Verl Dean 'Andy' Anderson had attended College of Emporia at Emporia, KS, for 2 years on a football scholarship when he was inducted into the Army Air Corps on February 7, 1943. Following gunnery school at Kingman, AZ, he was sent to Carlsbad, NM, where he completed Bombardier-Navigator School. He was assigned to the 8th Air Force, 2nd Air Division, 453rd Bomb Group, 733rd Squadron out of 'Old Buckenham' airfield two miles southeast of Attleborough, Norfolk, England, and later served with the 466th Bomb Group, 786th Bomb Squadron based there. He was the bombardier-navigator on a B-24 Liberator, 'One Meat Ball', which was shot down over Germany. After making their way back to France, moving at night and with the help of sympathetic Germans, the crew was assigned to 'Hot Stuff', another B-24 Liberator. His crew flew 30 missions over enemy territory. Many of these missions were led by Group Operations Commander Jimmy Stewart, actor and war hero, in whom the men had complete confidence and respect. Verl remembers that when the crew reported for briefing prior to a mission and saw him in flight gear handling the briefing, they knew they were going into an especially dangerous assignment-and all attended chapel prior to the mission. Besides strategic operations, they engaged in support and interdictory missions, bombed V-weapon sites, airfields, and gun batteries prior to the invasion of Normandy, bombed German communications during the Battle of the Bulge and took part in the airborne assault across the Rhine in 1945. Battles and campaigns were Rhineland, Central Europe, and Ardennes. He received the Air Medal with Three Oak Leaf Clusters and was discharged as a 1st Lieutenant at Fort Leavenworth. After his discharge, he enrolled at The University of Kansas, where he was a member of the baseball team two years (1945-47) and had the great pleasure of being in legendary basketball coach Phog Allen's class and playing golf many times with him. Verl received his BS and Masters in Education from KU and then taught and coached one year in WaKeeney (1947-48); was a coach, teacher, Principal, Assistant Superintendent of Schools and Superintendent of Schools in Russell from 1948-76; and Assistant Superintendent of Schools in Abilene 1976-88, retiring after 41 years in the field of Education.

John Dockery was born on a farm in 1925. He graduated 8th grade and then began working on the farm. Later he used the GI Bill to finish High School and complete 2 years of college. At age 18 years, Dockery was drafted and began training as a paratrooper. He injured his back on a jump and was unable to finish training so he volunteered for the replacement infantry. Dockery arrived in England 11/16/1944 and within 2 weeks was on the front line. His first job was to be the company scout, which sent him out ahead of the unit to find the enemy's location. Dockery experienced sniper fire, sometimes bullets flew by his head pelting the branches inches away. On one scouting excursion, he topped a hill and received a barrage of enemy fire. Tanks fired at Dockery, the vibrations and noise levels so powerful, he bled from his ears and suffered permanent damage. As his unit continued fighting, they entered into the Battle of the Bulge. The temperatures during the worst of this fight are said to be 20 below zero. Dockery suffered frost bite on his feet so terrible he was sent to the hospital. Doctors told him he was going to lose his feet. Fate was on his side as, somehow Dockery was not put on the next flight out but on a ship headed back to a major hospital. During the sailing trip, Dockery began getting the feeling back in his feet. After 9 months in the hospital, he was discharged, feet saved and doing fine. More of the John Dockery story is contained in the documents attached.

Richard Duchossoios was born October 7, 1921 in Beverly, a neighborhood of Chicago, IL, the second of four children. He attended Morgan Park Military academy during his formative years. "I learned discipline of the mind and that you have to try to win", Duchossois said of Morgan Park. At age 20, he was called to service with the U. S. Army following the United Stated entry into World War II. Duchossois was assigned to the 610th Tank Destroyer Battalion and served through Europe for five campaigns under General George Patton. After a serious injury, Duchossios returned to the frontline to led his company in the Battle of the Bulge.

Duchosois returned home to become an entrepreneur, philanthropist and businessman. He is often associated with Arlington Park, a thoroughbred racetrack. Duchossois married Beverly nee Thrall. Courtesy of Barrington Hills IL. Daily Herald

Dale Faelber was born on a farm, near Carlton, KS. His early education experience was in a one room schoolhouse in the neighborhood of his home but he later attended High School in Abilene, KS. Faelber tried to enlist in the Air Corps but his weight was to low. When we returned later, a little heavier, the Air Corps was not accepting any more applicants. Faelber returned home and was eventually drafted into the Army. Faelber's basic training was in Fort Riley, KS. He did receive additional training at another camp before boarding a train to New York City and then setting sail on the Queen Mary for Europe. His orders were for the 28th Mechanized Calvary Reconnaissance Squadron - with no horses. Their mission regularly included seeking out the enemy's position. Faelber has colorful memories of his time with the Recon unit as he explains, "We drove around until we got shot at." Faelber served from 1944 to 1946. Faelber's interview includes his first assignment, first hand experiences of his Recon unit, and describing the German SS Troopers. Faelbers interview took place in Gypsum, KS on December 6, 2023.

