World War II Obituary & Articles
A - D
The News, September 28, 1944
STAFF SERGT. FRANK W. ALBAUGH, son of Mr. and Mrs. M. J. Albaugh, of Thurmont, was killed in action in France on September 12, his parents have been advised by the War Department. The father is cashier of the Woodsboro Savings bank.
A graduate of Thurmont High School and a student at the University of Maryland when he entered service in February, 1943, Sergt. Albaugh had been overseas since May, when he landed in England. He had been in France since July. He was 20 years old.
His last letter to his parents, written five days before his death, was captioned "On the road to Berlin." First in a cavalry reconnaissance outfit, Sergt. Albaugh was transferred to an infantry regiment before going overseas.
The News, December 5, 1942
STAFF SGT. GARFIELD AMBROSE, son of Mr. and Mrs. M. G. Ambrose, Jefferson, has been transferred from Camp Pickett, Va., where he had been stationed since June, to Officers Candidate School at Grinnell, Iowa. He recently spent a tenday furlough at the home of his parents.
The News, January 19, 1945
Captain Garfield Ambrose, son of Mr. and Mrs. McCarthy G. Ambrose, of near Broad Run, was killed last night in an automobile accident in St. Louis, the Associated Press reported today.
The dispatch said the accident occurred when a broken steering mechanism caused Capt. Ambrose to lose control of his automobile and the machine struck a viaduct pier. The Army officer was hurled out of the car and thrown 20 feet by the impact, sustaining fatal injuries.
Word of Capt. Ambrose's death was received this morning by his parents, who reside a mile from Broad Run, it was learned. The countian was attached to the Army recruiting office at St. Louis.
Capt. Ambrose had been in the Army for more than two and a half years, being employed in Washington prior to that time. He was stationed at Camp Pickett, Va., and later attended Officers Candidate School at Grinnell, Ia. It could not be learned how long he had been stationed in St. Louis.
Capt. Ambrose was born and reared in Brunswick, where his family lived for some time before moving to a farm near Broad Run. His father is a passenger conductor on the Baltimore and Ohio. There is also a brother, Jesse.
No funeral arrangements had been announced today.
The News, March 11, 1943
BENJAMIN W. ANDERSON was in Solomons
Five months in the Solomon Islands during the height of the fighting, a membership in the "Short Snorter Club", that exclusive group whose membership is limited to those who have flown across an ocean, plus numerous monetary souvenirs, several, incidentally, which were taken from nonresistant Japs, are but a few of the things that Second Class Petty Officer Benjamin Winfred Anderson, home on a 20-day leave, has to tell and show his friends.
Bombardier Anderson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Paul B. Anderson, West Sixth street, arrived in the Solomons area last September, one month after the Marines had landed, and engaged in all major air action in that area up to several months ago. This is the second home leave Anderson has had since entering the service.
Prior to entering the service in May 1941, Anderson was employed at the Tivoli Theatre in Frederick.
The News, February 21, 1944
First Class Petty Officer Benjamin W. Anderson, 19, son of Mr. and Mrs. Paul B. Anderson, 9 Taney Apartments, this city, is missing in action, apparently in the Pacific area, his parents were notified over the weekend in a telegram from the Navy Department.
The brief telegram gave no other details but stated that additional information would be forwarded as it is received. No date from which the young man was reported missing was supplied.
A bombardier on a Navy plane, young Anderson's last letter home, dated January 29, did not indicate where he was stationed but said his unit had taken part in the bombing of a number of places. It intimated that he had spent New Year's Day in the Solomon Islands, where he was stationed the same day in 1943.
It was believed possible that his plane was reported missing after the recent major engagements in the Marshall Islands, or in that area.
Bombardier Anderson was in the Solomons during the heavy fighting there in the Fall of 1942 and engaged in virtually all major air action. He arrived one month after the Marines had landed and spent five months there before returning home on leave early in 1943. He was here for eleven days at that time.
The young man enlisted, with the consent of his parents, on his seventeenth birthday, which occurred May 17, 1941, had his boot training at the Norfolk, Va. Naval training base. From there he went to Jacksonville, Fla., and later to San Francisco and was sent to Pearl Harbor shortly after the first sneak attack by the Japanese which started the war.
From Pearl Harbor, he went into the Pacific area seeing service at various South Sea islands, the Fiji Islands, New Hebrides and the Solomons. He returned to San Diego, Calif., on March 2, 1943, and then came to Frederick on his leave. He was here from March 7 to March 18, 1943.
After departing from Frederick at the conclusion of his 11day leave in the early part of 1943, Bombardier Anderson went to Detroit, Mich., where he took a course in turret gunnery.
Returning to San Diego, he was married on October 5, 1943, to Miss Nancy J. Hood, of San Diego, who he had met on his first trip to that city. On November 15, little over a month later, he returned to overseas duty. Mrs. Anderson is now residing with relatives at Tacoma, Wash.
Letters to his parents since he returned to overseas duty did not indicate where he was stationed but it is evident that he was in the midst of aerial action. He had a record of more than 500 hours in the air when he returned to overseas duty. He had not returned to Frederick since the expiration of his leave in 1943, which was his second after entering the service. He brought home a number of souvenirs when he was on leave last year.
Prior to entering the service, young Anderson was employed at the Tivoli theater here.
The News, no date
TECH. SERGT. CHARLES W. ANDREWS, who was reported to be missing in action, now declared to be dead.
A telegram officially declaring Tech. Sergt. as dead was received yesterday by Mrs. Annabelle L. Andrews, his wife. She was officially notified following the report that Sergt. Andrews was missing and that he had been aboard a transport which was sunk in the Mediterranean.
The War Department death notification indicated that a letter would follow, giving any further information which has been secured.
Sergt. Andrews as an airplane mechanic and crew chief on his plane. He was the son of Mrs. Mae Andrews, of Monrovia, and was employed at the Glenn L. Martin Company in Baltimore prior to his enlistment in January, 1941. In addition to his wife, he is survived by a two year old son and a brother, Sergt. Howard H. Andrews, also in the Air Corps, stationed in England.
The News, June 21, 1944
Posthumous Citation is Received by Widow
Mrs. Annabelle (May) Andrews of Pearl, received from General H. H. Arnold a "Citation of Honor" for her husband, Technical Sergeant Charles A.(Sic) Andrews, who gave his life in the performance of his duty on April 20, 1944
The citation was as follows:
He lived to bear his country's arms. He died to have its honor. He was a soldier,and he knew a soldier's duty. His sacrifice will help to keep aglow the flaming torch that lights our lives, that millions yet unborn may know the priceless joy of liberty. And we who pay him homage, and revere his memory, in solemn pride, rededicate ourselves to a complete fulfillment of the task for which he so gallantly has placed his life upon the altar of man's freedom..
T/Sgt. Andrews was in the Air Corps for nearly three years.
The News, October 13, 1944
PVT. SHERMAN EUGENE AXLINE, a paratrooper, was killed in Holland on September 20, the War Department on Thursday notified his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Harry D. Axline, of Petersville. He was 19 years of age on July 20.
He was inducted last Armistice Day while a student at Brunswick High School. He would have graduated last June.
Overseas since last July 21, Pvt. Axline received most of his training at Fort McClellan, Ala. He has a brother, Cpl. Theodore Axline, stationed in New Guinea for about a year.
Besides his parents and brother, Pvt. Axline is also survived by these brothers, David, Baltimore; Charles and Lee, Petersville, and four sisters, Mrs. Marion Snoots, Petersville; Mrs. Alice McDade, Broad Run; Mrs. Nora Coates and Kathleen Axline, both of Petersville.
The News, October 16, 1944
SECOND LIEUT. JOHN S. BAER, 23 year old son of Dr. and Mrs. R. W. Baer, West College Terrace, was killed in action in Italy on September 24, his parents were advised Sunday in a War Department telegram. They had not heard from him for about three months.
Lieut. Baer left his studies at Gettysburg College two and a half years ago to enter the service and left Camp Meade last February for Italy, where it is presumed he has been in combat service since. He was commanding an infantry unit in Italy.
His parents were out of the city when the telegram arrived and an associate of Dr. Baer forwarded the information to him. They returned to their residence Sunday afternoon.
Lieut. Malcolm R. Baer, a brother, is with the Army in France, according to latest reports received by his parents and wife. Besides his parents and brother, Lieut. John Baer is also survived by a sister, Miss Margaret Baer.
The News, August 21, 1945
PFC FRANKLIN EUGENE "PUD" BAKER, 35, co-owner of the tobacco store at 21 West Patrick street and former owner of the Blue Lite Taxi Company here, died in France August 9, the War Department notified his wife, Mrs. Reba E. Baker, 802 East South street , by telegram this morning.
The telegram, which came as a great shock to his relatives and friends since he was not known to have been ill, contained no serial number and an immediate check was started through the Red Cross here to verify the word of his death. The telegram said that a letter would follow. There was nothing to indicate the cause of death.
Pfc. Baker had lately been in Paris, attached to the Visitors Bureau of the U. S. Forces in the European Theater. He had participated in the French and German battles which preceded the end of the war after arriving overseas in January and had been wounded. He was with the 87th Division of Patton's Army as an Infantryman.
Baker, son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Maurice Baker, entered service over two years ago and had his training at Camp Croft, Spartansburg, S. C. Shortly before he entered service he and his wife had purchased the former Kehne tobacco store on West Patrick street, which has been operated since that time by Mrs. Baker. When he entered the Army, he sold his taxicab business.
It is understood that letters had been received from him regularly, the last being dated August 6. There is a daughter, Bonnie Lee, residing with Mrs. Baker.
The News, 2 Aug 1949
Body of Pvt. Baker to Arrive Here Wednesday
Remains of Pvt. Franklin Eugene "Pud" Baker, of Frederick, who died August 9, 1945 in Paris while serving with the U. S. armed forces in World War II will arrive home from overseas Wednesday afternoon for reinterment here on Thursday.
Pvt. Baker, 36 years old at the time of his death, was a son of the late Maurice A. and Fannie Murphy Baker. Before entering the army he operated the BluLite Cab Company and Baker's newsstand. Inducted on April 11, 1944, he took basic training at Camp Croft, S.C., and was sent overseas on January 2, 1945. Prior to his death he participated in the battles of the Ruhr and Rhine.
He is survived by a daughter, Bonnie Lee, and three brothers, Ralph A. and Melvin M. Baker, this city; and Richard R. Baker, Coatesville, Pa. His wife has since remarried.
Under military escort, the casket and remains of the local soldier will come to Frederick via B. & O. railway arriving at the station here, at 3:55 p.m. (DST). It will be taken immediately to the funeral home at 106 East Church Street.
Funeral services there will be conducted Thursday afternoon, 2:30 p.m. Rev. W. V. Garrett will officiate. Pallbearers will be Daniel Baugher, Joshua Despeaux, Atlee Hoff, Eugene Miller, Donald Lantz and Lewis Gannon. Military honors will be accorded at the grave by the Frederick units of the Maryland National Guard. Interment will be in Memorial Plot, Mt. Olivet Cemetery, M. R. Etchison and Son, funeral directors.
The News, April 10, 1946
GERALD LEO BAKER, dies in Naval Hospital at 39
Well-known local man had been in Okinawa campaign, Seaman First Class Gerald Leo Baker, well-known resident of Frederick, where he operated the Frederick Recreation Center before entering the Navy, died at the Naval Hospital at Sampson, N.Y., on Tuesday, realatives were notified today. He was 39 years of age.
Seaman 1/c Baker had been a patient at the hospital for some weeks after returning to this country from the Pacific theater of operations in December. He had been ill, it is understood, but word of his death came as a shock.
S1/c Baker was a son of Mrs May Keedy Baker, and the late Chester G. Baker, of Frederick. He was a graduate of Frederick High School, where he was prominently identified with athletics, playing on the baseball team. He was later associated with his father in the operation of the Baker coal yard until he assumed management and operation of the Frederick Recreation Center bowling alleys at 148 North Market Street in 1933.
