LONG, JOHN W. JR. Aug 8, 1945 age 22 DNB Leyte, PI

JOHN WILLIAM LONG, JR. b. Dec 19, 1922 Detroit d. Aug 8, 1945 Died Non Battle

Dulag Strip, Leyte, PI

2^nd Lt O-2024078 Army Air force 63^rd Squad 403^rd Troop Carrier Group

Buried Manila American Cemetery, Philippines

Parents: John W. Long & Louise Margaret (Dailey)

According news in a wartime edition of Redford’s Outpost newspaper, “A C-47 transport plane pilot, Lt. John W. Long Jr., a Redford High graduate and overseas 16 months, was killed in a plane crash, August 8 on Leyte."

However,  Aviation Archaeological Research accident report for the crash is n a Stinson L-5 plane Serial #42-98700 Squad 9AES Group 571 ASG, pilot Long, John W Jr. PHI Dulag Strip, Leyte. His headstone Record lists 2 Lt 63 SQ 403 Trp Carr Go. Both have date of death as Aug 8, 1945.

The 9 AES (Aeromedical Evacuation Squad) purpose was to evacuate wounded military personnel and civilians from areas of danger to medical facilities using military transport aircraft.  They flew Douglas C-47’s. The ASG is Air Service Group, a designation changed in June 1942 from Air Base Groups.

But what happened in either case is the same: Lt Long, pilot, crash landed following mechanical trouble at the Dulag Strip field. 4 dead.

John Sr. and Louise Margaret were not together formuch time past the birth of son John. While trying to ensure the correct John Long is found, it seems they married 16 July 1922 in Fulton, Ohio. One record indicates John Sr. was born in Ohio, but a later census states he was Canadian.

Meanwhile Louise was busy. Whatever happened to John Sr., Feb 1930 had her marry Harold Crowell and at the census she and her son live with Crowell at 17387 Kentucky St .  but in 1935 they lived in Halifx, Nova Scotia (a possible link to John Sr. being Canadian born?) Then she divorces Harold  in 1939 and marries David Wenzel; in the 1940 census she and John live with him at 16265 Monica. She died 1985 in Florida, last name still Wenzel.

 John Jr registered for the draft on June 28, 1942 and notes his birth date as Dec 19, 1922, same year his parents married. He was 120 lbs, blue eyes, blonde hair and 5’6”. His notify party is Mrs. H.C. Cloutier. This turns out to be Mabel Dailey Cloutier, sister to Louise who lived at 14511 Strathmoor. As her sister, she was also married previously, but only two total marriages. Not wanting to read too much out of an item, it is curios when a person uses non-family for notify party, especially in a situation of unstable family relationships.

 

Unfortunately the activities' of John’s mother Louise are more easily tracked than those of John.

  

COOPER, JAMES June 9, 1944 age 21 MIA/FOD Adriatic

JAMES M. COOPER  b. 1925 Illinois d. June 9, 1944 Missing in Action/Finding of Death

North Adriatic Sea

2^nd Lt O-817853 Army Air Force Group H 772^nd Bomber Squad 463^rd Bomber Group Heavy

 

Buried Sicily-Rome American Cemetery, Tablets of the Missing, Italy

Parents: Manson M. & Margaret Frances (Mercer)

Sibling: John Charles ‘Jack’

18433 Burgess

17757 Cooley

So little is known of James Cooper at Redford or of Lt. Cooper who flew for the Army Air Force. His parents were both born in Indiana and they made their way to Illinois where Jim was born then on to Michigan where Jack was born.  Once in Detroit they first lived on Philadelphia where they rented for $55/month, then moved to Burgess where the house was only $40/mo. The war found them in a lovely house on Cooley, behind the Methodist church on Grand River.

They flew a B-17 Flying Fortress #42-97724 pilot Capt Maj Doyle L. Russell, co-pilot Jim Cooper. It was a crew of 10. It was part of the 463^rd BG called ‘The Swoose Group’. They flew a mission to Munich, Germany and on the return were hit by flak and ditched in the Adriatic Sea. They were lost at 45 18N, 13 12E, over the north Adriatic. Body nonrecoverable, no further pursuit. MACR 5852.

