The Final Salute Publication originated from Grandview Heights/Marble Cliff Mermorial Day Services to honor past military people. Information was obtained from a plethora of resources. The dates are not exact in some cases. It is our hope that the sacrifices made by these men will be remembered and they will no longer be unknown names on a plaque.;xNLx;;xNLx;;xNLx;;xNLx;;xNLx;;xNLx;;xNLx;Hard copies of the Final Salute Publication are available to read for further detailed information in the GH/MCHS Archives. ;xNLx;;xNLx;Find more information about the Memorial Day Park Dedication on May 23, 1948. This park is located near Northwest Boulevard and Oxley Road. ;xNLx;;xNLx;
Fields was the son of Henry L. and Patsy Patterson who lived on Ashland Avenue. During World War I he entered the Army and was stationed at Camp Sherman before going overseas. He was killed in France and buried there. In 1930 the United States government began the War Mothers and Widows Pilgrimage to Europe. This offered the women an opportunity to visit the graves of their sons or husbands buried overseas. Mrs. Patterson was on one of the first ships to go on this journey. She shared a stateroom with Mrs. C.H. Walcutt whose son Oscar was also buried in France. The G.C. Glass family lived next door to the Pattersons on Ashland Avenue. One of Mary Glass Smith’s girlhood memories is the beautiful fan Mrs. Patterson brought her from France.
Jasper White was born in February 1889 to Clyde and Kitorah White. In April 1918, he married Irene Margarite Zimmerer. He entered the U.S. Army during World War I and was assigned to an infantry unit. He died of influenza September 30,1918, on a troopship bound for England and was buried in Liverpool, England. Their daughter, Jayne J. White, was born April 13, 1919. The White family home was at 1452 Wyandotte Road. Jayne was a Grandview Heights High School graduate in the class of 1936. She died February 28,1988, in California.
He was born in June 1897 and was killed in action on November 4, 1918.
A member of one of the earliest families to settle in the Grandview Heights area, Oscar was the son of Jeanette Howard and Clifton Harrison Walcutt of 1800 Goodale Boulevard. Born January 26,1895, he attended Grandview Heights schools and was drafted into the Army in February 1918. After just six weeks training, he was sent to France with railroad troops of the American Expeditionary Forces. On November 7, 1918, he was shot in the heel. He developed an infection from poison the Germans put on bullets and died on November 9, just two days before the Armistice. Private Walcutt was buried in the United States Military Cemetery in Flanders, France. He was twenty-three years old. Oscar was engaged to Mary E. Kennedy, a teacher at Grandview High School for many years. In 1930 the United States government began the War Mothers and Widows Pilgrimage to Europe. This offered the women an opportunity to visit the graves of their sons or husbands buried overseas. Mrs. Walcutt was on one of the first ships to go on this journey. She shared a stateroom with Mrs. Henry L. Patterson of Grandview, whose son Fields Patterson also was buried in France.
Born November 13, 1888, Laurence was in the Army in World War I. He died of influenza January 1, 1919, just before he was to return to the United States. He lived on Ida Avenue and was engaged to Alice Goodman.
Born September 15,1918, the younger son of Murray and Ruth Boardman Hoffman, John was a 1936 graduate of Grandview Heights High School and a city diving champion. In 1941, shortly before he would have graduated from The Ohio State University, he joined the Army Air Corps. Upon completing flight school with the rank of second lieutenant, he became an instructor at Cochran Field, Georgia. While training cadets of the Royal Air Force on May 6,1942, John was killed in a plane crash near Byron, Georgia. The cadet he was instructing froze at the controls and John was unable to regain control of the plane. He was twenty three years old. John married Harriet Griner of Columbus. Their son, John Hoffman Offenberg, was born thirty days after his father’s death. John's son lived in Bexley, Chio.
Dick was born October 2,1921, in Greenville, Ohio, to Herbert A. and Helen Vance. The family moved to Grandview Heights when Dick was quite young and he attended Grandview Heights schools, graduating in 1939. After two years in The Ohio State College of Engineering he enlisted in the Army Air Corps in January 1942. Dick and Jeanette Watkins of Columbus were married July 26, 1942. At Vincennes, Indiana, he received his pilot’s wings and was commissioned a second lieutenant on December 13, 1942. While stationed at Otis Field, Falmouth, Massachusetts, he was the co-pilot of a B-25 bomber on a volunteer mission. The plane crashed into a hillside during a blinding snowstorm near Rome, New York. All aboard were killed. The family was not told any details about the purpose of the mission. Dick was buried in Greenlawn Cemetery. He was twenty-one years old. His father and sister Alice Lane lived in the Northwest area. His sister Barbara Karcher lived in Vermillion, Ohio. Jeanette Vance Hudson lived in Columbus.
Bob was the son of John Edward and Dorothy Forrest. A 1937 graduate of Grandview Heights High School, he played football and basketball. He was captain of the basketball team his senior year. Bob attended The Ohio University before enlisting in the Army Air Corps with Ed Harris, another Grandview Heights graduate. They started primary training at King City, California, December 14, 1941. Bob graduated at Mather Field, Sacramento, winning his wings and second lieutenant’s commission. His friend Ed Harris received training for B-25 bombers while Bob was trained for the B-24 bomber. Ed went to Africa and Bob went overseas on October 3,1942, to the 8th Air Force in Shipdham, England. He was a member of the 44th Bomb Group, the 67th Bomb Squadron. A co-pilot on a B-24 Liberator named “Miss Diane,” his plane was the subject of a story in the February 18, 1943, edition of the Stars and Stripes (the Armed Forces newspaper) under the headline “One Lib Crew Gets Five Nazis.” On a daylight raid on Nazi U-boat bases at St. Nazaire, France, the top turret and waist gunners each got two of “Miss Diane’s” victims and the tail gunner shot down the fifth German plane. On March 8, 1943, on a mission over Rouen, France, Bob’s plane and another B-24 took over the lead of their formation because of a mishap to the regularly scheduled leaders. Briefed to expect P-47 fighter support, they were caught off guard when they were approached by radial engined fighters. Before they could react to the fact that the planes were not P-47’s but German FW-190’s, both lead planes were shot down. Three of “Miss Diane’s” crew survived and became prisoners of war but the rest of the men, including Bob, were killed. Tom Hobson, a 1938 Grandview Heights graduate, was a B-24 pilot assigned to the 44th Bomb Group. When he arrived there, he made plans to get together with Bob on the night of March 8, the day Bob was killed. Tom’s plane was shot down on October 1, 1943, and he was a prisoner of war for almost two years. It was long after the war before he learned the details of Bob’s death.