T/Sgt Marvin Geist was a POW for about 5 months at the end of WWII. Deciding to get on with life, he married, became an automobile mechanic, farmer and held other jobs that fit his personality. Born on a farm in the Upland area in NE Dickinson County, he graduated from Enterprise HS in 1942. Enlisting in the Army Air Corp after driving a cement truck during the construction of the Herington AB, he had basic training at St. Petersburg, FL, and was trained in radio communications. On 10 Sep 1944 he left a New Jersey port for Glasgow, Scotland, rode a train to Stone, England, and flew to Chateau Dun, France. Flying his first mission on a B-26 on Sep 27, Marvin, a radio operator, also manned waist guns when in enemy territory. On Dec 23, a cold cloudy morning during the Battle of the Bulge, his crew went airborne at 0900. 'We were flying about 18,000 feet on the lower left of the last echelon of the group when our lead pilot went left instead of right. When he realized, we were far from the rest of the group, couldn't catch up and fighters came in and shot us up. I was the only gun in operation and I found out later I had shot down a ME 109. Then, a shell came through the fuselage just to the left of my head. It exploded and I got shrapnel holes in my face. The shell hit our top turret gunner, an extra on his first mission. I didn't even know his name.' Given the order to bail, Marvin helped the unconscious gunner by snapping his chute and pushing him out. 'I bailed out and just as I did, the left wing exploded and fell off, burning me all over.' The injuries left him with no eyebrows or eyelashes. Landing on a roof, the jolt left him unconscious. 'When I came to, many guns and people were staring at me. They made me carry my parachute and walk to a medical station several miles away.' Walking was painful as his knee was hurt by the landing. They cleaned his burns and 21 shrapnel holes in his body, using plain crepe paper as bandages. Then he walked to a hospital at Limburg. The greeting POWs received was not friendly. 'Kids kicked and spit on me. The guard wouldn't let them kick my wounded leg, but they could my good one.' That night, the allies struck the hospital. Marvin had no doubt his survival took divine intervention. 'Turning left out of our room, there was nothing but rubble clear to the ground. I turned right, went down the stairs, and found an unexploded bomb had come in the 2nd floor window.' Dec 26, he, four other prisoners, and a German guard left by train. Whenever an air raid sounded, the train stopped and passengers went to a shelter. Once, divine intervention came through an unlikely source: the German guard. 'A Gestapo major wouldn't let the 5 of us in the shelter. After the all-clear, he lined us up to shoot us. I think he singled me out as I was Air Corps and he associated the bombers with me. Looking down the barrel of his Luger, I thought I was a goner. Our guard pulled his gun, and spoke to him. The major put his gun away and the guard said, 'Come!' I wished I had gotten to know him so I could have thanked him.' They were at Frankfort for five, scary days of solitary confinement and grueling interrogation; but he never broke. 'The last day, they told you all about yourself---when you joined the Air Corp, where and when you went to school, where you were stationed in the states, when you came overseas, where you were stationed in France, and a picture of our planes at the base. Had they known my plane's number, they could have pointed to it. It was disappointing as it showed there were spies in the US' records department.' The POWs headed to a transit camp in Wetzler, where he was one of the few not to get frostbite. There, he saw 2 of his crew. One had escaped, but was recaptured. The other had located the crashed plane, found the pilot decapitated, and a 20-millimeter hole through Marvin's chair and radio.

My Father was at Omaha Beach on 7 December, 1943. He was at the Battle of the Bulge. He was chosen by General Dwight Eisenhower to be his messenger out of the Bulge. He was in the Signal Corps and was a lineman for telephone and telegraph lines. He constructed those lines for forward divisions and corps, consisting of a number of divisions. Once he saved his men by getting them to cover and he single handedly shot a German plane down with his M-1 Rifle. He rarely talked about his wartime years but we did hear stories about his feet being extremely cold in the War and for the rest of his life. After an honorable discharge, he came home and drove a semi truck for a year then began working at the Hope, Kansas, Meat Locker Plant. He managed it for 40 years. He married Betty A. Noland in 1949 and they had three children; Dennis, Nancy and Mike. He lived his life in Hope, Kansas, and was a member of the Hope City Council, Hope City Fire Department as a volunteer, the Abilene Elks Lodge and the St. Phillips Catholic Church for many years.

Carl "Chick" Otto was born in Peirce, NE, attended school there until his junior year. At that time he took a test with the Senior boys and passed. Otto enlisted and requested the Navy but he as placed in the Army. Growing up Otto knew Johnny Carson who grew up in the same town. Otto was stationed in Europe as part of an Infantry squad but was transferred to the 94th Signal Battalion. Otto's job was to help install lines that kept the communication going for the allied forces. His specifically was a pole climber. On one occasion, Otto climbed over a fallen bridge that was knocked down, to save time and material. He carried the phone lines with him and met his unit on the other side after they walked several miles to find a  crossing over the river.

