Dearborn Co, IN: Pictorial History Volume 2, 1940-1945

By Turner Publishing

A pictorial history of Dearborn County, IN from 1940-1945 that draws upon the resources of the Aurora and Lawrenceburg newspapers of 1940-1945, the Dearborn County Recorder's office and oral account of veterans and families of veterans, as well as the D-Day Museum in New Orleans, the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson Field, and the Patton Tank Museum at Fort Knox.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
• Release date: Mar 8, 2001
• ISBN: 9781681623900

Book preview

Introduction

In introducing this book to you, to explain some of the production considerations, several emotions will probably surface. First and foremost is pride. We all can be proud of the Dearborn County people and the part they played in World War II. We are told by professional historians that the Second World War was the biggest single event in all of history. It was fought on most continents and on all the oceans. Over 50 million people were killed, hundreds of millions wounded, not to mention the incalculable destruction of property. Not only were political forms and boundaries altered, but social and economic norms were changed forever.

In America some 16 million men and women served in the armed forces, and others did their part on the home front. Unlike any other war, every single person in Dearborn County was touched by WWII. Everyone had a spouse, father, sibling, sweetheart or friend in the fighting services. Dearborn Countians served in all parts of the armed forces: infantry, artillery, submarines, battleships, tanks, Marines, Coast Guards, bombers, gliders and mountain troops. They served in all theaters: from Alaska, Iceland and Murmansk in the North to New Guinea and Australia in the South, and from Iran, India and China in the East to Germany, Central Europe and Yugoslavia in the West.

They were definitely part of The Greatest Generation as newscaster and author Tom Brokaw referred to them. We feel that it is important to preserve the memories of this time period in Dearborn County and the World. And so we have attempted to tell their stories against the background of the military phases of World War II. Our aim is to present local history in light of world events for a better appreciation of both. The younger generation today as well as future generations need to be reminded that their forebears once led this nation in a great struggle to defeat the forces of dictators who sought to rob the world of freedom and democracy.

While it gives us great pleasure in publishing this account, it differs from Volume I in that it only covers six years. We were constrained in doing this by the concentration of events and the multitude of Dearborn County people all interacting in this span of time. We are thankful to all those who loaned the Historical Society their photos, without which this book would have been impossible as a pictorial history volume.

Nowhere in our search was there a complete list of Dearborn County veterans of WWII to be found, not in the Armed Forces records nor in the Veteran Administration files on a national, state or local level. So, we drew upon three main resources for local information: the Aurora and Lawrenceburg newspapers of 1940-1945; the Dearborn County Recorder’s office; and oral accounts of veterans themselves or their families if deceased. Resources used for the military history of WWII are listed in the Bibliography. In addition we made use of the D-Day Museum in New Orleans, the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson Field, and the Patton Tank Museum at Fort Knox.

Finally we feel a deep loss as well as gratitude for those who gave their lives in WWII. To these men, who made the supreme sacrifice for their nation, county, and you and me, we dedicate this book, Volume II of the Pictorial History of Dearborn County.

Robert Parker, Editor

A group of Dearborn County draftees and well-wishers, wait at the Courthouse for the bus which will take them to Fort Knox for entry into the military service.

CHAPTER 1

On the Brink of War

World War II began in Europe in September 1939, but it wasn’t called that as yet. It began when Germany, in her plans for conquest, suddenly and unannounced invaded Poland. Poland counted on her allies England and France for help, but their forces did not reach Poland, and the Nazi blitzkrieg (German for lightning attacks) overran the Poles in a matter of days.

In America, in Dearborn County, this war and the one in China were overseas battles we watched on newsreels in movie houses, at the Palace Theater in Aurora or the Walnut or the Liberty theaters in Lawrenceburg. Like most Americans, we weren’t convinced that these foreign wars across the seas posed a threat to the U.S. As Dearborn County entered 1940, life was lived at a fairly normal level, especially since The Depression was over locally and most Dearborn Countians were employed, many at the two major and one smaller distilleries in Lawrenceburg and Greendale.

A newspaper editorial at the time, summed up the hopes of most Americans: We have a peaceful New Years. Let’s keep it. A look at our peace then, according to the 1940 Census, showed that 1 of every 5 Americans owned a car, and 1 in 7 had a telephone. But 1 of 3 families got by without an indoor toilet, and 2 of 5 had no bathtub or shower. Most homes, however, had a radio. Besides listening to the President’s fireside chats, millions turned in on Saturday nights to hear WLS’s National Barn Dance, starring Lulu Belle and Scotty, and the Hoosier Hot Shots. On Sundays, the favorite programs were: The Jack Benny Comedy Hour and The Kate Smith Show.