ROBERT MARTIN Bob was born May 5, 1919, the son of Walter and Inez Martin who lived at 1313 Inglis Avenue. Bob attended Grandview Heights High School and graduated in 1937. He was the ping-pong champion in his senior year. Bob attended The Ohio State University in the College of Arts and Sciences before he enlisted in the Army Air Corps in February 1942. As an air cadet he was a member of Basic Training Squadron H734 and entered Class 42X, an experimental class. This was a cram course covering a year and a half of work in nine months. Finishing this course in December 1942, he received his pilot’s wings and commission as a second lieutenant. Bob, trained as a flight instructor, was stationed in Garden City, Kansas. When he was returning to Kansas after a visit home for Mother’s Day, Bob's plane encountered deep fog near Danville, Illinois, and crashed. He was killed on May 11, 1943. He was twenty-four years old. His sister, Bonnie Jean McCullough, lived in the Tri- Village area.
Curtis was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Carl H. Scheuerman who lived at 1386 West First Avenue. Curt was in the class of 1942 at Grandview Heights High School where he was a cheerleader. When the family moved to Clintonville, Curt enlisted in the Coast Guard the spring before graduation. Sent to Camp Hanrahan, Louisiana, he completed boot camp and landing craft training. During the invasion of Salerno, Curt was badly wounded while steering his landing craft to the beach on September 7,1943. He died five days later in a British Hospital in Algiers, where services and interment were held. Ralph Wheeler, his classmate and best friend, remembered that a shipmate of Curt’s from New York attended his memorial service here. Ralph and Jean Wheeler named their first son Curtis in memory of his friend.
John was born March 6, 1906, the son of Dr. Ross and Dr. Blanche C. Hopkins. The family moved to Grandview Heights in 1920 from Missouri. A graduate of Grandview Heights High School in 1924, John was very active in sports all four years, playing football, basketball, and baseball. He was football captain in his senior year and class president in his sophomore year. After college he coached football and basketball at Westerville High School. When John left coaching, he worked for the State of Ohio before entering the United States Coast Guard on July 22, 1942. He was married to Mary Batchelber Hopkins. As an ensign in the Coast Guard he served in North Carolina and Florida. John died of encephalitis on September 15, 1943, in the U.S. Marine Hospital, Ellis Island, New York.
The son of William P. and Ruth Ross Kelley, Bill was born July 13, 1920. The family lived on the east side of Columbus when their three sons were growing up. Bill attended Holy Rosary elementary school and graduated from East High School in 1938. After graduation he worked for Trans World Airlines in Cleveland, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Kelley moved to Grandview Heights in 1942 and lived at 1471 Wyandotte Road in 1945. Bill enlisted in the Army Air Corps in March 1942 and received his pilot’s wings and second lieutenant’s commission at George Field, Vincennes, Indiana. His advanced training was at Walla Walla, Washington, where he qualified as a B-17 bomber pilot. Bill was then assigned to the Eighth Air Force in England, serving under General James Doolittle. He was killed on a bombing raid over Bremen, Germany on December 20, 1943. He was survived by his brother Robert R. Kelley of St. Louis. He was buried in St. Joseph Cemetery.
The son of former residents Stuart and Margaret Cottingham Constable, John was born June 17, 1923. He made his home with his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Constable, 1134 Broadview Avenue, while he attended Grandview Heights High School for his senior year. Both his parents had graduated from Grandview Heights High School. Following his graduation in 1941, he attended The Ohio State University for several quarters before enlisting in the Army Air Corps in April 1942. He won his Wings in May 1943 and went overseas the day before Thanksgiving 1943. Pilot of a B-24 bomber, Lt. Constable failed to return from a raid on February 24, 1944, the day of the great attack on Schweinfurt, Germany.
Born to LeClair and Jean Chidester on March 10, 1919, Stan completed his first year of high school in Auburn, New York. After the family moved to Grandview Heights, he attended University High School as a sophomore, transferring to Grandview Heights High School for his junior and senior years. He worked at Long’s Drug Store from 1936 to 1938, the year he graduated. A student at Lawrence College before enlisting in the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1941, Stan was trained as a fighter pilot and as a navigator. He retrained as a bombardier because of the need for men with this specialty at the time he requested active duty. He held the rank of staff sergeant. Stationed in England, he was transferred to the U.S. 8th Air Force on December 17,1943, then loaned back to the R.A.F. crew with which he had been serving. He completed more than thirty missions and received the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Purple Heart. On one mission his plane, a Wellington bomber, was badly damaged over France and crash-landed in the English Channel near the French coast. The entire crew was rescued by an amphibious plane. The crew was assigned to a Lancaster bomber for their subsequent flights. In accordance with the practice of having Americans fly daylight raids while the British flew night missions, Stan’s plane took off on the night of March 24, 1944, for a raid over Berlin. The bomb load was dropped successfully but the plane, caught in the searchlights, was badly damaged. Wounded men were bailed out and the remainder, trying to bring the plane in as ordered, were killed when they crashed during the early morning hours of March 25. At the end of the war, a crew member, hospitalized in Germany, corresponded with the Chidester family and gave them the details of Stan’s death. First buried in Germany, Stan’s body was moved to a cemetery in France after the war. At St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, his name appears in a memorial book honoring Allied fighting men who died defending England. He was survived by two brothers, Tom and Bob, and two sisters, Ruth Kramer and Mary Ackley. Tom and Ruth lived in the Tri-Village area.
