Robert “Bob” or "Bobbie" Eugene Esker was the son of Bernard Henry Esker and Iris “Dolly” Eilene (Kelly) Esker. He was raised by Ross and Ione Shepherd, in Chapman, Kansas, upon the death of his mother. He had two sisters. He entered the Navy on June 9, 1945 and was assigned serial number 3437858. He married Lois Irene (Morgan) Esker on December 7, 1946. They had three children, Eileen, Kathyrn (Kathy) and Victoria. They had at least six grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. Courtesy findagrave.com and kshs.org

Ralph Espinosa was born on June 6, 1924 in Topeka, Kansas; the son of Michael and Alice Espinosa. After graduating high school in Topeka, Ralph enlisted in the United States Navy and served nearly six years. His service number is 342 51 86. His basic training was at Great Lakes, Illinois and he was aboard the USS Savannah, the USS Harrison and the USS Tolovana before his discharge from service in June of 1947. Ralph attained the rank of Coxswain and was awarded seven stars in the Asiatic Pacific Theater, one star in the European African Theater and was awarded the WWII Victory Medal. In 1957 Ralph became part of the Highland Park, Illinois Police Department. He worked 29 1/2 years, retiring in 1986. He was an excellent marksman and won proficiency awards for his skill. Mr. Espinosa was a member of the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign War. He enjoyed traveling and boating. On June 5, 1999; Ralph married Gloria and together they enjoyed nearly 11 years having fun traveling, boating and living in Michigan, Canada and Florida. They had 7 children, 10 grandchildren and at least 11 great-grandchildren. More details regarding Espinosa's service: Espinosa was assigned to the USS Savannah by Nov. 9, 1941. Savannah (CL-42) was a light cruiser of the Brooklyn-class. She was in New York Harbor when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. She steamed that same day toward Casco Bay, Maine, and from there she steamed via Bermuda to Brazil, arriving at Recife on 12 January 1942. She joined the screen of the aircraft carrier Ranger, in patrolling the Atlantic Ocean north of Bermuda. This island became the cruiser's temporary base while she watched over Vichy French warships based at Martinique and Guadeloupe in the French West Indies. Savannah departed from Shelly Bay, Bermuda, on 7 June, and entered the Boston Navy Yard two days later for an overhaul. This was completed by 15 August. Savannah next steamed to readiness exercises in Chesapeake Bay that would prepare her for the invasion of North Africa. Savannah became a unit of Admiral H. Kent Hewitt's Western Naval Task Force which would land some 35,000 Army troops and 250 tanks at three different points on the Atlantic coast of French Morocco. As part of the Northern Attack Group, commanded by Rear Admiral Monroe Kelly, Savannah departed from Norfolk on 24 October 1942, and then rendezvoused with the Western Naval Task Force four days later at a point about 450 miles south southeast of Cape Race. The Task Force, including the outer screen, covered an area approximately 20-30 miles, making it the greatest warship fleet to be sent out by the United States up to that time. Shortly before midnight on the night of 7 – 8 November 1942, three separate task groups closed in on three different points on the Moroccan coast to begin Operation Torch. Savannah's Northern Attack Group was to land Brigadier General Lucian K. Truscott's 9,099 officers and men, including 65 light tanks, on five widely separated beaches on either side of Mehedia. Their objectives were the Port Lyautey city and its all-weather airfield, the Wadi Sebou, and the Salé airfield. On the morning of 8 November 1942, Savannah commenced firing against Vichy guns near the Kasbah, which had been firing on the Army troop's landing boats. She also temporarily silenced a battery which had opened up on the destroyer Roe, enabling her to avoid a disaster. By the next morning, Savannah's 6 in (150 mm) guns had scored a direct hit on one of the two 5.4 in (140 mm) artillery guns in the fortress of Kasbah and had silenced the other. During that same day, Savannah's scout planes started a new phase of warfare by successfully bombing some tank columns with their depth charges, whose fuses had been set to detonate on impact. The scout planes, maintaining about eight hours of flight time daily, struck at other shore targets, and they also kept up antisubmarine patrols. Savannah's warplanes located an enemy battery that had been firing on the destroyer Dallas, and eliminated the battery with two well-placed depth charges. This action aided Dallas in winning the Presidential Unit Citation for safely landing a U.S. Army Raider Battalion on the obstacle-strewn