 

He was awarded the Air Medal and Purple Heart.

 

GISNER, ROBERT J. Dec 10, 1944 age 25 POW Luzon

ROBERT JAMES GISNER  b June 27, 1917 Schenectady, NY d. Dec 10, 1942

Prisoner of War Central Luzon, Philippines

Torpedoman’s Mate 2c Navy USS Canopus AS 9

Buried Manila American Cemetery, Wall of the Missing, Philippines

15750 Rockdale

Parents: Isaac Leroy & Laura

Siblings: Walter, James Leroy

His family came to Detroit from New York State, the most common migration pattern for Michigan back in the 1830s. Isaac was a die worker. They lived in the house at 15750 Rockdale since the 1920s , and yes there is a boarded up house behind the overgrowth in the photo.



Robert attended Redford but his younger brother James is the one who shows up in photos playing the trombone in the band in 1940. Already in Aug 1935 Robert enlisted in the Navy. When the attack at Pearl Harbor happened he already completed a tour and immediately re-enlisted then was sent to the Philippines.



Navy Muster Roll

He served abroad the USS Canopus, a submarine support vessel. On Dec 7, 1941 the Canopus lay at Cavite Navy Yard as a tender to Submarine Squadron 20. In the days that followed the men worked day and night to repair ships damaged in the daily air raids in addition to keeping her brood of submarines at sea. With the Army falling back on Manila, Canopus sailed to Marveles Bay at the tip of Bataan on Christmas Day. Dec 29 she received her first direct bomb hit. A 500 pound armor piercing bomb penetrated all deck and exploded on the propeller shaft house. Six sailor were killed mostly from scalding and fires in the engine rooms and magazines. The men were buried at seas at the tip of Bataan. On Jan 1, 1942 she received a second direct bomb hit. This time a fragmentation bomb exploded near the top of the towering smokestack resulting in substantial damage to the ship and injuries to 16 men of the gun crews. The crew continued to care for the small craft and sent her men into battle in the improvised naval battalion which fought on Bataan.



USS Canopus AS 9

Disguised as a bombed out, listing, abandoned hulk, smoke pots were placed around the ship giving the appearance of an abandoned hulk by day while at night the ship hummed with activity. Her crew worked at a fevered pace repairing the smaller ships left behind and keeping the submarines in action.

Upon the surrender of Bataan on the night of April 8 the Canopus was ordered scuttled in Marveles Bay to deny her use to the enemy. She was backed off into deep water under her own power and then was laid to rest by her own men. Her crew were evacuated to Corregidor on Feb 12, 1942 and served with the Marines. Nearly all the crewmen were captured at the fall of Corregidor and spent the rest of the war in Japanese POW camps.

Robert went ashore April 10, 1942. He died as a POW from Beriberi Dec 10, 1942. He received a Purple Heart.

Earl Anderson was a crewman on the Canopus and a POW. He gave a vivid account of his experiences in a memoir: http://as9.larryshomeport.com/html/anderson.html

DEMERRITT, ROBERT P. June 26, 1945 age 20 KIA Japan

ROBERT PAUL DEMERRITT  b. July 30, 1924 Michigan d. June 26, 1945 Killed in Action Japan

S Sgt 36588295 Army Air Force 421^st Bomb Squad 504^th Bomber Very Heavy

Buried Honolulu Tablets of the Missing, Hawaii

Parents: Este Edward & Mabel Pauline (Paulson)

Siblings: William Edward, Doris Pauline, Sally Jean, Marjorie Irene, Anne Marie, Yvonne, step sister Elizabeth M. DeMerritt

12610 Stoepel

16708 Oakfield

Pauline was born in North Dakota. She married Este in Aug 17, 1923 and became mother to his daughter Elizabeth and soon added 7 more children. Este was a VP at Schiller Trucking Co.  They paid $81 monthly rent for the Stoepel duplex but in 1940 rented the Oakfield house for $45 a month. Perhaps the Depression years accounted for the big change in rents.