Baker wa inducted into the Navy in March 1944, and was in the Pacific theater from January to December 1945, participating in the Okinawa campaign, amoung others. He was a member of Centennial Memorial United Brethren Church, and the Frederick Aerie No. 1067, Fraternal Order of Eagles.
He is survived by his mother, his wife, Mrs Lorraine Cubitt Baker, this city; one son, Ronald Cubitt Baker, McDonough School, near Baltimore; one brother, Glenn K. Baker, Frederick; two sisters, Mrs Francis Crutchley, and Mrs Benjamin Tritapoe, both of Frederick.
The body will be brought to Frederick and time of funeral will be announced later. M.R. Etchison and on, funeral directors.
GERALD LEO BAKER, Frederick, died at the Naval Hospital in Sampson, N.Y. on April 9, 1946 of pulmonary tuberculosis. Baker was born January 31, 1907 in Keedysville, Washington County, Md. He was the son of late Chester G. and May Keedy Baker. He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Lorraine C. Baker.
The funeral took place from the home of his mother at 111 East Seventh Street, Frederick. Interment was in the Frederick Memorial Park, Frederick, Md.
The News, December 22, 1944
PFC. MELVIN L. BAKER, killed Dec. 6
The War Department notified Mrs. Betty Younkins Baker, of Boonsboro, Wednesday that her husband, Pfc. Melvin L. Baker had been killed in Action December 6, somewhere in Belgium.
Pfc. Baker, who was 26 last August, was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Harry C. Baker, Mt. Airy, and father of a 22 month old son, Leroy. He had been overseas only since October and had last visited at his home in the late summer.
Before his induction into the Army December 11, 1942, Pfc. Baker was employed at the Fairchild Aircraft Corp. in Hagerstown.
The last letter his parents received from him was written December 2 from Belgium. The soldier, an infantryman, was a member of the Harmony Church of the Brethren.
Besides his wife and son and parents he is survived by the following sisters and brothers: Mrs. Donald Hildebrand and Mrs. Albert Brandenburg, Frederick, Route 5; Charles, Mt. Airy, Route 1; Elmer H., Braddock; Miss Thelma Baker, at home, and a number of nieces and nephews.
The News, August 24, 1944
CAPT. OLIN W. BALES, son of H. S. Bales, near Thurmont, was reported missing in action in India on Wednesday. His father, who has been in ill health, was notified merely that his son has been missing since August 2 in the telegram from the War Department.
Only last week, Capt. Bales promotion from lieutenant to captain was announced. He has been stationed for some time at a 20th bomber Command base in India and has been in action frequently as navigator on one of the B29 superfortresses of the command. News dispatches from IndiaBurma of August 3 give no hint of the loss of a Superfortress.
A graduate of Thurmont High School in the class of 1935, Capt. Bales is one of four brothers in service.
The News, May 10, 1945
Capt. Olin W. Bales, 26, near Lewistown, a B29 Superfortress navigator who was reported missing in action last summer, has been killed, apparently in the same action in which he was listed as missing, it was learned today.
Washington dispatches carrying word of the death of Capt. Bales gave no other details. Efforts to contact his father, H. S. Bales, near Lewistown, or other members of the family were unavailing this morning.
The War Department telegram last summer listed Capt. Bales as missing since August 2 and when no word was received over a period of months, members of the family indicated at various times that they believed he had met his death. He had been stationed for some time at a 20th Bomber Command base in India and had been participating on missions from that base.
Capt. Bales was a graduate of Thurmont High School, class of 1935, and had been in service for some time. There are three other brothers in service and several sisters, two residing in Washington. The brothers in service are Stuart, Randolph and Kermit Bales and Misses Mable and Muriel Bales reside in Washington. Another brother, Edwin, resides with his father on the farm near Lewistown.
The News, April 26, 1945
PVT. WILLIAM FRANCIS BEACHT Dies Abroad
Omitting details of the circumstances of his death, the War Department on Wednesday informed Mrs. Mary Louise Abrecht Beacht, 229 East Fourth street, that her husband, Pvt. William Francis Beacht, "died in Germany" on April 3. The telegram stated that a letter would follow.
Had he lived two more days the former Bethlehem-Fairchild Shipyard worker would have been 24 years old. He was the son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Edward Beacht, of Brunswick, and was well known there. Surviving besides his wife area a four year old son, William Francis, Jr. and a two year old daughter, Gloria Jean, also two sisters, Mrs. Evelyn Young and Mrs. Marjorie Wightman, of Washington, and three brothers, Wilson, with the Navy in the South Pacific, Claude, Brunswick, and Elmer Beacht, Somerville, N.J.
Inducted last July 12, he was stationed at New Cumberland, Pa., until September, when he was sent to Camp Wheeler, Ga. for paratroopinfantry training. The Battle of the Bulge in Europe last December cut short his training before he could become a paratrooper and he was pulled out of camp to be sent overseas as a replacement. He left this country about the first of February after having spent six days at home, his only furlough.
Pvt. Beacht had written home regularly and often, his last letter being dated March 30. On March 8 he wrote that he was in a little town in Germany and had finally caught up with the outfit he had been assigned to, Company F of the 175th Regiment, 29th Division.
He told of walking down the street that day and running into a fellow from Brunswick named Kelly, the first friend from back home that he had seen overseas. They planned to meet as often as their individual duties would permit.
So cheerful were his letters and apparently not written from a battle zone that Mrs. Beacht though her husband had not yet gone into combat. Whether he went into action the beginning of April, or whether de died in some other way remains unknown.
In his March 8 letter he told of living in a nice German house with a good bed to sleep in, hot water and lights, and sometimes, when they could get it, fried chicken for supper. "So you see we haven't got it so bad after all," he added. Subsequent letters continued in the same cheerful vein and from the same location, making it appear that he had plenty of time on his hands and had not moved forward with the Ninth Army, to which he was attached.
Pvt. Beacht was a member of Evangelical Lutheran church and the Independent Hose Company, this city, and the Brunswick Aerie of Eagles.
The News, October 8, 1943
MAJOR WILLIAM ROBERT BEALL is Missing
Relatives of Major William Robert Beall, of Hyattstown, were formally notified Saturday that he is missing in action. His mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Harris, Hyattstown, and his wife, who is at present staying with his mother, were informed in a War Department telegram that he has been missing for more than a month.
They assume that he was in action in Italy with his parachute command when reported a casualty.
They had previously received information, indirectly from other officers, that Maj. Beall had been reported missing. The telegram received Saturday was the first official information they received to that effect.
A son of the late John Beall and Mrs. Harris, Major Beall is a native of Hyattstown and attended the University of Maryland prior to entering the Army. He was commissioned a Captain about two years ago when he entered the service.
The News, October 21, 1943
Pilot Orman Garland Bell in "Winged Commandos"
In the latest class of "Winged Commandos" trained in Uncle Sam's giant cargo and troopcarrying gliders at South Plains Army Air Field at Lubbock, Tex, is Orman Garland Bell, son of Mr. and Mrs. Orman T. Bell, of Ijamsville. He now joins the ranks of other glider pilots who are making the headlines today.
The News, Oct 11, 1944
FLIGHT OFFICER ORMAN G. BELL, son of Mr. and Mrs. Orman T. Bell, of Ijamsville, died August 15 of injuries received in action in southern France on that day. He was a member of a giant cargo and troop carrying glider unit and had been wounded in Italy in June and hospitalized in England for some time before returning to duty on the continent. He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Louise Yardbrough Bell, Humphrey, Ark., and by two brothers and three sisters.
The News, April 24, 1944
SERGT. HAROLD T. BENNETT, Once Missing, Back on Duty
Reported missing in action three weeks ago by the War Department, Technical Sergeant Harold T. Bennett, has informed his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Talmadge E. Bennett, near Monrovia, that he and his crew landed safely on an island in the Mediterranean and all have returned to combat in that area.
In a letter to his parents soon after the War Department had reported his missing in action, Sergt. Bennett reported that he and the other members of the crew, including Beano, their dog mascot, "had the most wonderful time."
Sergt. Bennett is a radio operator and trained at Scott Field, Ill. after entering the service on September 29, 1942.
He indicated in his letter that the planes engines went bad, possibly from enemy gun fire, over the Mediterranean and that the pilot landed safely on a small island. He did not disclose the location of the island or how the crew was rescued.
Beano, he said, is the most valuable member of the crew and the men wouldn't take all the money in Italy for their mascot.
The name of Sergt. Bennett was among those of nine Marylanders reported missing in action for publication on Sunday by the War Department. His mother said Sunday that the War Department has not as yet formally notified her that Sergt. Bennett has been located and back on duty.
As evidence that he and his crew survived the incident in good spirits, Sergt. Bennett enclosed a picture of the group, taken immediately after their rescue.
The News, April 2, 1945
PFC. LEON BISER was killed in action in France March 8, his wife, Mrs. Sylvia Sherman Biser, of Baltimore, formerly of Thurmont, was notified by the War Department. First reported missing he was later reported by the war Department to have been killed.
A son of Mrs. Samuel Royer, Sr., Sabillasville, Pfc. Biser lived near Thurmont before going to Baltimore. He was overseas only a little over a month. Before entering the service, he was employed as a carpenter. Surviving, in addition to his wife and mother, are two young sons, and a number of brothers and sisters. A brother, Pvt. Harry C. Biser is in the service and is stationed at Providence, R. I.
Pfc. Biser is a son-in-law of Mrs. Susie Sherman, Thurmont.
The News, February 23, 1944
TECHNICIAN FOURTH GRADE RAYMOND J. BOWENS, of the Transpiration Corps, U. S. Army, died on February 4 in Brisbane, Australia, according to word received from the War Department by his sister, Mrs. Mabel Weedon, Buckeystown. Burial took place in Australia.
The News, January 12, 1942
PVT. CHARLES S. BOWERS, Brunswick, was killed in an accident late last night in an automobile collision five miles west of Frederick on U. S. Route 40.
He had just started on furlough and was apparently en route to his home in this county. The accident, according to reports, occurred about 11:30 p.m.. He had left Fort Meade with two other soldiers around 10:30 p.m., it was believed.
He was a member of the Regimental Headquarters Company of the 115th Infantry, one of the two local units of the regiment. He had been in service since the mobilization of the National Guard early last year.
The accident occurred about two miles west of West Friendship. The body was taken to a funeral parlor in Ellicott City and this morning was removed to the funeral home in Brunswick.
Brunswick sources this morning said it had not been learned who was driving the car. The machine was reported to belong to Donald Ramsburg, of Frederick, and had apparently been borrowed by the youths to return to their homes. According to reports, only the three soldiers were in the machine. All drove trucks for Headquarters Company.
Bowers, who was aged 21 years, two months and nine days, is survived by his mother, Mrs. Grace Bowers; on brother, George E. Bowers; and one sister, Peggy V. Bowers, all of 101 West B. street, where he resided.
The body will be removed from the funeral home tomorrow and will be taken to the residence of Mrs. James A. Chambers, 501 East Potomac street. Funeral services will be held there Wednesday at 2 p.m. Interment is Park Heights cemetery.
C. H. Feete and Son, Brunswick, are the funeral directors. It is possible that a military funeral will be held.
The News, January 13, 1942
Services for Pvt. Bowers will be conducted by an Army chaplain Wednesday afternoon at 2 o'clock at the home of an aunt, Mrs. James A. Chambers, 501 East Potomac street, Brunswick. Interment will be in Park Heights cemetery with military honors at the grave.
The News, June 27, 1945
SGT. JAMES A BOWERS, 23, son of Mr. and Mrs. Nelson A. Bowers, 354 Park avenue, who has been a gunner on a B29 Superfortress, is missing in action, the War Department has notified his wife, who resides in Irvington, Baltimore suburb.
The date from which he was reported missing was not learned but it was presumed here that Sgt. Bowers was lost on a mission over Japan. It is known that he has taken part in a number of missions over Japanese territory. It was understood that his mother has received no word from him since the big Yokohama raid of May 29.
