WW11 Soldiers from Hartford Michigan

1939 « World War II » 1945

Killed in Action Wounded in Action POW/MIA
Died during active duty + Contracted disease-illness-disability during service

Thornburg, Henry Shores
Henry Shores Thornburg - WW11
US Army
b 11-19-1920 d 5-3-2006
Cullman AL Sodus MI
Age 85y, 5m, 22d
Buried in Fairview Cemetery
Watervliet MI

In service 19__ to 19__

Served in
Burma, India and China Campaign

Lived in Hartford
during the 1940-50s

Lifetime member of VFW Post 1137
Benton Harbor MI
Member of American Legion Post 362
Coloma MI
Member of Snipes of Baldwin MI

Retired from Whirlpool Corporation, Benton Harbor MI after 30+ years of service as a repairman.

Henry is the son of Marvin Frank (aka Almeda Franklin Thornburg) and Mary Pansy Dendy Thornburg, and brother of Lawrence Clifton Thornburg and uncle to the webmaster, Emma Thornburg Sefcik. Marvin Frank served during WW1 and Lawrence served during WW2.

Thornburg, Lawrence Clifton (Buddy)

US Army
b 1-22-1922 d 3-18-1985
Cullman AL Torrance CA
63y, 1m, 26d

In service
19__ to 19__

Buddy is the son of Marvin Frank (aka Almeda Franklin Thornburg) and Mary Pansy Dendy Thornburg, and brother of Henry Shores Thornburg and uncle to the webmaster, Emma Thornburg Sefcik. Marvin Frank served during WW1 and Henry Shores served during WW2.

Thornton, Virgina
WAVES

In Service
19__ to 19__

Married Joseph L. Stebbin, who was a POW during WW11.

Tibbs Jr, Ivan
US Navy
Seabee

b 3-10-1926 d 2-5-2003
Age 76y, 10m, 29d
Buried in
North Shore Memory Gardens,
Hagar Shores MI

