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In Memoriam
Members of .the Class of 1945W who Died in the Service of their Country
The following material is taken from the Preface and the biographical sketches in the book YALE MEN WHO DIED IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR by Eugene H. Cone published by the YaleUniversity Press in 1951. It was issued on the occasion of Yale;s 250th Anniversary
Their sholders held the sky suspended
They stood and earth's foundations stay
They fell in defense of a free world and, in a struggle which was not of their choosing, they played to the end the role to which they were assigned. In a world which so easily forgets those who have served it well, it behooves us to record those services whicli come closest to our own experience and knowledge. It is therefore with no purpose of arrogating to ourselves the virtue which was theirs that we perpetuate here the record of our 1945W classmates who died in the Second World War. They differ in no way from many a thousand others save only in the fact that they are ours. We of the Yale family remember them with humble pride, and we make record of them here to testify to that pride, to perpetuate the expression of our gratitude to them, and to bear witness to the sincerity of that belief which, in the hour of threatening danger, convinced them that there are horrors worse than war and a fate more to be feared than death. We make this record also to speak for them, to remind ourselves that while, in the hour of violent crisis, their shoulders held the sky suspended the responsibility has passed to us to see that, in the no less threatening crises of what we call peace, we keep faith with them and make sure that earth's foundations stay.
CLARTENCE W. MENDELL
To read a bio-sketch click on the name. You can alternatively scroll through the bio-sketches
THOMAS CHAPMAN ALDRICH
Private (1st class), Infantry, A.U.S.
Leyte, December 15, 1944
FREDERICK ANSON BROWN
Second Lieutenant, Army Air Forces
Nancy; France, April 27, 1944
BENJAMIN GLANTON CALDER
Air Cadet, U.S.N.R. (Aviation)
Corpus Christi, Texas, July 3, 1945.
WILLIAM JOHN CAMERON, JR.
Second Lieutenant, U.SM.C.R. (Aviation)
Near Daytona ,beach, Fla., August 9, 1944
TOWNSEND DOYLE
Ensign, U.S.N.R., (Aviation)
0ff Martha's Vineyard, Mass., September 16, 1944
CHARLES ST. CLAIR ELDER, JR.
Second Lieutenant, Army Air Forces
BurySt. Edmunds, England, January 5, 1945
EDWARD BURRELL FELDMEIER
Corporal, US.M.C.
Iwo Jima, March 5, 1945
JONATHAN GRANT FITCH
Private, Parachute Infantry, A.U.S.
Germany, March 24, 1945
FRANCIS JOSEPH FITZGERALD, JR.
Private (1st class), A.U.S.
Italy, December 20, 1943
DUNCAN FORBES, JR.
Private (1st class), Infantry, A.U.S.
Aachen, Germany, December 7, 1944
WENDELL HORACE GRIFFITH, JR.
Private, U.S.M.C.R.
Iwo Jima, March 14, 1945
ALBERT CRAWFORD HERRING, JR.
Sta# Sergeant, Army Air Forces
Belgiam, December 22, 1944
ROBERT LESLIE HOTT
Corporal, Combat Engineers, A.U.S.
France, January 23, 1945
WILLIAM WILSON IMLACH
Corporal, Army Air Forces
Hartford, Conn., May 30, 1943
CHARLES JARED INGERSOLL, JR.
Sergeant, Corps o/ Engineers, A.U.S.
Italy, May 14, 1944
BRUCE KYLE KEMP
First Lieutenant, Infantry, A.U.S.
Okinawa, April 21, 1945
DWIGHT ROLAND MacAFEE, JR.
Sergeant, Army Air Forces
India, July 11, 1945
JOHN BOYD MASON
Private (1st class), Infantry, A.U.S.
France, December 10, 1944
MARK CHARLES MELTZER, 3d
Ensign, U.S.N.R.
Boston, Mass., March 14, 1946
JOHN MILTON MILLLER, JR.
Second Lieutenant, Army Air Forces
OverMerseberg, Germany, November 25, 1944
JOHN CAMPBELL MOORE
Private, A.U.S.
NearBone, Algeria, November 26, 1943
THOMAS MGCLURE OWEN, JR.
Ensign, U S.N.R.
NearCedar Springs, Va.,February 23, 1945
JOHN SEARS PARSONS
Private, Infantry, A.U.S.
Luxembourg, December 30, 1944
DAVID FRANCIS REILLY
Technician (5th grade), Corps of Engineers, A.U.S.
Fort Devens, Mass., March 24, 1946
HARVEY ARTHUR ROSENBERG
Private (1st class), Infantry, A.U.S.
Luzon,Philipines, January 31, 1946
WILLIAM CARLTON RUNDBAKEN
Second Lieutenant, Army Air Forces
Over Czecho-Slovakia, December 17, 1944.
RALPH DAVIS SNEATH SAMPLE
Air Cadet, U.S.N.& (Aviation)
Pensacola, Fla., December‑ 13, 1943
EDGAR CLEMENT SCANLON, JR.
Second Lieutenant, Army Air Forces
Bernberd, Germany, June 29. 1944
FRANK EPPELE SHUMANN, JR.
Private (Ist class), U.S.M.C.R.
Okinawa, May 13, 1945
PETER WILLIAM SOMMER
First Lieutenant, Army Air Forces
OverEngland, January 20, 1945
JAMES BAUME STRYKER
Private (1st class), Infantry, A.U.S.
Germany, December 5, 1944
WILLIAM NORTH STURTEVANT, 2D
Ensign, U.S.N.R. (Aviation)
Jacksonville, Fla.,March 25, 1945
JOHN HOBART THOMPSON
Private (1st class), Infantry, A.U.S.
Germany, January 26, 1945
SAMUEL JOHNSON WALKER, JR.
Private, Army Air Forces
Scott Field, Ill., May 29, 1944
DAVID LANDON WEIRICK
Sergeant, Infantry, A.U.S.
Germany, February 17, 1945
WILLIAM KING WHITE, JR.
Second Lieutenant, Army Air Forces
NearLabrador, November 20, 1944
RICHARD SATTERLEE WILLIS
Corporal, U.S.M.C.R.
Iwo Jima, March 6, 1945
THOMAS CHAPMAN ALDRICH
Private 1st Class, Infantry, Army of the United States
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homas Aldrichenlisted in the Army on November 25, 1942, and became a member of the ground forces of the A.A.F. at Kearns, Utah.
He was ordered to the Lawson, GeneralHospital in Atlanta, Georgia, as a laboratory technician and then was transferred to the Army Specialized Training Program at WayneUniversity in Detroit, Michigan.
When the basic engineering course ended at Wayne Aldrich became an infantryman and was stationed at Camp Medford, Oregon, and several army camps in California. Aldrich went overseas in July, 1944, as part of the first wave of troops which landed on Leyte in the first invasion of the Philippine Islands on October 20, 1944. He was killed in action on December 15 when his unit ran into a pocket of resisting Japanese and he was struck by a machine‑gun bullet.
Thomas Aldrich was posthumously awarded the Order of the Purple Heart.
His father, C. Morgan Aldrich, Class of 1918, served in the first World War with the Yale Mobile Unit No. 39.