Bob was born January 22, 1922, to Earl and Helen Wetzel. His family moved to 1336 West First Avenue after he graduated from North High School In 1940. After attending The Ohio State University for a year, he enlisted in the Army in 1941 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in a paratroop unit. While stationed in Sicily he was killed in a jeep accident during a blackout on May 14,1944. Details sent to the family were sketchy. A memorial service was held on June 11, 1944, at Boulevard Presbyterian Church where he had been a deacon and active in youth work. He originally was buried in Sicily but was brought home after the war and buried in Union Cemetery. Mr. and Mrs. Wetzel gave the engraved marble benches to the Grandview Memorial Park in memory of their son. Margaret Wetzel Kelly lived in the Columbus area.
The son of William F. and Gladys Morgan Schake, Paul lived with his mother and sister, Miriam, at 1438 Haines Avenue. He graduated from Grandview Heights High School in 1941. He was a sophomore in chemical engineering at Ohio State at the time of his enlistment in the Navy Air Corps in March 1943. After receiving training at the School of Mines, Butte, Montana, at St. Mary’s College, California, and Hutchinson Field, Kansas, Ensign Schake received his commission and pilot’s wings at Pensacola, Florida, on April 28, 1944. He was home on leave for a short time in May before reporting for advanced training at Sanford, Florida. Paul was killed in a plane crash at Sanford Naval Base on June 2, 1944. Funeral services were held for Paul on June 7, in the First English Lutheran Church in Columbus, Ohio. The Rose Window in Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 2001 Northwest Boulevard, was given in his memory by his mother and sister. His sister, Miriam Schake Huston, survived and lived in Auburn, California.
A member of one of the earliest Italian families in the Grandview area, Albert, born January 16, 1916, was the son of James and Christina Montenaro. After attending the Columbus Public Schools, he joined the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1936 and served in Bountiful, Utah. When he entered the Army, Private Montenaro was a rifleman in Company A, 314th Infantry, 79th Division. Although the family members we interviewed thought he had died on D-Day during the invasion of Normandy, the Ohio Adjutant General's records show that he died July 7, 1944 at St. Lo, France. Albert received the Combat Infantryman Badge, two Bronze Stars and the Purple Heart. His cousin, who is also named Albert Montenaro and who also fought in the European Theater, flew the American flag at his home in memory of Albert. A memorial service was held for him at St. John the Baptist Church on August 10, 1944. He was buried in the United States Military Cementary at St. Lo, France.
The son of Edward R. and Dorothy Billman, Edward graduated from Grandview Heights High School in 1934. He attended The Ohio State University where he became a member of the Pershing Rifles. He joined the Army and was in the Transportation Corps in Texas before going overseas. Arriving in England September 15, 1944, T-5 Billman became ill with pneumonia and died October 1,1944. He was buried in England. His mother and brother Donald Billman lived in the Tri-Village area.
Better known as “Blackie,” Paul, the son of Paul and Corda Beaman, was born February 28, 1920. The family lived in Grandview Heights until Paul’s sisters Dorothy and Alice graduated from Grandview Heights High School. They moved to Delaware, Ohio, where Blackie became a member of the football team and was active in debate at Delaware Willis High School. Paul graduated in 1938. He attended the University of Missouri with the intention of becoming an attorney and practicing law with his sister Dorothy. After he was drafted into the Army, he was sent to Fort Benning, Georgia, to Officer Candidate School. A second lieutenant in the infantry, he went to England as a replacement officer. Two or three days later, he was ordered to Germany where he was killed October 6, 1944. He was buried in France.
Bob, born July 24,1917, was the son of Alvin F. and Mary E. Phillips. They lived at 1441 North Star Road when Bob graduated from Central High School in 1936. He enlisted in the 37th Division and advanced to the rank of sergeant in the Headquarters Company. The division went to Guadalcanal on April 19, 1943. He was wounded while stationed there and he also received a promotion to second lieutenant. Bob was home on leave when a friend, who was a pilot, took him along on a flight transporting a group of officers to Altoona, Pennsylvania. The plane crashed into the side of a mountain near Cove Valley Airport, Martinsburg, Pennsylvania. All abord were killed. The accident occurred on November 26,1944. Bob had been scheduled to leave for Europe on November 27. His promotion to first lieutenant came right after he died. He was buried in Union Cemetery.