Born in Dowagiac MI
Lived in Hartford MI

Ivan's son, Terry Tibbs,
served in the US Navy
during the Vietnam War

Timmons, Robert US Air Force - Staff Sergeant Tail Gunner on B-17 b 1922 d 1-1944 Sister Lakes MI Cedar Mtns Utah Killed in action See WW11 Memorial
A Promise Kept Part 1 As told by Mickey Cochrane - half-brother to Robert Timmons
The Cedar Mountains, west of Salt Lake City, are bleak and desolate in the winter time… monochromatic shades of gray and brown. This is the place where Bob Timmons died in January of 1944, when his B-17 crashed into the side of a cliff. This is the place where he is still resting…or at least part of him is. For the following story, I am indebted to Mickey Cochrane. Bob was his half brother; and over the years Mickey made a promise to their mother, Joda Cochrane, that some day he would find where Bob was lost and seemingly buried forever. And, if nothing else, he would place a marker there. Bob Timmons was born in 1922 to Earl and Joda Timmons of Sister Lakes. His mother and father divorced when he was young, and he lived with his mother until she remarried. He then divided the time between his parents. When WWII came, and Bob was now out of high school, he talked his mom into letting him enlist in the Air Force. What keen disappointment he must have felt when he found out he was a half-inch too short for pilot training, because airplanes had always fascinated him. So he went to gunnery school and became a tail gunner on B-17s, achieving the rank of Staff Sergeant. Thus it was in January of 1944 his squadron was scheduled to leave from Wendover Field, Utah, for active duty in England. Part of the 2nd Air Force, 15th Wing, 457th Bombardment Squadron, the crews all knew they were headed for bombing runs over Germany. Under lowering skies that day, they shouldered their parachutes and headed out to the waiting B-17s. After the crews had stowed their gear, the pilots all fired up their engines, taxied out to the runway and took off one by one into the overcast. Bob’s plane was the 39th out of 40. As they left, the weather was worsening, with rain, sleet, and snow. When it came their turn, next to last, Bob’s B-17 felt for the sky, engines roaring and crew sweating the takeoff. You see, when a fully loaded airplane leaves the ground, it is far overweight for landing, until they have burned off some fuel. And all of the crew had their belongings stowed on board. They consisted of 10 crew members and one extra pilot deadheading over to England to pick up his own B-17 there. Right after them, the last plane was held… steadily worsening weather. If only the decision had been made sooner! Bob’s ship headed east in solid instrument conditions… and they began to pick up ice. Over the Cedar Mountains, the pilot signaled a possible bailout. They were fighting turbulence, and he said on intercom the controls were getting mushy because of ice on the wings…even though they had the deicer boots on. Ice chunks drummed on the fuselage as they were flung off the props. Slowly, they climbed through horrible turbulence. Just as they were about to break out on top, the B-17 began to shudder violently and fell off on one wing in a spiral. The right aileron tore off and struck the rear horizontal stabilizer. With the bailout bell ringing, crew members began to jump out. Five made it and parachuted safely to ground. Six remaining crew members, including the pilot and Bob Timmons, never made it. Unable to get out, they remained with the ship, which crashed into a granite cliff and exploded. As radio operator Ernest Hunt, one of the survivors, had prepared to bail out, he tightened his parachute straps. Grabbing up a Dick Tracy comic book he had been reading, he stuffed it in his flight jacket. And he made it out, nylon parachute swinging violently as he descended through the storm. When he landed, Ernest broke an ankle… now he was in dark, forbidding land. Realizing he could not walk out of there unaided, he thought of the comic book in his jacket. Wadding it up, he used it to start a mesquite fire; and, amazingly, the other four survivors saw it and came to him. Thus they huddled, waiting for rescue. The Air Force was not long in finding them. When the sun came up, they could see smoke from the crashed B-17, with whom they had lost contact in the dark of night. And they sent out rescue crews to bring in the survivors. Thus was recorded the tragic death of Bob Timmons and five other crew members. Base authorities gathered what body parts they could find, had them cremated, then sent in caskets to the six grieving families. Back then there was no DNA testing to help them sort out the lost airmen. They could not find the Norden bomb sight… the secret instrument that gave our air crews such deadly accuracy. So rather than having it fall into strangers’ hands, they dynamited the cliff, burying part of the wreckage of the ill-fated B-17. And it stayed in those bleak mountains for years… until Mickey Cochrane could make good on the promise to his mother. Part 2 - A Promise Kept
Special thanks to Mickey Cochrane for sharing these special photos. Thanks to Roy Davis for recording Mickey Cochrane's historic 2-part story about Robert Timmons in the Tri-City Record September 1 and 8, 2005.

Treece, Dewey
b 1-11-1922 d 11-7-2001
Age 79y, 9m, 28d
Died in Mountain Home, ARK
Buried in Caruthersville MO

In Service
1-1-1945 to 12-1-1948

Information submitted by
grandson, Scott 2-2003

Utrup, Edward
US Army - Tech Sgt.
b 4-6-1917 d 4-3-1945
Age 27y, 11m, 29d

In service
1937 to 1945

Killed in action
See WW11 Memorial

First Keeler soldier to die in battle.

Had been assigned in peacetime to several stations in the US and Panama. He was sent overseas in January 1945 from Ft. Benning GA.

From Keeler MI

Brothers, Arthur Utrup and Orville Utrup also served in the military during WW11.

Utrup, Arthur

In service
19__ to 19__

From Keeler MI

Edward, Utrup, served and died in the US Army during WW11. Orville Utrup also served during WW11.

Utrup, Orville

In service
19__ to 19__

From Keeler MI

Brothers, Edward Utrup and Arthur Utrup served in the military during WW11

Van Camp, William E. (Billy)
Billy Van Camp - W2
US Air Force - Sergeant
Ball-Turret Gunner
Assistant Flight Engineer
Crew Member
B-24 Bomber, Cold Iron

In service
1942 (age 17)
to March 5, 1944

POW/MIA
Killed in action
See WW11 Memorial

Killed when his
B-24 Bomber crashed in
Dutch New Guinea.

The Purple Heart, Air Medal, campaign medals, and Aircrew wings were given to Billy's brother, Charlie, at the Military burial service.