Sgt. Bowers arrived in the Marianas late in January and in letters to relatives and friends since that time has referred to thrilling experiences in big raids over Japanese targets. He was believed to have been on one of the Superfortresses which blew up a Japanese arsenal at Osaka in March. The blast was so great that some of the B29's were hurled into the air upside down but were soon righted and returned to their base.
His mother had suspected that something had happened when she failed to get her usual letter from her son. Sgt. Boers wrote regularly once or more a week. His brother, Sgt. John Nelson Bowers. Army Air Corps instructor at a Tampa, Fla. Radio base, was notified of the receipt of the telegram and was expected to come to his home in the near future.
Sgt. James Bowers is a graduate of Frederick High School and had been employed in Baltimore at the Rustless Iron and Steel Company before entering service. He was stationed at the Army Air base at McCook, Neb. until he left the states around the first of the year. His wife is the former Flora May Taylor, of this city. They have a son, nearly two years of age.
The News, September 2, 1949
Sgt. Bowers Body Coming Home Today
More than four years after he was missing in action over Japan, the remains of Sergt. James Austin Bowers, son of Nelson A. and Mrs. Reine Grove Bowers, this city, are being returned home today for reburial.
For four years, Sgt. Bowers' body had lain in a community grave at FukwokaKen, Moki Shi, Ozato, Japan, where his B29 bomber crashed on one of his many missions over Nippon.
The grave was opened and the local Air Force man's remains identified last May.
The C. E. Cline and Son funeral directors will receive the remains here this afternoon. The casket will arrive by B and O train, under military escort. Sgt. Bowers was graduated with the Class of 1937 from Frederick High School, and was then employed by the local Everedy Co. He was a member of the Evangelical Reformed Church and Sunday School.
He entered military service September 1943, and was assigned to the First Bomber Squadron, Ninth Bomber Group, Army Air Forces.
The remains of Sgt. Bowers will rest at the funeral home, 8 East Patrick street. Funeral services will be conducted there Sunday afternoon at 2 o'clock. Interment will be in Mount Olivet Cemetery.
Besides his parents he is survived by his widow, the former Flora May Anderson, now of Baltimore, two sons, James A. Bowers, Jr. and Nelson A. Bowers. Surviving also is a brother, John Nelson Bowers, Frederick, and his maternal grandmother, Mrs. John H. Grove, Sr., Baltimore.
The News, August 29, 1944
T. SGT. HARRY R. BROWN, a cook with Headquarters Company, 115th Infantry, 29th Division, was killed in action on August 11. Mrs. Cora E. Grove, Mt. Pleasant, was notified of the death on of her son on Monday night.
T. Sgt Brown, who was 31 years old left in 1941 with Headquarters Company, and has been with the local unit in England and France. Besides his mother, he is survived by the following half brothers and sisters: Leonard Grove, Hagerstown; Mrs. Hannah Baker, and Mrs. Betty Baker, near Petersville; Oscar Grove, in New Guinea, and Mrs. Caroline Getzendanner, near Frederick.
The News, June 24, 1944
LIEUT. JAMES WALLIS BROWN Dies in Crash
Word has been received here of the death of Lieutenant James W. Brown, Army Air Corps instructor, stationed at Napier Field, Ala., in an airplane accident Friday night.
Lieut. Brown was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Forrest Brown, of Cumberland, formerly of Frederick, and the grandson of Mr. and Mrs. Jesse W. Brown, III, South Market street, this city, and Mr. and Mrs. Albert R. Wallis, 1206 North Market street.
Full details of the accident were not yet known by relatives here early this afternoon. The body is being shipped to Frederick from Alabama. M. R. Etchison and Son, funeral directors.
The News, June 28, 1944
Funeral services including military rites at the grave, were accorded Lieut. James Wallis Brown, U.S.A.A.F., son of Forrest and Elizabeth Wallis Brown, 555 Rose Hill avenue, Cumberland, here Tuesday afternoon. Rev. Dr. Henri L. G. Kieffer, pastor of the Evangelical Reformed Church, his assistant, Rev. Harold C. Baer and Rev. Samuel S. Johnston, rector of All Saint's Episcopal parish, officiated at religious services conducted at 2 P. M. in the funeral home, 106 East Church street. Services were largely attended with many out of town persons present. Floral tributes were both numerous and unusually beautiful.
Among those who attended the funeral were sixteen members of the Cumberland Kiwanis Club, of which organization the father, Mr. Forrest N. Brown, is a past president.
Pallbearers were officers of Frederick units of the Maryland State Guard, under orders of the War Department, Capts. Harry E. Pettingall, G. Hunter Bowers, Ruger R. Rice, Lieuts. William Fink, Ralph G. Kline and G. Raymond Shipley. A firing squad of State Guard enlisted men fired three volleys over the grave and Bugler Robert James, Jr. blew "taps." Interment was in Mt. Olivet cemetery. Lieut. Brown was killed in an airplane crash Friday night. M. R. Etchison and Son, funeral directors.
Lieutenant Brown was the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Forrest Brown and was born in Washington, D. C. March 30, 1920. He received his elementary education at several schools, including two years at Charlotte Hall Military Academy. He was graduated from the Allegheny High School in Cumberland in 1940, and entered the University of Maryland in the fall of that year. Always deeply interested in aviation he specialized in aeronautical engineering. While at college he took the CAA pilot's training and received a private flying license in 1942.
In February, 1943, he enlisted in the Army as an Air Corps cadet. His first course was at Miami, Fla., and his training carried him to various military posts. His final training was a Napier Field, near Dothan, Ala., where he was awarded his wings on February 8 of this year. Following a leave spent at his home in Cumberland, which was his last visit to his relatives, he returned to Napier Field as a flight instructor.
The accident occurred in line of duty on Friday, June 23, at 8:30 p.m. Details of the accident have not been disclosed. The crash occurred three miles southwest of the municipal airport. Both instructor and cadet were fatally injured.
Lieut. Brown was quite fond of athletics and was a proficient swimmer. Those who knew him described him as a typical American boy who enjoyed life to the fullest and found pleasure in the work that he had chosen.
The News, April 19, 1943
PFC. JOHN J. BROWN, son of Mrs. Anna Brown, of Dickerson, and grandson of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Weedon, also of Dickerson, is in the Army. At present it is not known where he is stationed.
The News, 26 Feb 1945
Funeral Services for Pfc. Browne(sic) are Held.
A letter received from the commanding officer of the quartermaster railhead company of which Pfc. John J. Browne, colored, was a member, informed his mother, Mrs. Anna E. Browne, of Dickerson, that her son had had a military funeral with his platoon commander and his intimate friends attending. A chaplain of his faith officiated. The other members of the company held retreat ceremony in his honor on the same day, the letter stated. Pfc. Browne was killed in action in Italy on January 23, his mother receiving word of his death on February 2. Aged 22 years, three months and eight days, he was a member of the A. M. E. church at Della.
LT. JESSE ELLSWORTH BURALL
The News, January 15, 1945
T/5 G. LEROY BURDETTE, son of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel R. Burdette, near Mt. Airy, was killed in action in Belgium on Christmas Day, the War Department has notified his parents. Details will follow in a letter, the telegram said.
T/5 Burdette had observed his 22nd birthday just eight days before he was killed. He was inducted into the Army December 17, 1942, prior to which time he was employed by Harry Hahn at the National Garage, Ridgeville. He received his basic training in Missouri and took a welding course at the Nashville Auto college, Nashville, Tenn. He had additional training in welding at Chicago.
He was then station in Iceland for six months, from where he went to England, thence to France and Belgium with an engineering maintenance outfit. He was home only once after his induction, that being a threeday furlough before he sailed. Besides his parents, he is survived by three sisters, Norene, Elve and Shirley, all at home.
CPL ROBERT J. BURDETTE
The News, March 26, 1945
CPL. MICHAEL BUSCH Killed, His Wife at Mt. Airy is Told
Advice from the War Department that her husband, Cpl. Michael Busch, had been killed in action in Germany, March 7, was received last week by Mrs. Mary Thelma Busch, Mt. Airy. Mrs. Busch, before her marriage at the the Cathedral in Baltimore last October 14, was Miss Mary Severn, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Severn, Mt. Airy.
Cpl. Busch would have marked his third anniversary in the army next June. His wife received a letter from him dated March 4. He was with the 94th Division, a part of Gen. Patton's Third Army.
Cpl. Busch, after his induction, was station at Induction centers in Pittsburgh and Erie, Pa. He was later trained at Camp Hood, Texas, and Camp Blanding, Fla. He was granted a 30day furlough last October and immediately thereafter sailed for England.
The News, August 4, 1944
S/SGT. FLOYD W. BUTTS, of Cherry Run , W. Va., who was employed prior to the war at the Key Chevrolet Sales here and resided in Frederick, was killed in action on July 3. He was a nephew of Mrs. Walter K. May, 605 West Patrick street, and Homer J. Harvey, 241 North Market street, and the son of Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Butts, of Cherry Run.
S/Sgt. Butts, who was with a glider unit, entered service in 1942. As a boy he attended North Market street school and, after returning to Cherry Run for some years, he came back to Frederick and was employed by the Chevrolet firm while living with Mrs. May for some time before he entered the Army. Aged 27, he was a member of the United Brethren church here.
Besides his parents, he is survived by three sisters, Dorothy, Bernadine and Elizabeth, and three brothers, Stanley and Howard of West Virginia, and Pfc. Marlin Butts, San Antonio, Tex.
The News, August 23, 1943
PFC. CALVIN CANNON is Wounded in Sicilian War
The War Department on Saturday notified Mr. and Mrs. Clayton Cannon, of Yellow Springs, that their son, Pfc. Calvin Cannon, had been very seriously wounded July 22 in the Allied campaign in Sicily, but Mr. and Mrs. Cannon had already received a letter from their son dated August 4, and written in his own handwriting, that leads them to believe that possibly the injury was not as severe as described by the War Department.
Pfc. Cannon is a member of the First Division of the U. S. Army, a division that has a number of Frederick county lads in its ranks. He came through the African campaign without any difficulties, but was not so fortunate in Sicily.
In his letter, written from an Army hospital, Pfc. Cannon said he had been wounded in the right side of his back and that the wound was right serious. His parents have been getting a letter from him regularly once a month, his father said today.
Mr. and Mrs. Cannon are learning a good bit about what this war is like. They have three other sons now in Army service. One is in Mississippi, one in Tennessee and the third just left for duty last week. They don't know yet where he is.
Pfc. Cannon is 24 and has been overseas for more than a year. Before entering the Army he engaged in farming at Yellow Springs. Hi father is a carpenter.
Although the statement was rather indefinite, in a letter to a friend not long ago, Pfc. Cannon said someday he would be able to tell the folds back home what it felt like to be a prisoner of the Axis. It was inferred that he had at some time been captured by the enemy and then recaptured by his won men. His parents, however, have no knowledge of their son ever being a prisoner.
The News, July 5, 1944
A War Department telegram received Tuesday reported the death of the first Frederick County man killed in France.
Mr. and Mrs. Clayton Cannon, Yellow Springs, were informed that their son, Pfc. Calvin C. Cannon, previously wounded in Sicily, was killed in action in France.
The telegram did not give particulars but members of the Cannon family assumed the casualty was sustained in Normandy, probably in the siege of Cherbourg.
News of Pfc. Cannon's death came as a severe shock to the Yellow Springs community. The Cannon home is close to that of Mr. and Mrs. Guy E. Nusz, who lost their son, Pvt. Clarence E. Nusz, in North Africa in March 1943.
Pfc. Cannon, who was 25 years old was reported seriously wounded in Sicily last July 22 after going through the campaign in Africa without injury. He reported to his parents that he was wounded in the right side of the back. At the same time he wrote friends here that he would tell them when he got back what it was like to be a prisoner of the Axis. It was assumed at the time that he had been taken a prisoner for a short time and retaken by Allied Forces.