 
Robert graduated from Redford in June 1942 and did his draft registration in Dec of that year in Detroit. He was 18, 6’, 155 lbs with blue eyes and blonde hair.

His squadron continued attacking urban areas with incendiary raids until the end of the war in Aug 1945, attacking major Japanese cities, causing massive destruction of urbanize areas. They also conducted raids against strategic objectives, bombing aircraft factories, chemical plants, oil refineries and other targets in Japan. The squadron flew its last combat missions on Aug 14 when hostilities ended.

 

He was declared MIA June 26, 1945. The body was not recovered. Robert received an Air Medal w/three oak cluster, the Distinguished Flying Cross and Purple Heart.

 

MARKS, AUGUST P. May 31, 1945 age 21 DNB Lake Lucerne

AUGUST PETER MARKS, JR  b Mar 14, 1924 Detroit d May 31, 1945 Died Non Battle

Lake Lucerne, Victorville, California

2^nd Lt 2064979 Army Air Corp March Field, CA



Gus 1936

 

Buried Grand Lawn Cemetery, Detroit

Parents: August P. & Adelle

Sibling: Anna
 

His parents were both born in Lithuania/Russia, but spoke Polish, immigrating about 1912/3. They came from another area of evolving countries. Their name originally was Markewicz, but it was changed in 1939 to Marks. In 1930 Father August was a machinist in an auto factory but in WWII he served at Camp Custer in Battle Creek in the Quartermaster Corps Training School for Teamsters.



Gus with Anna



Young Gus graduated from Redford in 1942 and June of that year registered for the draft in Detroit. Tall at 6’1”, 175 lbs with brown eyes and black hair. He served as an Aviation Cadet at the Pampa Air Field in Pampa, Texas.He had some striking photos taken of himself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gus with Girlfriend

 

In June 1944 he was honorably discharged to accept the commission of 2^nd Lt at March Field, Riverside, CA as a training pilot. He was in a B-25 Mitchell Bomber on a training flight over bombing ranges north of the San Bernardino Mountains when the plane crashed and he was killed.

AUSTIN, EDWARD L. June 7, 1945 age 20 MIA Saipan

EDWARD LEON AUSTIN  b. June 14, 1925 Michigan d. June 7, 1945

Missing in Action Saipan

2^nd Lt. O-2076496 Army Air Corps 421^st BS 504^th BG #5 Very Heavy

Buried Memorial Tablet of the Missing, Honolulu

Parents: John & Ruth (Keller)

Sibling: Bernice   

High School 1943

Spouse: Margaret Dolores Thornton


Parents came from Arkansas & Missouri, repeating that common migration trail looking for work in Detroit’s burgeoning auto factories. In 1930 John was a laborer in an auto factory but by 1940 he had a more specialized position as a trimmer. Ruth was the manager of an apartment house. Their home addresses don’t place them near the high school, but possibly Edward took the bus across town to Redford.

He graduated January 1943 and registered that same year on his birthday for the draft in Detroit. He worked with the Army Map Service was 137 lbs, 5’9” with brown eyes and black hair. Already in the Air Corps, he married Margaret Dolores Thornton in Detroit Jan 22, 1945. They had an all too brief war time marriage; Margaret remarried 1947.

B-29 over Japan

He served in the Army Air Force with the 504^th Bomber Group, Very Heavy, 421^st Bomber Squad. Because of aircraft availability initial training missions were flown with Boeing B-17 Flying fortress aircraft. Once the squadron completed training it moved to Tinian in the Mariana Island in the Central Pacific in January 1945. Its mission was the strategic bombardment of the Japanese Home Islands and the destruction of Japan’s war-making capability.