From HHS Class of 19__

The Heroes
Part 1

Tri-City Record « by Roy M. Davis » February 6, 2002

         In a gray early December day, wind sighed through bare branches of the trees in Arlington National Cemetery. There was little of summer left in the air as a funeral cortege left the cemetery chapel. First in line a polished black caisson drawn by black horses, well trained to walk sedately to the funeral beat of muffled drums. The caisson contained the remains of 10 US Airmen…..all crewmembers of the B-24 “Cold Iron,” which had been missing for 57 years on a mission over New Guinea in WWII. Following the caisson, 18 black limousines containing the families of the long lost crewmen.
        At last they were returned. Their families could grieve and say goodbye. As they had rested together on a Pacific mountain slope for all those years, now they would remain forever in or nation’s most hallowed burial ground. My story concerns two of those men.
         One crewmember was Sgt. Billy Van Camp, our own Hartford boy, ball-turret gunner and assistant flight engineer. The other one, Lt. Mack Sparks, co-pilot from Alton, Kansas. This is their story…how they died and finally came home. Of the ten, I only know the two stories, so will tell them. Each illustrates part of the whole….for Billy Van Camp we know his history and background. For Mack Sparks, we have the story of how our government finds and notifies next of kin. This part comes from a feature written for “The Salina Journal” out in Kansas. I use it with permission of the writer, Amy Sullivan.
     Julie contracted pneumonia and died, leaving the young family bereft. Her sister from Chicago persuaded Ned to let her have the younger boy, Charlie, but Ned refused to give up Billy. So he grew up without a mother’s help.
      Billy quit school in the 8^th grade. Now WWII had come along and, as soon as he could, he enlisted in the Air Force and became an aerial gunner and flight engineer. Because of his small size, he just fit into the Sperry ball turret of a B-24 (one of the most dangerous jobs on that aircraft).
        Meanwhile, out in Manhattan, Kansas, a young construction worker named Mack Sparks was on a job in the area. He went into a restaurant almost daily to eat. There he met and fell in love with an attractive waitress named Violet. They were married and lived in near by Alton.

By the time Mack went into the Air Force during WWII they had two children, Karen and Douglas. Mack enlisted as an Aviation Cadet and went through pilot training. He was assigned as co-pilot on a B-24 named “The Reluctant Liz.” The ball turret gunner just happened to be a kid named Billy Van Camp.
      But before they left the States for our Pacific War, engine trouble forced them into a change, and they were assigned to another B-24 named “Cold Iron.” They flew this ship out to New Guinea.
      In early 1944 their unit asked for a volunteer crew to fly a recon mission over a bay where the Japanese were staging large numbers of navy ships. The first B-24 took off on this mission to photograph the enemy. That plane was shot down and crashed either in the jungle or the ocean. The next night another B-24 tried it with the same results. The third night the “Cold Iron” crew volunteered. They never came back. The fourth night was lucky. The plane got through with photos, and thereafter the Japs were given a royal pasting.
      In March of 1944, The War Department sent telegrams to all the family of crewmembers on “Cold Iron” that their loved ones were missing in action. It was a terse, three-line message….and among the recipients were Billy’s Dad in Hartford, Michigan, and Violet Sparks in Alton, Kansas. Two years later the Army declared them dead.
      Billy Van Camp’s family was scattered….his parents now both dead, and his closest relative, Brother Charlie, with a new family and moved away. Out in Alton, Kansas, Violet Sparks was left to rear her two fatherless children. Then after the war, a friend of Mack Sparks from service days, Lester Mertz, came to visit the widow and her son and daughter. He stayed to marry Violet and thereafter provided the only father that Karen and Doug would ever know. They also had three more children.
     According to Amy Sullivan’s story in the Salina Journal, Doug remarked, “I was always aware that I had a real dad and a step dad. I was fortunate in that my step dad knew my father. Over the years I was able to talk with my step dad about my father. He told me I looked like my father and had his mannerisms.” Karen said her Mom was always thankful that there was someone who could take care of them. Lester died in 1997.
     Now, fast-forward from that tragic day in 1944 when the “Cold Iron” slammed into a mountainside. In 1989 on remote New Guinea one day a professor was out in the jungle hunting for rare plants. He was the curator of the National Museum and Art Gallery of Papua, New Guinea. As he and his assistants hacked their way through the entangling vines, suddenly in front of them they saw bright aluminum……the twin tails of a B-24 bomber. And it had US Air Force markings. It was the wreckage of “Cold Iron!”