Mr. and Mrs. Cannon have three other sons in the Armed service, two of them overseas. Prior to entering the Army, Pfc. Cannon worked on farms in the Yellow Springs section.
The News, December 11, 1947
The body of Pfc. Calvin C. Cannon, son of Mr. and Mrs. Clayton Cannon, Yellow Springs, will arrive in Frederick by train Saturday afternoon at 3:55 o'clock from the U. S. Quartermaster Depot in Philadelphia, it was learned Wednesday night. The body, accompanied by Staff Sergt. Charles W. Bowdoin, will be taken to the M. R. Etchison and Son funeral home where funeral arrangements will be completed.
Pfc. Cannon was the first Frederick county man killed in action in France. He lost his life in the siege of Cherbourg in Jun 1944. He was 25 years of age at the time of his death and had previously been wounded in Sicily on July 22, 1942 after having gone through the African campaign without injury.
The News, December 13, 1947
Funeral services for Pfc. Calvin Clayton Cannon, of Yellow Springs, first Frederick county man killed in action in France during World War II will be held from the funeral home, 106 East Church street, on Monday morning at 11 o'clock.
Pfc. Cannon will be the second Frederick county man to be interred in the memorial plot at Mt. Olivet cemetery. The first, Pfc. Lester Earl Stull, of this city, was buried in the area this afternoon, following services at two o'clock. The body of Pfc. Stull arrived in the city Thursday.
The body of Prc Cannon will arrive at the funeral home on Saturday from the Philadelphia Quartermaster depot. A military funeral will be held.
Pfc. Cannon, who was wounded in Sicily in 1942, died in the siege of Cherbourg in June, 1944.
A son of Clayton L. and Mrs. Laura C. Kintz Cannon, of Yellow Springs, he is survived, in addition to his parents, by one sister, Mrs. Resley Stull, Jr., Bethel, and four brothers, Roy A., Herbert F., and Carroll G. Cannon, all of Yellow Springs and Robert F. Cannon, this city.
The News, August 29, 1940
PVT. WOODROW CHARLES CANNON, LeGore, Struck On Head By Pole
Struck on the head by a pole that slipped while being loaded on a freight car at Ogdensburg, N. Y. Wednesday afternoon, Woodrow Charles Cannon, 23, LeGore, died a few hours later in Hepburn Hospital in that city. Death was due to a fractured skull.
Cannon became the only casualty of the First Army maneuvers in northern New York. With members of his company, the Fifth Engineers, Fort Belvoir, Va., Cannon was loading heavy poles on a railroad freight car. In some manner one of the poles slipped and struck the LeGore man on the head. His company had remained after the army maneuvers last week for cleanup work.
The young man's mother, Mrs. Emma Cannon, LeGore, received a telegram from army officials shortly after the accident, stating her son had been critically injured. A short time later another message was received stating he had died of a fractured skull and his body would arrive in LeGore by train this morning.
Cannon was a private in the Fifth Engineers. He had completed on threeyear enlistment in the Medical Corps at Carlisle, Pa., and about 18 months ago reenlisted in the engineers. He was last home about two months ago, residents of the community said.
Cannon's father, Charles Cannon, was killed in a quarry accident at LeGore Lime Company plant 19 years ago, on June 6, 1921.
The man was engaged in digging dirt when a boulder estimated to have weighed two tons became dislodged and struck him across the shoulders as he stooped over. His head and chest were crushed and it was necessary to use jacks to remove the boulder. He formerly resided at Yellow Springs.
Young Cannon is survived by his mother, one brother, James H. Cannon, and a sister, Mrs. Catherine Ambrose, LeGore.
No arrangements have been made for the funeral.
The News, September 2, 1940
Full military honors were accorded Private Charles W. Cannon(sic) of the Fifth Engineers, U. S. Army, Fort Belvoir, Va., when his funeral services were held Monday morning at 10 o'clock. Cannon, a son of Mrs. Emma Cannon, LeGore, was killed last Wednesday afternoon when he was struck on the head by a pole that slipped while being loaded on a freight car at Ogdensburg, N.Y.
Services were held from the home of his mother in LeGore with final services at the Brookhill church at Yellow Springs. Rev. H. H. Schmidt, Woodsboro, officiated.
Forty members of the Engineers' Company to which young Cannon had belonged, attended and participated in the services. They were under the command of Lieut. John D. Newell. Members of the unit formed a firing squad and acted as pallbearers. The bugler sounded taps.
The services were largely attended and many floral emblems were presented. Interment was in the cemetery adjoining the Brookhill church. Powell and Albaugh, funeral directors.
The News, January 5, 1944
LIEUT. BENJAMIN E. CANTWELL, son of Mr. and Mrs. Howard W. Cantwell, of New Windsor, was recently graduated as an aerial navigator at Selman Field, Monroe, La., at which time he was presented his wings and commissioned a second lieutenant.
The News, November 30, 1944
A War Department letter received today by Mr. and Mrs. Howard W. Cantwell, New Windsor, confirmed an official telegram delivered two days earlier, in which their son, First Lieut. Benjamin Ellsworth Cantwell, Army Air corps, was reported missing over Austria since November 15.
Lieut. Cantwell, an aerial navigator and radar technician, had been overseas since May of this year, having sailed to a naval base. He had received the Distinguished Flying Cross for action over France on DDay and also had been awarded the Air Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster.
A graduate of Liberty High School in 1938 and Western Maryland College in 1942, Lieut. Cantwell was employed for about six months as a research chemist at the American Smelting and Refining Company, Baltimore., before entering the Air Corps. He received his training at various points in the United States, was graduated and commissioned at Selman Field, Monroe, La., Dec. 24, 1943, and later took a special course in radio at Langley Field, Va., before going overseas. He had been advanced to first lieutenant about two months ago, it was stated today by his father, who operates a general merchandise store at Oak Orchard.
The News, December 29, 1945
LIEUT. BENJAMIN E. CANTWELL
Lieut. Cantwell Is Officially Declared Dead By War Dept.
A letter from the office of the Adjutant General, War Department, has informed, Mr. And Mrs. Howard W. Cantwell, New Windsor, that their son, First Lieut. Cantwell, has been officially declared dead, after being missing in action since November 15, 1944.
"An official report has now been received that he was killed in action on 15 November 1944 in the Mediterranean area." The letter stated, The Air Corps officer, an aerial navigator and radio technician, had been presumed dead, according to Congressional procedure, when nothing was heard from him within a year and a day from the time he was lost.
Through correspondence with two members of Lieut Cantwell's crew, Mr. And Mrs. Cantwell have learned that their Flying Fortress was forced down by icing conditions and heavy gales over Austria. The target for the day was Linz but they never reached it. Nothing has ever been heard from eight of the 10 member crew. The other two, who were captured and held as prisioners of the Germans, have returned to this country.
A graduate of Liberty High School in 1938 and Western Maryland College in 1942, Lieut. Cantwell was a member of the Linganore United Methodist Church, Unionville, and had been employed in Baltimore as a chemist with the American Smelting and Refining Company for six months after his graduation from college.
He went overseas in May 1944, and was decorated with the Distinguished Flying Cross for action over France on D-Day and had also been awarded the Air Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters.
The family received the verification of his death about two weeks ago but said nothing about it til after Christmas. Their son would have been 25 last September.
The News, December 27, 1944
PVT. WILSON T. CARMACK, JR. Killed in Battle, His Father Told
Word of the death of Pvt. Wilson T. Carmack, Jr., today reached his father, Wilson T. Carmack, at his home in Harmony Grove. The 21yearold infantryman was killed in action in France on December 2.
Surviving him besides his father, are his wife, Mrs. Hilda Jelden Carmack, and seven months old daughter, Sandra Lee, of Washington state, and two sisters, Jane and Nancy Carmack, at home.
Pvt. Carmack was inducted into the Army March 1, 1942 ad after being stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington, for a year of training, spent three months on maneuvers in Louisiana and Kansas. His first furlough home was at christmas last year and he left in August for overseas service with the 44th Division of the Seventh Army. The last letter Mr. Carmack received from his son was written November 1 from a frontline foxhole in France.
The News, August 5, 1948
The funeral of Pfc. Wilson T. Carmack, Jr., Harmony Grove, who was killed in France Dec. 2, 1944, will be held Saturday afternoon at two o'clock. The body, which arrived today, rests at the funeral home. Interment will be in the memorial ploy at Mt. Olivet cemetery with military funeral services being used. M. R. Etchison and Son, funeral directors.
The News, August 9, 1948
The funeral of Pvt. Wilson T. Carmack, Jr., who died in France December 2, 1944, took place from the funeral home, 106 East Church street, Saturday afternoon at 2 o'clock. Rev. William C. Royal, pastor of First Baptist church officiated. There were many floral emblems. Military honors were given by Co. A. First Infantry, Maryland National Guard. Pallbearers were Ralph W. __________________
(), Sherman P. Bowers, Alton Shaff, Steve Kritsings, James McLaren, Preston K. Hockensmith. Interment was in the Memorial Plot in Mt. Olivet cemetery. M. R. Etchison and Son, funeral directors.
The News, May 19, 1945
SECOND LIEUT. MILLER B. CASSELL, JR., 26, son of Mr. and Mrs. M. B. Cassell, 28 West South street, was killed in action in Germany April 22, the War Department late Friday notified his wife, Mrs. Dorothy Wilkinson Cassell, of London, England, who has been residing with the officer's parents since last December 5.
The telegram said only that a confirmatory letter would follow and reported that the notification of death was delayed by change of address. It was assumed here that this meant notification went first to Mrs. Cassell's former home in London and then was sent to the United States.
Lieut. Cassell, who left here with the 115th Infantry when it was mobilized into federal service, in 1941, had been with the same outfit since that time. He was recently attached to headquarters of the 115th in Germany, after receiving a battlefield promotion to second lieutenant. The last letter received here, dated April 21, said he was well at that time.
Lieut. Cassell was a graduate of Frederick High School and was employed as a bookkeeper for Weil Bros., this city, before enlisting in October, 1940, in the 115th Infantry. He was attached to Service Company for some time through the maneuvers in this country and went overseas to England in the fall of 1942 with the other local troops of the 115th.d
It was that same year, while he was stationed close to London, that he met his bridetobe, and their wedding September 19, 1943, was of great interest to comrades in the 115th Infantry, in which he was popular and had a large number of friends. Some of the men attended the ceremony.
Mrs. Cassell last saw her husband in May of 1944, as final preparations were being made for DDay.
Lieut. Cassell, than a master sergeant, was with the initial force landing in Normandy and moved with other troops of the outfit through France and Belgium into Germany.
Mrs. Cassell was the first English bride of a local soldier to reside in this city, arriving in this country early in December and then coming to Frederick.
Besides his wife and parents, Lieut. Cassell is survived by a brother, Pvt. Vernon M. Cassell, of
Braddock Heights, now at Camp Gordon, Ga., and a sister, Miss Catherine I. Cassell, at home.
The News, January 25, 1946
2ND LIEUT. MILLER B. CASSELL
The Third Service Command, at ceremonies in the Post Office Building, presented the Bronze Star posthumously to one Maryland soldier who gave his life in action.
The Bronze Star medal was presented posthumously to Mrs. Dorothy Cassell, of Frederick, whose husband, 2nd Lieutenant - then Master Sergeant Miller B. Cassell, was killed in action in Normandy, France. The citation read in part the Sgt. Cassell "went forward personally daily to contact the company first sergeant and, although under heavy enemy fire, persevered in the completion of his mission and the compilation of vitally needed information."
The News, August 5, 1944
CAPT. CARL A. CLINE, JR. Wins Silver Star
For gallantry in action in leading his unit through a series of enemy strong points under heavy machine gun and rifle fire on June 9, Capt. Cline has been decorated with the Silver Star. Capt. Cline is the son of Mr. and Mrs. C. A. Cline, of Monrovia. His wife and their daughter, fiveyearold Dale Marie and infant son, Carl, III, reside in Browningsville with Mrs. Cline's mother.