Wadi Sebou, just off the airport near Port Lyautey. Savannah's scout planes again bombed and strafed enemy tanks on the Rabat Road on the morning of 10 November 1942. Throughout this day, her gunfire aided the Army's advance. Hostilities fittingly ended on Armistice Day, 11 November. Four days later, Savannah headed for home, and she reached Norfolk on 30 November. When the ship was commission on January 25, 1943, Espinosa was assigned to the USS Harrison (DD-573), a Fletcher-class destroyer. Following shakedown training in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean, Harrison escorted a merchant ship to the Panama Canal Zone, and sailed for New York. She then joined a convoy for Casablanca, and after touching at several points in the Mediterranean returned 1 June to Charleston. Harrison was then assigned to anti-submarine exercises in Caribbean waters with carrier USS Yorktown (CV-10), after which she performed escort duty in the area until 22 July 1943. Harrison was assigned in mid-1943 to the Pacific Fleet, where the crescendo of amphibious war was beginning. Departing with carrier USS Lexington (CV-16) from Norfolk, Virginia 22 July, the ship arrived Pearl Harbor 9 August and spent the next days training for the important amphibious operations. Her job was to screen the carriers as their aircraft softened up Japanese-held islands, and the task group got underway 22 August for strikes against Marcus, Wake, and Tarawa, interspersed with short resupply stops at Pearl Harbor. With these vital preliminary operations complete, Harrison departed 21 October for duty in the Solomons. She arrived Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides, 4 November and departed the next day, arriving at Empress Augusta Bay on 7 November, Bougainville, to screen transports carrying reinforcements. As she patrolled off the bay, where Marines had landed 1 November, the Japanese launched a fierce night attack with dive bombers and torpedo planes 8–9 November. Harrison's gunners accounted for at least one plane during the battle. The destroyer departed 14 November for the Gilberts operation and again screened transports as they put initial assault troops ashore 20 November. Harrison remained off Tarawa until 29 November, when she took up patrol off Makin. The ship then sailed to Funafuti 7 December and engaged in training exercises before anchoring at Pearl Harbor 1 January 1944. She remained in Hawaiian waters for most of January taking part in fire support exercises for impending invasion of the Marshall Islands. Harrison sailed with the Southern Attack Force 22 January 1944, and arrived off Kwajalein 31 January. She screened battleships USS New Mexico (BB-40) and USS Mississippi (BB-41) while the larger ships pounded shore installations, and sank a small tanker with her guns as the Japanese ship attempted to escape from the lagoon. As the Marines landed on Kwajalein and advanced over the numerous islands in the atoll, Harrison entered the lagoon 4 February and rendered close fire support. She spent the next 4 weeks patrolling offshore and anchored in the lagoon, departing 1 March for Efate, New Hebrides. The destroyer arrived Efate 7 March and after a short rest screened a task group during the strike on Kavieng, New Ireland, 20 March. Returning to Efate 25 March, she joined some 200 ships for the largest operation yet attempted in the southwest Pacific, the occupation of Hollandia. Harrison arrived New Guinea 1 April, engaged in patrol and escort operations until 19 April, and then sailed to Humboldt Bay for the assault. Carriers screened by the destroyer and her sisters bombarded enemy airfields and supported the successful landing, after which Harrison arrived Port Purvis on Florida Island in the Solomons on 11 May for a month of local exercises and patrols. Next on the timetable of conquest in Micronesia were the Marianas, and Harrison sailed 4 June for the Marshalls to prepare for that operation. Arriving Kwajalein 8 June, she engaged in patrolling and readiness operations until 17 June, when she sailed for Guam. Espinosa's service continued, but there are no other online resources currently. He may have stayed in the USS Harrison until the commissioning of the USS Tolovana in Feb. 1945. If, so, the USS Harrison went on to support the invasion of the Philippines. The USS Tolovana's major contribution was the delivery of fuel oil during the battle of Okinawa. Courtesy www.dignitymemorial.com, fold3.com, www.history.navy.mil and en.wikipedia.org

Lillo was assigned duty as a teletype operator to the 3118th Signal Service Battalion of the Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Forces (SHAEF) stationed at various times in Paris, Versailles and Frankfurt. He served for 3 years.

