WWII

FRANK W. DENIUS

FRANK W. DENIUS

Mar 1, 2006 | ,

Franklin W. Denius spent his early childhood in Athens, Texas where his family lived and where he attended public schools. As a young teenager, he went off to Schreiner Institute in Kerrville, a military prep school. He graduated there in 1942 and then enrolled, as a member of the Army Program for 17 year-olds, at the Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina. After two semesters he enlisted in the Army and entered active duty June 3, 1943. Private Denius, after basic artillery training was assigned to the 30th Infantry Division. After training at various camps, the 30th Infantry Division moved to Camp Myles Standish, Massachusetts; sailed from the Port of Embarkation in Boston...

CARL H. KLEIN

Feb 1, 2006 | ,

Carl H. Klein was born in 1919 in Seton Hospital in Austin, Texas. His family lived in Creedmoor until, when Carl was eight, they moved into Austin where his father was employed by the city utility department. Carl graduated from Austin High School in 1937 and then took courses at Nixon-Clay Commercial College. He worked for the legislative service of the Chamber of Commerce until drafted, and then was inducted into the Army at Fort Sam Houston, Texas on June 20, 1941. For the next two years, four months, Carl went through training at Fort Sam Houston and Camp Wolters in Texas, and at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin. He was a Medic assigned to 2nd Battalion, 38th Infantry, 2nd Infantry...

CHARLES H. MCCOY

Jan 1, 2006 | ,

Charles H. McCoy was born in 1924 in San Angelo, Texas. In early childhood, his family moved to Dalhart and after eight years there they lived in Lubbock for another seven years. They then lived for two years in Dallas. At that point, still before America’s entry into WWII, Charles enlisted in the Navy. He entered active duty on November 1, 1941, went through basic training in San Diego and then was assigned to duty aboard the Submarine USS Trout, (SS-202). The Trout accomplished a daring mission after the fall of Manila in the Philippines. During its second war patrol, Trout delivered ammunition to the besieged garrison on Corregidor Island and took aboard gold, silver and...

ARTHUR (ART) RICE

Mar 1, 2005 | ,

"Bataan Death March” Survivor Past Senior Vice Commander, Chapter 1919 (USAF, WWII, Pacific) Article March 2005 Arthur Rice was born in 1916 in Janesville, Wisconsin. His family moved from Janesville to Milwaukee and Art grew up there, attending Roosevelt Junior High School, North Division High School, and then graduating from Vocational School. He was eighteen when he enlisted in the Army at Fort MacArthur, California in July 1935. His first unit of assignment was Battery B, 59th Coast Artillery on “topside” Corregidor Island guarding Manila Bay. He returned to the United States in August 1937 and was discharged. After a break in service, Art says, “I let an old WWI veteran...

MARTIN L. ALLDAY

MARTIN L. ALLDAY

Jan 1, 2005 | ,

(Army, WWII, Pacific) Article January 2005 Martin L. Allday was born in El Dorado, Arkansas in 1926. When he was three years old his family moved to Waco, Texas, and after five years there moved again to Austin. His father died there in 1935 and his mother then started work as a state employee, in a job arranged by Governor Allred (who had once been given work by Martin’s father). Martin attended public schools in Austin from age nine through his junior year of High School. His mother then sent him to Schreiner Institute in Kerrville where he graduated from High School in 1943 and then completed his first year of college in the Spring of 1944. Shortly afterward he received...

JACK SALTER

Dec 1, 2004 | ,

Jack Salter was born in Newton, Massachusetts in 1924. He enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve on June 4, 1942 in Phoenix, Arizona with term of service “for the duration of the National Emergency.” He would soon become part of an elite raiding force in the Pacific that specialized in hit-and-run attacks deep in Japanese held areas, and he was wounded on one of the many combat operations that he participated in. During their short history, the Marine Corps Raiders became legendary in the South Pacific and their exploits were celebrated in the 1943 Hollywood film “Gung Ho,” starring Randolph Scott. Here is Jack’s story. Jack Salter completed basic training at the Marine Corps...