Capt. Cline is serving in an infantry unit of the Fourth Division. He was graduated from the University of Maryland in 1941, receiving at that time the commission of second lieutenant. He went immediately to Fort Benning, Ga. for training and subsequently was stationed at Camp Gordon, Ga., Fort Dix, N. J., Camp Gordon Johnston, Fla., where he took amphibious training and then Fort Jackson, S. C. before going overseas last January. He was with the invasion forces on DDay, HHour.
The News, October 9, 1944
Capt. Carl Albert Cline, Jr., son of Mr. and Mrs. C. A. Cline, near Clagettsville, was killed in action in Germany on September 20, the War Department notified his parents and wife, Mrs. Georgia Gladhill Cline, near Browningsville.
Capt. Cline, who was awarded the Silver Star for gallantry in action last June 9, had been overseas since last February 1 and in the thick of European invasion since DDay. He was commanding an infantry unit of the Fourth Division.
He entered the service in 1941 as a second lieutenant upon graduating from the University of Maryland.. He was stationed at Fort Benning, Camp Gordon, Fort Dix, Camp Gordon Johnston
and Fort Jackson before going overseas.
Capt. Cline, who was 26 years of age, is survived by his parents and his wife, two children, Dale Marie and C. Albert Cline, III, near Browningsville, and the following brothers and sisters; Robert cline, U. S. Army, Lee and Ellis, near Clagettsville, and Mrs. Edward Linthicum, Mt. Airy.
From M. R. Etchison's Funeral Home records:
Capt. Carl A. Cline, Jr., near Clagettsville, who was killed Sept 20 1944, will be reinterred Thursday afternoon about 4:45 o'clock.
He is survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Carl A. Cline, Sr., three brothers, Harry R., Clagettsville, Lee, at home, and Ellis F., at home, and sister Mrs. Edmund Linthicum, Mt. Airy, two children, Dale Marie and Carl A., III, Browningsville, and widow, Mrs. Georgia Gladhill Carncer, Browningsville.
The News, June 14, 1943
2ND Lieut. JOSEPH H. COMER, JR. Dies in Crash of Bomber
One of four officers killed along with an enlisted man in the crash of a fourengine bomber Saturday night at Salinas Army Air Base in California was Second Lieut. Joseph H. Comer, Jr., according to the Associated Press dispatch Sunday night.
Lieut. Comer's wife, Mrs. Vivian Comer, is a daughter of W. A. Smith, near Damascus. Mrs. Comer's address was reported to be Locust Hill Farm, Monrovia.
The Smith farm, residents of Damascus said, is located near that town but efforts to contact members of the family were unsuccessful.
The names of the parents of the Army officer and their addresses were not included in the press dispatch.
Only meager details of the accident were revealed in the dispatch from Salinas, Calif. The plane, from the Salinas Army Air Base, was making a forced landing, it was reported. The plane had developed engine trouble shortly before the accident..
Neither the Salinas dispatch nor persons in the Damascus area disclosed whether Lieut. Comer's body will be sent to Damascus for burial.
The News, October 27, 1943
ENSIGN EDWIN C. CREEGER, Thurmont Navy Flyer Dies in his Plane's Crash
Word of the death of their only child, Ensign Edwin C. Creeger, Jr., U.S.N.R. "in the performance of his duty and in service to his country" was received by official telegram by Mr. and Mrs. Edwin C. Creeger, Thurmont, Monday night. Details of the death of the young man, 23, in an airplane crash were not given.
The telegram stated that if further particulars could be released they would be sent at a later date. Ensign Creeger had been on sea duty since September 10.
He enlisted July 7, 1942 in the Naval Reserve, receiving his training at Marietta, Oh., Davis and Elkins College, Elkins, W.Va., Athens, Ga., and Hollywood, Fla. Hew was graduated as a navigator in June 23 at Hollywood.
A graduate of Thurmont High School in 1937 and Lebanon Valley College in 1941, the young Ensign had always been especially talented along musical lines and after majoring in this subject, became music supervisor at the Lower Paxton High School, Harrisburg, Pa., from where he was granted a leave of absence to enlist in the Navy. He was a member of St. John's Lutheran church, Thurmont.
Mr. Creeger, his father, who owns and operated the Creeger Motor Company in Thurmont, served in France during the First World War. The young officer had spent a two week leave with his parents before leaving for service September 20.
Mr. and Mrs. Creeger were notified that if the body of their son can be recovered it will be returned to his home for burial.
The News, July 26, 1943
AVIATION CADET LAWRENCE H. CRICKENBERGER, Jr., son of Mr. and Mrs. L. H. Crickenberger, of Frederick county, with whom he recently spent a week's furlough, is stationed at Selman Field, Monroe, La. A graduate of Frederick High School in the class of 1940, Aviation Cadet Crickenberger is 19 years old and entered the service February 8.
The News, March 6, 1944
Lieut. Crickenberger, son of Mr. and Mrs. L. H. Crickenberger, Mt. Airy, R.F.D., 1, was recently graduated as an aerial navigator and received his commission at Selman Field, Monroe, Ala.
The News, October 28, 1944
Second Lieut. Lawrence H. Crickenberger, Jr., Eighth Air Force navigator on a B17, is reported missing in action over Germany on October in a telegram received Wednesday by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. L. H. Crickenberger, of near Mt. Airy.
The 21yearold lieutenant, a graduate in 1940 of Frederick High School, had written to his parents just the day before his plane was shot down. Written October 6 and mailed October 7, the letter arrived on the same day as the telegram. In it he told his parents, who had in a previous letter mentioned the Frederick Fair, "We all like to think that things are going on the same," and ended by saying that he was going to listen to the World Series.
An only son, Lieut. Crickenberger enlisted in the Army Air Corps in June 1942, and was called up for training in February 1943. He was stationed in many different states before going to England in June.
The News, October 17, 1945
Second Lieut. Lawrence H. Crickenberger, Jr., 21, missing since October 7, 1944 while on a bombing mission over Germany, has been declared dead by the War Department in a message to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. L. H. Crickenberger, near New Market.
Lieut. Crickenberger, navigator aboard a B17 bomber, was on his twentysecond bombing mission when his plane was destroyed by the enemy over Politz, 10 miles north of Stettin, the War Department stated. The Flying Fortress is reported to have exploded in midair and the only know survivor is Lieut. John Farquar, Quincy, Mass., copilot, who was recently released as a war prisoner.
The young airman had been overseas several months prior to his last mission. He had been awarded the Air Medal and two Oak Leaf clusters.
A graduate of Frederick High School, Class of 1940, Lieut. Crickenberger assisted his father at farming for sometime before taking employment at the Glenn L. Martin Company, Baltimore. He entered the service February 9, 1943 and received his training at Selman Field, Monroe, La., and Maxwell Field, Montgomery, Ala.
In addition to his parents he is survived by three sisters, Mrs. Samuel McAdoo, Texarkana, Ark; and Misses Jean and Jane Crickenberger, at home.
The News, April 10, 1944
MAJOR GEORGE B. CRIST Died Suddenly Saturday Evening in Virginia
Stricken suddenly Saturday evening in his apartment in Fredericksburg, Va., Major George Bruce Crist, who practiced the medical profession here for 23 years, died almost instantly of coronary occlusion. He was aged 52 years, six months and nine days.
Major Crist, who specialized in eye, ear, nose and throat practice here, had been residing in Fredericksburg while stationed at the Army's A. P. Hill Reservation. He complained to his wife of feeling ill Saturday and shortly afterward collapsed. A physician was summoned and pronounced Major Crist dead.
Having served overseas in World War I as a medical officer attached to British forces in France, Major Crist had retained status as a major in the Army Medical Corps Reserve. He was recalled into active service in 1941.
A graduate of the University of Maryland, Major Crist started the practice of medicine in Hastings, Pa., for about two years before returning to the university clinics in Baltimore. He then came to Frederick and continued practice until called into Army service.
He was a son of the late Rev. George B. Crist and Mrs. Baumorr Crist. His father served as a Lutheran minister in the Walkersville charge for a number of years.
Major Crist served as president, secretary and treasurer of the Frederick County Medical Society and was a member of the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland, the American Medical Association
and the Association of Military Surgeons. He was reported slated for promotion in Army service in the near future.
He was a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, this city. He was a member of Patton Lodge, A. F. and A. Masons, Hastings, Pa., a member of Enoch Chapter, Enoch Council, Jacques de Molay Commandery, Knights Templar , and of Frederick Lodge of Perfection. He was a thirtysecond degree Scottish Rite Mason.
Surviving him are his wife, Mrs. Myrtle Geesey Crist, a son, George B. Crist, Jr., and a sister, Mrs. Elmer Barrick, Walkersville.
Funeral services at the funeral home, 8 East Patrick street, this afternoon at 2:30 o_clock, with full military rites in charge of U. S. Army and Maryland State Guard personnel. Burial in Mount Olivet cemetery. C. E. Cline and son had charge of arrangements.
The News, January 5, 1945
PVT. IRVING WILLIAM CULLER, 19, son of Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd V. Culler, 1024 North Market street, has been reported dead.
Pvt. Culler had been reported missing since September 24 and his death is now entered on that date. A paratrooper, Pvt. Culler was reported missing in Holland in a telegram from the War Department received by his parents on December 17.
His parents had feared for his safety since Pvt. Sherman Eugene Axline, son of Mr. and Mrs. Harry D. Axline, of Petersville, was reported killed in action in Holland on September 20. Privates Culler and Axline were serving in the same paratroop unit.
Pvt. Culler, who was inducted on Armistice Day, 1943, went over seas last July 29. He was in England on September 10 when he wrote the last letter received by his parents.
Besides his parents, Pvt. Culler is survived by two younger brothers, Richard W. and Leon Culler, both at home.
The News, December 23, 1942
2ND LIEUT. JOHN DAVID CULLER, of Jefferson, was graduated from the Victorville, Cal. Army Flying School as a pilot and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army Air Force Reserve November 25. He attended Frederick High School, graduating in 1936. He entered into the Army Air Forces April 5, 1942, and first attended the flying school at Ontario, Cal.
The News, June 18, 1942
Lieut. John David Culler, 24, of Jefferson, has been missing in action since June 11, the War Department notified his mother, Mrs. Ralph Culler, Jefferson, by telegram late yesterday.
Lieut. Culler was second in command on one of the Army Air Corps big bombers and it was believed here that he may have been reported missing after the daylight precision raid by 200 American planes against the German naval bases of Wilhelmshaven and Cuxhaven which occurred June ll.
Secretary of War Stimson yesterday announced that in this raid, 85 and possibly 105 Nazi fighter planes were destroyed and that eight Flying Fortresses were lost.
No other information was available at this time but it was thought that Lieut. Culler may possibly have come down in enemy territory and be a prisoner of war. The telegram did not state the area where he was reported missing.
His last letter home, received recently, said that he had seen action and that his force was up against the best pilots in the world. He indicated that he had seen plenty of "sights" but under circumstances not very favorable for sightseeing.
Lieut. Culler is a son of the late Ralph Culler, wellknown Jefferson resident and former postmaster there, who at one time conducted the old Francis Scott Key garage in this city. Lieut. Culler's father was also engaged in the garage and also the store business at Jefferson. He died about 14 years ago.
Lieut. Culler is a graduate in the class of 1936 of Frederick High School and was employed in this city prior to entering federal service with the Band Section of the old First Maryland Regiment several years ago. He was at Fort Meade with the band for some time before transferring to the Air Corps. He was stationed at various training fields in this country, including California, before receiving his wings.
He visited his home about three months ago and is believed to have gone overseas a short time thereafter. He had since been stationed in England and regularly informed relatives by letter of his activities. In one of the latest letters, he had stated that he had been hospitalized with the mumps for a short time. Then came the letter stating that he was seeing action.
A brother, Ralph, resides at Jefferson, as do two sisters, Miss Edna Culler and Mrs. Anna Grace Brown. Another sister, Mrs. Sperry Storm, lives in this city. His uncle, George Meyer, who lives with Mrs. Culler at Jefferson, served for many years in the Marine Corps.