Mission 189 – 409 B-29’s escorted by 138 FC-P-51’s attacked Osaka with 2, 592 tons of incendiary bombs. Two B-29’s and on P-51 are lost. The crew of B-29 #42-24834, Albatross, commanded by Capt James B. Collier, departed from Tinian June 7, 1945. Edward was the radar operator on the crew of 11.

From MACR 15700 report: Everything seemed quite normal. No-one realized that the fuel was so low. At 1915k without warning, Number 2 engine backfired, was out of fuel, and was feathered. The airplane commander told the men in the back to prepare to bail out. He then started calling his distress to Lotus Tower on VHF Channel “B”. No use of the regular emergency frequencies was made. At 1935K Number 3 engine was out of fuel, and the men in the back stated to bail out. The pilot asked the navigator to give the radio operator a position report to send, but it was discovered that the radio operator had already left the plane. At the start of the bail out the altitude was 3500 ft, IAS 170 miles per hour. Preparation for Bail Out: Bomb-bay doors were opened and wheels were let down. The crew fastened their parachutes and secured their one-man rafts to their parachutes.

Bail-Out – Personnel: In back, the gunner went first from the rear bomb-bay, followed by the left gunner and the right gunner. Bail out of tail gunner unknown. In front, the radio operator and the navigator left through the front bomb-by. The radar operator probably left by the front bomb-bay. The bombardier, engineer, co-pilot, and airplane commander went through the nose wheel well in that order.
The sea was rough with 10 ft. swells. 4 crew members were MIA, 2 KIA; remainder returned to duty. 

PLACE, RICHARD L Nov 18, 1944 age 21 MIA/FOD North Italy

RICHARD LELAND PLACE  b. July 23, 1923 Detroit d. Nov 18, 1944

Missing in Action/Finding of Death North Italy

2^nd Lt O-710167 US Air Force 57th Fighter Group 66th Fighter Squad

Buried Oak View Cemetery, Royal Oak, Michigan

8853 Birwood

16524 Glastonbury

 
Parents: Leland Fulton & Grace M
Sibling: Robert Raymond   
 

Leland was born in New York. In 1930 in the family home at 8853 Birwood they had a 14 year old boarder from Scotland living with them in the duplex they owned. The census only gives the bare facts, no background explanation. Leland was a purchasing agent. They later lived in Rosedale Park, 16524 Glastonbury.

Ford Trade School 1941

Robert graduated from Redford, then went to Ford Trade School. The school was based on Henry Ford’s belief of young boys learning by doing.  He received a degree in mechanical engineering from the Edison Institute of Technology when it was a private educational school, before it evolved into Greenfield Village and museum.  When he registered for the draft June 29, 1942 the 5’10”, 155 lb grown eyes brown haired young man worked at Lincoln Motors. He entered the service in Feb 1943.  

 

He was stationed at Aloe air Field, Victoria, TX where he did advanced single-engine training for fighter pilots. Robert flew a P-47D #44-20119 as a Thunderbolt fighter pilot attached to a pursuit squadron. On Nov 18, 1944 he flew out of  Grossoto Main airport in Italy on a strafing pass in Northern Italy.  Lt. Place flew too close to the tree tops and caught his belly tank on a tree. The tank was ripped off and burned. The ship hit the ground flat and skidded quite a distance over an open field. It came to rest near a road where the remains of the ship caught fire and burned. According to an eyewitness report from another plane, there was a slight possibility that the pilot got out. The account from the lead plane of the group was that the pilot was not seen to leave the aircraft. Lt. Place had been overseas one month.

 

 

 

 

 

A memorial solemn high mass was sung for him at St. Mary’s of Redford on April 5, 1945.

A military reburial service was held Nov 27, 1949 at Oak View Cemetery.