However, conditions in Europe continued to change rapidly, by May 1940, the German Army had smashed Denmark and Norway, blitzed through Holland and Belgium, and by June were in Paris. By now, most Americans had changed their minds about national security. President Roosevelt began to take steps to correct America’s unpreparedness (the U.S., before WWII, ranked 18th in the world in terms of military strength, behind the tiny nation of Romania). At his urging, Congress passed the first peacetime draft, the Selective Service Act, in September of 1940. He also urged the nation to become an Arsenal of Democracy, to help supply England - and eventually Russia - with planes, munitions and food they so desperately needed in their stand against Hitler and Mussolini. As the year progressed, the U.S took other defense measures. In particular, F.D.R., came up with a short of war policy to gain time for rearmament; to help keep Great Britain fighting the Axis; and to restrain Japan’s aggression in China and Asia by peaceful means.

Congressman Eugene Crowe from Indiana’s 9th District, which included Dearborn County, was sent to Panama officially to inspect the defense work performed on the Canal. Congress had appropriated funds for bomb-proofing the old locks, the construction of a new set of locks and increasing all U.S. military forces in the Canal Zone. Mr. Crowe reported the work was making this important area into a Gibraltar of America.

One of the first young men from Dearborn County, CHARLES BENNETT, from Greendale, enlisted in the Army during this period before the Draft was in operation. In July, others from Dearborn County followed: GULLEY, STEVENS, and HULBERT from Lawrenceburg, and NELSON, ALLEN and MISIK from Dillsboro. ROBERT MARTIN next followed these men to the Army Air Corps, HARRY GODFREY to the Army, JOHN JACKSON of Bright to the Sea Bees, and PHILLIP REESE of Logan to the Navy. Other Dearborn Countians, who were already in the Military Services or who would go in before the operation of the Draft began in November 1940, are noted in the following paragraphs.

DAVID LOOMIS was Dearborn County’s oldest, in point of service, in any branch of the Military. He was a Chief Petty Officer in the U.S.Navy. He had enlisted in 1912, and was in a submarine patrol operating out of French ports during WWI. For three years before Pearl Harbor, he had duty at Manila and in Hawaii. In WWII, he would serve aboard the cruiser, U.S.S. Astoria, which would take part in the battle of Midway and the battle of Savo Island, where the ship would be sunk by the Japanese. David would be injured and sent to an Australian hospital to mend. After recovery and more combat duty, he would retire from the Navy as a Lt. Commander in 1946.

David Loomis

Arnold Cash

W. Lee Crouch

Walter Hallfarth

John W. Hughes

Carlyle Gulley

Woodrow Wilson Gulley

Francis (Ted) Fiorito

Clayton Wells

Leroy Baker

EDWARD GENTER, of Lawrenceburg, was also a Chief Petty Officer in the Navy. He had enlisted in April 1917. During WWI, he served with the Submarine Detector Division in Europe. During his naval career, Edward served in various types of ships, making ports in almost every important nation. In addition to WWI, he served in the Nicaraguan and Cuban uprisings. During 1940-1941 he was serving with the Navy submarine forces.

JOHN WYMOND, of Aurora, was a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy, having graduated from the Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1924. In 1940, he was serving aboard a new aircraft carrier, the U.S.S. Wasp, which would see action in the Mediterranean at Malta, and then in the Pacific. John would lose his life when the U.S.S. Wasp was torpedoed and sunk while taking reinforcements to Guadalcanal in 1942 (see Chapter 2).

JOHN CRAMER, of Lawrenceburg, had enlisted in the Navy in 1927, and became a Chief Petty Officer. He served on the cruiser, U.S.S. Omaha, and then he was sent to the Asiatic Station for duty on the U.S.S. Pittsburgh. He visited many Asian ports, including Tokyo and Nagasaki. His next duty was aboard a new cruiser, U.S.S. Chester, operating in European waters. His duty was then at the Recruiting Training School in Norfolk, after which he did recruiting in the Cincinnati area.

J. ROMAIN CLAUSE was a Chief Petty Officer in the Navy in the 1930s. He was from Aurora and had been stationed in Houston, Texas, and in September 1941 was transferred to the submarine base at Key West, Florida. Later he would become an officer at the Submarine School in New London and be commissioned an Ensign.

