WW2 Legacy Keepers

Rest in peace General Charles Chuck Yeager (97), a legend if there ever was one. During World War II, Yeager was a P-51 Mustang pilot with the 363rd Fighter Squadron and was credited with downing 11.5 enemy aircraft in the ETO. According to the National Archives World War II Army enlistment records, Yeager, Charles, E., serial # 15067845, was a resident of Lincoln County, West Virginia, and he entered the Army Air Corps on September 13, 1941 at Fort Thomas in Newport, Kentucky. He was a native of West Virginia and was born in 1923. At the time of is service he completed 4 years of high school, was single, without dependents, and his civilian occupation was listed as unskilled occupations in production of miscellaneous petroleum and coal products.

On a morning 79 years ago, the world changed with the attacks on Pearl Harbor and Oahu. Lou Conter, a USS Arizona survivor, recounts that infamous day and pays tribute to all who sacrificed during WWII. #PearlHarbor79

On the 79th anniversary of the attacks on Pearl Harbor, WW2 Legacy Keepers remembers 3 U.S. Army soldiers who were killed during the raid. Sergeant Warren D. Rasmussen, 19 years-old, of Compton, CA, Sergeant Clyde C. Brown, 20 years-old, of Long Beach, CA, and Corporal Henry C. Blackwell Jr., 19 years-old, of South Gate, CA, were all attached to F Battery, 251st Coast Artillery (AA) at Camp Malakole, HI. On the morning of December 7, 1941, the trio of G.I.s pooled their money... and scheduled flight lessons from John Rodgers Airport. The men planned to apply for the Air Corps and the flight hours would help them get accepted. At about 7:40 a.m. their two yellow Piper Cubs rumbled down the runway as the Japanese attackers closed in on the Islands. Once airborne, the soldiers flew along Waikiki Beach toward Diamond Head before turning west for a flyover of Camp Malakole, on the other side of the island, where they were stationed. Less than twenty minutes after takeoff, all hell broke loose. U.S. Navy personnel reported that the unarmed Piper Cubs were attacked by the Japanese. One report states several Japanese aircraft opened fire on the Cubs another states seven. As one would expect, the Japanese pilots made quick work of the soldiers sending their planes crashing into the sea. No debris from the 2 downed Cubs was ever found and the bodies of the men were never recovered. All 3 soldiers are memorialized in the Courts of the Missing, National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific Honolulu, Hawaii. Sergeant Rasmussen, Sergeant Brown, and Corporal Blackwell, WW2 Legacy Keepers salutes you and thanks you for your service, job well done Sirs. May you continue to rest in peace and know that you are not and will not be forgotten.

79 Years Ago Today

Today WW2 Legacy Keepers remembers Private James Thomas Shuemate of Cameron, Texas, who served in Company B, 4th Marine Raider Battalion, 1st Raider Regiment during World War II. Private Shuemate was killed in action on July 20, 1943 at the age of eighteen during the battle for the New Georgia islands in the central Solomon Islands. I recently found an article announcing is death in the August 12, 1943 edition of The Cameron Herald. The Cameron Herald article reads; James T.... Shuemate Is Killed In Action. Pvt. James T. Shuemate, United States Marines, has been killed in action wile in defense of his country in the Solomons area of the South Pacific battle zone. A telegram was received by Mrs. J. S. Shuemate, mother of Pvt. Shuemate, shortly after noon Friday, from the War Department in Washington, stating that her son had been killed in action. Some days ago, Mrs. Shuemate received a letter from her son, the first she had received in many weeks, or since he had landed in the battle zone with the Marines. In the letter Pvt. Shuemate said they were going trough hell. Pvt. Shuemate celebrated his 18th birthday in February fighting the Japs. He was with The Raiders, crack Marine outfit, which has seen much action in the Solomons. [Pvt. Shuemate] graduated at Yoe High School in the class of 1942 and enlisted in the Marines one week after graduation. J.S. Shuemate, the father, died late in 1942. The mother lives in West Cameron with her family of small children. She was very deeply affected by the death of her eldest son on whom she had to depend when the war was over, to help her along with the little ones. Women of the neighborhood were at the Shuemate home to comfort and to do what they could to assist her. Upon enlistment, he was sent to San Diego, Calif., for his boot training and from there he went to Tongue Point. Oregon, for the tough days in preparation for the job ahead. It was at Tongue Point he answered a call for volunteers for The Raiders. He was among the few who passed the physical examination. He obtained his Raider training at Camp Joseph H. Pendleton, at Oceanside, California. James, or Shorty Shuemate, had been in the Marines 8 months when he completed his training and was ready for zero hour when it came in the South Pacific. A January 17, 1944 edition of The Cameron Herald reported that Private Shuemate’s mother received her son’s personal effects which included a bill fold containing two U.S. $5 bills and a newspaper clipping telling how Texas was leading the nation in the number of men in service. Pvt. Shuemate was originally buried at Bairoko on New Georgia and his remains were later returned to the U.S. and buried in the Oak Hill Cemetery in his hometown of Cameron, Texas. Private Shuemate, WW2 Legacy Keepers salutes you and thanks you for your service. Job well done young man. May you continue to rest in peace and know that you are not and will not be forgotten.