JUECKSTOCK, FERDINAND A July 11, 1944 age 18 DNB Texas

FERDINAND ALPHONSE JUECKSTOCK  b. July 20, 1925 Ontario, Canada d. July 11, 1944

Died Non Battle El Paso, Texas

Pfc 36889915 Army Biggs Field, TX

Buried Detroit

Parents: Ferdinand Herman & Florence Ida May (Thrower)

Siblings: Mary Ann (Tomchick), Susie (Webb)

Young Ferdinand and his mother were born in Canada. The two older girls and the father were all born in Michigan. In 1930 father Ferdinand was a real estate broker and mother Flo an insurance sales agent, very unusual at that time. Expect the real estate business was bad in the 1930’s and by 1940 Ferdinand was a metal heater for a car company. Both sisters were married and out of the house by 1940 when the Jueckstocks lived at 10811 Outer Dr, now gone.

 

Ferdinand did his draft registration July 26, 1943 in Detroit as a naturalized citizen. He was 198 lbs, 5’11” with blue eyes brown hair. He was stationed at Biggs Field, Texas. On July 11, 1944 he was the gunner on a routine training flight. It was a night flight. Several military personnel and nearby El Paso residents saw the plane crash. One resident who was sitting on his front lawn with neighbors at the time said: “I watched the plane and knew it would never make the mountain. The plane was not having motor trouble, but it just didn’t have enough elevation. We noticed that, after the plane’s lights revealed the nearness of the mountain, it tried to gain altitude, but it was too close to the mountain.” It hit the mountain squarely then there were 3 or 4 explosions. It was 11:07 pm. They saw the burning plane which leaped hundreds of feet into the air. Ferdinand death certificate describes the burns over his entire body.

A 13 foot white iron cross was placed on the east side of Mt. Franklin marking the spot where the eight Army fliers lost their lives. The cross was erected by Manhattan Presbyterian Church, Manhattan Baptist Church and Boy Scouts Troop 33. The names of the airmen were painted on a heavy steel plate which had formed the back of the pilot’s seat; it was found by the group when they ascended the mountain to erect the cross. Names of the airman killed were painted on the plate. The 210 lb cross, cement, water and other materials were carried to the site by crewmen from Biggs Field, relatives and others in Sept 1944.

A weathered cross which may have been the original was gone either from wind or vandals and a new cross placed there. Satellite photos show what looks to be the steel plate on an outcrop just down the top of the ridge from the KTSM-FM antenna.

 

SEIBERT, WARREN L. Dec 24, 1944 age 24 POW/KIA Germany

WARREN LOVELACE SEIBERT  b. Sept 24, 1920 Pontiac d. Dec 24, 1944

Prisoner of War / Killed In Action Gerolstein, Germany

Pfc 36591666 Army 422 Inf Reg 106th Inf Div

Buried Luxembourg American Cemetery, Luxembourg

Parents: Warren Raymond & Oral May (Lovelace)

Siblings: Donald W., Monica D., Oral L., Gertrude Ann
Spouse: Rose Jean Agee
Child: Janet (Sokolosky) ?

There is Warren Raymond born in Petoskey who on Jan 26, 1920, in Pontiac, marries Oral May Lovelace born in Bad Axe. He was living in Oakland Co and worked for Oakland Motor,; Oral worked as a telephone operator in Bad Axe. From that start they went to Holland Township where he again worked as an auto salesman. But with the Depression, 1940 found them in Detroit with Warren now working as a welder.

 

Redford 1940

 

 

Warren was active during his time at Redford. ROTC was one actively where he was in a group with Boris Lapping and Hugh Weber, also named on the Memorial Plaque. He enlisted in Oct 1940 in the Michigan National Guard. His draft registration was Feb 16, 1942. Warren stood 6’2”, 134 lbs with brown hair and eyes. He worked at National Twist Drill and Tool Co.



Yearbook Prediction

Oct 26, 1943 he married Rose Jean Agee. From one source it seems they had children; there is a Janet Seibert, born 1945, at Cass Technical High but no source to verify Warren as her father.

The 422nd Inf Reg went into combat in the Schnee-Eifel Area of Germany on Dec 10, 1944. On Dec 16 they were hit by the German Ardennes counter-offensive and quickly cut off. Several sectors of the regimental zone received heavy artillery fire and ground attacks. At 5:30 am on Dec 16 the temperature in Bastogne, Belgium was 14° F. Poorly equipped American forces suffered greatly while German forces, drawing on years of experience fighting in the Soviet Union, were equipped with warm, practical clothing.