Frank Ettinger was born in 1924 in Granite City, Illinois. His family relocated shortly thereafter to Chagrin Falls, Ohio where he grew up. Shortly after graduating from high school in 1942, Frank joined the U.S. Army Air Corps. Based on a good high school record, he was assigned to the Aviation Cadet Training Program at the University of Alabama, which he hoped would lead to joining his older brother as a pilot. However, problems with his eyes led to surgery and subsequent reassignment as a radio mechanic and transfer to Truax Field in Wisconsin.
Frank was shipped overseas in 1944 to the China-Burma-India (CBI) theatre of operations and assigned to the 51st Fighter Control Squadron of the 10th Air Force. Staff Sergeant Ettinger served first in the Assam Valley of India and then in Burma, where he and his small detachment celebrated VJ Day in 1945.
Frank returned to the States on New Year’s Day in 1946. Both he and his brother (the pilot) jumped at the opportunity offered by the new GI Bill, enrolling for the spring term at Bowling Green State University in their home state of Ohio. It was there that he met a pretty sorority girl who soon became his wife for the next 60 years.
Frank stayed in the Reserves and was recalled to active duty for the Korean War. After several years of working in a variety of businesses, he discovered his passion as a 6th grade teacher. Known as Mr. E, he taught math, science and history for 25 years in the Mayfield school district in Ohio. Frank now enjoys retired life, spending his time in Virginia and Florida. He loves participating in the Rocky Run Middle School’s annual World War II program and other veteran events.
Biography courtesy of the Friends of the National World War II Memorial. An interview of Frank’s experiences can be found here: https://www.wwiimemorialfriends.org/voices/frank-w-ettinger/

Elmer Ettridge was born to Anson and Marie Altman Ettridge in Hope, Kansas on October 10, 1920. He attended Hope schools and graduated in 1937. He attended Wichita Business College. He entered service in the Army in September of 1942. He was in the 161st Field Artillery Regiment, 35th Division. His highest rank was staff sergeant. The 35th Division began training in April 1943 at Fort Rucker, Alabama. The division arrived in England in May 1944, and returned to the United States in November 1945. The 35th Infantry Division and the 161st Field Artillery fought in five campaigns—Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace, and Central Europe. In November of 1947 he married Iva Obermeyer in Herrington, Kansas. They spent their lives operating a farm. They had at least two daughters, two grandsons, and a great-grandson. Ettridge attended Hope United Methodist Church, was a member of the American Legion, former director of the Co-op Board, and served as sexton for the Pilgrim Hope Cemetery. Courtesy fold3.com, newspapers.com, findagrave.com, en.wikipedia.org

Son of Nellie Kerns and George Evans, Russell Evans was born in 1904 in White City, Kansas. In 1918, the family moved to Solomon from New Cambria, where his father operated a grocery store. He worked for the Bucher Sand Co. at Solomon and Harper, until he was called to serve in the U.S. Army Air Force from May 6, 1942 to June 9, 1943, as a cook, having attained the rank of Sergeant. Know to everyone as BUSS, he was a kind and friendly person and always had a joke to share with many friends. He was the Owner-Operator of Sand Truck for 22 years. He was married to Henrietta Catherine “Kate” Wolfe Evans. Courtesy findagrave.com, fold3.com