Happy 245th Birthday to the U.S. Navy.

Breaking News!! The Secretary of the Army has announced that the National Museum of the U.S. Army will open on Veterans Day, November 11, 2020! Read more here https://www.army.mil/article/239858/ or visit theNMUSA.org for more information.

Another Band of Brothers trooper has left us.

Today WW2 Legacy Keepers remembers PFC Boyd A. Lewis, serial # 929189, of Idaho who served in the U.S. Marine Corps, Company E, 2nd Battalion, 21st Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division during World War II. Boyd was killed in action February 25, 1945 on Iwo Jima at the age of nineteen. Boyd had a twin brother PFC Loyd A. Lewis and the two were in the same company at the time of Boyd’s death. We have to remember that these marines were merely boys who left their hometown and we...Continue reading

Soldier Accounted For From World War II (Jeffers, O.) Release No: 20-049 Sept. 22, 2020 WASHINGTON The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced today that Army Pfc. Oliver Jeffers, 31, of Huntsville, Tennessee, killed during World War II, was accounted for April 23, 2020.... In November 1944, Jeffers was assigned to Company L, 3rd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division. His unit was engaged in battle with German forces near Germeter, Germany, in the Hürtgen Forest, when he was killed in action on Nov. 10. Jeffers could not be recovered because of the on-going fighting. Following the end of the war, the American Graves Registration Command was tasked with investigating and recovering missing American personnel in Europe. They conducted several investigations in the Hürtgen area between 1946 and 1950, but were unable to recover or identify Jeffers’ remains. He was declared non-recoverable in 1951. While studying unresolved American losses in the Hürtgen area, a DPAA historian determined that one set of unidentified remains, designated X-2735 Neuville, recovered from a minefield near Germeter in 1946 possibly belonged to Jeffers. The remains, which had been buried in Ardennes American Cemetery in 1950, were disinterred in April 2018 and sent to the DPAA laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for identification. To identify Jeffers’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis. Jeffers’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Netherlands American Cemetery, an American Battle Monuments Commission site in Margarten, Netherlands, along with the others still missing from World War II. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for. Jeffers will be buried Oct. 7, 2020, in his hometown. For family and funeral information, contact the Army Casualty Office at (800) 892-2490. DPAA is grateful to the American Battle Monuments Commission and to the U.S. Army Regional Mortuary-Europe/Africa for their partnership in this mission.

After more than 75 years, U.S. Army Pvt. William D. Hedtke, 28, of Iola, Wisconsin, is finally home. Assigned to Battery B, 319th Glider Artillery Battalion, 8...2nd Airborne Division, Hedtke died of injuries sustained in a hard glider landing near Groesbeek, Netherlands, during Operation Market Garden on September 18, 1944. His remains were not recovered during the war. In 2016, the Defense POW / MIA Accounting Agency disinterred a set of remains known as X-1230 at the Netherlands American Cemetery. Using dental and anthropological analysis, X-1230 was positively identified as Hedtke on October 17, 2019. Soldiers of the 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) had the distinct privilege of rendering Plane Side Honors for Pvt. Hedtke prior to his burial at Arlington National Cemetery. #YouAreNotForgotten #POWMIA

WW2 Legacy Keepers page visitor Eva Roll shared these photos of her Father Technician Forth Grade (T/4) Wilbur F. Rolfes of Ohio who served as a medic in the U.S. Army, 99th Infantry Division, 394th Infantry Regiment during World War II. T/4 Rolfes turned 102 years old earlier this month! According to the National Archives World War II Army enlistment records, Rolfes, Wilbur, F., serial # 35676346, was a resident of Hamilton County, OH, and he entered the Army on December 7,... 1942 on Cincinnati, OH. He is a native of Ohio and was born in 1918. At the time of his service he had a grammar school education, was married, and his civilian occupation was listed as semiskilled occupations on production of bakery products. Among the action that T/4 Rolfes saw was the Battle of the Bulge during which he was wounded in action. During the ensuing chaos of the battle he was listed as missing in action and Eva included a photo of the letter, dated January 7, 1945, that his wife received stating he was MIA since December 18, 1945. I found 2 mentions of T/4 Rolfes in the Cincinnati Enquirer, the first of which is from the January 20, 1945 edition which reads; Missing Man Safe. Sgt. Wilbur Rolfes, 26, who has been listed as missing in Belgium since December 18, has returned to his base, his wife, Mrs. Christine Rolfes, 1615 Clayton St., Walnut Hills, has learned. He is with a medical detachment. The second mention was in the February 11, 1945 edition of the Enquirer which reads; Medic Is Wounded. Sgt. Wilbur Rolfes, 26, husband of Mrs. Christine Rolfes, 1615 Clayton St., Walnut Hills, a medical corpsman, was wounded in Belgium January 13. In addition to the Battle of the Bulge, the 394th Infantry Regiment The 394th engaged in action in the Ardennes Forest, Rhineland, Ruhr, and at the Remagen Bridge. T/4 Rolfes, WW2 Legacy Keepers salutes you and thanks you for your service, job well done Sir. Happy belated birthday! Thank you Eva for sharing the photos and introducing us to your Father.