MANUEL CASTILLO

MANUEL CASTILLO

Jul 1, 2004 | ,

Manuel Castillo was born in South Austin in 1922 and, except for his WWII service in the Army, has lived there for his entire lifetime. Manuel’s father was a painter, but the times were hard. There was seldom enough money from that work, so most years the Castillo’s would go down to Corpus Christi in late Summer where the whole family could make money picking cotton. When that was gone they would then go out to West Texas and continue to pick until the season’s cotton crop was finished in the late Fall. In most years, by the time the Castillo’s returned to Austin, it was too late in the school term for Manuel to enroll for that year’s classes. It took him 3 years to complete...

STEPHEN J. BODNAR

STEPHEN J. BODNAR

Jun 1, 2004 | ,

Stephen J. Bodnar was born in Carteret, New Jersey. He grew up there and graduated from Carteret High School in the Class of 1943. He enlisted in the Army shortly afterward and was inducted into the Army Specialized Training Program in October 1943. Under that program, enlistees would be sent to College and upon graduation would receive a commission in the Army Engineers. But, Steve had signed up just as the Army was about to terminate that program, and he was quickly diverted into the Infantry. In February 1944, he was assigned to Company I, 377th Infantry, 95th Infantry Division, then in training at Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania. After only a few months there, they shipped...

FLETCHER W. HARRIS. JR.

FLETCHER W. HARRIS. JR.

Apr 1, 2004 | ,

Fletcher Harris, Jr. was born in 1923 on Galveston Island, and is justly proud of the local area appellation, “BOI,” which stands for “Born on the Island.” He received reserve officer training at Castle Heights Military Academy and in August 1941 was commissioned Second Lieutenant, Infantry, in the Army Reserve. Following that, he was a student in the University of Tennessee, and remembers that he was in the Sigma Chi Fraternity House when he received his orders to active duty in April 1942. Fletcher served one year as an instructor at Camp Wolters, Texas. He was then assigned to the 69th Infantry Division in Mississippi where he received training in heavy weapons and...

JOHN E. PRICE

Feb 1, 2004 | ,

John E. Price was born in 1923. He graduated from high school in Oklahoma City and went to Dallas, where he worked for American Optical. He enrolled at Texas A&M and it wasn't until after receiving his draft notice that he finally got his parent's permission to enlist in the Air Corps. He went into the Army Air Corps, had basic training at Sheppard Field in Wichita Falls, then was sent to the cadre of a college training detachment at Peabody Institute in Nashville, Tennessee. Following that, he took preflight training at Selman Field in Monroe, Louisiana, and from there went to Pan American Airways Navigation School at the University of Miami in Coral Gables. One time when...

JOHN STAVAST

Jan 1, 2004 | ,

John is a veteran of WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. His experiences could fill a book, but, this article will only detail one very moving experience that he had in France with the infantry in WWII, and a few facts about his nearly 6 years as a POW during the war in Vietnam. Much additional information can be found about him on the internet and from numerous books about Vietnam POW’s. Our immediate Past Chapter Commander, John E. Stavast passed away Sunday, July 4, 2004. John Stavast was born in Denver in 1926. His family had moved to Pueblo, Colorado and he was attending high school when he enlisted in the Army Air Corps Aviation Cadet Program, entering active duty March 20, 1944....

BISHOP DAVIS (B.D.) McKENDREE

Jul 1, 2003 | ,

This survivor of the brutal conditions of the Japanese POW Camps in WWII never gave up his love of poetry, perhaps that helped him to survive. It is also a great wonder that, late in the war, he managed to survive three ocean trips on slow moving ships. In those days the U.S. submarines torpedoed everything that moved in Japanese waters. Bishop Davis McKendree was born in 1919 in the Texas Panhandle town of Vega, on the historic highway “Route 66.” One of his McKendree ancestors had been the first native-born American to become a bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church and that’s who he was named after. His family called him "Bish", and more recently he has been called,...