FREDERICK ANSON BROWN
Second Lieutenant, U.S, Army Air Forces
rederick Brownleft Yale to enlist in the Army on September 18, 1942. He was sent to Atlantic City, New Jersey, where he volunteered as an aerial gunner and took a course at Fort Myers, Florida.
Upon completion of this assignment, Brown became a sergeant and had instruction at the Salt Lake City Army Air Base as a junior radio operator. He was made a staff sergeant in March, 1943.
He was accepted as an aviation cadet and studied at the Santa Ana Army Air Base and Victorville, California. Brown was awarded his wings as a bombardier and commission as a second lieutenant on October 2, 1943. He was wing adjutant of his class at Victorville and one of four men in his class to receive special wings for meritorious achievement.
He was sent to Dalhart, Texas, and to Kearney, Nebraska, in February, 1944, for final training and then went overseas to England where he became bombardier of a B‑17.
Frederick Brown was killed while on a bombing mission over4Nancy,France, on April 27, 1944.
BENJAMIN GLANTON CALDER
Air Cadet, U.S. Naval Reserve
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ENJAMIN CALDERwas graduated from PhillipsAcademy in Andover, Massachusetts, and after one year at Yale enlisted as a private in the Marine Corps Reserve on February 27,1943.
He was promoted to corporal and completed a course in the Marine
CorpsSchool of Aerology at Cherry Point, North Carolina. After a competitive examination, he enlisted in the Naval Reserve as an aviation cadet on January 20, 1944, at Philadelphia.
Calder received training at Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania; Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Glenview, Illinois; and Corpus Christi, Texas.
On July 3, 1945, he was killed at the Corpus Christi Naval Air Training Base when the plane in which he was receiving instruction crashed. Just before his death, Benjamin Calder had received notification that he was to be given his commission as an officer in the aviation section of the Marine Corps Reserve.
WILLIAM JOHN CAMERON, JR.
Second Lieutenant, U.S. Marine Corps
Reserve (Aviation)
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hortly after receiving his wings as a pilot and commission as a second lieutenant in the M.C.R. on May 28, 1944, William Cameron wrote:
"I'm sorry I wasn't able to finish college because I know you would have been very pleased to have me become a Yale graduate, yet in a way it was all for the good. Perhaps, I could have finished college by getting into one of the various reserves but I just didn't feel that that was for me.
"I wanted to fly and I thought that, in that capacity, I could serve my country to a much better advantage. I hope you appreciated the way I felt and that having a son in the Marine Air Corps has made you somewhat proud for it surely has made me the proudest kid in the world to be a member of such an organization."
He left Yale on February 1, 1943, after his freshman year and entered active duty as an aviation cadet in March, 1943. After receiving his commission, William Cameron was transferred to the Daytona Beach, Florida, Naval Air Station for advance squadron drill as a fighter pilot and became flight leader of a squadron destined for active duty in the Pacific.
He was killed on August 9, 1944, about 14 miles northwest of the Daytona Beach Naval Air Station during a combat‑training flight when his plane dove toward the ground, went into a loop, and crashed. At the time of his death, Cameron had logged over 315 hours of flight and had shown a knack for gunnery and bombing techniques.
The commanding officer of his air station wrote: "His death was a personal loss to me and all of the officers and men with whom he was associated during the short time he was aboard this station. During that time, however, he proved himself a fine, brave officer anda true representative of the Navy."
And Rear Adm. A. C. McFall, Chief of Naval Air Operational Training, reported: "William was well thought of in Operational Training. It is our great regret that he was not destined to finish his course. It is with even greater sadness that we contemplate the loss of this fine, skillful, energetic young officer."
TOWNSEND DOYLE
Ensign, U.S. Naval Reserve Aviation
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OWNSEND DOYLEbecame a naval aviator as his father had in the first World War. A member of Pierson College while at Yale, he enlisted in the Navy V‑1 class and withdrew from the university on March 10, 1943, to go on active duty.
He received instruction at CornellUniversity and was on duty at the Naval Aviation Cadet Procurement Board in New York City until June, 1943, when he went to Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Doyle took primary flight training at the Naval Air Station, Olathe, Kansas, and intermediate instruction at the Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida. He received his pilot's wings and commission as an ensign on April 25, 1944. The Navy flew his father, Lt. Comdr. Jesse I. Doyle, to Pensacola so that he might pin his own World War I wings on his son.
Doyle qualified as a torpedo bomber pilot at Miami, Florida, and received instruction at the Carrier Qualification Training Unit in Glenview, Illinois. After reporting to the Atlantic Fleet Air Force headquarters at Norfolk, Virginia, he was sent to Quonset Point, Rhode Island.
Townsend Doyle became a member of Night Torpedo Squadron 43 for training purposes. He was killed off Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, on September 16, 1944, during combat glide‑bombing practice.
His brother, Pvt. Alexander Everett Doyle, U.S.M.C.R., was killed in action at Okinawa on June 18, 1945.
CHARLES ST. CLAIR ELDER, JR.
Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army Air Force
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harles Elder entered the A.A.F. on February 1, 1943, after leaving Yale. He was trained at the Bucknell University Junior College, Wilkes‑Barre, Pennsylvania; Nashville, Tennessee; Maxwell Field, Alabama; Lodwick Field, Lakeland, Florida; Courtland Army Air Field, Alabama; and Freeman Field, Seymour, Indiana.
He received his pilot's wings and commission as a second lieutenant on June 27, 1944. Elder was stationed in this country at the Lincoln, Nebraska, Army Air Field, the Army Air Base at Pueblo, Colorado, and at Topeka, Kansas.
He went overseas to England in December, 1944, and was attached to the 849th Bombardment Squadron, 490th Bomb Group.
Charles Elder was killed in a mid‑air collision over Bury St.Edmunds, England, on January 5, 1945. The formation in which his plane was flying was on the way to home base when another plane dropped down on his bomber, breaking it open in three places, and causing the death of all aboard both aircraft except three men.
One of the survivors of the accident wrote: "You have a right to be proud of Chilly [Charles]. I am very proud to have known him and to have been on his crew. He was one of the best fellows I have ever known."
Lt. Gen. Barney M. Giles, Deputy Commander of the A.A.F., said: "The painstaking manner in which he applied himself to assigned duties earned the praise and confidence of superiors. His untimely passing is a real loss to this organization, for he was an efficient officer who filled an important role well."
EDWARD BURRELL FELDMEIER
Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps
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t was in the struggle for Iwo Jima that Edward Feldmeier died on March 5,1945.
He left Yale in his freshman year to enlist in the U.S.M.C. in January, 1943, and had boot training at Parris Island, South Carolina. Volunteering for the Parachute Training School at New River, North Carolina, Feldmeier was promoted to private (1st class) when he left in April.
His next assignment was with the Fourth Parachute Battalion at Camp Pendleton, California, from June to December, 1943. When the paratroopers were broken up as an outfit, Edward Feldmeier became a member of Company A, 1st Battalion, 27th Marines of the Fifth Marine Division at CampPendleton. He was promoted to corporal and made squad leader of a rifle platoon.
The Fifth Division continued training at Hawaii and then sailed to take part in the initial assault on Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945.
For 14 days Edward Feldmeier inched his way across the island and was killed in action on March 5. He was posthumously awarded the Order of the Purple Heart.
