This is a continuation of yesterday's posting by Louis Barra entitled "THEY LEFT US FOR WORLD WAR II" and includes his comments, summaries, statistics, etc.
WHEN AND WHERE DID THEY GO, WHAT DID THEY DO?
By the end of 1941, some 38 were in uniform. By 1942 the figure ballooned to 162, by 1943 it was 220 and by 1944 it hit 255. By 1945 the figure hit nearly 300, with many of them at home by war's end. These numbers include those that only had brief ties with Roanoke and some that had lived elsewhere prior to World War II, plus I know I missed some of these.
During the course of WWII, Roanoke men and women served in 41 of the 48 United States, plus Alaska and Hawaii, in the Army, armour, airborne and signal corps. Troops took basic and advanced training in 80 of the 189 officially listed camps and forts, and served at 60 Air Corps fields and bases in 23 states. The Navy and Marine personnel trained at 23 Navy, submarine and naval air stations. In the United States, there were 10 staging areas or Ports of Embarkation (P.O.E.) on the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coast. Roanoke guys and gals never missed a one.
From Roanoke's many that served, there were 5 Aeschleman brothers, 5 Ratliffes, 5 Zimmermans including a sister, 4 Martinos, 4 Rubles, 4 Wolfes, including a sister, 2 family sets of Paluskas (3 each), 3 Sauders, 3 Bussones, 3 Amigonis, 3 Smalls, 3 Schacherbauers, 3 Pisels, 3 Hangartners, 3 Ladendorfs, 3 Roras and 3 Wileys. In addition, there were at least 43 families with 2 brothers in, and in one case, 2 sisters (the Winders).
For bits of nostalgia, Frank Crawford was at Pearl Harbor's Hickam Field on December 7th, 1941, when the Japanease attacked and Ken Bradley was in Tokyo Bay on the submarine Cavalla, near the battleship Missouri, when the treaty to end WWII was signed. In 1941, Winston Von Brethhorst sailed on a newly completed sub from its launch site in Manitowoc, Wisconsion, down thru Lake Michigan, then down the Illinois River thru Peoria and down the Mississippi thru New Orleans and into the Gulf of Mexico and finally out to the Pacific Ocean.
James Riley and Bob "Red" Martino appeared in the Springfield Illinois Armistice Parade on November 11, 1941. Frances Small wrote home that when he had leave in Egypt in July 1943, he visited the Holy Land and swam in the Sea of Galilee. Loren Brunson was a Military Police (MP) that was in the first car behind President Franklin D. Roosevelt's funeral cortege in Washington, DC, in April 1945.
Many also met in far away and strange places. Don Wolfe and Ray Pettigrew were both in the 8th Air Force and met up in England. John Garino was glad his 5th Armoured, 22nd Engineers, stopped in Holland in February 1945, where he met his future wife Nellie Barr there. Joe Barra, in Signal Air Warning, met Phil Amigoni, Army Quartermaster, in Marseilles France after VE Day in Europe. Clyde and Ed Thommen, brothers in the Armed Services, met overseas in France in 1945 and traveled 25 miles to visit the birthplace of their grandparents who had migrated to Roanoke.
Joe Yeck (PT Unit) and Al Dewilde (advance naval base) were in separate units but were sitting back to back at an advanced base USO show, when one of their names were revealed on the large naval collar. Up till then, neither one knew of the other's presence at this forsaken Southwest Pacific base.
AND NOW IT IS OVER...
I want to thank everyone one who contributed to the making of these two albums**. Data about service men and women's rank, service entry dates, places they went and their achievements, were compiled with the best knowledge I had at my disposal. Not all the places they at are listed, which were too numerous to mention. Pardon my lousy typing but I plead with all who read these two albums to turn the pages very slowly. These albums are the only history we have of those from Roanoke who left us for World War Two (the big one).
Editor's Note: The three photos scanned and used in this posting, top to bottom, are of Virgil Funk, Kenneth Pisel and Stanley Hodel. In yesterday's Part 1 posting, from top to bottom, are Henry "Hank" Bisco, Joe Martino and Wilbur Blunier.
Also, there are now 3 albums in the group and it looks like some of these may have been updated later than the 1995-96 that Mr. Barra originally updated the old scrapbook. More research is needed and maybe another posting here in the future.