Pat, as he was better known, was born April 3, 1924, in Morgantown, West Virginia, to Alexander W. and Marie Short. The family moved to 1477 Wyandotte Road from Hillsboro, Ohio, in 1936. Very active in all school affairs, Pat played football, basketball, and was president of the class of 1942. He attended Denison University where he played football and basketball. Drafted into the Army in 1943, he entered the Army Specialized Training Program at Ball State University. After a short time the ASTP was abolished and Pat went into the Ozark Division of the 9th Army. Pat was killed in action November 29,1944, near Aachen, Germany. Among his awards were the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star and the Silver Star. Pat’s brother, Al, presented the Silver Star in a ceremony at Fort Hayes. The citation said it was awarded for gallantry in action in Germany on November 8, 1944. Sgt. Short directed and assisted in the evacuation of nine wounded members of a night reconnaissance patrol when the group inadvertently exploded anti-personnel mines. He remained behind to help at the risk of his own personal safety. This action took place just three weeks before he was killed. Roy Benadum, Pat’s good friend, remembers sitting on the porch with Mr. and Mrs. Short while a member of Pat’s platoon told of his death. Pat and a group of his men had moved past a hidden German bunker. After they had all gone by, the Germans opened fire and shot all of them. In letters written shortly before he died, Pat tried to assure his family that he was well and in no danger. He asked for sports pages so he could keep up on G.H.S. and college scores, and for cookies to share with his buddies. He also wrote about the good times he remembered with his school friends and neighbors. Pat was buried in Sunset Cemetery. He was twenty years old. A memorial service was held in First Community Church by Dr. Roy Burkhart on January 7,1945. He is survived by his brother, Alexander W. Short.
The son of Harry and Faye Coyle, Robert was born June 24, 1917. He graduated from Central High School in 1936 and was drafted in March 1944. Given three months’ training and sent to Germany as a private in a motorized division of the infantry, he was killed by a sniper on November 29, 1944. He was awarded the Purple Heart. Robert was survived by his wife, Mary DeStefano Coyle and two daughters, Susan, then aged four years, and Diana, then aged nine months. Mary Coyle and Diana Coyle O’Reilly lived in the Columbus area. Susan Coyle Cantrell lived in Illinois.
Richard was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Louis Thomas, 1754 West Third Avenue. He attended Our Lady of Victory Schools and worked at the Kroger store on Grandview Avenue until he was drafted into the Army on January 16, 1943. He had basic training at Camp Wheeler, Georgia, and then was sent to the South Pacific. He was killed in action on December 9,1944, on Leyte while serving with the 32nd Infantry Division. Because he had no leave before going overseas, his family never saw him after he was inducted. His body was returned home for a military funeral at Our Lady of Victory Church, and he was buried in St. Joseph Cemetery on February 8, 1945. He was twenty years old. He is survived by his brothers John and Joseph III.
Tim, whose full name was Harry Timmons Harmount, was the son of Harry and Elizabeth Harmount. The family moved to Grandview Heights from Chillicothe, Ohio. Tim’s sister Jane graduated from Grandview Heights High School in 1935. Tim attended The Ohio State University before entering the Army. He was killed in France. He was married and had a daughter.
Dick was the youngest of the Grandview Heights High School boys to die in World War II. Born June 2,1926, to Tom and Betty Wingfield, he graduated in 1944 and immediately enlisted in the Navy. After training he was sent to the Philippines and was assigned to the ship Orestes. The fighting in this area had abated, but on January 1, 1945, a Japanese plane flew over and was shot down by another ship. Dick was killed when the plane crashed onto the Orestes and exploded. He was eighteen years old. Dick was awarded the Purple Heart. A memorial service was held for him at the Boulevard Presbyterian Church on January 21,1945. His brother Allan lived in the Tri-Village area.
Jack Cook Summers was the only child of Clarence and Mamie Summers who lived at 1232 Holly Avenue. Jack graduated from Grandview Heights High School in June, 1942, and joined the Army Air Corps in March, 1943. He had his pre-flight training at Scott Field, Illinois, then went to gunnery training and radio school. He was sent overseas to England in 1944 where he was a staff sargeant with the 34th Bomb Group, 18th Bomb Squadron, 8th Air Force. Late in 1944, Jack was awarded the Air Medal for meritorious achievement. The citation mentioned ‘ ‘coolness, courage and skill as a radio operator and waist gunner of B-17 Flying Fortress during attacks on German war-making installations.” His plane was reported missing over the Straits of Gibraltar in early 1945. His body was never recovered.
The son of Eugene and Grace Antonelli Riccardi, Fred was born August 28, 1922. The family lived at 1316 Westwood Avenue. Fred attended Grandview Heights schools and was a member of the class of 1942. He enlisted in the army on October 15, 1942, and was assigned to the 14th Armored Division, which was activated that fall at Camp Chaffee, Arkansas. The division trained at the Tennessee Maneuver Area and Camp Campbell, Kentucky. On October 13, 1944, they left New York Harbor for France, arrived at Marseille near the end of October, and went into combat two weeks later. Fred was a gunner in a four man crew on an assault gun, which was a lightly armored motorized vehicle. Early in January, 1945, the division was engaged in heavy fighting close to the German border near Strasbourg. The Germans made a strong counterattack here as a diversion to the Ardennes Offensive (the Battle of the Bulge). Fred’s unit, the 19th Armored Infantry Battalion, was in a fight near the town of Althorn, France. The assault guns arrived ahead of the infantry. Fred and one other soldier dismounted and attacked the enemy on foot as they waited for the others to arrive. The next day, January 10,1945, in the attack on Althorn, fifty-two German soldiers surrendered when Fred pointed his gun at the first three houses. As the gun crew advanced past a corner, they encountered a German Tiger tank and were set on fire when hit by two rounds. The driver jumped out on one side and survived, but Fred exited on the opposite side and was killed by machine gun fire. The last two men were unable to get out of the vehicle. Fred was awarded the Silver Star. The citation said: “For gallantry in action near Althorn, France, January 10,1945. As a member of the point assault gun crew, Corporal Riccardi without regard for his own safety, pushed through the enemy fire that forced the infantry to take cover. Continuing in the advance, he directed and cleared the way into town. Fully exposed, he engaged in a bitter fire fight, exacting heavy casualties from the enemy, until his gun was disabled by a direct hit and he was killed. Corporal Riccardi's gallant sacrifice, peerless courage, and complete devotion to duty reflect great credit on himself and are in keeping with the high traditions of the Armed Forces.” Fred’s brother Louis talked to Frank Nicholls, the surviving crew member, after the war. From him, Louis learned that they had been waiting for a relief crew but Fred had urged them to continue the fight, so they went on into Althorn where they encountered the Tiger tank. Fred was buried in Epinal, France. A memorial service was held February 20,1945, at St. John the Baptist Church. He was survived by his brother and sister-in-law, Louis and Mary Ann Riccardi, who lived in Columbus.