The News, October 30, 1943
Reported missing in action since June 11, when the Flying Fortress on which he was copilot, went down over enemy territory in Europe, Second Lieut. John David Culler, 24, was definitely listed Friday by the War Department as killed in action. His mother, Mrs. Ralph Culler, Jefferson, was so informed in a War Department telegram Friday evening.
The telegram from the Adjutant General's office stated briefly that Lieut. Culler was killed in action on June 11 in the European area, it had been definitely determined. A letter will follow, Mrs. Culler was advised.
The announcement brought to a close efforts of members of the family to learn the fate of the young officer since he was reported missing. Previous efforts to obtain information from families of other personnel on his plane and through Government and Red Cross agencies had been unsuccessful.
Although no further information was given it is still assumed that he was aboard one of the eight Fortresses that failed to return from a mission on June 11 when German naval bases at Wilhelmshaven and Cuxhaven were bombed.
Members of families of other members of the crew with Lieut. Culler have previously received definite work. Two of the crew members were previously reported interned as prisoners. The wife of the pilot had been notified of his death.
A graduate of the Frederick High School in June, 1936, Lieut. Culler was employed here prior to entering Army service with the Band Section of the former First Maryland Regiment, when the latter was mustered into Federal service in 1940. He was stationed at Fort Meade with the band for some time before obtaining a transfer to the Air Corps. He receive his training in California and Iowa.
Following a brief visit here last March, Lieut. Culler was sent to England, from where he reported seeing action in May.
The News, November 9, 1944
PFC PAUL C. CUMMINGS, Brunswick Soldier, Dies of His Wounds
Wounds received in battle in France have resulted in the death of Pfc. Paul C. Cummings, of Brunswick, his mother, Mrs. Nettie V. Cummings, has been notified by the War Department. Cummings, a member of the 79th Division, died on October 10, according to the word received by his mother.
It was reported that Pfc. Cummings was wounded at Leans, France, and had been awarded the Purple Heart as well as the Bronze Starr for bravery prior to his death. Before entering the service some time ago, Pfc. Cummings was employed as a brakeman on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and lived with Mr. and Mrs. B. Cummings, who are not residing near Weverton.
The News, May 23, 1942
RUSSELL Y. DANSBERGER Missing
George W. Dansberger, 173 West Patrick street, has received a letter from the United States War Department telling him that his son, Pvt. Russell Y. Dansberger, has been listed by that department as "missing in action" since the fall of Corregidor and will be so considered until more definite information can be secured concerning the men who were serving there at the time of the surrender.
The letter states: "In the last days before the surrender of Bataan there were casualties which were not reported to the War Department. Conceivable the same is true of the surrender of Corregidor and possibly of other Islands of the Philippines. The Japanese government has indicated its intention of conforming to the terms of the Geneva Convention with respect to the interchange of information regarding prisoners of war. At some future date this government will receive through Geneva a list of persons who have been taken prisoners of war. Until that time the War Department cannot give you positive information."
"The War Department will consider the persons serving in the Philippine Islands as 'missing in action" from the date of the surrender of Corregidor, May 7, 1942, until definite information to the contrary is received....In the case of persons known to have been present in the Philippines and who are not reported to be prisoners of war by the Japanese government, the War Department will continue to carry them as "missing in action" in the absence of information to the contrary, until twelve months have expired. At the expiration of twelve months and in the absence of other information the War Department is authorized to make a final determination."
The News, June 5, 1944
The Purple Heart has been awarded posthumously to Private Dansberger, son of G. William Dansberger, this city. Mr. Dansberger was notified over the weekend by Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson that the award had been made at the request of the President.
Private Dansberger was recently declared dead by the War Department after being missing since the fall of Bataan. He was in the Signal Corps and stationed in the Phillippines at the outset of the war.
Mr. Dansberger also received a personal card from General George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff, extending his deepest sympathy and declaring that Pvt. Dansberger "fought valiantly in a supreme hour of his country's need. The memory will live in the grateful heart of our nation."
The News, September 22, 1948
The remains of Pvt. Russell Y. Dansberger, Frederick printery operator who was one of the first county men to be listed as a casualty in World War II, have been returned from the Pacific for reinterment on the transport Sergeant Morris E. Crain, the Department of the Army announced today.
Remains of 3,536 Americans were aboard the ship, 37 from Maryland, but no others from Frederick county. Armed forces dead originally interred in temporary military cemeteries in Manila and Saipan were among those aboard the ship. Next of kin have been notified, the Army said.
Pvt. Dansberger, son of G. William Dansberger, of this City, had been originally buried in the Camp O'Donnell cemetery in the Philippines and was later reinterred in a United States cemetery in Manila.
It was not until last July that the War Department announced positive identification of the local man, missing and presumed dead since the fall of Corregidor early in 1942. The announcement said Pvt. Dansberger died while confined in a Japanese prison camp in the Philippines. There were 1,600 prisoners buried in Camp O'Donnell prisoner of war cemetery on Luzon.
No word was ever received from the Frederick man after the invasion of the Philippines by Japan I December 1941. Prior to that time, Pvt. Dansberger had written home several times a month. A member of the Army Signal Corps, Pvt. Dansberger was in service on Bataan peninsula when the war broke out. In 1944 the Army declared him dead and awarded him, posthumously, the Purple Heart.
A graduate of Frederick High School, Pvt. Dansberger entered the printing business with his father ad had taken over operations prior to the time he entered service in March, 1941. He was 24 at that time.
The News, April 4, 1945
PFC. CLARKE LEE DAVIS, twenty-three year old member of a tank division serving in the European battle theater, was killed in action in Germany on March 21, a War Department telegram informed his mother, Mrs. Harry Young, Frederick, Route 3, on Tuesday.
Enlisting in the Army in 1939 at the age of eighteen, Pfc. Davis was with the cavalry at Fort Myer, Va., until the outbreak of the war, after which he went to Camp Gordon, Ga. for training. He was later located at a camp in South Carolina before leaving the States last September. Two brothers are also serving with the armed forces; Cpl. J. Lewis Davis in England and F. 1/c Arthur R. Davis somewhere in the South Pacific.
Pfc. Davis' wife, Mrs. Edith Davis, and their fourteenmonthold son reside in Washington. Other survivors include a brother, Donald Davis, Frederick, Route e, and four sisters; Mrs. Clark Smith, Frederick; Mrs. George Bennett, Takoma Park; Mrs. Donald Fravel, Frederick, Route 3; and Mrs. Albert Hall, Frederick, Route 2. Cards dated February 6 and received by Pfc. Davis' mother and two of his sisters were the last direct word from the local man.
The News, April 5, 1945
Serving with a tank division, Pfc. Davis was killed in action in Germany on March 21, his mother, Mrs. Harry Young, Frederick, Route 3, learned from the War Department Tuesday. He had been in the Army since 1939, when he enlisted at the age of 18. Surviving him are his mother, his wife, Mrs. Edith Davis, his 14monthold son, both of Washington, a brother and four sisters.
The News, August 3, 1944
PFC. JOHN W. DAVIS, son of Mrs. Dorothy Falk, 417 North Bentz street, was killed in action in France on July 11, according to an official notification from the War Department. Pfc. Davis was 22 on DDay.
Pfc. Davis had been in Company A since he was 15, it is understood, reenlisting each three years until the local unit was federalized in 1941. He remained with the outfit throughout its training in the states and went with it to England and then to France, as far as relatives knew. The last letter received by his mother was written from France and said he was getting along very well.
Pfc. Davis is a son of Mrs. Falk by a previous marriage. He attended Frederick High School and, prior to the war, was employed as a paper hanger by Edward Favorite. Besides his mother, he is survived by his grandfather, Thomas Eyler, and a halfsister, Patricia Falk, both at the same address, where he resided before leaving here.
PVT WILBUR AMOS DAVIS
The News, March 12, 1943
PFC. PAUL K. DEAN, son of Mr. and Mrs. George L. Dean, of Middletown, and husband of Mrs. Kathleen Beacht Dean, formerly of Frederick, is not stationed somewhere in England. He enlisted in the service in February 1941
The News, July 31, 1944
Sgt. Paul K. Dean, son of Mr. and Mrs. George L. Dean, near Jefferson, was reported slightly wounded on July 2. He is the husband of Mrs. Kathleen Beacht Dean, formerly of this city, and now residing in Hagerstown.
Sgt. Dean was presumably with Company A, 115th Infantry, through the first stages of the invasion of Normandy.
Sgt. Dean left Frederick with Company A in February, 1941, and has been overseas since October, 1942. Prior to being mustered into active service, he worked with his father on the farm near Jefferson. He is 27 years old. He and the former Miss Beacht were married here in June, 1942. His parents said Sunday that they have not heard from him for several weeks.
The News, August 1, 1944
Sgt. Paul K. Dean, son of Mr. and Mrs. George L. Dean, who reside between Middletown ad Jefferson, died on July 4 in France from wounds which he received two days before, his parents were officially notified this morning by the War Department.
Sgt. Dean, one of the bestknown members of the younger set in Middletown, was a member of Frederick's Company A, as far as was know here. He left here with the local unit in February, 1941, and had been with it since that time.
The shock to relatives and friends was heightened by the fact that Sgt. Dean had been reported only slightly wounded July 2 in a telegram received over the weekend. Indications were that he may have died from wounds in a hospital not far removed from the battlefield.
Relatives had received last night first evidence that Sgt. Dean was dead. They had not heard from him since late June and it is understood a check was made through certain official sources, which established his death and the telegram this morning was confirmation.
His wife, the former Miss Kathleen Beacht, and infant son, P. Keller Dean, II, reside in Hagerstown. Before her marriage, Mrs. Dean was employed at the Frederick County National Bank in this city. They were married here in June 1942.
In addition to his parents, wife and son, he is survived by one sister, Mrs. Virginia Coblentz, wife of Manville E. Coblentz, of Bethel, and two brothers, Herschel G. Dean, Braddock Heights, and Desmond G. Dean, of Frederick, Route 3.
In September, 1943, the parents of Sgt. Dean received a letter stating that he was badly injured while on maneuvers in England. The letter was written from an Army hospital and said that while he was asleep in his tent his leg had been run over by an army truck. The leg was crushed, according to reports, and Sgt. Dean underwent a lengthy convalescent period. In his last letters in June he reported that he was on the battlefield.
Sgt. Dean attended Middletown High School and was later associated with his father in farm work. He was very well known and popular in Middletown, where he was an assistant secretary in Zion Lutheran Sunday School prior to entering service.
Sgt. Dean was the third Middletown Valley man to meet his death in the invasion and the second from Company A to die of wounds.
The News, May 21, 1948
The body of Sgt. Paul K. Dean, killed in the ETO during World War II while serving with Company A of the 115th Infantry, will arrive in Middletown this afternoon.
Sgt. Dean, son of Mr. and Mrs. George L. Dean of Middletown, died in France on July 4, 1944 from wounds received two days prior.
He served overseas more than two years prior to his heath. Before enlisting, he was engaged in farming with his father.
He was married to the formed Miss Kathleen Beacht, of Frederick. They were the parents of a small son, P. Keller Dean, II. Besides his parents, wife and son, he is survived by a sister, Mrs. Manville Coblentz, and two brothers, Herschel G. Dean and Desmond G. Dean, all of Middletown.
Services will take place from the Middletown funeral home on Sunday afternoon at four o_clock, daylight time, conducted by Ref. William E. Fox. Military honors will be accorded by the National Guard. Interment will be in Middletown Reformed cemetery. Gladhill Company, funeral directors.
The News, December 4, 1942
CPL. JOHNNY T. DEGRANGE, 22, son of Mrs. Rena Jeffries, 112 West Fourth street, has been killed in action in France, according to a telegram received over the weekend by his mother. Death occurred November 14, the brief announcement said. A litter will follow, it added.