On Dec 18 orders by radio directed the  422nd and 423rd Inf Regiments to attack and destroy enemy forces at Schonberg and continue along the St. Vith road to clear the enemy from that road which was a principal supply route for the Allies. In the afternoon of Dec 19, having no resupply of food or ammunition or evacuation of casualties for the past four days, the two regiments surrendered to the Germans. Of the 7,001 men missing in action at the end of the battle, 6,697 were captured, 6,500 of whom would return home; that left 197 who did not survive the camps. 564 were killed in action, 1,246 were wounded. It was the largest mass U.S. surrender of WWII.

They were marched some 50 km to Gerolstein. It was Dulag 377, a transit camp thru which all POWs passed for processing. From there they were marched or moved by box car further into Germany.

Warren was shot while trying to escape at Gerolstein.

MCQUILLAN, FRANCIS B. May 18, 1945 age 19 MIA/KIA Okinawa

FRANCIS B. MCQUILLAN  b. 1926 Michigan d. May 18, 1945 Missing in Action/Killed in Action

Pvt 16177511 Army 307^th Inf Reg 77^th Inf Div

Buried Honolulu Tablets of the Missing, Hawaii

Parents: LaVerne William & Hortense Elizabeth (Gable)

Siblings: William, James Thomas, Edward Joseph, Margaret Patricia , George Arthur,  Bruce

15552 Wakenden, Redford

LaVerne was born in Howell and Hortense in Flint. In 1917 they married in Flint. For a time they lived in the very rural area of Nankin Twp (later divied up between various western Wayne Co cities). He was a die maker and by the time they had their house on Wakenden in Redford he worked as a designing engineer for an auto factory. In addition to the 2 parents there were 7 children in their 1,200 sq foot home, but at least no boarders or in-laws.

Francis graduated from Redford in Jan 1943; even thou he lied in Redford Twp, students were eligible to attend Detroit HS due to the lack of a full service high school. He then attended University of Detroit college of engineering. He worked as a junior draftsman at Ex-Cell-O Corp. and was an A.S.T.P. student at Michigan State College. He had plans for a great future.

Then he enlisted Sept 20, 1944 at Fort Sheridan, Ill. Sent overseas in Feb 1945. 2 of his brothers were also in the military.

From History.net: Along the 96th Division’s western flank, the 77th Infantry Division battled through its own hell, particularly at Ishimmi Ridge, a 350-foot rise one-third of a mile in front of Shuri. Before dawn on May 17, Lieutenant Theodore S. Bell led 204 men of the 307th Regiment to its crest, then waited for the enemy barrage that would inevitably come once daylight arrived. The Japanese delivered a deafening response, as mortar and artillery fire mixed with unbelievably thick machine-gun fire from both flanks and the nearby heights at Shuri. By 10 a.m., all but one of the regiment’s 60mm mortars had been destroyed, and most of its radios had been knocked out.

All day long the regiment withstood heavy fire as supplies rapidly diminished. By nightfall, the isolated unit pulled back to its command post in a last-ditch stand to hold onto the ridge, hoping that reinforcements would arrive before the Japanese overran their positions. One relief force tried to reach the beleaguered men, but had to turn back before gaining the crest because of stiff Japanese resistance.

Fighting continued the next morning. When soldiers exhausted their supplies of grenades or bullets, they crawled to the bodies of fallen comrades to retrieve whatever ammunition they could find there. Some wounded men asked their buddies to prop them up and put a weapon in their hands so they could help fight, but by late afternoon only six reinforcements–one officer and five men–had been able to battle through the Japanese to reach the perimeter. Later that day a few more men arrived with fresh supplies, but the situation for the 307th looked bleak. Help finally arrived late on the third day, when men from the 306th Regiment punched a corridor through to the surrounded men. As each fresh soldier checked in, an exhausted GI from the 307th was able to leave his position and stumble down to rear areas for much-needed rest. The regiment paid dearly for Ishimmi Ridge. Of the 204 men who charged up on May 17, only 48 returned on May 20 without serious injury.