Born May 30, 1924, Richard was the son of Encole and Angelica DeStefano. He attended Central High School prior to enlisting in the Army Air Corps for training as a gunner. Sergeant DeStefano was on his thirteenth mission as a tail gunner on an A-20 bomber flying out of Belgium when he was killed by a bomb explosion on his plane on February 2,1945. After the war, the pilot visited Richard’s family and gave them the details of his death. The bomb had been planted by a saboteur. Richard earned the Air Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters and was awarded the Purple Heart. Three of his brothers, Florio, Norman, and Vincent, served in the Army. His brother John and sister Gloria were in the Navy. His other sisters are Leida Frank and Mary Coyle, whose husband Robert Coyle also died in the war.
Donald Joe Duffee was born July 2, 1923, to Paul and Cleo Duffee who lived at 1378 Morning Avenue. He attended Broadview Elementary School and graduated from Central High School in 1940. He was an excellent swimmer and enjoyed carving wood and making furniture. Joe served in the Philippines as a corporal with the 11th Airborne Engineers. He was killed by a sniper on February 8, 1945, during a patrol near Luzon. He was twenty-one years old. A Memorial Service for Joe was held at Boulevard Presbyterian Church on May 6, 1945. Two of Joe’s best friends, Bill Long and Richard DeStefano, also lost their lives in World War II. Joe’s mother had been an active member of Grandview Blue Star Mothers group all through the years. Mrs. Duffee would help arrange the Grandview Heights Memorial Day Service every May. Joe was survived by his brothers Dale and Jack.
Born March 3, 1920, to Sabinus M. and Irene O. Lindsey, Jean was a member of the varsity football and basketball teams at Grandview Heights High School and president of his senior class. Following graduation in 1938, he entered The Ohio State University and played end on the football team. After college he became a State Highway Patrolman. Enlisting in the U.S. Marines in 1942, Jean attended Officers Candidate School at Quantico, Virginia, and was commissioned a second lieutenant. A forward observer with a Marine howitzer unit in the Fifth Marine Division, he landed with his outfit on Iwo Jima at noon of D-Day, February 19,1945, three hours after H-Hour. He was killed in action on March 4, the day after his twenty-fifth birthday. Two letters which his parents received after his death told of the intense fighting and sleepless nights which the men had endured. The second letter, written in a foxhole on March 2, said that the fighting had somewhat abated but that it was only luck that he had not been killed or wounded.The telegram announcing Jean’s death arrived March 29, the same week in which the Lindseys learned that Jean’s brother Bob had been injured. A Marine Corsair pilot, Bob was hurt when his plane was shot up and had to crash-land on an island in the Philippines. Bob recovered from his injuries. He lived in Florida at the time of his death in October 1986. A sister, Helen Bonnie, was a resident of the Tri-Village area.
Owen Douglas Huls was born July 9,1924, to Gifford O. and Ruth S. Huls. After graduating from Grandview Heights High School in 1942, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy immediately after his eighteenth birthday. Trained as a radioman with the rank of aviation radioman first class, he was sent to the South Pacific. While on patrol, his plane, a PBY, was badly damaged by enemy fire and forced to land in the Makassar Strait between the islands of Borneo and Celebes. It drifted to Japanese-held Celebes and the crew went ashore, dividing into two groups. Captured by natives and turned over to the Japanese, one group which included the officers was executed. Owen and three other crewmen in the second group rigged up a raft of logs tied together with pieces of clothing and put out to sea. As the raft drifted, it was attacked by sharks and began to break apart. One man lost most of his left arm to a shark. Owen volunteered to swim back to land in the hope of finding a native canoe or anything else which might be useful. He had reached the shore and gone inland when the rest of the crew heard him scream. His body was never found. The survivors were rescued the following day, June 6, 1945. It was learned that the rescue party had been delayed because the navigator had incorrectly reported their position when he radioed for help. The Navy released little information about the incident. The family learned the details of Owen’s death after the war when they visited the injured crew member at his home in Kokomo, Indiana. Owen was awarded the Air Medal, the Purple Heart, and the Silver Star. His sister, Marianne Huls Dardarian, lived in Lancaster, California.
The only child of Lawrence and Tillie Long, Bill graduated from Our Lady of Victory High School in 1940. He was a student at The Ohio State University until he enlisted in the Army Air Corps on November 7, 1942. He won his pilot’s wings and flew an A-26 bomber In the Pacific Theater. After the war ended, Bill was in Tokyo with the Occupation Forces. During a routine flight, he was killed when his plane crashed into Mt. Fuji.