Part 2: The Heroes Are Brought Back

Special thanks to Roy Davis for researching and submitting his articles about Billy Van Camp from the Tri-City Record in 2002. Photo submitted by Bick Beckwith.

Vint, George Andrew
US Army
Staff Sergeant
In Charge of Message Center
b 1-17-1926 d 5-3-2003
Age 77y, 3m, 16d
Died of Lung Cancer
Buried in
Maple Hill Cemetery,
Hartford MI

In service
1944 to 1946

Italy

Returned to school after service and graduated in 1947

Married to Lorna J. Kozelink
Brother of Jack E. Vint,
who also served during WW2.

Vint, Jack E.
US Navy
Seaman - 2nd Class

In service 1945-1947

Naval Air Station, Memphis TN

From Lansing MI
HHS Class of 1945

Resided in Hartford
1940 to 1972

Brother of George Vint,
who also served during WW2.

Waldo, John H.

Killed in action
See WW11 Memorial

HHS Class of 19__

Wallace, Thomas William

US Army - Infantry
Tec 5 Combat Engineer
b 8-03-26 d 10-27-91
Campbell MO Hartford MI
Age 65y, 2m, 26d
Buried in
Maple Hill Cemetery
Hartford MI

In service
12-30-1944 to 10-5-1946

Served on the Philippine Islands

Medals and Awards
» Two Bronze Stars
» Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal
» Philippine Liberation Medal
» Good Conduct Medal WW11
» Army Victory Medal

From Campbell MO
Attended Campbell Public School
Left school to join service.

After leaving service, Tommy spent 45 years as a bulldozer operator for LaVern Rice, C W Coats, Alden "Chum" White, and George Miller.

Lived in Hartford from
1948 to 1991

5-11-2004 - Information and photo submitted by his wife,
Verda Root Wallace, who was a graduate of HHS Class of 1950.

Walling, Dick

In service 19__ to 19__

HHS Class of 1943

Walton, Joseph

Weber, Gilman L.
US Air Force

P-51 Mustang Fighter Pilot

US Army
Rifleman-Company Clerk
Tech 5
b 3-2-21

In service 1944 - 1946

European Theater
Germany

Medals and Awards
» French Fouraggere
» Unit Citation
» Good Conduct
» National Defense
» European Theater
Wartime Ribbon

From Bradford AR
Bradford High School
Class of 1938

Resided in Hartford 1946 - 1963

2003 - Resides in Florida

Joseph's son, Steve Walton,
served in the US Navy 1966 to 1993

Wessendorf JR, Albert

US Marine Corp.
South Pacific 4th Marine Division
Commander of St. Joseph's Power Squadron

Photo above and at right was taken while on leave in October, 1944. Albert, Jr. is with his
mother and father,
Laura & Albert Wessendorf Sr.
Albert, Sr. served in WW1.

In Service
8-1944 to 11-10-1945

Part of the 45th replacement draft sent to replace the 4th Marine Division on Iwo Jima. There was not enough room for all sent and W-Z were returned to camp. As history has witnessed, there was 100% fatalities of the Marines from Albert's group sent on the transport to Iwo Jima, of which he was nearly one of those fatalities. Albert started his return trip back to the camp on April 1, 1945; the same day his wife and newborn baby girl went home from Mercy Hospital, Benton Harbor MI. Albert finally got to see his daughter at
6 months old.
Served in the South Pacific until after Japan surrendered.

Albert Wessendorf, Jr. with wife,
Virgil Marguerite Shire Wessendorf
b 2-24-1920 d 6-22-2007
Berrien Co MI Hartwell GA
Age 87y, 3m, 28d

Albert, Jr. is father of David and Forrest Wessendorf, both serving in the US Navy.

St. Joseph High School
Class of 1938
St. Joseph MI

Resided in Hartford 1952 to 1975.

Information and photo submitted by daughter, Jeannie Wessendorf
11-2002.

Wilcoxson, Robert

Wilkinsen McLeese, Mildred
WAC

In service 1945 - 19__

HHS Class of 1941

US Army
Cook for a bomber squad
b 3-22-1924 d 1-25-2007
Muskegon Hts MI Hartford MI
Age 82y, 10m, 6d
Buried in
Maple Hill Cemetery
Hartford MI

In service
1943 to 1945

Served in Alaska

He was employed for many years at the Watervliet Paper Mill and later retired from General Motors in Kalamazoo in 1989.

