Walter Ehlers was born on a farm in Junction City, KS and enlisted in the Army October of 1940, along with his older brother Roland. Both were assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division 30th Infantry Regiment.  Walter was trained as a Mortarman and Roland was a scout. In November of 1942 they shipped out for North Africa where they saw President Roosevelt up close when he reviewed the troops at Casablanca. Soon the brothers were transferred to K Company, 18th Regine and front at El Guettar then in Sicily before shipping back to England. The Ehlers brothers were told casualties would be as high as 50 percent in the upcoming battles and were separated. Walter was promoted to sergeant and made a squad leader of L Company. Walters orders on D Day were to land on Omaha Beach and lead a 12-man reconnaissance team to the town of Trevieres about 5 miles inland.  Walters landing craft let him and his squad off in water nearly over their heads and they had to wade to the beach under heavy enemy fire. Under Walter Ehlers' leadership, the entire squad made it off the beach and up into the bluffs, where they captured a German pill box. In the days following, Ehlers and his squad were engaged in a number of firefights in the Norman Hedgerows. June 9 were near the town of Goville, 8 miles (13 km) inland. Walter led his unit's attack against German forces and single-handedly defeated several enemy machine gun nests. The next day the platoon came under heavy fire. Ehlers was wounded, but managed to cover the platoon's withdrawal; this included carrying a wounded automatic rifleman to safety and running back through enemy fire to retrieve his Browning Automatic Rifle. After treatment of his wounds, Ehlers refused to be evacuated and continued to lead his squad. For his actions he was awarded the Medal of Honor. See the whole citation in the attached document. Courtesy of pbs.com - Ken Burn- the war and Wikipedia and World War II Museum.

Dwight D. Eisenhower was born in Denison, TX, on October 14, 1890. The Eisenhower family returned to Kansas when he was less than two years old. Young Ike grew up in Abilene, KS, where his boyhood home stands today. Eisenhower entered the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, NY, in June 1911 and graduated with the Class of 1915. Second Lieutenant Eisenhower's first assignment was at Fort Sam Houston, TX. In the years that followed Eisenhower's duties included the Army's 1919 Transcontinental Motor Convoy, the Tank Corps, the American Battle Monuments Commission, and training recruits for World War I. In 1916, he married Mamie Geneva Doud in Denver CO. His Panama service (1922-24) introduced him to General Fox Conner who took him under his wing and encouraged him to read widely in history, military science, and philosophy and was instrumental in Eisenhower's acceptance by the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, KS. Eisenhower graduated first in the 1926 class of 245 officers. After assignments in the War Department (1929-35), he accompanied Gen. Douglas MacArthur to the Philippines as an assistant military advisor; his principal duty was training the Filipino Army. After returning to the U.S. in 1940, Ike made his reputation as a great tactician in the U.S. Army's Louisiana Maneuvers of September 1941. Following the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Brig. General Eisenhower was placed in charge of plans for the Pacific Theater by Army Chief of Staff General George Marshall. Two months later, Marshall promoted him to chief of the War Plans Division where he received his second star. In June 1942, Marshall sent Eisenhower to England on a special mission to build cooperation among the Allies as Commanding General, U.S. Army, European Theater. Eisenhower arrived in England on June 24, 1942, and except for a brief stateside visit in January 1944, he was separated from his family until June 1945, following the end of the war in Europe. He served as Commanding General of Allied Forces Europe and planned and oversaw the Normandy Invasion on D-Day, June 6th, 1944. Eisenhower was promoted to 5-star rank in December 1944. He accepted the surrender of the Nazi Germany on V-E Day, May 7, 1945. General Eisenhower served as Chief of Staff of the United States Army from November 1945 until February 1948. He resigned from the Army on February 7, 1948 to serve as president of Columbia University in New York City. In 1950, at President Truman's request, Eisenhower took a leave of absence from Columbia to serve in Paris, France, as the first commanding general of the newly formed North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). On June 1, 1952, Eisenhower returned to the United States to announce his candidacy President of the United States. Dwight D. Eisenhower served as our 34th President from January 1953-January 1961. Eisenhower died on March 28, 1969 and is buried in the Place of Meditation on the grounds of the Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene KS.

Entering the service in New York at the age of 20, Louis Graziano's World War II experiences include landing with the third wave on D-Day on Omaha Beach, fighting in the Battle of the Bulge, and serving on Dwight D. Eisenhower’s staff at Reims, France, when Germany surrendered. 'I was a hair stylist before I went into the service,' Graziano said. 'Then when I came out, I went back to hair styling. I’m still working. I’ve been there since 1956.' His children wanted to know about his war experiences, so he wrote 'A Patriot's Memoirs of World War II: Through My Eyes, Heart, and Soul.' His book shares stories of life, loss and love. He met his wife, a fellow soldier, while in the service. 'As we focus on our country today, we must look back to our history to help us appreciate how we became the greatest power on earth and the men and women who fought to make this happen,' says Graziano. When his unit arrived in Reims, France, Graziano was charged with keeping all of the buildings occupied by Americans in working order. Among those structures was the Little Red Schoolhouse, and that’s how he got into the war room to watch the German commanders surrender. In 2019, 75 years later, Graziano was believed to be the last living eyewitness to the formal surrender of Germany at the schoolhouse in Reims. Of that monumental moment in history on May 7, 1945, Graziano has said, 'I was honored. It was a great pleasure to be there. I felt sorry for all the men we had lost that helped us accomplish that.' In June 2019, he spoke at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library during events commemorating the 75th anniversary of the June 6, 1944, D-Day Invasion of Normandy. Graziano was even honored at the White House in October of 2019, at the age of 96. Role(s) in Service Utilities-NCO Sergeant. Supervised 35 men in plumbing, carpentry, electrical work, masonry, road building and construction work. Built large mess hall, sleeping huts, latrines, roads, sidewalks, power plant and a theater. Col. Boshoff sent Louis to install a telephone line in Ike’s quarters. Louis took his friend, Buck, stringing wire through towns and through fields, watching for mines. They spent two nights at Eisenhower's Headquarters. 'We got everything hooked up for Eisenhower. He was real good to us. I think a lot of him. He was real good; kind to the men. He was always looking out for the soldiers. He said ‘The officers have enough rank to look after themselves, so I take care of the enlisted men.’'