It’s unusual for a suburb as small as Grandview Heights to have produced both a real and a comic strip soldier of fortune, but it did in the person of “Dude” Higgs. Happy-go-lucky, colorful, rugged, handsome, modest, Grandview Heights gift to China, and daredevil (he once flew a small plane under the Fishinger Road bridge) are some of the descriptions used in the many newspaper articles written about him in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s. Known as “Junior” in his younger days and “Dude” from his college years, he was a member of one of the early families in Grandview Heights. Born April 8,1908, Frank Lott Higgs was the son of Frank Morgan and Pleasant Barton Higgs who lived at 1219 Lincoln Road. In high school he was Booster president in his senior year and played football, basketball, baseball, and golf. His coach was Stanton Jones who later became his brother-in-law. He graduated in 1926. Frank went to Hanover College in Indiana where he played football but flunked out because he couldn’t bother studying. After seeing an Army air show at Norton Field in the summer of 1929, he knew flying was for him. At this time the Army Air Corps accepted only college graduates, so he finished his degree at The Ohio State University in 1932 and enlisted the next year. It was at Ohio State that he was given the nickname “Dude” because of his colorful clothes. Ohio State is also where he became best friends with Milton Caniff, who was to become the creator of the comic strips Terry and the Pirates and Steve Canyon. It was a lifelong friendship. “Dude” was the inspiration for the character Dude Hennick in Terry and the Pirates. The name Hennick came from a popular campus hangout. His Air Corps training was at Kelly and Randolph Fields, Texas, and Selfridge Field, Michigan. After winning his pilot’s wings, he was stationed at Luke Field, Honolulu, for two years. He went to China in 1937 soon after the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War as an advisor to the Chinese Air Corps and to instruct Chinese pilots. Then he assisted with the organization of the Chinese National Aviation Corporation. There is a question whether he left the Army Air Corps in 1937 or 1941. Although many stories referred to him as a member of the Flying Tigers, his sister, Alleyne Higgs Jones, said he was not a member of that group. Dude became a captain and chief pilot of the CNAC. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese laid siege to Hong Kong where the CNAC was based. One of the high points in his career was the evacuation of civilians from Hong Kong to Chungking. Dude and other CNAC pilots made many flights carrying out more than two hundred and seventy-five people in two nights under heavy fire from the Japanese. Often there were twenty or thirty more passengers than the planes were made to carry. Along with CNAC employees, some notable people were also evacuated including Madame Chiang Kai-shek and her sisters Madame Kung and Madame Sun Yat-Sen, widow of the founder of the Chinese Republic. Dude also rescued Clare Boothe Luce from a deserted air field in Burma. During the years 1942-1945, the CNAC pilots flew munitions and war materials across the “Hump” (from India across the Himalayan Mountains to China) through Japanese combat zones in unarmed planes at night. When the war ended Dude was again flying passenger flights for the CNAC. On October 20, 1945, he was flying between Shanghai and Canton when the plane crashed and all the people were killed. Supposedly there were bankers aboard and much currency and gold which raised the talk of sabotage, but by the time searchers arrived, the Chinese had stolen all that was left of the plane and the cargo. Dude came home from China in 1940 and again in 1943. On his second trip, he returned to Grandview Heights High School to talk to the students about the war. In 1979 Captain Higgs was honored at the annual American Volunteer Group (the Flying Tigers) and the CNAC reunion at Ojai, California. The celebration was dedicated to him, and Milton Caniff spoke about his friend. Frank’s wife, Diana Barrington Menzies, died in 1975 and his sister, Alleyne Jones, died in 1987.
Edward Anthony Kauffman, son of Lawrence and Firme Anthony Kauffman, was born September 8,1924, in Logan, Ohio. In 1942 he graduated from Grandview Heights High School where he was captain of the football team during his senior year. He attended The Ohio State University before enlisting in the U.S. Air Force in May 1943. A year later, he received his wings and his commission as a second lieutenant at Freeman Field, Indiana. A B-24 pilot, Ed was sent to Italy in May 1945, just a few days before V-E Day, and served in the Mediterranean Air Transport Service before being transferred to the Air Service Command. He was killed on November 13,1945, when a small-engine plane which he was ferrying crashed as he attempted to land at Cercola Airfield near Naples. A mechanical malfunction was believed to be the cause of the accident. Originally buried at Naples, Ed was later moved to the United States Military Cemetery in Rome. Dr. Roy A. Burkhart conducted a memorial service for him at First Community Church on December 2, 1945. In a letter to Mrs. Kauffman, General H.H. Arnold of the Army Air Force described Ed as an alert, reliable pilot who exhibited both aptitude and enthusiasm for military aviation. He was cooperative of spirit and cheerful in discharging his assignments and popular with his fellow airmen. According to his sister, Nancy Mowrey, who lived in Grandview Heights, Ed was happy in the service of his country. He wanted to do only what he was doing—serve his country in an honorable manner.
Richard John Murday was the son of John and Mary Murday. Dick joined the Army in February, 1943, during his senior year at Central High School. He was stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington, and assigned to the 7th Army, 44th Division, 114th Infantry Regiment. The division moved to the Louisiana Maneuver Area in February 1944, then to Camp Phillips, Kansas, for final combat preparations. The division embarked from Boston Harbor on September 5, 1944. They arrived in France ten days later and entered into combat in October. Pfc. Murday was reported missing in action on January 6,1945, in the vicinity of Woelfingen, France. The Army informed his mother that he and four other men were sent on a reconnaissance mission from which none of them returned. He was declared dead a year later. His body was recovered and buried in France. Dick was awarded the Bronze Star and the Combat Infantryman Badge. At the time, his mother and sister, Rita Tewell, lived in Columbus. His brother Joe also survived.