A commemoration service was held in his honor in the First Presbyterian Church of Little Falls, New York, on Easter Sunday afternoon,April 1, 1945.
"Edward was without a doubt one of the very best Marines in this outfit," wrote Capt. John K. Hogan, his commanding officer. "He was both friend and co‑worker of mine. His platoon leader, Lieutenant Jesse Julian, thought the world of him. Throughout training and combat his example inspired all those in contact with him. To say we miss him is a gross understatement. All of us will be forever indebted to men like your son.
"Throughout every moment of our association, I had always the deepest respect for the integrity and industry of Edward as a Marine. He possessed a deep sense of responsibility and singleness of purpose. '
JONATHAN GRANT FITCH
Private (1st Class), Parachute Infantry
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ohnathan Fitch left Yale to enter the Army at Fort Devens, Massachusetts, in February, 1943.
His first assignment was to the Armored Force, Tanks, at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and then he was sent to take the Army Specialized Training Program engineering course at NapervilleCollege in Naperville, Illinois.
He was reassigned to the Armored Force at Camp Polk, Louisiana, volunteered for paratroop duty, and completed his training in this branch of the service at Fort Banning, Georgia.
Fitch sailed overseas from Fort George G. Meade, Maryland, in January, 1945, as a member of Headquarters Company, Second Battalion, 513th Parachute Infantry of the Seventeenth Airborne Division. Jonathan Fitch was killed in action in Germany on March 24, 1945, during the Anglo‑American airborne invasion across the WeserRiver. He was awarded the Order of the Purple Heart posthumously.
FRANCIS JOSEPH FITZGERALD, JR.
Private (1st Class), Army of the United States
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is father is director of physical education in the schools of West Haven, Connecticut, and FrancisFitzgerald, Jr. had also made his mark in the athletic world, both in high school and at Yale.
When he entered the university he enrolled in the Army R.O.T.C. unit and then the Army Reserve Corps. Fitzgerald was called to active duty in February, 1943, and was stationed at Camp Devens, Massachusetts, until March.
He received his basic training at Keesler Field, Mississippi, and was promoted to private (1st class in June. Francis Fitzgerald was sent to the ArmyAdministrationSchool at SamHoustonStateTeachers College in Huntsville, Texas, and completed a clerical course.
He was stationed at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, until September, 1943, when he went overseas to North Africa. He was attached to the Quartermaster Corps of the A.A.F. and assigned to the 12th Air Support Command.
Fitzgerald arrived in Italy in November, 1943. He was killed on December 20,1943, in an automobile collision near Caserta, Italy.
Lt. Col. Eugene C. Cropper, his commanding officer, said: "I write not only as the unit commander of the organization to which your son was assigned, but also in a closer capacity as the section head of the office in which he worked, where I had a closer opportunity to observe his work and character.
"He had been with us but a short time, this being the first organization to which he was assigned since coming overseas, but in the two months he was with us he won the friendship and respect of all the men of the organization, due to his friendliness, fairness, his general good nature and good disposition, and also his deeper qualities of character and personality."
DUNCAN FORBES, JR.
Private (!st Class).Field Artillery. Army of the United States
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HAVE just returned from another little excursion and in the bitter cold we are using a dugout which is rocking with the exchange of our shells and those of the Jerries," " wrote Duncan Forbes from the front lines at Aachen, Germany, on December 7, 1944. That night he was killed in action when his dugout caved in under a direct artillery hit.
He tried three times to enlist in the A.A.F. and the Army but was rejected by the services because of a bad heart until February, 1943, when he was accepted.
Forbes received basic training at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and qualified for OfficerCandidateSchool when he was asked to take examinations for the intelligence service of the Army. He passed the tests and qualified in French and foreign history for Intelligence. By mistake, he was sent to St. LouisUniversity in Missouri, where no course in these subjects was offered; he studied Italian instead as preparation for American Military Government duties.
Going overseas in May, 1944, Duncan Forbes remained with army intelligence in England and France through the summer and his first combat assignment was in Holland with a British‑Canadian motorized unit. By November, 1944, he was in Germany with the famous Lucky Seven Motorized Unit that made combat history at Bastogne. He was a member of Battery A of the 434th Armored Field Artillery Battalion at the time of his death.
"Duncan was a member of our section and rode in my vehicle," wrote his commanding officer. "I had come to know him very well and respected and admired him for his outstanding courage and devotion to duty. His willingness and ability to perform any task given him, and his pleasant nature, will not soon be forgotten by all of us who knew him.
"Often when the going got the toughest it was Duncan who kept the spirit of the men high with his courage and his wit. Your sorrow and ours in losing him is something beyond writing or speech. I can only say this‑we are proud to have known your son, and shall always remember him as the best of soldiers, and indeed the best of friends."
And one of his masters at the ChoateSchool said: "Duncan had such a rare spirit, such a friendliness for people that no matter where he was, he made a place for himself and was respected and loved."
At Yale he had been a member of BranfordCollege.
WENDELL HORACE GRIFFITH, JR.
Private, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve
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HEN the YaleCollege term ended in February, 1944, Wendell Griffith returned to his home in Webster Groves, Missouri, to enlist in the M.C.R. His father served with the rank of colonel in the Army as nutrition consultant in the European theater of operations.
He was called to active duty as a private on June 24, 1944, and received boot training at San Diego, California. His next assignment was to the Training Command of the Fleet Marine Force at Camp Pendleton, California.
Griffith went overseas in November to Guam as a member of Company B, 28th Replacement Draft of the Third Marine Division. In January, 1945, he was attached to Company A, Third Engineering Battalion of the Third Marine Division.
He participated in the assault on Iwo Jima, landing on that island shortly after March 3. On his last combat mission he went forward in advance of the infantry with a small group which successfully blew up Japanese‑held caves.
Wendell Griffith was killed atIwo Jima on March 14,1945. He was awarded the Order of the Purple Heart posthumously.
Lieut. Thomas J. Scanlon, his commanding officer, wrote:
"Private Griffith was assigned duty with the 3d Engineer Battalion, 3d Marine Division, from the 28th Replacement Draft. He did excellent work in mine removal with one of the units of this Battalion. He was then transferred to my platoon and almost immediately volunteered for a dangerous mission involving combat demolitions under fire. He performed his job with skill and bravery.
"On the 14th of March he was ordered to return to the command post with the above mentioned detail completed. Enroute to the command post he was shot through the head by an enemy rifle bullet and died instantly . . . . His death occurred shortly before the end of the campaign."
ALBERT CRAWFORD HERRING, JR.
Staff Sergeant, Airborne Division, Army of
the United States
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LBERT HERRING saw service overseas as a paratrooper and intelligence expert. A member of TimothyDwightCollege, he left Yale on April 30, 1943 to enter the Army and was stationed at Camp Upton, New York, until July, 1943.
He took his basic training in the A.A.F. at Greensboro, North Carolina, until December and was sent to the ArmyIntelligenceSchool, Camp Ritchie, Maryland. Herring was promoted to staff sergeant and went overseas on June 28, 1944, as a member of the 17th Airborne Division.
He was sent to a camp in France and later was transferred to the famous 101st Airborne Division. Albert Herring was killed at Bastogne at the height of the battle of the Bulge on December 22, 1944, while serving in the military intelligence section of a headquarters company.