EARL WAFFORD, of Dillsboro, joined the Navy in 1930 and became a deep-sea diver. He would have duty aboard the U.S.S. Mallard, based in Panama, when war was declared. Later he would serve on the coast of Africa. When his ship was attacked there, he was caught in a deep dive, but was brought up without mishap. Later he would be assigned to the Philippines as a diving instructor. After the war he did dives to check the effects of the atomic bomb in the sea off Bikini. In 1948, he would make the deepest dive on record at that time. He would retire in 1950 as a Chief Petty Officer.

RALPH POUND enlisted in the Marines in 1940. He would take part in the initial landing on Guadalcanal where he would be wounded. He would be sent to a naval hospital in California where he would spend a year and a half recovering, and be discharged in 1943.

WALTER HALLFARTH, of Aurora, enlisted in the Navy in 1932. In 1935, while serving on the battleship, U.S.S. Pennsylvania, he answered a call for volunteers for submarine duty. He served on the submarine S-28 and then had recruiting duty in Redwood City, California. During WWII, he would have duty on the following subs: U.S.S. S-27, U.S.S. S-28 and the U.S.S. Searaven. He would make the Navy his career and serve during the Korean Conflict. Then he would serve in the Special Weapons Department for two more years and retire as a Chief Petty Officer.

FRED PHIESTER, of Lawrenceburg, enlisted in the Army at the age of 17 in 1934, finished his hitch and returned home. He re-enlisted to make the Army his career and would serve 20 more years. During WWII, he would serve as a Technical Sergeant in the Infantry in the ETO where he would receive the Bronze Star.

Fred Phiester

CARLYLE GULLEY, of Lawrenceburg, enlisted in the Army on July 15, 1940 and became a Staff Sergeant. He would fight in the ETO in the Rhineland and Central Europe until October 1945.

WOODROW W. GULLEY, of Dillsboro, entered the Army on August 2, 1940. He would become a Technical Sergeant serving in France and Germany. As a Radio Operator, he would serve with the 754th Tank Battalion.

MARION BRUCE, of Lawrenceburg, had enlisted in the Army in April of 1927 and became a Private First Class. In 1930, he served three years in Panama, and then was stationed in Utah. He re-enlisted and was sent to the Philippines with an Infantry Unit at Clark Field. The Japanese would take him prisoner when Corregidor and Bataan surrendered in 1942. He would be transferred to a POW Camp in Japan, where in 1944 he would die as the result of a broken hip.

LEE CROUCH, of Lawrenceburg, was serving in the Marine Corps. He had received an appointment to the Marine Officer’s School in June 1936, after graduating from Purdue University. He served two years with the Marine Company aboard the battleship, U.S.S. Colorado. By 1942, he would be in action on Guadalcanal and Tulagi, and then on to the Central Pacific battles (see Chapter 7).

AUGUST (GUS) SCHREIBER, of Aurora, joined the Marines in March 1939. He qualified for a medal as an Expert Marksman.

He would spend five months of combat on Guadalcanal, taking part in the initial landings and the defense of the island’s airstrip. As a Staff Sergeant, he would be in command of a telephone and radio communication section of 14 men. Altogether, he would be involved in five major battles against the Japanese in the Pacific Theater.

TILDEN (TIL) KARR, of Aurora, enlisted in the Navy in August of 1939, and became a Signalman First Class. He would serve in both the Atlantic and the Pacific, aboard the following ships: U.S.S. Patoka (an oiler), U.S.S. West Point, U.S.S. Boyle, and U.S.S. Parke. He would also participate in the landings in North Africa and Sicily.

CLAYTON WELLS, of Guilford, joined the Navy early in 1940. He would serve aboard the carrier, Saratoga, in the battles of the Guadalcanal Seas, the invasion of Truk, Marshalls and Iwo Jima. He would retire after 20 years as a Machinist Mate First Class.

JOHN W. HUGHES, of Aurora, enlisted in the Navy in June of 1940. He would make the Navy his career, serving at many stateside bases, in addition to sea duty aboard aircraft carriers in WWII in the Pacific. Later he would take part in Vietnam War when he and his son would serve together on the U.S.S. Constellation. John would advance to the rank of Chief Petty Officer.

ARNOLD CASH, of the Moores Hill area, enlisted in the Army on July 23, 1940. He would serve as a Truck Driver in a Field Artillery Battalion in the Italian Campaign, Southern France, and Central Europe. He would earn 5 battle stars and be awarded a Bronze Star for outstanding performance of duty in combat.