Born into the Great Depression, Henry Langrehr knew what it was like to be poor. So when he left school to join the war in 1942, the extra 'jump pay' was incentive enough for Henry to join the paratroopers. He would serve with the 82nd Airborne Division from D-Day to V-E Day. At 19 years old, Henry Langrehr was among the first to jump feet first into France behind enemy lines. His drop zone was the town of Sainte-Mere-Eglise where Henry would crash through the glass roof of a greenhouse in what he described as a "rough landing". Langrehr, along with others from the 82nd would achieve their objective and secure the town and surrounding bridges. Henry spent the next few weeks fighting hedgerow-to-hedgerow in some of the most harrowing close-quarter fighting of the war. During this fighting he would be wounded by shrapnel from a German tank and taken prisoner. After receiving medical attention from German doctors, Langrehr was sent to work slave labor in a Czechoslovakian coal mine.

Edward Rodney Manley was born on Nov. 5, 1921, in New Jersey. His life before the war was nearly as colorful as his service. “My dad died two months before I was born, and my mother was an orphan,” he once recalled. “She lived with showgirls and was the only one with a steady job. She got walk-ons on different Broadway shows and that would get her $5.” When Ed was 3, his mother sent him to live with a babysitter, and at 5 he was moved to the Gould Foundation group home in Harlem. “I had to learn to be streetwise when I was at the home in Harlem,” Manley said. “On Saturdays all the kids from the home had 15 cents for the movies. The street kids knew it. I wandered away from my group once and this 13-year-old boy cut me four or five times across the leg with a strap razor. I was carrying a broken Coke bottle and buried it in his solar plexus. “They took me home, cleaned me up, and I went to the movies. Ed trained at Fort Benning and joined the Paratroopers because he thought that would take him close to the front and closer to Hitler. He wanted to kill Hitler. When the U.S. Army’s 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment dropped into Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944, Ed Manley’s job was to help blow up four Nazi cannons overlooking Omaha Beach. The group was dropped in the wrong place but he improvised. He was 22 and lived to tell about it. On Sept. 17, 1944, he jumped into Holland on a mission to seize roads and bridges in the key city of Eindhoven. Again he lived. On Dec. 17, 1944, Manley and the 502nd Regiment held positions in Bastogne, Belgium, during the Battle of the Bulge. Manley was wounded, but lived to be captured by the Nazis on Jan. 3, 1945. Imprisoned at Stalag 12A in Limburg, Germany, he lived to escape from the camp 4 1/2 months later. Now he was 23. Returning from the war, Manley passed the test to join the New York State Police. He supplemented his police salary as a flag man directing traffic and a runner for a concrete company dealing with their truckers. He also worked on a tanker on the Great Lakes, and as a lumber salesman and theater manager. In 1951, he married Dorothy Ann Brower. She died in 1983 after 32 years of marriage. The couple had two sons, Scott and James, who survive him, and a daughter, Kimberly. Courtesy of coastalstar.com and American Veterans Center.

Charles Shay was born in 1923 and grew up as a Native American on Indian Island in Maine. He was part of the Penobscot tribe. April, 1943, at the age of 19, he was drafted into the Army. His job was to be an Army medic. Shay trained hard and would be part of the D-Day landings. He received the Silver Star for saving many soldiers from drowning on June 6. He moved through Normandy with this troop and then was sent to eastern France and Germany. Shay was taken prisoner March 1945 but liberated a few weeks later. After the war, there were few jobs or well paying jobs for an Indian man so Shay reenlisted. In 2018 he moved to France. He will be attending the 80th anniversary ceremonies in Normandy. Courtesy of AP, and The History Channel.

Paul Ybarra was born in Wellington, KS June 25, 1925, one of twelve children. He attended school until 7th grade and was drafted at age 18. Basic training was in Tyler, TX until deployment to Europe. Ybarra arrived in England sometime in May 1944, and began preparing for combat but he was not told of the big operation planned for June 6. Ybarra recalls being awaken early on June 6 and loaded into a boat to cross the English channel. He is unsure of the beach he landed on but his unit received little if any resistance. They patrolled the beach until ordered to push through the line and continue on into France. In his video Ybarra talks about the accidental bombing from American pilots due to the smoke laid as targets, being blown by the wind. Part of his unit was taken out with these bombs. Ybarra and his unit marched through France, to Paris. Ybarra engaged in the Battle of the Bulge that winter and continued fighting until the end of the war. Ybarra was wounded twice but returned to battle each time. After the war Ybarra returned to Wellington and worked for the Railroad. He earned his GED, married and had four children

Onofrio "NoNo" Zicari was born in 1923 in Geneva, NY. He enlisted in 1942 and his training for the service was in California. Zicari was stationed in Scotland then Wales, later seeing fighting in France, Belgium, and Luxembourg but one battle had a big impact on him, D-Day at Omaha Beach. He was in the 5th wave to go onshore. It was brutal and where he saw his first dead soldier. Zicari was in charge of bringing supplies to shore and setting up a supple line. Back in the states, Zicari lived in Los Angeles and was a deliveryman during the 1992 Rodney King riots. He was given a patch or armband to wear and had no troubles from the rioters. Courtesy of reviewjournal.com and Memoirs of WW II.