Maj. Gen. Maxwell D. Taylor, commanding officer of the 101stAirborne Division, wrote: "His courageous example has had a pro found influence on all who knew him and h=s memory will always re
main with those who fought with him."
Albert Herring was posthumously awarded the Order of the Purple Heart.
EMMETT WALTER HESS
Ensign, U.S. Naval Reserve
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MMETT HESS, having prepared for college at the WillistonAcademy, studied at Yale under the Navy V‑12 program. He was transferred to the Plattsburg, New York, Naval Station for indoctrination, and then was assigned to the Submarine Chaser Training Center in Miami, Florida, for work in small.
He received his commission as an ensign and was assigned to the Advanced Amphibious Command in the Pacific, serving as a member of the landing craft LCI (L) 223. His first action was in the fight for consolidation of the northern Solomon Islands, especially the attacks on Bougainville.
Hess saw service in the long and costly Okinawa campaign and participated in the final occupation of Japan after V-J Day in September, 1945. He remained aboard the same landing craft which was assigned to mine‑sweeping operations in the East China Sea.
While en route to the United States to go on terminal leave in June, 1946, Emmett Hess was hospitalized in Pearl Harbor. He returned home and died on September 11, 1946, from a virus infection and poliomyelitis which he evidently had contracted while in Japan.
In his memory his parents established the Emmett Hess Scholarship Fund at Yale.
ROBERT LESLIE HOTT
Corporal, Corps of Engineers, Army of yhe
United States
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E had a way of making friends, and with the ease and sureness that make for true leadership, found himself at the front in all of the organizations which interested him," wrote a Kenmore, New York, newspaper about Robert Hott. The winner of a scholarship to Yale, Hott withdrew from the university, where he was a member of JonathanEdwardsCollege, on July 19, 1943, to enter the Army at Camp Upton, New York. He had basic training at Fort Eustis, Virginia, and on January 1, 1944, enrolled in the Army Specialized Training Program at City College of New York. He also was in the A.S.T.P. at BardCollege, and when this program was discontinued, he was, transferred to Camp Shelby, Mississippi, for infantry training.
On April 15, 1944, Hott was assigned to the 290th Battalion, Combat Engineers, and was promoted to corporal on October 1.
Hott went overseas, attended an army school for noncommissioned men in England, and landed in France on January 3, 1945.
He was killed in action in France at La Chapelle on January 23, 1945, and was posthumously awarded the Order of the Purple Heart.
His commanding officer, Capt. Stanley W. Stephenson, Jr., wrote: "Cp1. Hott had been a member of this organization for many months and had many friends among the personnel. . . . . His character, his work and his loyalty and courage find eternal gratitude in the hearts of all who knew him."
At Kunzelsau, Germany, the RobertL.HottMemorialBridge over the KocherRiver was dedicated in his memory by the 290th Battalion, Combat Engineers.
WILLIAM WILSON IMLACH
Corporal, U.S. Army Air Force
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ILLIAM WILSON IMLACH received his earliest association with military life at the San RafaelMilitaryAcademy in California where he was graduated in 1942 as captain of the cadet corps.
He entered the A.A.F. in February and went to Miami Beach in the spring of 1943 with a sizable Yale contingent to receive his basic training.
The Florida training camp was described by a classmate as "one-quarter concentration camp and three- quarters paradise in that order." The same writer reported that on the classification interviews "the Elis averaged ten or twenty points better than the 110 required on the General Classification Test for OfficerCandidateSchool."
Imlach's next duty was at the Casey Jones School of Aeronautics in Newark, New Jersey. He received a promotion to corporal, was enrolled in an airplane mechanics' course of the A.A.F. Technical Training Command, and was class leader of his unit.
On May 30, 1943, while on week‑end furlough at the home of his uncle in West Hartford, Connecticut, he died from injuries received as the result of a fall.
Lieut. Robert U. Ricklefs, who had served as William Imlach's headmaster at San Rafael Academy, wrote: "During Billy's stay at the Academy I had the pleasure and privilege of working very closely with him in connection with numerous activities and advising him in his academic work, and I feel that I knew him almost as well as I might know my own son. His integrity, seriousness of purpose and
all‑around American boy qualities endeared him to all opus and made him one of the finest boys ever to graduate from S.R.M.A."
CHARLES JARED INGERSOLL, JR.
Sergeant, Corps of Engineers, Army of the
United States
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ECOMINGca member of the Corps of Engineers soon after leaving Yale in the autumn of 1942, Jared Ingersoll was assigned to the 310th Engineer Battalion‑an outfit consisting largely of coal miners‑of the 85th Division at Camp Shelby, Mississippi. He served with the unit at the desert maneuver area in California, received a promotion to curl, ,f al in February, 1943, and to sergeant in September.
In December he went overseas to North Africa, having refused several opportunities to attend OfficerCandidateSchool because he liked his organization. He became expert in handling enemy mines in Africa and was ordered to Italy.
The 85th Division moved into the front line near Minturno on April 26, 1944, when Ingersoll, acting as platoon sergeant in the absence of the regular staff sergeant, first came under enemy artillery fire. "The example he set for his platoon was excellent," wrote his company commander.
During the next days Ingersoll was under constant enemy fire while working to destroy bridges and remove mines preparatory to a general advance.
On May 14, 1944, lie was ordered to clear out a mine field near three tanks which had been disabled by enemy mine action at the foot of Hill 85 west of Minturno, Italy. Meanwhile other squads under an officer were performing a similar function. While working in this mine field, his outfit came under intense artillery and mortar fire so he ordered part of his squad to retire while he and four men stayed to complete the mission. They started up a mule trail and were caught by a shell burst. Jared Ingersoll was killed instantly and others were wounded.
"I have been your son's Company Commander ever since the time he joined us," wrote Ca pt. Lawrence E. Kimbrough, "and I believe I knew him very well. "He was clean and outstanding as a non‑commissioned officer and was in line for future promotion."
Ingersoll was posthumously awarded the Order of the Purple Heart.
The New York Times wrote in an editorial:
"Two draft divisions‑the 85th (Ingersoll's) and the 88th, have been fighting their way with the Fifth Army's Second Corps through Santa Maria Infante, Itri, Fondo, Terracina. From now on, as long as this war is remembered, the blue clover leaf of the 88th and the 'C.D.' of the 85th or Custer Division will be badges of honor. These boys never intended to be soldiers, never wanted to be. Nevertheless, when they were needed for soldier's work they were found to have the soldier's qualities. They voted, on the Italian front, wordlessly or with words that will never get into the history books, for liberty, for righteousness, for all the things and people that they had loved at home."
BRUCE KYLE KEMP
First Lieutenant, Infantry, Army of
the United States
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RUCE KEMP fought throughout the successful Leyte campaign for possession of the Philippines before landing with the first assault wave on the beaches of the island of Okinawa on Easter Sunday, 1945. While serving as a platoon commander lie was wounded by a Japanese mortar shell on April 16 on Okinawa but remained in combat. He was killed in action on April 21, 1945.
He left Yale to volunteer for the Army in January, 1943, and was called to active duty at Fort Devens, Massachusetts, on February 26. After receiving basic training at Camp Croft, South Carolina, he was promoted to corporal on June 10 and assigned to OfficerCandidateSchool at Fort Benning, Georgia.