WESLEY B. TAYLOR, of Wright’s Corner-Guilford area, graduated from Purdue’s ROTC program in 1934 and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant. He was called to active duty in 1940 and sent to Panama for three years. As a result of contacting malaria, he would return to the States to train troops at Camp Crowder. He would later serve in Japan, Korea and Iran. He would retire in 1964 as a Lt. Colonel after a career of thirty years.

ISAAC C. POWELL entered the Merchant Marines in 1940, but would transfer to the Navy in 1944 and serve aboard the U.S.S. Charles Carroll in the Pacific. He would remain in the Navy until September 1945 when he would receive a medical discharge.

Isaac C. Powell

Wesley Taylor (middle)

LESLIE BECRAFT entered the Army in 1940, but he could only serve for three months.

JOHN R. JACKSON, of Bright entered the Navy in October of 1940. He trained for the Sea Bees at Camp Peary, Virginia.

JACK GOODPASTER, of Aurora, enlisted in the Navy in 1939 and would see action in the Atlantic by June 1941, even before the U.S. was at war with Germany. As a Torpedoman First Class on the destroyer, U.S.S. Rowan, he would be battling Nazi submarine packs. At that time, the U.S.Navy was protecting Allied convoys, carrying supplies to Britain and Russia. In November 1941, his ship sailed from Portland, Maine in response to a distress call from a convoy under attack sailing from Scotland. Goodpaster would also make convoy runs to Murmansk, Russia. He would later serve in the Pacific, altogether receiving 14 battle stars for engagements against both the Germans and the Japanese.

EARL E. BOCOCK, of Dillsboro, enlisted in the U.S.Navy in 1929. He served aboard many ships, which would include the battleship, U.S.S. Missouri, in the Pacific Theater during WWII. He would serve 25 years, retiring in March of 1951 as a Chief Petty Officer.

Earl Bocock

ROY CORNS, of Lawrenceburg, was commissioned a Second Lieutenant on the completion of several summers of Civilian Military Training Camps. In July 1940, he was ordered to active duty and sent to Panama. He was promoted to First Lieutenant and completed 14 months in the Canal Zone. After an illness, he would be transferred to inactive status. He would then enter the Canadian Army and serve in the European Theater.

HERBERT CASH served a hitch in the Army prior to the 1940s. He re-enlisted for WWII and would serve convoy duty in the Mediterranean in 1944.

STANLEY RUNYAN, of Aurora, enlisted in the Marine Air Force in 1937. After completing his hitch, he entered the Army Air Corps in 1942. He would fly P-38 fighter planes in the South Pacific where he would lose his life while searching for a downed comrade in the sea.

ROY REDWINE, of the Dillsboro area, joined the Navy on November 4, 1940, and became a Chief Turret Captain. He would serve in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans on the battleship, U.S.S. Arkansas, and the cruiser, U.S.S. Astoria.

HARRY GODFREY enlisted in the U.S.Army at Fort Knox in 1940 and served in WWII as a Private.

GEORGE OWENS enlisted in the U.S. Army in October of 1939. He would serve with an Engineering unit during WWII, building military roads in North Africa and Italy.

LOREN (HOBE) ELLIOTT, of Lawrencburg, began naval officer’s training on November 2, 1940. Hobe went to New York and embarked on a training cruise in the Caribbean Sea. He would then become a member of the Reserve Battalion at the Naval Academy, complete a 90-day course and be commissioned an Ensign in 1941. During WWII, he would be assigned to the Engineering Department of the transport, U.S.S. Orizaba, and see service in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans and the Mediterranean Sea, including the invasion of North Africa and Sicily. He would become Chief Engineer of the U.S.S. Orizaba and stay aboard temporarily when the ship was given to the Brazilian Navy after the war. For this service, he was given a letter of Commendation from the Brazilian Captain. During the Korean Conflict, he would be recalled to active duty. Afterwards he would command the Cincinnati Naval Reserve Unit, and then retire with the rank of Commander.

Loren (Hobe) Elliott and the Naval Transport, U.S.S. Orizaba, on which he served.

The Draft Gets Underway

The new Selective Training and Service Act, commonly referred to as the Draft, required all men between the ages of 21 and 35 to register with local draft boards on October 16, 1940. Every man registering received a draft number.

Two weeks after the registration, President Roosevelt, Secretary of War Stimson and other officials met in Washington to determine the order in which the registrants would be called for training. The officials used a glass fish bowl, which had been used for the same purpose in 1917 for WWI. The bowl contained 9000 capsules, in which were numbered slips of paper corresponding to the ones assigned each registrant by their draft boards. A blindfolded Stimson drew the first capsule and handed it to the President. F.D.R. extracted the paper and read the number, 158, into a battery of microphones. The process continued with other officials until all numbers had been selected.