John was born September 22, 1920, the son of Joseph and Maria Tarini. He graduated from Central High School in 1937. He attended The Ohio State University and was a football manager during his freshman year. He joined the R.O.T.C. and was also a member of the Ohio National Guard. John was in his third year in the College of Engineering when the Ohio Guard was federalized (1940) and the 166th Infantry, 37th Division (Ohio) was ordered to Camp Shelby, Mississippi, to help prepare a training camp for draftees. John’s Company B trained in military exercises to be ready to instruct the incoming recruits. From Camp Shelby, Corporal Tarini was sent to the island of Aruba in the Dutch West Indies. He requested a transfer back to the States and entered the Army Air Corps. Following his training in Arkansas and Texas, he went overseas as a tailgunner on a B-17 bomber. While stationed in Italy, his plane was shot down over Linz, Austria, on his thirteenth mission. John was reported missing in action on February 25,1945, and was declared dead a year later. His body was found and was buried at St. Lorraine, France. He was the recipient of the Purple Heart and the Air Medal. His sister Julia and brothers Peter and Madel lived in the northwest area. Julia visited his grave in France.
The son of Pasquale (Pat) and Assunta (Suzie) Dimenna, Guy was born October 7, 1921, and lived with his family on Ashland Avenue. He attended Broadview Elementary School and graduated from Grandview Heights High School in 1940. Foot problems prevented Guy from joining the Army but with the help of a friend, a Navy recruiter, he enlisted in the Navy. He served as a boatswain first class on a submarine in the South Pacific. He also was a member of a Navy swim team. After surviving the war, Guy died of a damaged heart valve in March 1946. He was buried in St. Joseph Cemetery. His sisters, Margarite Post, Stella Coma and Gloria Woodward lived in the Columbus area. Dolores Rosati, another sister, lived in Galena, Ohio.
The Blue Stars Mothers (Tri Village Unit) was organized on October 6, 1943. The group was open to women who had sons or daughters in the armed forces. The name came from a red and white rectangular emblem with one or more blue stars in the center. Each star represented a service man or woman. The emblems were usually displayed in a window or on a door. A gold star marked the home of one who had died. Their purpose was to aide service men in any way that they could. The tradition continues because of the determination of the devoted Blue Star Mothers to "keep the torch burning." The park was dedicated on May 23, 1948.
Tom was born in Columbus to Thomas Harvey and Ruth Weinman Williams on February 18, 1931. Tom left Grandview Heights High School, where he was active in sports, to join the Army in 1947. After training at Camp Crowder, Washington, he was stationed in Kokura Kuyshusha, Japan. Corporal Williams was in the Signal Corps, 24th Division. He reenlisted in 1950, intending to make the Army his career. With the outbreak of the Korean Conflict, the 24th Division was sent there. On July 16, 1950, Tom volunteered to carry a message to another unit. Accompanied by another signalman, they left their headquarters in a jeep and were killed by enemy sniper fire on their mission. Tom’s body was returned home and funeral services were held at Deyo-Davis Funeral Home. Eight of his classmates were pallbearers: Bill Lawrence, Bud Shell, Dirk Voelker, Terry Smith, Dick Bisciotti, Al O’Leary, Dick DePaso, and Ed Linsley. Burial was in Sunset Cemetery. Tom had only one leave home after he enlisted. His mother Ruth Bowles and brother John Williams lived in Columbus.
The son of Edward T. and Ethel M. Tensler, Orville graduated from Grandview Heights High School in 1940. Enlisting in the Marine Corps shortly before the United States entered the war, he advanced to staff sergeant in the 2nd Marine Division. A machine gunner in the battle for Tarawa, he was wounded and received two Purple Hearts. He also held many marksmanship medals. After the war, he went into the Marine Reserve but decided to return to active duty to make the Marine Corps his career. A week before he was to receive a commission as a second lieutenant, he became seriously ill and died on December 30,1950. He was survived by his mother who lived in Grove City.
David Herbert Mock, born July 6, 1928, was the son of Harold H. and Eleanor Hussey Mock. In 1936 the family moved to Honolulu, Hawaii. The morning of December 7, 1941, they were eating breakfast when they heard the sound of gunfire. Pearl Harbor was just seven miles away but they assumed it was only artillery practice. When David and his sister, Kathlyn, started for Sunday school, they learned about the attack. Soon formations of planes flew overhead and bombs fell a half block away on both sides of the Mock home. David’s father responded to a radio plea for safety wardens while thirteen-year-old David volunteered to deliver newspapers. He rode his bicycle through frightened crowds, bomb explosions, and debris to deliver “extras” informing the people of the Japanese attack and giving safety instructions. Soon after the attack, the family returned to the United States and came to live in Grandview Heights at 1367 Wyandotte Road. David was a high school sophomore at the time. He graduated from Grandview Heights High School in 1946 and The Ohio State University in 1950. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army at the same time. Dave married Nancy Connor, his high school and college classmate, before he left for Fort Riley, Kansas. He was sent to Korea on December 19, 1950, as an infantry platoon leader in the 23rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. He was killed on February 8, 1951. Dave was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. The citation accompanying his Bronze Star stated that Lt. Mock’s rifle platoon had the mission of locating an enemy command post. As the platoon approached Hill 506, it was subjected to heavy small arms and mortar fire and pinned down. Without thought for his personal safety, he exposed himself to heavy enemy fire to direct mortar fire on the enemy positions. He then led two platoons in a bayonet charge upon the enemy positions. During the assault Dave was killed by mortar fragments. His body was returned to the United States and was buried in Greenlawn Cemetery. He was twenty-two years old. Nancy Connor Walter lived in Grandview Heights.
Bill was born September 2, 1928, to Thomas D. and Jessie Zavitz Magee who lived at 1038 Parkway Drive. He graduated from Grandview Heights High School in 1946 where he played Hi-Y basketball and baseball. Bill attended The Ohio State University in the College of Arts and Sciences where he studied journalism. He transferred to the Lewis Hotel Training School in Washington, D.C., and graduated on February 24, 1950. Bill worked at the Deshler-Wallick Hotel in Columbus until he entered the Army in the fall of 1950. He was stationed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, when he died May 7,1951. Bill was buried in Union Cemetery. He was survived by his brother Tom who lived in Littleton, Colorado.