Kemp was graduated from this school and commissioned a second lieutenant on September 20, 1943. He was assigned to Company L, 353d Infantry, 89th Division on October 18, 1943. He requested a transfer to overseas duty and on May 18, 1944, was sent to Company M, 382d Infantry of the 96th Division.
He left the United States in July and landed on Leyte with the troops commanded by General MacArthur, serving throughout this difficult phase of the campaign for the liberation of the Philippines.
Bruce Kemp was promoted to first lieutenant on December 21, 1944. He landed at Okinawa on April 1, 1945, as commanding officer of a platoon of Company I, 382d Infantry, 96th Division.
DWIGHT ROLAND MACAFEE, JR.
Sergeant, U.S. Air Force
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WIGHT MACAFEE prepared for college at Belmont Hill School, Massachusetts, and like so many of his classmates, found himself '
m uniform after a brief time at Yale.
He attended a preflight training school at CoeCollege, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, but the quota for pilots had been filled when he reached the testing station at Santa Ana, California, and his particular group was reassigned. His next station was Scott Field, Illinois, at the school for radio operators. Then he had gunnery training at Yuma, Arizona.
MacAfee left Hunter Field, Georgia, on December 24, 1944, as a radio gunner on a B‑25 bomber. He was flown to India via Casablanca and Cairo and was stationed about 200 miles from Calcutta.
He flew approximately 50 combat missions with his crew, principally over Burma, and received a promotion to sergeant. He was also awarded the Air Medal for his actions in combat.
MacAfee had been on an administrative flight and was returning to his home base when his plane crashed at the junction of the Upper and Lower Kumar rivers, near the town of Rajair, Bengal, India, on July 11, 1945. Interment services for the young airman were held four days later and he was buried on a knoll overlooking the KumarValley near Rajair.
JOHN BOYD MASON
Private First Class, Infantry, Army of
The United States
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N one of the last letters he wrote to his parents, John Mason expressed the hope that he might be able to continue his Yale education which had been interrupted when he entered the Army on June 30, 1943.
He received his basic training at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and became a student in the Army Specialized Training Program at the University of Iowa until April, 1944.
Mason was transferred to CampPhillips, Salina, Kansas, when the A.S.T.P. unit was discontinued, and became a member of the Infantry. He went overseas with the 324th Infantry, 44th Division, in September, 1944, and was sent to France where he saw combat action.
On December 10, 1944, John Mason was serving as a scout when his unit was assigned the mission of securing a railroad crossing south of Meirhauf, France. He reached a point about 50 yards from the railroad when he was killed by a bullet. He was posthumously awarded the Order of the Purple Heart.
At Yale he had been a member of PiersonCollege.
MARK CHARLES MELTZER, 3D
Ensign, U.S. Naval Reserve
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ARK MELTZER wrote from the escort carrier White Plains in a humorous vein about his duties: "For myself, I find that despite the nominal job of disbursing officer, I have a 20 millimeter battery, the S Division, coding board watches and several other sundry ways to pass the 28 hour days."
Meltzer served aboard this ship from January, 1945, until it returned to the United States in March, 1946. He reported in one of his letters that in three months the White Plainshad covered over 30,000 miles. On this trip, which took place in the spring of 1945, the small carrier went toOkinawa "where we flew a couple of Marine Corsair squadrons in to hastily prepared bases. We had a couple of close calls but no damage."
A member ofDavenport and Trumbull colleges, Mark Meltzer had left Yale on July 1, 1944, to go on active duty and was called up as a midshipman in the Naval Reserve on August 25. His first assignment was to the NavySupplyCorpsSchool at HarvardUniversity where he studied from August, 1944, until January, 1945. He received his commission as ensign on January 10,1945, and immediately went aboard the White Plainsas assistant paymaster. His battle station was above deck in charge of a gun crew.
On March 1, 1946, when the White Plains reached Boston to be decommissioned Meltzer left the ship to enter the U.S. Naval Hospital at Chelsea, Massachusetts. He had been taken ill with cancer aboard ship while passing through the Panama Canal and he died at the naval hospital on March 14, 1946.
JOHN MILTON MILLER, JR.
Second Lieutenant, U.S. Air Force
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OHN MILLER entered the A.A.F. after withdrawing from Yale, where he was a member of TimothyDwightCollege, on April 6, 1943.
He studied flying successively at the Nashville, Tennessee, ArmyAirCenter; Maxwell Field, Alabama; Harrell Field, Arkansas; Malden Field, Missouri; and the Stuttgart, Arkansas, Army Air Field, where he received his pilot's wings and commission as a second lieutenant on March 11, 1944. He was assigned to training in four‑engine planes at Hendricks Field, Florida, and transferred to MacDill Field, Tampa, Florida.
He flew his own B‑17 to England on September 13, 1944, and was assigned to the 493d Bomber Group, 861st Bomber Squadron of the Eighth Air Force.
He participated in numerous raids over the continent and completed 14 missions, receiving the Army Distinguished Unit Badge, the Air Medal with an Oak‑leaf Cluster, the American Campaign Medal, and the European‑African‑Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with one battle star for participation in the Rhineland campaign. He was posthumously awarded the Order of the Purple Heart and the World War II Victory Medal.
John Miller was killed in action over Merseburg, Germany, on November 25, 1944. His Flying Fortress was severely damaged by enemy antiaircraft fire and was seen to explode over the target area soon after his bombs had been released.
The citation for the Air Medal reads in part: "For meritorious achievement while participating in heavy bombardment missions in the air offensive against the enemy over Continental Europe."
JOHN CAMPBELL MOORE
Private, Corps of Engineers, Army of
the United States
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OHN MOORE, a good woodsman and mechanic, applied for duty with the Corps of Engineers when he enlisted in the Army on September 23, 1942. He was assigned to Company B, 853d Engineer Battalion and was stationed at Bradley Field, Windsor Locks, Connecticut, from September 1, 1942, until January, 1943. Then he was transferred to the Dyersburg Army Air Field in Tennessee where he served until August, 1943.
Moore went overseas about September 13. His battalion was attached to the A.A.F. in the Mediterranean theater and had the task of taking over captured airfields and repairing them for the use of the American Army. Often his duty was performed in advance of other fighting troops. Moore met his death on November 26, 1943, while troops were being transported on board the H.M.S. Rohna. The Rohna was sunk off the coast of Africa near Bone, Algeria. Bomb damage from an air attack, heavy seas, and darkness hampered rescue work. More than half the 1,981 men aboard the ship died.
The Alumni Horae of St. Paul's School, where he prepared for Yale, said: "A person of unusual gentleness and kindness, devoted to his family and his friends, from early childhood sensitive, thoughtful and intelligent, John Moore, as he grew up, was, more often than most people of his age, puzzled and bewildered by the senseless avarice and violence that he perceived in the world into which he had been born . . . . Having chosen a strenuous and dangerous branch of the Army, he served with constancy and cheerfulness."
THOMAS MCCLURE OWEN, JR.
Ensign, U.S. Naval Reserve
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HOMAS OWENcame to Yale from the HopkinsGrammar School.