Otto was stationed in Europe near the end of 1944. He arrived in Bastogne as the Battle of the Bulge was beginning. Excerpts from his book: Remembering World War II by Carl Otto. "We crossed the channel on landing barges, I recall it was dark when we loaded but it was daylight when we landed. I recall that when I reached the end of the dropped door of the barge the wave of water was coming back down the beach and I waited unit it reached the door before I stepped off. The weather was already beginning to get very cold and I did no want to get my feet wet. The snow was beginning to fall when we were loaded onto forty-and eights. (Boxcars designed for forty men or eight horses) We landed in the city of LeHarve, France but we headed northeast toward Bastogne into the teeth of one of the worst blizzards ever to hit Europe." 

"Each car was assigned one Officer and we had a young Second Lt. who looked like he was not a day older than me, and he appeared to me to be scared to death. All of us had dug into our duffle bags and put on all of the extra clothing we could force ourselves into and were wrapped with our blankets and pup-tent around our sleeping bag. But the snow was blowing into the boxcar through the cracks and of course we were packed too tight to even think of starting a fire." I was located right next to our young Officer in charge and we were visiting as we tried to stay warm. He was a small man too. Then we had an idea. He said "You know, if you would slip your sleeping bag inside my sleeping bag and then both of us got in the combined bags we might be able to get warm." I did not hesitate a minute; we put the bags together and I scooted in with him; we were both fully dressed- boots and all, and although it was a snug fit, there was room for both of us. We were soon warm enough that we both fell a sleep. We awaken amid a few jeering jibes about sleeping together but some older guy said, "Okay you guys; knock it off. We all know they were the only two in the car who actually were warm." And that was the end of it. We soon realized the train was not moving, it was daylight, and we were snowbound in some little town in Belgium. We had bladders about to bust so we began getting out to relieve ourselves, the snow was drifting all around the boxcar. Suddenly one of the guys began digging in the snow like a dog as he said, "Let's dig it out". Well his playful gesture was a great idea as well as a warm-up exercise. All of us had a fox hole shovel, so we got our shovels out and started digging and it didn't take long for all of us to dig out that little train."

"During the course of our digging the train out some guys about twenty feet from where I was digging uncovered the frozen body of a man who was probably a railroad worker. He did not appear to be injured; he was just frozen in a twisted and grotesque position and his eyes were open and white; this was the first dead person I had ever seen and of course I will never forget that moment."  See the attached document: Carl Otto's book excerpts.

When he returned home, Otto finished school, went to college and had a career in education.

While establishing his reputation as an actor, the rest of the world was about to go to war. German occupation in numerous countries in the early part of 1940 led Congress on September 16, 1940 to pass the Selective Service Bill, “the draft.” This bill called for 900,000 men between the ages of 20 and 36 to be drafted each year. Stewart’s draft number was 310. When his number was called and he appeared at Draft Board No. 245 in West Los Angeles in February 1941, the 6’3” Stewart weighed only 138 pounds, 5 pounds under the acceptable weight level. He was turned down for service. Stewart wanted to fly and serve his country but by May of 1941 he would have been too old to get into flight school. He went home ate everything he could that was fattening and went back and enlisted in the Army Air Corps, he passed the physical with an ounce to spare and began his military service as a private. While others tried to avoid the draft, he actually wanted to serve in the military and was the first Hollywood star to enter military service prior or during WWII. As a successful actor in 1935 Jimmy was able to afford flying lessons. He received his civilian pilot’s license in 1935, and bought his first airplane. In 1938 he obtained his commercial pilot’s license. He often flew cross country to visit his parents in Pennsylvania, navigating by the railroad tracks. In the military, he was to make extensive use of his civilian pilot’s training. In March 1941 at age 32, he reported for duty as Private James Stewart at Fort McArthur and was assigned to the Army Air Corps at Moffett Field. To comply with the regulations of the Air Corps proficiency board, Stewart required additional 100 flying hours and bought them at a nearby field, at his own expense. He then took and passed a very stiff proficiency board examination. In January 1942 Stewart was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant. He was then sent to Mather Field in California as a four engine instructor, this included both the B-17 and B-24 heavy bombers. Much to his dismay, Stewart stayed stateside for almost two years working as a flight instructor, until commanding officers finally yielded to his request to be sent overseas. In November 1943, now a Captain and Operations Officer for the 703rd Bomb Squadron, 445th Bombardment Group of the Eighth Air Force, he arrived in Tibenham, England.

In March of 1944 he was transferred to the 453rd Bombardment Group at Old Buckenham (Old Buc). Throughout his combat career, Stewart flew as lead pilot in B-24 Liberators. Stewart’s war record included 20 combat missions as command pilot over enemy territory, including raids deep into Germany to Berlin. He didn't fly the milk runs, and his missions included bombing raids to Berlin, Brunswick, Bremen, Frankfurt, and Schweinfurt. His most memorable mission, Stewart served as the flight leader of a 1000 plain raid to Berlin. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross with two Oak Leaf Clusters, the Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters, and the French Croix de Guerre with Palm. After the war he remained with the US Air Force Reserves and was eventually promoted to Brigadier General in 1959. In 1966, he participated in a bombing strike in Vietnam, as an observer on a B-52 bomber. He retired from the Air Force in 1968 and received the Distinguished Service Medal and ultimately, the Presidential Medal of Freedom By the end of the war he had risen to the rank of Colonel. Upon returning home his first movie was "Its a Wonderful Life." Courtesy of historynet.com