Colonel Jackson was a courier in the Army Military Intelligence. On a trip from Korea to Tokyo, Japan, the plane on which he was a passenger exploded and he was killed. Sabatage was thought to be the cause of the explosion.
Ray lived with his family at 954 Thomas Road. They moved here from Wooster, Ohio, in 1947 and Ray entered the seventh grade. He graduated in 1952 and attended the College of Wooster for a year. He then enlisted in the Air Force and was trained as a jet fighter pilot. Ray was killed in a plane crash returning from a mission in Korea.
Chuck was born In Columbus on December 6, 1930, to Charles F. and Elizabeth Knowiton Turney. When he was a boy, they lived on Thomas Road in Grandview Heights where he attended the Stevenson Elementary School. The family moved into Bexley where Chuck graduated from Bexley High School in 1948. They returned to this area in 1950 and lived at 4160 Dublin Road. Chuck attended Ohio State and in 1950 he enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve. He received training at the Naval Air Station in Columbus and the Naval Aviation Ordinance School at the Squantum, Massachusetts, Naval Base. After seven months of duty, he went Into the active reserve. He was recalled to active duty in March 1953 and was attached to the Fleet Aircraft Service Squadron 3 at the Norfolk, Virginia, Naval Air Station. While he and another sailor were transporting detonators, they were involved in an accident in which Chuck suffered severe head injuries. His parents were able to visit him in the Portsmouth, Virginia, Naval Hospital before he died on February 20, 1954. He was buried in Sunset Cemetery in Columbus with military honors. Chuck had been very active in the DeMolay and was to receive his Master Mason’s Degree the week after the accident.
Dick was the son of Isabel and Clifford Tivenan who lived at 1321 Elmwood Avenue. Born March 4, 1935, he attended Grandview Heights schools and graduated in 1953. He attended The Ohio State University before enlisting in the Marine Corps in January 1955. He was stationed at Camp Pendleton, California, when he was severely injured in an automobile accident. Dick’s brother Clifford, an Air Force master sergeant stationed in Mountain Home, Utah, flew to California but arrived just after Dick died on February 28, 1956. Clifford accompanied his brother’s body home for burial. Tivenan was buried March 4, 1956, his twenty-first birthday, in Nevada, Ohio. He was survived by his sister Charlotte Williams, Newark, Ohio, and his mother, and sister Peggy Renz of Sandusky, Ohio.
Bob was born August 13,1927, to Rina Casa and Joseph J. Boggioni in Columbus, Ohio. The family moved to Grandview Heights when Bob entered ninth grade at Grandview Heights High School. He played varsity football for two years and was captain during his senior year. He graduated in 1946. He enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1948. Bob went to air cadet school at Goodfellow Air Force Base, Phoenix, Arizona, and graduated as a pilot at Williams Air Force Base on October 28, 1950. He was a F-104 jet fighter instructor in Panama City, Florida, until 1953 when he was sent to Misawa, Japan, as a flight instructor. On November 3, 1956, Bob was leading a routine night flight back to the air base when his plane crashed and he was killed. The officer who visited the family after his death told them that there was a canal just below the air base which was lined with sampans. At night the Japanese lit lanterns on each one so it resembled the lights of a landing strip. Bob was the third pilot killed by this deception. The officer also said this wouldn’t happen again as they had orders to shoot the sampans if the practice continued. Captain Boggioni had planned to make the Air Force his career. Bob was buried in Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, San Diego, California. He was survived by his wife Nelda Ashford Boggioni and a son Vance and a daughter Marlese. His sister Joan B. Hexter and his mother lived in Columbus.
An officer in an Army Reserve Paratroop Unit, Lieutenant Becker was killed April 18, 1964, when two C-119 planes collided in mid-air after encountering heavy cloud formation. They were in a group of nine planes enroute to Clinton County Air Force Base near Wilmington, Ohio, from Rickenbacker Air Base, Columbus. He was survived by his wife Audrey, a teacher in the Grandview Heights kindergarten. Burial was in Mound Hill Cemetery, Eaton, Ohio. He was twenty-five years old.
Captain Timmons, Air Force Reserve, lived at 1531 Lincoln Road in Grandview Heights. He was killed when two C-119 planes collided in mid-air after encountering heavy cloud formation on April 18, 1964. They were in a group of nine planes enroute to Clinton County Air Force Base near Wilmington, Ohio, from Rickenbacker Air Base, Columbus. Bob was a civil engineer with the State of Ohio. Survived by his wife Jane and a son and daughter, he is buried in Union Cemetery, Columbus. He was thirty-four years old.
Steve was born on July 14, 1948, to Ken and Dale Sparks. He attended Grandview Heights schools from kindergarten through his junior year in high school when the family moved to Columbus. He graduated from Brookhaven High School in 1967 and went into the Marine Corps on July 28, 1967. He had specialist training as an Qntos (Tanks) crewman in San Diego, California, where he graduated on September 23, 1967. Steve was sent to Khe Sanh, Vietnam on January 23, 1968. Since these tanks couldn’t be used in Vietnam, he became a member of a 106 recoilless rifle team with the 3rd Marine Division. He was in combat only eleven weeks when he was killed by a shell that exploded near him in Quang Tri Province on April 6, 1968. Among Steve’s awards and medals were the Purple Heart and others from the government of Vietnam. His letters home described Vietnam as hot and miserable, but he said he was proud to be a Marine as his father had been in World War II. A letter from his commanding officer said Steve’s cheerful disposition, uprightness, and devotion to duty won for him the respect and admiration of all who knew him. Steve was buried in Union Cemetery West with full military honors. He was survived by his parents and a brother Jeffrey.
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