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 Americas 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...
Patriot Stories from the United States Army
DAVID A. TOSH
David A. Tosh was born in Cherokee County, Texas in 1972. His father had served in the Air Force during Vietnam, following which he enrolled in the University of Texas at Austin, studying under ROTC scholarship. When his father was commissioned in 1978, six year-old David proudly helped pin on his dads gold Second Lieutenant bars during the ceremony that was held in the LBJ Library. David attended public schools in Texas and New Mexico and graduated from Manzano High School in Albuquerque. He then attended Sam Houston State University in Huntsville. Following his graduation in 1994, Dave went to work in SW Houston as a police officer. But, that life changed suddenly after...
SERVANDO C. VARELA
Servando Varela was born in 1923 in New Braunfels, Texas where his family had a farm near the city. When Servando was still a young child they moved to Garfield where they continued farming until 1939 when his family moved into Austin. In December 1942, Servando married Mary Resendez and they were living in Austin when he was drafted into the Army for service in World War II. He was inducted on February 25, 1943 at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio and was immediately sent by train to Camp White near Medford Oregon. The 300th Engineer Combat Battalion was activated March 1, 1943 at Camp White Oregon, and Servando Varela, assigned to Company B, was one of the battalions...
MARTIN L. ALLDAY
(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 Martins 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
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 Jacks story. Jack Salter completed basic training at the Marine Corps...
ALAN BABIN
(This is a continuing story still in progress) Alan Richard Babin, Jr. was born in 1980 at Laughlin Air Force Base near Del Rio, Texas. When he was five years old his parents moved to Bakersfield, California. His only sibling, sister, Christy, was born after Alan had started to elementary school and he progressed on through middle school while they lived in Bakersfield. In August 1994 the Babin family moved to Round Rock, Texas where Alan attended Round Rock High School. He ran Cross Country in school sports, participated in city league baseball, and trained in karate. Following High School, he had employment in several local businesses and was working at Blockbuster Video on...
MANUEL CASTILLO
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. Manuels father was a painter, but the times were hard. There was seldom enough money from that work, so most years the Castillos 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 seasons cotton crop was finished in the late Fall. In most years, by the time the Castillos returned to Austin, it was too late in the school term for Manuel to enroll for that years classes. It took him 3 years to complete...
STEPHEN J. BODNAR
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...
ROBERT A. HEFFORD
Robert A. Hefford was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1933. His family lived in Melrose, north of Boston throughout his childhood years. After graduating from Melrose High School, Bob then went through Northeastern University, in Boston, where he graduated in June 1957 as a Distinguished Military Graduate of the Army ROTC program. He was commissioned as a Regular Army Second Lieutenant, Signal Corps. After Officers Basic Course he was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where he went through Airborne training and received his parachutists badge. He was then accepted for flight training, received his Army Aviator rating at Fort Rucker, Alabama...
FLETCHER W. HARRIS. JR.
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...
RAYMOND M. DIAZ
Raymond Diaz was born in Austin, Texas in 1946. He grew up in a Spanish language home in South Austin and that made life difficult for him in his early years in English-only elementary school. He graduated from Travis High School in the spring of 1966 and soon received his draft notice. About this time, he was dating a girl from Salado, a Miss Mary Trevino. Raymond was inducted into the Army on October 13, 1966. Ray went through Basic Training in Fort Polk, Louisiana and then was sent through Advanced Individual Training as a Medical Corpsman at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. From there, he went through Airborne training and received his jump wings at Fort Benning,...
JOHN E. PRICE
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...