Son of Oscar and Hazel Wilcoxson.

Williams, Athel

Williams, Burton "Bert"
US Army
b 11-11-1925 d 10-26-1999
Age 73y, 11m, 15d
Buried in Maple Hill Cemetery
Hartford MI.

WW 11 and Korea

In service 19__ to 19__

Member of VFW Post 6248
of Decatur MI

Former Hartford Township
Cemetery Sexton

Wilson, Kenneth L.
US Army - Engineer
Construction Foreman 059
Staff Sergeant - Co. C 346th
General Service Regiment
b 9-30-1922
McDonald MI

In service
12-14-1942 to 3-26-1946
Honorable Discharge

Served in
Normandy, Northern France, Ardennes, Rhineland,
and Central Europe

Awards and Medals
» European-African-Middle East Ribbon with 5 bronze stars
» WW11 Victory Medal
» Good conduct Medal

Moved to Hartford from McDonald MI at about 2 years of age.

From HHS Class of 1942.

2004 update:
Currently living in Ada MI, with his wife, Gisele Ramackers Wilson, who he met and married in Belgium during WW11 and brought her back to America.

Information provided by his daughter, Sandy Wilson Burgess on 2/7/2004.

US Army
b 7-8-1913 d 1-30-2008
Hackleburg AL Hartford MI
Age 94y, 6m, 25d
Buried in
Maple Hill Cemetery
Hartford MI

In service
19__ to 19__

POW/MIA
Army veteran of World War II, during which time he became a prisoner of war in Germany.

Son of
George and Mollie (Cochran) Williams

Husband of
Lelar (Skidmore) Williams

Winslow, Cecil
Pvt.

In service 19__ to 19__

Wounded in Action - Italy

From Hartford MI

Wise, George Nathan

US Navy ↑
b 3-1-1913 d 5-23-1990
Age 77y, 4m, 20d
Buried in
Maple Hill Cemetery
Hartford MI

Photo dated 1942 at Great Lake Naval Training Center, Great Lakes, IL. George (on right) is with a Master Chief Petty Officer friend,
whose name is unknown.

In service 1941-1945

Attended Hartford High School - possibly in class of 1929?

From Hartford MI

8-2006 - Photo submitted by son, Richard Murl Wise, who served in
the US Army during the Vietnam Era. Richard's brother, Ronald George Wise, served in the US Army during the Vietnam Era.

Woulfe, Edward Francis
US Army
b 8-30-1927 d 4-20-2003
Providence RI Watervliet MI
Age 75y, 7m, 21d

Resided in Hartford MI

Yeckley, Irving
US Army Infantry

In service 19__ to 19__

Twin brother to
Manley R. Yeckley

Yeckley, Manley R.
US Army - Sgt.

Buried at Maple Hill Cemetery
Hartford MI

In Service 19__ to 1944

Killed In Action
See WW11 Memorial
Killed in the retreat from Germany to Belgium on 12/23/1944

Awarded the
Silver Star Medal posthumously, stating that in the retreat from Germany into Belgium, Sgt. Yeckley carried food, water, and materials to his squad which was under enemy fire. He refused to leave to a position of safety. For the accomplishment of his brave, unselfish act, Sgt. Yeckley lost his life.

Twin brother to Irving Yeckley

Zass, Henry Gustov
US Army
b 11-11-1927        d 7-12-2003
Coloma MI      South Haven MI
Age 75y, 8m, 1d
Buried in
Hill Cemetery
Lawrence MI

In service 19__ to 19__

Son of
Adolph and Pauline (Oxner) Zass

     Henry retired from Menasha Corporation after 26 years of service. He was a member of Hope Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hartford, where he was a trustee.

Last residence was Hartford MI.

Links:
http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq11-1.htm#anchor2118718 - Casualties on US Ships Hit by Allied Gunfire During WW2

http://www.history.navy.mil/wars/index.html. Very informative site on Revolutionary through Desert Storm Wars and Conflicts of the United States Navy.

This site will change when names and photos become available. Check back often for updates. Please email the webmaster with information about anyone who served in the military and lived in Hartford or Keeler at any time during their life.