Family Heroes
Never Forget!
Larry Claude (Dockstader) Swanson
In 1946, Dad worked as Yeoman on the USAT Jarrett M Huddleston. The ship had been transferred to the War Department and was used in 1946 as a War Brides Ship. Dad was on two of those voyages between Bremerhaven, Germany and New York City.
Paul David Derby
Paul was a pilot of the F4 Phantom jet in Vietnam. On November 17, 1968, Captain Paul D. Derby and First Lieutenant Thomas A. Reich were killed while on a close-air-support mission southwest of Chu Lai. He is one of the 37 Wisconsin soldiers "Missing in Action" in the Vietnam War.
William Henry Avery
Cousin William landed on Utah Beach on D-Day, fought on to Belgium, and was later killed in the Battle of the of the Hürtgen Forest, which is still the longest single battle the Army has ever fought in it's history. During this campaign, William was killed, on Wednesday, November 22, 1944. He is buried at the Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery and Memorial in Belgium.
Earl Nelson Peronto
Earl was an Engineer/Bombadier in a B-17. His plane was shot down over Germany, he was captured, questioned by the Gestapo, sent to the same Stalag immortalized by the movie "The Great Escape", and was later liberated by General Patton. In 1961, Lieutenant Colonel Peronto was assigned as Commander of the 4245th Strategic Wing Headquarters squadron
and Assistant Comptroller of the wing at Sheppard Air Force Base, Wichita Falls, TX.
Agnes (Kujawa) and
Rudolph W F Wegert
Grandma and Grandpa, Agnes (Kujawa) and Rudolph Wegert were "Civilians on the Home Front" Honorees. Rudolph had medical issues which prevented him from serving in the military, so he worked the farm. Agnes worked at the Army Badger Ammunition Plant in Baraboo, WI., helping to make gunpowder for the war effort.
Rudolph Raymond Wegert
After Uncle Rudolph Wegert's farm-boy beginnings, he went on to raise a family while serving. You may read a story by his son, Rudy, about what it was like growing up in that military family.