At the University he was a member of BranfordCollege and the Yale V-12 unit when it was established in July, 1943. One year later he was transferred from college to the Naval Reserve Midshipmen's School at NorthwesternUniversity where he was a member of the 14th Company, 21st Class at Abbott Hall. He was
graduated on November 22, 1944, and was commissioned an ensign.
Owen's first station was at Miami Beach, Florida, where he received further training. He was killed on February 23, 1945, when an airliner crashed in the mountain area near Rural Retreat, Virginia. Seventeen persons were killed and five injured in the accident. At the time of his death, Thomas Owen was en route to San Diego, California, and was scheduled to become a member of the U.S.S. PCE 782.
At the HopkinsGrammar School, Owen had made a splendid record in the classroom and on the playing field. He won a school letter in football, was captain of the tennis team for three years, and was able to enter Yale before graduation from school because of his excellent scholastic record.
"To me, Tom Owen was like a younger brother," wrote one of his teachers at the school. "I loved the lad for he was so wholesome, so sincere, so truly friendly. It was my pleasure to receive him in my office with his fiancée just two days before the fatal plane accident that took his life. That interview I shall never forget . . . . Tom bade farewell and went out, little realizing how much his wholesome unselfish being had gripped us and inspired us to carry on."
JOHN SEARS PARSONS
Private, Infantry, Army of
the United States
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I view this soldier and compare him with the many others whom I have seen pass through this reception center, it ' judgment that he is possessed of military aptitude, intelligence and education far above the average," wrote the commanding officer of Fort Devens, Massachusetts, where John Parsons had his first military service after leaving Yale on May 15, 1943.
He received his basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia, and then went to NortheasternUniversity in Boston as a member of the Army Specialized Training Program. When the A.S.T.P. was discontinued he was transferred, on March 15, 1944, to Company G, 101st Infantry of the 26th Division on maneuvers at Camp Forrest, Tennessee.
Parsons moved with his regiment to headquarters at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and embarked for France from CampShanks, Orangeburg, New York, on August 15, 1944. He landed at Cherbourg on September 7, 1944, and almost immediately the 101st Infantry went into action at Arracourt. It fought continuously and won battle stars for combat in northern France, the Rhineland, and Ardennes.
John Parsons was killed in action on December 30, 1944, near Nothum, Luxembourg. The mission of the company at the time of his death was to secure Nothum against German counterattacks.
"This town was actually a very hot place," wrote his chaplain afterward. "Our men had a very difficult time . . . . Your son entered one of the houses there. At the time they were subjected to stiff automatic weapons fire. Here in this home in Nothum your son met his death."
He was posthumously awarded the Order of the Purple Heart. Maj. Gen. W. S. Paul, commanding officer of the 26th Division, wrote: "He did his duty splendidly and was loved and admired by all who knew him. We will not forget."
At Yale he had been a member of CalhounCollege.
DAVID FRANCIS REILLY
Technician (5th Grade). Corps of Engineers
Army of the United States
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AVID REILLY entered the Army on March 10, 1943, at Fort Devens, Massachusetts, as a private. He was assigned to the Medical Corps at Camp Lee, Virginia, where he received his basic training. His next tour of duty in August, 1943, was at AmherstCollege as a private (1st class) where he studied French.
In April, 1944, he was transferred to the 113th EvacuationHospital and spent three months at FitzsimmonsGeneralHospital in Denver, Colorado.
Reilly was sent overseas in December, 1944, as a technician (5th grade). He participated in the campaign for the Rhineland and in the initial fighting of the battle of Germany. ,
He applied for transfer to the Infantry before V-E Day and was sent to Company I, 313th Infantry, 79th Division. This outfit occupied the Sudetenland. He then did guard duty in Germany, receiving assignment to the 327th Engineers.
He returned from Europe to New York City on March 21, 1946.
David Reilly died at Fort Devens, Massachusetts, on March 24, 1946. He was scheduled for discharged on the same day. Interment was in St. Patrick's Cemetery at Brockton, Massachusetts.
HARVEY ARTHUR ROSENBERG
Private (1st Class), Infantry, Army of
The United States
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MEMBER of Trumbull and Jonathan Edwards colleges, Harvey Rosenberg withdrew from Yale and voluntarily went on active duty in the Army at Fort Devens, Massachusetts, on November 5, 1943. He had been accepted for the Army Specialized Training Program at Fort Benning, Georgia, but when a phase of this program was discontinued, he was transferred to Camp Livingston, Louisiana.
Rosenberg received amphibious training at CampCooke and CampSan Luis Obispo iii California and in February, 1945, sailed for Europe with the 86th Black Hawk Division. He served in France, the Ruhr pocket, Bavaria, and Austria as a private (1st class) and his division included the first American troops to cross the Danube.
On June 17 he returned with the 86th Division to the United States and was given a brief furlough. On July 21 Rosenberg was assigned to Camp Gruber, Oklahoma, and then to CampStoneman, Port of Embarkation for San Francisco.
After having seen service in the European theater of operation he was sent to the Pacific on August 28, 1945, to take part in the occupation of the Philippine Islands. On Luzon he studied statistical analysis at the Armed Forces Institute and wrote the sports page of the regimental newspaper.
Harvey Rosenberg was killed onJanuary 21, 1946, on Luzon when he came in contact with a metal wall in the company laundry which in some way had become electrically charged.
WILLIAM CARLTON RUNDBAKEN
Second Lieutenant, U.S. Air Forces
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ILLIAM RUNDBAKENdied in a B‑24 bomber in order to save the lives of his crew mates on December 17, 1944, while in combat over Czechoslovakia.
He left Yale on February 11, 1943, to enlist in the A.A.F. He received basic and preflight training at Atlantic City, New Jersey, up to April, 1943, and also studied at Springfield College, Massachusetts, and Nashville, Tennessee, until September.
He had primary training at Maxwell Field, Montgomery, Alabama, until January, 1944, and was enrolled in a twin‑engine advanced course at Blytheville, Arkansas. He was graduated with honors and received his pilot's wings and commission as a second lieutenant on March 12,1944.
He received other assignments to Westover Field in Chicopee, Massachusetts, and Charleston, South Carolina. He then proceeded to Mitchel Field, New York, and went overseas in July, 1944.
Rundbaken while based in Italy was on his 49th mission when attacked by German raider:. On December 17, 1944, he was serving as advisory pilot to a new Liberator crew on its first combat mission. The plane was attacked by three German fighters as it was returning to its base and Rundbaken turned over the controls to the copilot. He released two men who were trapped in the turrets and then opened the bomb‑bay doors. He and two other men stayed with the pane, permitting eight to escape. The three men who were killed were buried by the townspeople of Moglitz in Moravia.
William Rundbaken was first buried at a place known as Rokytnice uv Prerov, in Moravia, Czechoslovakia, and was later removed to the U.S. Military Cemetery at St. Avoid, France. In August, 1948, he was returned to the United States and with appropriate services was finally laid to rest in the family plot at BethIsraelCemetery, Hartford, Connecticut.
For his heroism in combat he received the Distinguished Flying Cross with three Oak‑leaf Clusters, representing four awards of the same medal. The Order of the Purple Heart was conferred on him posthumously.