Francis was listed as Missing in Action. There is a hospital admission card from May 1945 that lists him KIA battle casualty, but a casualty list indicates he is ‘nonrecoverable’. He did not make it off the ridge.

He received a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart.

COOK, NORMAN G. Nov 9, 1944 age 21 KIA Germany

NORMAN GRAMLEY COOK  b. Dec 29, 1922 d. Nov 9, 1944 Killed in Action Germany

S Sgt 36577596 Army 112^th Inf Reg 28^th Inf Div

Buried Parkview Memorial Cemetery, Livonia, Michigan

Parents: Oscar Gordon & Gertrude Violet (Keeling)

Siblings: Airetta, Oscar Gordon Jr., Helen Gertrude, Earl Roy, Joan, James, Robert

His parents came up from  Missouri and Arkansas. Oscar worked in the auto factory and with his wife had 8 children in their Brightmoor neighborhood. It was a neighborhood of residents of mixed origins all living the dream of work and a home. Alas today it is a neighborhood of overgrown lots, garbage piles and boarded up, long abandoned structures. By 1940 they owned their home and Oscar worked for an airplane manufacturer.

The 112^th Inf Reg plowed through France and Germany participating in the capture of Paris, then went on to the Huertgen Forest and the bitter fighting that took place. At one point, after the fight for Kommerscheidt, the regiment was reduced to 300 men just prior to the Battle of Bluge fought in Dec.

His Headstone Application has the Regiment and Division corrected on the back side.

FIKE, HEWITT Dec 31, 1943 age 21 KIA New Guinea

HEWITT EDWARD FIKE TAYLOR  b. Mar 11, 1922 Litchfield, Mich d. Dec 31, 1943 Killed in Action New Britain, New Guinea

Pfc 430471 USMCR Co. M 3^rd Battalion, 7^th Marine, 1^st Div

15735 Pierson

 

Buried Ft. Wm McKinley, Manila, Philippines

Parents: Ronald H & Eva A (Dubois)

Siblings: Virginia, Roland H. Jr   
 

Hewitt’s parent came from Iowa and Ill to join Detroit’s growing workforce. His ancestry shows families constantly on the move, from Iowa and Missouri, to Illinois to Litchfield then Detroit. Americans historically are a very mobile bunch always looking for open land and later shifting boom towns for employment. The Fike's lived many years in the 850 sq ft house where they raised their family. Roland Sr. first worked as an auto company metal worker, then was a tinsmith in an adding machine factory. Daughter Virginia worked as a stenographer in the same factory and young Hewitt when he registered for the draft was also at Burroughs Adding Machine Co. I wonder if it was the plant down on Second Avenue that I passed regularly when taking the bus to Wayne State University.

High School 1939

Hewitt graduated from Redford in 1939 and first worked as a grocery store clerk before going to Burroughs. His draft registration was June 29, 1942 when he was 5’7”, 135 lbs with blue eyes and brown hair.

 

 

By October 1942 he is on the Marine Muster Rolls. Oct 1943 finds him on a ship with the 2^nd Bn 8^th Marines. On Dec 26, 1943 the division landed at Cape Gloucester on New Britain. As part of the campaign to secure New Guines the combat on New Britain took place in some of the most rugged terrain anywhere on earth. Clothing, paper, leather – all quickly rotted or fell apart in the intense humidity and heavy rainfall. Weapons and ammunition corroded almost in front of men’s eyes. Marines moved out from the beachhead into the nearly impenetrable jungle to locate and destroy the Japanese defenders. Securing Hill 150, Aogiri Ridge and Hill 660, the division’s infantry regiments secured a lodgment around the landing beaches at Borgen Bay.

 

Hewitt received a Purple Heart.