A letter had been received from Cpl. DeGrange, an infantryman, just last Monday, which was dated November 11, in which he said he was well and safe. It was written from somewhere in France. None of his letters indicated what action he was seeing, it is understood.
Cpl. DeGrange entered service March 1, 1942, and was stationed at Fort Lewis, Wash., at Shreveport, La., on maneuvers and at Camp Philip, Kas, before going overseas early in September. He was home for the last time on a seven-day furlough in June. Before entering the service he was employed at Hotel Frederick.
Cpl. DeGrange was married and his wife, the former Louise Soper, of Frederick, resides at 1428 South Hanover street, Baltimore. He is survived, in addition to his mother and wife, by his sister, Mrs. Mary E. Ausherman, who resides with Mrs. Jeffries on West Fourth street, and three halfbrothers, Edward Wenzel, this city; Paul Wenzel, Walkersville, and Charles DeGrange, Frederick.
His brotherinlaw, Pvt. Gilmore Ausherman, a paratrooper stationed at Fort Benning, Ga., had just arrived home on a 14 day furlough when the telegram was received.
The News, April 29, 1943
LIEUT. WILLIAM T. DELAPLAINE, III, U. S. N., son of William T. Delaplaine, copublisher of The News and The Post, and Mrs. Delaplaine, 273 Dill avenue, was one of the eight killed Tuesday night in the crash of a twin engined Navy plane on a hill near Oakland, Calif., his parents were advised Wednesday evening by the Navy Department. Two other occupants of the plane were seriously injured, the Navy Department announced earlier Wednesday in a statement which said the big plane scraped the top of a 1,500foot hilltop before crashing.
Lieut. Delaplaine was one of three pilots aboard the big transport, according to the Navy Department, which had released identification of but four of the victims late Wednesday night.
Lieut. Delaplaine, who would have observed his twentyfourth birthday on Sunday, had long been an aviation enthusiast and had held an air pilot's license since he was 16 years of age.
He was one of the youngest lieutenants of the Navy, having been promoted last December 18. While he was not in combat service himself, many of those who trained under him at Pensacola and Jacksonville in Florida have distinguished themselves as navy pilots in war zones.
A native of Frederick, he was a member of the Evangelical Reformed church. He attended Frederick High School and McDonough School near Baltimore, graduating in 1935 from the latter school. He entered Washington and Lee University and received the Bachelor of Arts degree in 1939. He then entered the School of Journalism of the University of Missouri, which he left to enter the service.
His first experience in service flying was in the Naval Air Reserve, taking one months training at St. Louis before being sent to Pensacola, Fla. To enter the aviation branch, he resigned from the U. S. Marine Corps Reserve in which he had completed the officers training course. He served one summer at the Quantico, Va., camp and another at San Diego, Cal.
After graduating from the Naval Air Station at Pensacola he was stationed there for some time as an instructor, later moving to the Naval Air Station at Jacksonville in the same capacity.
Last fall he was transferred to the American Airlines School at Fort Worth, Texas, for schooling in multiengined transports. He was later sent to Alameda Naval Air Station, where he was attached to Squadron VR4, piloting planes between naval stations in this country. Recently he had been transferred to the Oakland Naval Air Station in transport service.
His promotions from Naval Aviator to Ensign and thence to Lieutenant Junior Grade and Lieutenant were climaxed early this year when he was accepted in the Navy from the Naval Reserves.
Surviving, in addition to his parents, are his maternal grandfather, Charles W. Quynn, his paternal grandmother, Mrs. William T. Delaplaine, Sr., and the following uncles: R. E. Delaplaine, George B. Delaplaine, Judge Edward S. Delaplaine, and John W. Quynn, all of this city.
Lieut. Delaplaine's sister, Eleanor Frances Delaplaine died suddenly October 22, 1938.
The Navy Department has been advised to send the body here for burial.
The News, May 4, 1943
Billy Delaplaine The Happy Aviator" The following notes were written as a tribute to Lieut. William T. Delaplaine, III, USN, who was killed in the crash of a Navy transport plane, Tuesday, April 27, and whose body will be entombed in the Frederick Mausoleum this afternoon.
Billy Delaplaine is home again. Back in Frederick he loved so dearly, back among his relatives and friends to whom he was so devoted, My, what happy hours he spent here on occasional trips while in school and college and later in the service. It was a great joy to him to greet the members of his family and his acquaintances. Of course, at times he was homesick while away. What boy who really loves him home doesn't feel that way?
But he was satisfied after a while to return to his work, especially so since the fall of 1939 when he entered Naval aviation and was doing what he liked most of all to do, "to fly and to learn all that he could about flying."
Billy was born with an unconquerable desire to be a great aviator. That just happened. You can't explain it any more than you can any other mystery of life. He started as a schoolboy making model airplanes. He would sit and dream. Many a time over his books he would hold a toy plane in his hand and whirl it through the air as his voice imitated the hum of a makebelieve motor. Many modern boys go through the same stage. But Billy's love of aviation grew with him, through preparatory school and into college.
Despite the wishes of his family, he could not, as much as he would try, give up his interest in flying, any more than he could change the color of his eyes. He could hardly wait until he was 16 years old so that he could qualify for his first pilot's license. He wanted to be the leader among the flyers of Frederick. And he had dreams, too, for Frederick with a well equipped and bustling airport.
Then came college, and his interest and boyish enthusiasm quickened. All of his spare money he would use for lessons and practice flying. He tried to conceal his activities; he didn't want to worry his family or friends. But he was sure it was all right. He had a firm conviction that he was safer in the air than he was on the ground.
Surely he knew that others did not feel as he did. With a tenderhearted nature, he really did not want to harm a soul. After the death of his beloved young sister in October, 1938, which was the one great sorrow of his life, he tried for two months to turn his back on aviation. But he was miserable, and he said that he would rather be dead than not be able to fly any more. And so he returned to his love.
Upon the completion of his college course, he determined to secure the best training available to develop what he felt was his greatest talent. But he always said that he knew when he was older he would want to settle down so that aviation would be his hobby and not his life's work.
He decided to try for the Army Air Corps. At that time there were more candidates than were needed and through a rigid physical test he was rejected, on of the greatest blows to his youthful ambition because he had guarded his health, protected his eyes and taken preliminary military training in the Marine Reserve Corps, all for the one purpose of preparing himself to be an expert pilot.
He resigned himself and agreed to take further training at a journalism school, looking to the newspaper field.
He had hardly gotten established on his new educational course before the war emergency brought Navy recruiters to the college and it took very little persuasion for him to sign up for naval aviation. Then came the surprise phone message home that he had enlisted. But a child's happiness brings joy to a parent's heart, no matter how keen the disappointment.
Soon began his rigorous training with its strains and difficulties. It was our time now to give him every encouragement he needed. He did not possess some of the qualities that make a bold and daring pilot. He was not reckless nor unmindful of danger. But an almost superhuman determination and a burning love of the air made up for any deficiencies and he became, with his Pensacola training, a skillful, careful and conservative pilot.
When he returned to Frederick the Christmas of 1940, with his Navy "Wings of Gold", the first local boy to achieve this honor (in the present emergency), it is hard to conceive that any mortal being could be so proud and happy.
There followed his instructorship at Pensacola, Green Cove Springs and Jacksonville, Florida. I believe he did a good job. Some of the boys he helped to train have certainly brought glory and honor to themselves and to their country. I am sure his sympathetic nature, his great enthusiasm and his love of the air must have been a help to the cadets he served.
He received so much joy out of flying that he wanted others to share it with him. He could not understand why so many older persons could not see it as he did. But he did influence many young persons in school, in college and at home, and there are dozens of boys in the air services today who were influenced by Billy's enthusiasm.
While he was a patient at the Naval Hospital near Oakland, suffering with a stubborn infection the early part of this year, he got the greatest thrill out of being able to induce his orderly and several of the patients to decide to apply for entrance into the aviation branch.
The cruel bitter day of infamy, December 7, 1941, brought a grim and serious turn and Billy seemed to mature more rapidly as the war months went by. Many of his friends lost their lives on various missions in the performance of their respective duties, but thanks be, Billy's buoyant nature always would rebound. He could smile and laugh, and he found happiness day by day, helped, no doubt, by the realization that he had found a place where he could be of greatest good in time of a grave emergency.
His greatest joy, a feeling that his life's work was not a failure. The greatest achievement came as a climax when he was chosen among a selected group of Naval aviators to be transferred from the Reserves to the regular Navy. He wore the Navy uniform with the highest respect and pride and was true to the finest traditions of the service.
I have often wondered and I have tried to analyze how it was that he had no fear in the air. He always said being up in the skies relaxed and strengthened him. He had none of the daredevil in his makeup. To him an airplane was a precious animate thing. The greatest fear he ever had was that he would damage one of those Navy planed he loved.
He enjoyed flying so much that he often said it was "hardly right to take the taxpayers money for doing what I love to do." He often felt that he was not doing enough to deserve what he got, as he enjoyed his work and was learning more and more of the greatest game of all, the mastery of the air.
I am inclined to think that his experiences helped to enrich his religious spirit. He had a firm faith in God. He said that whenever he was high up in the skies he knew there was a God and he felt closer to Him.
I know he found strength in prayer. He wrote a letter home on the evening of Pearl Harbor. He told of a young officer being in his room for a long time, discussing the serious turn in events. He quoted his friend as saying "Delly, we'll never come out of this war alive." Unfortunately that prediction has now come true.
Billy wrote that before he retired he prayed and prayed for strength and courage to face the tasks he knew would lie ahead.
Yet with it all, Billy had his share of joys and happiness. Of course, we all have our portion of sorrows and disappointment. But I think his happiness far outweighed all his woes. He lived more, had more fun and tasted the supreme joy of achievement to a greater extent than most persons who live many, many years longer. And, after all, what difference does it make if one's life's span is 24, 44 or 74 year.
He achieved the greatest ambition of his life. As he went along, he brought some happiness to others, too, for he was generous and thoughtful. What more precious gift could any parents ever want to receive than the message he wrote on his card enclosed in his last Christmas package? It read: "Merry Christmas and best love to the finest parents in the world."
So there are beautiful memories we hold dear. We can never forget his everpresent smile and his boyish laugh. He laughed more in his 24 years than many persons are able to laugh in the allotted three score years and ten. Why shouldn't he have laughed? He lived to the fullest. He had gone places and done things as every youth wishes and he did the things he loved most to do.
He had no malice in his heart, not a bit of jealousy toward anyone.
Like most young persons, he liked to go. He had seen more of this country in his short life than most people ever hope to see. He had been from Canada to Mexico and from coast to coast several times. What boy would not thrill to have had such opportunities?
But as he was growing older and more mature he was hoping for the war to end soon so that he eventually might come back home to stay. Even then he planned to continue his interest in flying. For a young person, he was a great planner; his whole career was mapped out according to his own schedule.
But there was one eventuality that no human being could foresee or plan against, and his career was closed with a shocking and stunning suddenness.
Yet he attained his one important goal. He became a great pilot. And in a last letter, received several days after his death, he spoke of the girl friend, to whom he was devoted and who brought to him a new joy he had never known before and in quoting her, said, "She thinks I am one of the greatest fliers that ever lived, and I hope she always thinks so."
We are taught to believe that this earthly life is but a preparation for the life to come. I think it must be so. Billy then must still be a great flier. Now he does not have to worry about giving concern for his safety to his folks at home. No longer does he have to fear storms, fogs or bad weather. There will be no more motor trouble, iced wings, forced landings or crackups. Up there he can sail away and away in God's boundless universe and enjoy to his heart's content the ecstasies of flight no mortal man has ever made.
Methinks, though, once in a while he will feel a tinge of homesickness. I can imagine his spirit will fly back to Frederick, his beloved home town. Maybe he will fly over the home he loved so well, dip his wings and with that happy smile and enthusiastic laugh, shout down in glee; "Hello, Daddy, this is THE LIFE." And then he will speed on away on and on through the great spaces of time and eternity.