RALPH DAVIS SNEATH SAMPLE
Air Cadet, U.S. Naval Reserve
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ALPH SAMPLE, who had been a member of DavenportCollege and the R.O.T.C., joined a naval aviation unit while still at Yale on December 13, 1942, and was called to active duty on March 8, 1943.
He was transferred to CornellUniversity and then had basic training at Chapel Hill, North Carolina, until August. Sample received flight instruction at the Bunker Hill Naval Air Station, Peru, Indiana, from September 1 to November 27, 1943, and was sent to the Naval Air Station at Pensacola, Florida, for final training.
On December 13, 1943, during the last phase of his flight training, Ralph Sample went up with an instructor for a practice flight. They made several landings and then suddenly, when the plane was at a low altitude, the engine stopped and they crashed.
EDGAR CLEMENT SCANLON, JR.
Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army Air Forces
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DGAR C. SCANLON, JR. entered Yale in the summer of 1942, coming from the CanterburySchool at New Milford, Connecticut. Because of his interest in journalism he was chosen an associate editor of the Yale Daily News.
He enlisted in the A.A.F. on December 4, 1942, and was called to active duty on March 6, 1943. He received his commission as a second lieutenant in December, 1943, after training at Selman Field in Monroe, Louisiana, and with Pan American Airways at the University of Miami, Florida. He was assigned to a squadron at Muroc, California, and was sent overseas in March, 1944, as a navigator with the Eighth Air Force. He was based in England and received the Air Medal with an Oak‑leaf Cluster for his actions in combat.
Scanlon was a crew member on a B‑24 bomber which failed to return to its base in England from a bombing mission to Bernburg, Germany, on June 29, 1944. The plane was last sighted at 9.25A.M.over the target. Eyewitnesses stated that no parachutes were observed leaving the aircraft before it crashed to the ground and burned. It has been assumed that Lieutenant Scanlon was killed in action on June 29,1944, over Gross Muehlingen, Germany.
In commenting on Edgar Scanlon's military record, Gen. Ira C. Eaker of the A.A.F. wrote: "He completed his cadetship at Coral Gables, Florida in a praiseworthy manner. His ability as a resourceful aerial navigator soon became apparent to superiors. He was a worthy officer of whom you can justly be proud."
The Air Medal was awarded to him "For meritorious achievement in accomplishing with distinction, several aerial operational missions over enemy occupied Continental Europe. The courage, coolness and skill displayed by this individual in the face of determined opposition materially aided in the successful completion of these missions. His actions reflect great credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of the United States."
Edgar Scanlon also received posthumously the Order of the Purple Heart.
FRANK EPPELE SHUMANN, JR.
Private (1st Class), U.S. Marine Corps Reserve
T. COL. THOMAS E. WILLAMS of the Sixth Marine Division wrote: "There is a maxim out here among us all which says the best go first. I have found that maxim to be true and what's more to be the key to the tragedy that is war . . . . The country cannot afford to lose men like Private (1st class) Frank E. Shumann, Jr., nor can we. The qualities he possessed are too rarely found."
Shumann served in the Marines with the Sixth Division on Guadalcanal and later joined the fight for the occupation of Okinawa. He died at Okinawa on May 13, 1945.
The circumstances which led to his death are recounted in the book Uncommon Valor: Marine Divisions in Action.
"Patrols from the Fourth and 22d Marines began to venture into the outskirts of Naha, on the north bank of the Asato. Frank Shumann, 18, from Easton, Pennsylvania, had been a clerk at Division Intelligence Headquarters. His pleas to Colonel Thomas E. Williams, G2, that he be permitted to see action finally were granted and he accompanied a patrol into the little village behind whose shattered walls waited deadeye snipers.
"On one patrol the youth, whom his buddies called Eager Beaver, wiped out a machine‑gun nest with a pistol after his BAR [automatic rifle] had jammed. Later in the day, he led a tank company into the danger‑filled streets to show where the Jap center of activity was concentrated and was one of the first men hit by snipers.
"Despite his wounds, he crept forward on his elbows, firing away at another machinegun nest. Strings of Nambu bullets whipped through his legs, but he pointed out the Jap mortar position. He was about to fire his last shot at the machine gunners when, from another corner of the town, several grenades came flying. He died then, but the advancing tanks, guided by his shouts, pounded away at the enemy, killing 100 Japs."
On September 9,1948, the parents of Frank Shumann received the Navy Cross on behalf of their son from Col. W. C. Hall of the Marine Barracks at the Philadelphia Naval Base.
The citation said in part: "Private First Class Shumann brought about the fall of the town with a minimum loss of life and, by his tactical skill, presence of mind under fire and indomitable devotion to duty in the face of overwhelming peril, upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country."
PETER WILLIAM SOMMER
First Lieutenant, U.S. Army Air Forces
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ETER SOMMER entered Yale on July 1,1942, and withdrew in February, 1943, when he was called to active duty in the A.A.F. He trained at Atlantic City, New Jersey; Springfield, Massachusetts; Nashville, Tennessee; Montgomery, Alabama; and Jackson, Tennessee. Then he went on to Fort Myers, Florida, and Monroe, Louisiana, where he received his wings as a navigator and commission as a second lieutenant on April 22, 1944. Sommer sailed for England in July, 1944, after passing through a staging field at Herington, Kansas.
He became aerial navigator of a Flying Fortress with the Seventh Squadron, 34th Bombardment Group of the Eighth Air Force, which was located northeast of the village of Stowmarket in Suffolk, England. He took part in 21 combat missions over Germany.
He was awarded the Air Medal on November 1,1944, and received two Oak-leaf Clusters on December 11 and January 13. The citation said: "The courage, coolness and skill displayed by this officer upon these occasions reflect great credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of the United States." The occasions were heavy bombardment missions in the air offensive against Germany over continental Europe. Sommer was promoted from second to first lieutenant on February 5,1945.
It was on January 20, 1945, that Peter Sommer met his death over the English Channel not far from Ipswich, England. He was a crew member of a B-17 which, as it approached an assembly point for a mission to Germany, developed engine trouble and burst into flames. The plane went out of control and started down in a dive. The pilot feared an explosion and ordered part of the crew, including Sommer, to bail out. They parachuted in the vicinity of the mouth of the StourRiver south of Ipswich. In the meantime the fire was partially extinguished by the speed of the dive and the pilot succeeded in bringing the plane under control. Those crew members who had not bailed out were landed successfully but no trace was found of Peter Sommer.
Carl Spaatz, Acting Commander General of the A.A.F., wrote: "My attention has been called to the praiseworthy record maintained by Lieutenant Sommer in the NavigationSchool at Selman Field, where he completed his aviation cadet training. During his career in the Army Air Forces he worked tirelessly to perfect his skill and could be depended upon for willing, energetic performance of duty."
JAMES BAUME STRYKER
Private 1st Class, Infantry, Army of the
United States
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HE men who fought at his side will remember his courage and bravery in action," wrote a comrade in arms about James Stryker.
A member of JonathanEdwardsCollege, Stryker was an excellent student at Yale and in his freshman year received the New York Yale Club Prize for scholarship. He left Yale on May 15, 1943, to enlist as a private in the Infantry. He received his basic training at Fort McClellan, Alabama, and went overseas to England in December, 1943.