Next, the registrants were called to appear before the local boards in the order of the selected numbers. They would then be given a preliminary physical exam and classified as to their fitness for military service. Boards could place a man in any one of a dozen classifications, ranging from 1-A (available for service) to 4-F (physically, mentally or morally unfit for service). Deferment from the draft was based on such reasons as: being a conscientious objector; employment in an essential occupation; and economic dependence of one’s family. Marriage alone did not warrant deferment. Before the war was over, there was a total of 8 different registrations, and the age span changed to 18 years through 65 years of age, though only those between 18 and 36 were called. Three-member draft boards represented each county in a state, or each 30,000 of population within larger counties. Each board was supplemented with a government appeal agent and a physician. In Dearborn County, the first draft board appointed by Governor Townsend was composed of Clifford Edwards and Hewson Wright of Lawrenceburg, and ex-mayor of Aurora, Walter Kerr. Dr. G. F. Smith was appointed draft physician, E. G. Bielby appeal agent, and Arthur Ritzmann as Advisory Board member.

A Board of Appeals also represented each congressional district. Local people who were named to this board for the Ninth District were Dr. J.C. Elliott of Guilford, and Charles A. Lowe of Lawrenceburg. The Clerk for the board was Geneva Meyers, with Anna Kurtzman as assistant.

The man who had the distinction of being called first in Dearborn county was JACOB KABAKOFF 23, of Aurora. Jake, as he was known, had just returned with his new wife from their honeymoon in New York when he received the news of being called first in the draft since he held number 158. However, there is no indication that he passed the physical exam to be drafted.

Dearborn County’s first draft contingent, the group who was actually the first to enter military training, consisted of only three men. This was Dearborn County’s part of Indiana’s first quota. Two of the three: TERRANCE SMITH, of Aurora, and JOHN BIEKER, of Lawrenceburg, went as volunteers; and FLOYD STAMPER, of Harrison, was inducted. They left for Fort Benjamin Harrison on November 19, 1940.

Of these first three young men, Terrance (Ted) Smith would be killed in action in the Battle of the Bulge in 1944 in Belgium. By that time, he had become a Master Sergeant and the holder of the Bronze Star medal for capturing a German officer and 23 enlisted men.

Richard Bieker was assigned to clerical work at Fort Harrison, but would be transferred, at his request, to the Army Air Corps at a station in California. He would advance to the rating of Sergeant.

Floyd Stamper, of Harrison Township, would serve with Terry Smith until April 1941. He would become married while serving in the Army, but little else is known about his experience in the war.

The second contingent from Dearborn County, consisted of 30 men. They left Lawrenceburg for Ft. Knox on January 17, 1941. Many wives, sweethearts, and relatives were present to bid farewell to the draftees. Judge Charles Lowe gave them a farewell speech. In future departing ceremonies, there would also be band music and, sometimes, fireworks.

These men, along with those listed previously and those listed in the following paragraphs, who entered the service before America declared war, were the vanguard of some 3,500 men and women from Dearborn County who served their nation in the military during World War II.

Dr. J.C. Elliott

ELLIS REES, of Aurora-Lawrenceburg road, enlisted in the Navy on January 2, 1941. He would first serve aboard a battleship and then on other types of ships during a 22 year career in the Navy. Most of his duty would be in the field of sonar (sound echoing for distance determination). He would advance to the rank of Chief Petty Officer before retiring.

Ellis Rees

LEROY BAKER, of Aurora, who belonged to the Indiana National Guard, was called to active duty in January 1941. His unit would train at Camp Shelby, Mississippi. In 1943, they would be sent to Hawaii; and in May of 1945, Leroy would be assigned to General Mac Arthur’s staff in the Philippines. In may of 1946, he would separate from the service with the rank of full Colonel.

LELAND TRESTER, of Aurora, enlisted in the Army Air Corps on January 28, 1941. As a Corporal, he would first serve as a radio operator, and later take training for medical administrative duty.

WILLARD ESTER, of Guilford, entered the Army in January 1941. He was sent to Fort Knox to become a member of an Armored Unit. In 1943 he would be commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant. In June of 1943, he would lose his life in an accident at Camp Polk, Louisiana. His untimely death would occur 8 days before his daughter’s birth.

Willard Ester

GILBERT NOLTE, of Farmer’s Retreat, entered the Army Infantry in January of 1991, but was released after serving for eight months by reason of dependency. He was a Private First Class.

CHESTER PURVIS entered the U.S. Army in January 1941.