0 Don Moore Slim Russell is pictured standing on the wing of an F6F Grumman Hellcat Navy fighter he flew shortly after World War II. Photo provided Slim Russell holds a painting of Squadron Commander Henrich Russell, who flew a Fokker for the Kaiser until he was shot down over Belgium in 1917 during World War I. He is Slim's father's first cousin. Sun photo by Don Moore Lt. jg. "Slim" Russell flew a Douglas Dauntless (SDB) like this off the carrier USS Saratoga at Guadalcanal in August 1942. Lt. Comdr. "Slim" Russell is pictured in his flying suit shortly after he was almost shot down in his Corsair night fighter over enemy territory during the Korean War. Photo provided Slim Russell is pictured with one hand on the prop of one of the British Swordfish torpedo bombers that crippled the German battleship Bismark in May 1941. A squadron of these ancient biplanes damaged the enemy ship's rudders so that HMS King George V and HMS Rodney caught her 300 miles off the French coast and sent the battleship to the bottom. Photo provided Captain Allard Guy "Slim" Russell, http://donmooreswartales.com/2012/05/09/wesley-norman-jackson/ http://donmooreswartales.com/2012/05/09/wesley-norman-jackson/#comments Wed, 09 May 2012 08:38:49 +0000 Don Moore http://donmooreswartales.com/?p=9753 ]]> http://donmooreswartales.com/2012/05/09/wesley-norman-jackson/feed/ 0 Don Moore Wesley Norman Jackson is pictured in his World War I Army uniform before he was shipped over seas to drive an ambulance through France during the 18 months he spent in the service more than 90 years ago. Photo provided Jackson and his buddies pose for the camera Stateside before being shipped to the French front in World War I. Jackson is the third soldier from the left in the picture. Photo provided Engagement picture of Clara Long taken in 1916 Jackson carried with him the entire time he was in WWI. Ann Hilliard of Arcadia holds a counted cross stitch picture of France her daughter Colette made. It shows their father's and grandfather's route through the country during World War I. They retraced his steps in their own journey through France in a trip they made in 1989. Sun photo by Mary Auenson http://donmooreswartales.com/2012/05/07/herb-schmaeling/ http://donmooreswartales.com/2012/05/07/herb-schmaeling/#comments Mon, 07 May 2012 08:38:04 +0000 Don Moore http://donmooreswartales.com/?p=6055 ]]> http://donmooreswartales.com/2012/05/07/herb-schmaeling/feed/ 0 Don Moore Master Chief Herb Schmaeling of Port Charlotte can still wear his uniform at 82. Each of those black hash marks on his sleeve represent four years in the service. Note the block of wood in front of him with the words, "Plank Owner, USS Wasp CV - 18." It's from the deck of the carrier. It means he was one of the sailors who put her into service in 1944. Sun photo by Don Moore Adm. Ballentine pins a Navy and Marine Corps Medal for heroism on Schmaeling on the deck of the Was off the coast of Japan in March 1945. Photo provided by Herb Schmaeling These were the electricians assigned to the operation of the carrier Was during World War II. Photo provided by Herb Schmaeling These were the electricians assigned to the operation of the carrier Was during World War II. http://donmooreswartales.com/2012/05/04/roger-smith/ http://donmooreswartales.com/2012/05/04/roger-smith/#comments Fri, 04 May 2012 08:38:37 +0000 Don Moore http://donmooreswartales.com/?p=6241 ]]> http://donmooreswartales.com/2012/05/04/roger-smith/feed/ 1 Don Moore The "Suella J" was 1st Lt. Smith's B-29 "Super Fortress" he flew over the Soviet Union while spying on the Russians shortly after World War II. Photo provided Roger Smith Smith is at the controls of this B-29. He was on his way from the Bahamas to the U.S. during a flight from England after World War II. Photo provided His B-29 would up off the runway stuck in the mud at Yokota Air Base in Japan while landing in bad weather at night. Neither the crew nor the plane were injured. Photo provided The local aviator is pictured in his U.S. Air Force uniform about the time he retired after 28 years in the service. Photo provided