He was a member of Company K, 118th Infantry, 29th Division, and landed on the beaches of Normandy on D Day. Wounded in action on July 12, 1944, he was returned to England for hospitalization. After his recovery he rejoined his company and fought with it into Germany.
The last action in which hp took part was an attack along the Boer River, Germany, on the night of December 5, 1944. Stryker was a rifleman in the first platoon of his company which had entered a mine field under heavy enemy machine-gun fire. The company suffered many casualties and was forced to take cover. Upon reorganization, it was found that Stryker had been killed in the action.
James Stryker fell at Hasenfeld Gut, Germany, and was buried in the U.S. Military Cemetery at Margraten, Holland. He wore the Combat Infantryman's Badge for his excellent performance in ground combat against the enemy, and was awarded the Purple Heart with Oak-leaf Cluster posthumously.
WILLIAM NORTH STURTEVANT, JR
Ensign,U.S. Naval Reserve (Aviation)
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ILLIAM STURTEVANTwas one of the men of the Class of 1945W who left college early to enter the armed forces. He had prepared for Yale at the ChoateSchool and was a pitcher on the Yale freshman baseball team. Sturtevant enlisted in the Naval Air Corps on January 19, 1y43, and was called to active duty as a naval aviation cadet on May 15.
He received ground‑school training at the University of Virginia and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. Sturtevant went to a preflight school at Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and received intermediate training at the Naval Air Station in Peru, Indiana.
He underwent advanced training at Pensacola, Florida, and was graduated on December 8, 1944, receiving his commission as an ensign and wings as a pilot.
Sturtevant continued operational training at the Naval Air Station, Cecil Field, Florida, beginning in January, 1945. He was killed on March 25, 1945, at Jacksonville, Florida, while piloting a dive bomber on combat maneuvers. His plane went into a dive on a practice run and failed to pull out.
JOHN HOBART THOMPSON
Private (1st Class), Infantry, Army of the
United States
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OHN THOMPSON prepared for Yale at the TaftSchool and PhillipsAcademy, Andover. He left the university on January 20, 1943, when be was called to active duty by the Army his first assignment was at CampUpton, Long Island.
Thompson was sent to the 731st Field Artillery Battalion at Camp Maxey, Texas, for basic training and at the end of six weeks was promoted to private (1st class).
He received a promotion to corpora: and was placed in a special training and reclassification group, receiving eventual assignment to the Carnegie Institute of Technology at Pittsburgh. While at Carnegie Tech, where all ratings were removed, he was given basic engineering training and successfully completed a nine months' course. At this college John Thompson was offered the opportunity to study advanced electrical engineering.
He refused this chance and in February, 1944, was assigned to the 378th Regiment of the 94th Division at Camp McCain, Mississippi, where he qualified as an expert infantryman and rifleman and again was promoted to private (1st class).
In August, 1944, he was sent overseas and fought with the 94th Division into Germany. John Thompson died in action near Nenig, Germany, on January 26,1945.
SAMUEL JOHNSON WALKER, JR.
Private, U.S. Army Air Forces
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AMUEL WALKER prepared for Yale at BellSchool in Lake Forest, Illinois, and at St. Paul s School in Concord, New Hampshire. He left Yale early for war service. Hoping to become a pilot in the A.A.F., he took the physical examinations but was unable to pass because his vision was not perfect. He was assigned to the Army Specialized Training Program at the University of Illinois after receiving his basic training in Greensboro, North Carolina, in the spring of 1943. His A.S.T.P. course lasted until January, 1944.
Samuel Walker was stationed in airways communications as a member of the A.A.F. at Scott Field, Illinois. He died on May 29, 1944, from injuries received in an automobile accident at Scott Field.
His commanding officer wrote: "During the short period of time that your son was a member of this command, he had won the respect and admiration of those with whom he was associated and his death was felt as a loss by all hiscomrades."
DAVID LANDON WEIRICK
Sergeant, Infantry, Army of the United States
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AVID WEIRICK had spent one term at Yale when he withdrew on January 30, 1943, to enter the Army. He enlisted at Fort Sheridan, Illinois, and received his basic training at FortJackson in Columbia, South Carolina. While at FortJackson he was made art editor .of the 4224 Infantry weekly paper The Fighter.
Weirick was then stationed at Greensboro, North Carolina, and on January 28, 1944, was transferred to the Lockbourne Army Air Base atColumbus, Ohio. He was assigned to the University of Pittsburgh for air-cadet training from February to April, and then transferred to the Infantry at Camp Pickett, Virginia
He went overseas in October, 1944, and b9came attached to Company A, 309th Infantry, 78th Division. His division was stationed successively in England, France, and Belgium, and he was a member of the first troops to attack the Germans in the Ardennes sector: He served as mortar squad leader.
He was given a furlough in Paris on January 14, 1945, as the "most deserving man" in his company. Shortly after returning to his unit Weirick took part in the fighting at the Schwimmenauel Dam on the RoerRiver where lie was killed on February 17, 1945. The Order of the Purple Heart was awarded to David Weirick posthumously.
Lieut. Kenneth A. Dahl, his commanding officer, said:
"Sergeant Weirick was an excellent soldier, a very capable and efficient squad leader and his likeable personality and friendliness are remembered by all of us."
WLLIAM KING WHITE, JR.
Second Lieutenant. U.S. Air Forces
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ING WHITE entered the Army soon after lie left Yale and was stationed at several posts including Savannah, Georgia. He received his commission as a second lieutenant and wings as a pilot in the A.A.F. at the Blytheville, Arkansas, Army Air Field on April 15,1944.
He left New York City for overseas duty on November 7, 1944.
White was the pilot of a Liberator bomber which left GooseBay, Labrador, on November 19, 1944, flying the north Atlantic en route to England and Italy.
A snowstorm came up over Iceland and all planes were ordered back to Greenland or GooseBay, as they were unable to land at Meekes Field, Iceland. Apparently it was impossible for White to land in Greenland because of weather conditions or radio trouble and his plane was returning to GooseBay when it ran out of gasoline.
No trace was found of the crew or the plane despite an intensive search by fliers from the A.A.F.
RICHARD SATTERLEE WILLIS
Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps
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ICHARD WILLISjoined the Marine Corps in January, 1943. lie was made a private (1st class) and went overseas from San Diego, California, as a member of Company E, Second Battalion, 23d Marines of the Fourth Division on January 13, 1944. It was one of the few marine divisions to go directly into combat from the United States. Eighteen days later the convoy steamed into Kwajalein lagoon and on February 1 the Marines landed and fought the battle of Kwajalein.
Willis was wounded in action at Saipan during the summer of 1944 and was awarded the Order of the Purple Heart. He was made corporal after the invasion of Saipan and Tinian, but contracted dengue fever, malaria, and jaundice and was hospitalized until the end of November, 1944, when he rejoined his regiment. He participated in the four first landings made by the Fourth Division.
He died on March 6, 1045, while the Marines were invading Iwolima in the Volcano Islands. The machinegun unit to which he was attached was advancing closely behind assault troops to give them fire support. He was leading his squad into position when a Japanese land mine exploded near him, wounding him in the leg and head. He was given medical aid promptly and evacuated, but he died without regaining consciousness.
Richard Willis was posthumously awarded the Order of the Purple Heart with one star and the Presidential Unit Citation with two stars.