WHEN AND WHERE DID THEY GO, WHAT DID THEY DO?
By the end of 1941, some 38 were in uniform. By 1942 the figure ballooned to 162, by 1943 it was 220 and by 1944 it hit 255. By 1945 the figure hit nearly 300, with many of them at home by war's end. These numbers include those that only had brief ties with Roanoke and some that had lived elsewhere prior to World War II, plus I know I missed some of these.
During the course of WWII, Roanoke men and women served in 41 of the 48 United States, plus Alaska and Hawaii, in the Army, armour, airborne and signal corps. Troops took basic and advanced training in 80 of the 189 officially listed camps and forts, and served at 60 Air Corps fields and bases in 23 states. The Navy and Marine personnel trained at 23 Navy, submarine and naval air stations. In the United States, there were 10 staging areas or Ports of Embarkation (P.O.E.) on the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coast. Roanoke guys and gals never missed a one.From Roanoke's many that served, there were 5 Aeschleman brothers, 5 Ratliffes, 5 Zimmermans including a sister, 4 Martinos, 4 Rubles, 4 Wolfes, including a sister, 2 family sets of Paluskas (3 each), 3 Sauders, 3 Bussones, 3 Amigonis, 3 Smalls, 3 Schacherbauers, 3 Pisels, 3 Hangartners, 3 Ladendorfs, 3 Roras and 3 Wileys. In addition, there were at least 43 families with 2 brothers in, and in one case, 2 sisters (the Winders).
For bits of nostalgia, Frank Crawford was at Pearl Harbor's Hickam Field on December 7th, 1941, when the Japanease attacked and Ken Bradley was in Tokyo Bay on the submarine Cavalla, near the battleship Missouri, when the treaty to end WWII was signed. In 1941, Winston Von Brethhorst sailed on a newly completed sub from its launch site in Manitowoc, Wisconsion, down thru Lake Michigan, then down the Illinois River thru Peoria and down the Mississippi thru New Orleans and into the Gulf of Mexico and finally out to the Pacific Ocean.
James Riley and Bob "Red" Martino appeared in the Springfield Illinois Armistice Parade on November 11, 1941. Frances Small wrote home that when he had leave in Egypt in July 1943, he visited the Holy Land and swam in the Sea of Galilee. Loren Brunson was a Military Police (MP) that was in the first car behind President Franklin D. Roosevelt's funeral cortege in Washington, DC, in April 1945.Many also met in far away and strange places. Don Wolfe and Ray Pettigrew were both in the 8th Air Force and met up in England. John Garino was glad his 5th Armoured, 22nd Engineers, stopped in Holland in February 1945, where he met his future wife Nellie Barr there. Joe Barra, in Signal Air Warning, met Phil Amigoni, Army Quartermaster, in Marseilles France after VE Day in Europe. Clyde and Ed Thommen, brothers in the Armed Services, met overseas in France in 1945 and traveled 25 miles to visit the birthplace of their grandparents who had migrated to Roanoke.
Joe Yeck (PT Unit) and Al Dewilde (advance naval base) were in separate units but were sitting back to back at an advanced base USO show, when one of their names were revealed on the large naval collar. Up till then, neither one knew of the other's presence at this forsaken Southwest Pacific base.AND NOW IT IS OVER...
I want to thank everyone one who contributed to the making of these two albums**. Data about service men and women's rank, service entry dates, places they went and their achievements, were compiled with the best knowledge I had at my disposal. Not all the places they at are listed, which were too numerous to mention. Pardon my lousy typing but I plead with all who read these two albums to turn the pages very slowly. These albums are the only history we have of those from Roanoke who left us for World War Two (the big one).
Editor's Note: The three photos scanned and used in this posting, top to bottom, are of Virgil Funk, Kenneth Pisel and Stanley Hodel. In yesterday's Part 1 posting, from top to bottom, are Henry "Hank" Bisco, Joe Martino and Wilbur Blunier.
Also, there are now 3 albums in the group and it looks like some of these may have been updated later than the 1995-96 that Mr. Barra originally updated the old scrapbook. More research is needed and maybe another posting here in the future.