The News, May 6, 1943 - Full Honors for Naval Flyer at Entombment
A funeral with full naval honors was accorded Lieut. William T. Delaplaine, III, U.S.N., Tuesday afternoon at r o'clock at the home of his parents, Mr. and William T. Delaplaine, 273 Dill avenue. Lieut. Delaplaine was killed in the crash of a two-motored Navy plane near Oakland, Calif., last week.
Services were conducted for the family and relatives by Rev. Dr. Henry L. G. Kieffer, pastor of the Evangelical Reformed Church assisted by Rev. Samuel S. Johnston, rector of All Saints Church. Employees of The News and The Post, with whom Lieut. Delaplaine was associated before entering the Navy, attended in a body.
The flagdraped casket was borne by eight enlisted men from the Washington Navy Yard, and the following officers of the U. S. Naval Reserve formed an escort: Lieut. Commander John R. Fitzpatrick, Lieut. Gray C. Boyce, Lieut. Earl Heavrin, Lieut. Robert D. Clapperton, Lieut. (j.g.) John B. Chamberlain and Ensign A. Atlee Radcliffe, a close friend of the deceased who accompanied the body from the Pacific coast.
As the body was entombed in the Frederick Memorial Park Mausoleum a firing squad of eight enlisted men fired three volleys under command of Chief Petty Officer Pickett. Taps were sounded by Chief Petty Officer Vaughan.
Harry E. Carty Company had charge of local arrangements.
The News, May 14, 1943
PVT. PAUL E. DODD, formerly of New Market, has been killed in an accident at Fort Lewis, Washington, his parents were advised Thursday and his body is en route here for burial at Monrovia. Details of the accident were not immediately supplied his parents, Edward and Mary Utz Dodd, formerly of New Market and for some time residents of Bowie.
He was 24 years of age and had been in service for the past two years in the Ordnance Department. Besides his parents, he is survived by the following sisters and brothers: Mrs. Martha Statler, Near Washington, Mrs. Esther Frayer, College Park, Virginia, Edith, Thomas and Lewis Dodd, at home
The body will arrive here on Monday and will be taken to the funeral home in New Market, where services will be held Tuesday afternoon at 2 o'clock with final service in the Church of the Brethren, near Monrovia. Interment in Adjoining cemetery. W. E. Falconer, funeral director.
The News, January 17, 1944
SERGT. WESLEY B. DOLAN, U. S. Air Corp radioman and gunner, was reported killed in action over France on December 18 in a War Department telegram received Saturday night by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. B. M. Dolan, 209 Maple avenue, Brunswick.
A former switch operator for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad on the westbound hump at Brunswick, Sergt. Dolan observed his twentyfirst birthday anniversary on December 12, six days before him plane went down.
A native of Brunswick and a graduate of Brunswick High School, Sergt. Dolan had been overseas since last July and last visited his home on furlough last April. He enlisted in the Air Corps in June, 1942. He received his training in Florida prior to going to North Africa for combat service.
Sergt. Dolan, who wrote frequently to his parents, last reported that his unit was based on Sardinia, and it is assumed that he was still there at the time he took off on his fatal mission. The Associated Press reported on December 19 that Mediterranean based U. S. bombers flew over the snowcapped Dolomites to raid Germany by daylight and that furious air battles were reported from Berlin. The objectives were not revealed by German sources.
In a recent letter to his parents, Sergt. Dolan reported that all members of his bomber crew had been awarded Air Medals. The medals were not further described nor the content of the citations revealed.
Besides his parents, Sergt. Dolan is survived by two brothers, one of whom is on foreign service with the Army Medical Corps, and a sister. Corp. Lester. Dolan, one of the brothers is apparently with a malaria unit in the South or Southwest Pacific. Lynwood Dolan, a younger brother, and Miss Evelyn Dolan, the sister, reside at home. Miss Dolan is employed in Washington. The father is a freight conductor on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
The News, January 29, 1944
S. Sgt. Dewey Wesley Dolan (same person as above, name listed differently), Son of Mr. and Mrs. Dewey M. Dolan, of Brunswick, was killed in action over France, December 18. He had just reached his 21st birthday on December 12 and was engaged to Miss Adelaide Webber, of Brunswick, to whom he was to be married on his first furlough home.
He was graduated from Brunswick High School in 1939, and enlisted in the Air Corps on June 22, 1942. He was killed on his 16th bombing mission.
The News, no date
The body of Sgt. Wesley D. Dolan(sic), 309 North Maple avenue, Brunswick, late war casualty, arrives in Brunswick this afternoon at 2:45 o'clock and will be taken to the funeral home there, from here services will be held Tuesday afternoon at two o'clock, Rev. Ralph Miller officiating. Full military honors will be accorded by StedmanKeenan Post, American Legion and the reinterment will be in the Memorial Plot at Mt. Olivet cemetery, this city. C. H. Feete and Brother, funeral directors.
Sgt. Dolan is survived by his parents, Dewey Michael and Mable Belvin Dolan, two brothers and a sister; Lester Dolan, at home, Fritzie Dolan, U. S. Navy and now in England, and Mrs. Evelyn Ephraim, Brunswick.
The News, June 6, 1945
SECOND LIEUT. NATHAN G. DORSEY, JR., of Mt. Airy, sustained a head injury on Okinawa April 25, relatives learned yesterday as the first direct word from the infantry officer was received since a War Department telegram last week reported he was seriously wounded.
In a letter to his wife, Mrs. Evelyn E. Dorsey, from a hospital on Okinawa, Lieut. Dorsey said he was getting along nicely although confined to bed. He indicated he expected to be moved shortly. The letter, in his handwriting, said he would try to keep relatives posted on developments. He had high praise for the doctors at the hospital.
The letter was apparently written around May 15, although the exact date was not given. The War Department today announced the wounding of Lieut. Dorsey in a list of Maryland casualties.
Lieut. Dorsey was in the Saipan fighting before going to Okinawa. He has been overseas about 16 months. Following the Saipan engagement, his division was in the New Hebrides for a time before moving to Okinawa.
The Mt. Airy officer entered the service about three years ago as a private. He graduated from the University of Maryland in 1940 and taught at Maryland Park High School in Prince George's county before entering service.
The News, June 30, 1945
Second Lieut. Nathan G. Dorsey, Jr., of Mt. Airy, died on Okinawa May 19 of wounds sustained April 25, his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Nathan G. Dorsey, and his wife, Mrs. Evelyn Dorsey, of Mt. Airy, have been advised by the War Department.
Word of his death came as a severe shock as his wife had received a letter from him since he was wounded. The War Department had originally reported him seriously wounded. Lieut. Dorsey had informed his wife that he sustained a head injury. He indicated in his letter that he was getting along satisfactorily in a hospital on Okinawa. He took occasion to praise the work of the doctors treating his injury.
Besides his parents and wife, Lieut. Dorsey is survived by two sisters, Mrs. Nathan Butler, Mt. Airy, and Mrs. Richard Murdock, College Park, MD.
An infantry officer, Lieut. Dorsey had been in service about three years. He graduated from the University of Maryland in 1940 and taught school in the Maryland Park High School, Princes Georges County, before entering the service.
He participated in the campaign on Saipan before going to the New Hebrides and then to Okinawa. He was overseas about 16 months prior to his death.
The News, no date
Reinterment services for Second Lieut. Nathan G. Dorsey, Jr., of Mt. Airy, who was killed in action on Okinawa on May 19, 1945, will be held Tuesday morning at 10 o'clock in St. James Episcopal church, Mt. Airy, with Rev. Leon P. F. Vauthier officiating. Interment will be in the War Memorial Plot in Mt. Olivet cemetery, here. C. M. Waltz, funeral director, has charge of arrangements.
Born April 23, 1919, Lieut. Dorsey was 26 years of age at the time of his death. He is survived by his father, May Nathan G. Dorsey of Mt. Airy, and his mother, Mrs. Viva Dorsey, Mt. Airy, two sisters; Mrs. Richard Murdock, College Park, Md. And Mrs. Nathan Butler, Mt. Airy.
The family has asked that flowers be omitted. Friends and relatives are invited to attend the church service. The body is expected to arrive today at the funeral home in Winfield.
Tommy Duble (See Cpl Charles D. Kidwiller)
The News, October 24, 1944
PFC. DONALD A DUNCAN, son of Mrs. Park Duncan, Thurmont, was killed in action in Italy on October 2, the War Department has notified his mother, adding another gold star to the growing number in and around Thurmont.
Pfc. Duncan, who was 21 years of age last April, has been in Italy with an infantry regiment for about three months. He had been in service about 18 months, completing his training at Fort Jackson, S.C.
He was married shortly before going overseas to the former Miss Peggy Church, of Buck, N.C.
A former student at Thurmont High School, Pfc. Duncan was employed by Allen Creager, Thurmont florist, before entering the service.
A brother, Pvt. Russell Duncan, has been on furlough from Camp Stewart, Ga., and will be transferred to Camp Dix, N. J. on his return to duty.
Besides his mother, wife and brother, Russell, he is also survived by another brother, Cyril Duncan, Thurmont.
Pfc. Duncan's father, Park Duncan, was killed a number of years ago when a threshing machine, which he was feeding on a farm near Thurmont, exploded.
The News, November 4, 1944
Pfc. Donald A. Duncan, son of Mrs. Park Duncan, Thurmont, was killed in action in Italy on October 2. He was 21 years old and had been married to Miss Peggy Church, of Buck, N.C. a short time before he left for foreign service.
The News, no date
The funeral of Pfc. Donald A. Duncan, of Thurmont, whose body was sent home from overseas, was held on Sunday with services at the Church of the Brethren at Thurmont at 3:30, conducted by Rev. Ray A. Kurtz and Rev. Chester Royer. The choir sang "In the Garden" and "Ivory Palaces"
Pallbearers were Sterling Bollinger, Levin Snurr, Richard Stitely, Jack Stitely, John Stitely, and Charles Stitely, Jr. Burial was made in the U. B. cemetery at Thurmont. Taps were sounded by Eddie Hobbs. M. L. Creager and son, funeral director.
The News, October 2, 1944
SECOND LIEUT. WILLIAM GUY DUVALL, U. S. Marine Corps, son of Edwin Byng and Katherine E. Russell Duvall, of Kensington, formerly of Frederick, has been officially reported as killed in an airplane crash while on a training flight over the Gulf of Mexico, about 20 miles from Galveston, Tex., on September 20. He had previously been reported missing.
Memorial services were held at Holy Redeemer Catholic church at Kensington on Saturday morning for the 20yearold officer, who was a graduate of BethesdaChevy Chase High School, class of '42.
At the time of his death, Lieut. Duvall, with another young man from Elmira, N. Y., who was also lost, was flying a dive bomber in squadron formation at an altitude of less then 700 feet when the motor cut off and his plane crashed and exploded upon contact with the water. His body was not recovered.
Lieut. Duvall enlisted in the U. S. Naval Reserve as an aviation cadet September 23, 1942, and upon satisfactory completion of his primary flight training was ordered to the Naval Air Station at Pensacola, Fla., for training.
He was appointed a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps Reserve on January 11, 1944, with designation as naval aviator, and in March was ordered to the 9th Marine Aircraft Wing, Fleet Marine Force, Marine Corps Air Station, Cherry Point, N. C. In May he was assigned to the Marine Scout Bombing Squadron 931 at Marine Corps Air Station, Eagle Mountain Lake, Tex.
Besides his mother and father he is survived by a brother, Lieut. Russell B. Duvall, U. S. Army Air Corps, who is an instrument instructor at Columbus Army Air Field, Columbus, Miss, a sister, Miss Katharine Marie Duvall, at home, and his maternal grandmother, Mrs. Michael F. Russell, 348 East Third street.
The News, October 12, 1944
When the motor of the bomber on which they were flying suddenly cut off during a training flight over the Gulf of Mexico, 2nd Lieut. William Guy Duvall, and a fellow flyer lost their lives as the plane crashed and exploded. Aged 20 years, Lieut. Duvall was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Edwin B. Duvall, of Kensington, formerly of Frederick.
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