Mort Sheffloe was born in Crookston, Minnesota in 1924. He attended public schools there, had a paper route, was in the Boy Scouts, and had the usual childhood growing-up experiences that one might expect in just about every way except for one thing. Today he says, I had four sisters, so I never ever had to wash dishes. During his senior year in high school he worked a part time job with Northwestern Bell Telephone Company. He received his draft notice when he was a senior but was allowed to finish (just barely) the school year and graduate with the Crookston High School Class of 1943. So then, in May 1943 he along with 35 others of his classmates, reported in at Fort...
WWII
KEITH C. CARTER
Keith Carter was born in Cleveland, Liberty County Texas in 1925. He grew up there and graduated in 1943 as Valedictorian of Cleveland High School. He worked for six weeks with a geophysical crew exploring for possible petroleum prospects. As expected he soon received his draft notice, reported to Fort Sam Houston and was inducted there on September 9. After his processing he was sent to Fort Benning Georgia in the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP). After 13 weeks basic training he was enrolled at Purdue University as a mechanical engineering student. Six weeks into the program, the ASTP was abruptly cancelled in March 1944 for all the students at various universities....
GEORGE C. CARRUTHERS
George Carruthers was born in Dallas, Texas in 1923. His family moved to Tyler shortly after the Stock Market Crash in 1929, at the beginning of the Great Depression, and George attended Public Schools there. Before December 7, 1941, as a freshman at Tyler Junior College, he had joined the Civilian Pilot Training Program flying Piper Cub aircraft. When America entered WWII, he volunteered for the aviation cadet program and was called to active duty in June 1942. Expecting to enter pilot training, George was extremely disappointed when he was assigned to bombardier and aerial gunnery courses. After completing training, Second Lieutenant Carruthers was assigned to Colonel...
WILLIAM J. (Bill) DALLAS
William J. Dallas was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma in 1922. He was called into active duty in 1940 and then transferred to the Army Air Corps in 1942. He went through flight training and after receiving his wings as an Army Aviator Bill was assigned to the 303rd Bomb Group (Heavy). The 303rd Group flew B-17 flying fortress bombers and it was one of the early arriving bombardment groups sent to England and assigned to the 8th Air Force. On March 26, 1944, the 303rd Bomb Group sent 20 aircraft on a bombing mission over occupied France. That was the 128th combat mission for the group; they were to attack an Operation Crossbow target, that being a special missile launching site...
KERRY G. MERRITT
Kerry Merritt was born in Luling, Texas in 1925, the youngest in a family of three brothers. The Merritts moved to a farm at Lockhart, three miles out on the San Marcos road, when Kerry was about a year and a half old. During the great Depression, the family operated the Merritt Dairy. Starting at 4 a.m. they milked thirty cows, bottled the milk and delivered it to peoples doorsteps, ten cents a quart. The father drove the truck and youngest son, Kerry, delivered the milk and picked up the empties at the homes along the route. Then, it was time for the boys to go to school. There are no days off for a dairy and the family never had a vacation break during the years the...
ARNOLD E. (ANDY) KAUFFMAN
Arnold E. Kauffman was born in New York City in 1922. He grew up in Yonkers and joined the New York National Guard in early 1941. After several months in the Guard, he volunteered for service in the Army Air Corps and on August 21, 1942, he entered active duty. He went through a succession of training courses including the Airplane Mechanics School at Amarillo Army Air Field in Texas, the B-17 Specialist School in Seattle, Washington and Aerial Gunnery School at Wendover, Utah. In 1943 he completed training on the Heavy Bomber, B-17, Flying Fortress. A new heavy bombardment group, the 457th, was activated in July 1943 and Andy was assigned to it. He joined a flight crew of...
WILLIAM G. (Bill) ORR
William G. Orr was born in San Antonio in 1923. He grew up on a family farm near Carrizo Springs (Zavala County) and graduated from Carrizo Springs High School with the class of 1941. He enrolled at Texas A&M and while a student there he also joined a unit of the Army Reserve. At the end of the next year, he did not return to school after the Christmas holiday break, and very quickly thereafter he received his call-up notice. Bill entered active duty on March 1, 1943 and was sent to Camp Hood, Texas for Basic Training. After his individual training, Bill was ordered to Camp Luis Obispo, California and assigned to the 6th Infantry Division. He arrived there in early June...
RUBEN ESPINOZA
Ruben Espinoza was born in Lockhart, Texas in 1930. He grew up there in the care of his grandmother and attended school until sometime in his twelfth year. Although very young, he did some work at the Baker Theatre in Lockhart and learned to run the movie projector, a skill he used to advantage in later years. When he was thirteen, he was sent to live with his sister in San Antonio where he continued to attend public schools for another two years. At age fifteen he moved out on his own, lived in a rented room, worked as a projectionist in a movie theatre and also worked in a grocery store on weekends. Two years later, just days after his seventeenth birthday, Ruben visited...
CURTISS A. (CURT) MARTELL
Curtiss A. Martell was born in Minot, North Dakota in 1923. During his early childhood his mother moved with him to Royal Oak, Michigan where they lived with her parents. He attended school there until, when he was nine years old, they moved into the city of Detroit. Curtiss graduated from Cass Technical School in Detroit and then went to Michigan State for one year. He studied architecture and took a job with an architectural firm while continuing his education by taking correspondence courses. He was disappointed with the low pay and decided to switch to the automotive industry instead, so he found employment with General Motors truck division in Pontiac. Although he was...
HERMAN C. HAYDON
Herman C. Haydon was born in 1922. His family had a ranch at that time on Hurst Creek in what has now become Lakeway in Austin, Texas. His lineage traces back to the earliest pioneer settlers of the area. His grandmother Hudson was from the family for which Hudson Bend, on the Colorado River above Austin, took its name. When he was three years old, the Haydons moved to Leander, and later to Liberty Hill. Herman left Liberty Hill High School when his family moved from there back to Leander; and a few months later, on March 20, 1941 he enlisted in the Army and entered active duty the same day. He was sent to San Antonio, went through Basic Training at Camp Bullis, and then was...
JOHN EVAN
John Evan was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1914, the second of seven children born to Austrian immigrant parents. Mike Evan and Marie Elavsky had first met onboard the ship bringing them to America (about 1910-11), and married shortly after their arrival. Initially, Mike Evan worked in a foundry until he developed health problems, after which he took up farming on the outskirts of Minneapolis (at Brooklyn Center), where he raised vegetables and marketed them in the city. In 1924 the Evan family moved to a 200-acre farm outside the little town of Arnold in Chippewa County, Wisconsin. They started a dairy operation with 20 Holstein milk cows and John and his three brothers...
PAUL C. ANDERSEN
Paul Andersen was born in Redfield, South Dakota in 1917; one of six children born to August and Hedvig (Kollewe) Andersen. Both parents had immigrated separately from Copenhagen, Denmark and married in America. His father was a dry cleaner and his mother worked as a seamstress in Redfield. The children were growing up at home during the worst years of the great depression and Paul and his brothers interrupted their public schooling to take whatever jobs could be had to augment the family income. Paul laid out of school for one year, working at Montgomery Ward for 25 cents per hour. He later graduated from Redfield High School with the Class of 1937. He was working for the...