Lawrence Lee Everley was born in 1915 to Hazel Steele and Loyal Leslie Everley. He had two brothers. He joined the Navy in October of 1939 and was assigned serial number 3421465. At the start of the war, he was assigned to the USS Whippoorwill, which was a minesweeper. At the time of the attack at Pearl Harbor, USS Whippoorwill was in Manila Bay in the Philippines. On December 10 Japanese bombers flew overhead and USS Whippoorwill claimed assists in splashing two bombers and sending another one crashing on shore nearby. A Japanese bomb struck USS Peary and the wharf. Under extremely hazardous conditions, the USS Whippoorwill towed the ship out of further danger. On the last day of February in 1942, the USS Whippoorwill assisted the British merchant ship SS City of Manchester, which had been attacked by a Japanese submarine. From mid-May to late August the USS Whippoorwill conducted local patrols and guardship operations in the shipping channels and harbors off the coast of Freemantle, Australia. By November 1942. Everley joined the USS Gold Star, which served as a coastal cargo carrier, steaming between such Australian ports as Brisbane, Sydney, and Fremantle. She thus contributed importantly to strengthening Australia and to checking the Japanese advance in New Guinea. After August 1943, the ship continued her coastal operations in Australia, but also began a series of cargo voyages to New Guinea and the Admiralty Islands. USS Gold Star brought many loads of vital supplies to Milne Bay as the Allies began the push toward the Philippines. By April of 1944, Everley was assigned to USS YMS-481. In a Navy interview conducted in 1945, Everley described the actions of the minesweeper, on which he served as Executive Officer, Ensign D-V(G). They spent three months conducting minesweeping operations near San Francisco and after that they proceeded to the Pacific Theater. Their first action was the attack of Mindoro, Philippines, on December 15, 1944, during which they were attacked several times by enemy aircraft but sustained no significant damage. USS YMS-481 returned to Leyte and prepared for the invasion of Lingayen, where they conducted minesweeping operations three days before the invasion. Everley recounts that they were often under attack, although most of the kamikazes targeted larger ships. He also describes how the shore bombardment made the crew nervous. The interviewer asked if they were attacked by suicide boats. Everley replied, “We, ourselves, didn’t but there was a destroyer that was brought under attack by suicide boats. I think that is the first time that they had found the suicide boat and it was more or less a novelty then. They caught everyone by surprise.” Next came the invasion of Palawan, then back to Mindoro, then invasions of Cebu City and Behel, all in the Philippines. The minesweeper then moved to the invasion of Tarakan, Borneo, in the Netherlands East Indies. Tarakan was a smaller island and as such the invasion force was moderately small. As in previous invasions, YMS-481 arrived prior to the battle to sweep for mines. On D-day there was very little opposition. On D-Day plus one, Everley describes the minesweeping operations: “There were to be two different groups of minesweepers, one group sweeping magnetic and the other group sweeping the Oropesa type. The Oropesa minesweepers were in front and they swept up the channel, swept clear up to this point where we later met our Waterloo. They swept within two hundred yards of the beach there. The Japanese let them go right ahead and make their sweep and we came in behind them with our magnetic gear out. There was five ships in a column, we were the third ship. The first two ships passed the point and we had got just abeam or a little aft abeam of the point when the Japanese opened fire with shore batteries. They evidently had us spotted in because only one shot missed, which was the first one, and it was very close, and after that it was just one shot right after the other. In about two or three minutes time the ship was completely out of control and burning, the engine room had a couple hits, the generator room had one hit knocking out all the power which made it impossible to fight the fires.” He later continues, “The Australian Air Force arrived in American planes and made several strafing runs on the beach, but it took, well, altogether I think about a half hour before the batteries were silenced or they quit firing, anyway. In the meantime, we were all in the water. We had abandoned ship. They had a hit on our fantail and our depth charges blew up, blew the whole fantail off the ship. We continued floating, burning, drifting away from the point all the time. About fifteen minutes later the main magazine went up. It blew the superstructure, practically gutted the ship but it still floated. We continued burning about a half hour or so after that, and I guess a fuel tank went up just at sundown and the ship sank then.” Everley describes how most everyone was off the ship except for the captain and a few others. The force of the explosion blew them off the ship, but “didn’t injure any body any more than they were already.” He recounts that Japanese soldiers fired at survivors close to the beach, but no one was hit. In the attack, one crew member was killed, five were missing, and eight wounded. Two landing craft from the USS Cofer came and picked up the crew, some not until the next day, and one man, Albert Otto from Texas, who made it to the thick jungle shore, was picked up three days later. After the war, Everley was married by 1946. He and his wife had a son and daughter. Courtesy fold3.com, findagrave.com, newspapers.com

Leland Ewalt was born on November 2, 1923 on the family farm near Knox City, Missouri, the son of John Edward, Jr. and Vern Snell Ewalt. He attended rural school and graduated from the Knox City High School. He served his country during WWII in the United States Army, from November 1943 to February 1946. He was assigned serial number 37627454. He was a rifleman in the 167 Infantry Regiment in the battles of New Guinea and the Philippines. He received a Bronze Star, Bronze Arrowhead and a Purple Heart for wounds received on August 11, 1944 in the Asiatic Pacific Theater. Leland grew up on the family farm and continued to live there his entire life, he worked more than 60 years in the United Sates Post Office, as a Rural Carrier, out of Knox City, Missouri. He enjoyed the lifelong friends he made on his route and was a history buff, keeping clippings and pictures of the more memorable events. Leland was a member of the Knox City American Legion Post #358, Colony Masonic Lodge, receiving a 50-year pin and the Rural Postal Carriers Association.