With Our Men In The Service: February 23, 1943

With Our Men In The Service

From Hawaiian Islands

Robert C Kniffen, 39, a graduate of the University of Michigan, has left Paia, Maui, in Hawaii, where he was personnel director and hospital superintendent of the Maui Agricultural Co. to come back to the United States and enlist as a private and volunteer officer candidate.

Pvt. Kniffen enlisted as a VOC Dec. 5 in the Army Infantry in Maui and reported Dec. 21 in Honolulu from where he was sent to the United States, arriving here Feb. 7. He reported at Camp Roberts, Calif., on Feb. 15 to begin training.

After being graduated from the University in 1930 Pvt. Kniffen returned in 1932 to study law and business administration until 1937. He left the country to take the position in Paia, Maui, in 1941.

His wife and two-year-old daughter, Jane, are remaining at 514 Lawrence St. in his absence, and his mother, Mrs. Samuel Kniffen, is also residing at that address.

Pvt. Kniffen

At Fort Wayne

Another lucky soldier to he stationed within commuting distance of his home town is Stanley (Sam) Schlecht, of 330 S. Seventh St., who is engaged in medical supply work for the Army at Fort Wayne. He is the son of Mrs. W. J. Feiner, 117 W. William St.

Pvt. Schlecht is a graduate of Ann Arbor High school in 1936 and at the time of induction last Oct. 26 was an inspector in the city water department. He reported Nov. 9 at Fort Custer and four days later was sent to Camp McCoy, Wis., where on Dec. 15 he was graduated from a limited service school there. One day later, Dec. 16, he was again moved, this time to Fort Wayne, just 35 miles from his home town.

His wife, the former Mary Meyers, is staying at 113 Lutz Ave. They were married Jan. 17.

Pvt. Schlecht

Gets Commission

Michael Dobransky, son of Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Dobransky, 119 Adams Ave., who was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army on the 23rd of January, is now on duty at Camp Wheeler, Ga., after spending a ten-day furlough in Ann Arbor.

Lt. Dobransky reported Oct. 26 at Fort Benning, Ga., for a three months' course in officer's candidate school and at graduation exercises his bars were pinned on by Lt. Richard Hahn, an Ann Arbor boyhood chum of his and an instructor at Fort Benning.

The other half of the uniformed Dobranskys, Joseph, reported last Wednesday in Washington, D.C., where he is now attending an advanced school in electrical interior communications. He was graduated Feb. 2 from the Navy's electrician's school at the University of Minnesota after a 16-week course.

Joe enlisted in the Naval Reserve Aug. 25 and took his boot training at the Great Lakes naval training station. He is now an electrician's mate, third class. Lt. Dobransky, a former member of Ann Arbor's National Guard, left with Company K in October 1940, for service In the armed forces.

Joe Dobransky

Mike Dobransky

Public Relations Officer

G. R. Johnston, formerly of Ann Arbor, who just this month was promoted from major to lieutenant colonel, has been named public relations officer of the Second District Army Air Forces Technical Training Command. His headquarters will be in St. Louis, Mo.
Lt. Col. Johnston will have charge of public relations activities at the recently established weather school at Grand Rapids, training detachments in Detroit, and at Army posts in Chicago, Madison, Wis., Sioux Falls, S. D., Chanute Field, Ill., Toma, Wis., and Jefferson Barracks, Mo.
Reporting for active duty May 1, 1941, Lt. Col. Johnston was appointed Scott field public relations officer nit Oct. 27, when he was given the rank of organizing a new physical training program. Upon completion of that early this month he was ordered to St. Louis to organize a district public relations office.

Promoted To Major

Dr. Russell L. Malcolm, 36, a Richmond, Ind. surgeon, has been promoted from captain to major with the medical corps at Fort Bragg, N. C. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. J. Carl Malcolm, 1606 Cambridge Rd.

Maj. Malcolm, who was first commissioned as captain, served at Camp Claiborne, La., from June until last October when he was transferred to Fort Bragg.

Born In Ann Arbor, he was graduated from Ann Arbor High school and took his A B. degree from the University in 1928 and his medical degree in 1931. While in college he was manager of the University band and a member of Alpha Delta Phi and Nu Sigma Nu fraternities, and of the University American Medical Association.

His wife, the former Bernice Staebler of Ann Arbor, and their 13-year-old son, Russell, and twin sons, Marshall and Miller, 10 years old, are remaining at their home in Richmond.

Maj. Malcolm

Aviation Cadet

Richard Burt Stodden, 23, former Michigan hockey player who chased the puck across the Coliseum rink for three years, is getting ready to chase the Japs for Uncle Sam as a member of the Army Air Corps. He's in training at Maxwell Field, Ala.

Cadel Stodden was appointed an aviation cadet last June 23 but was not called up until Jan. 5 when he reported in Detroit and headed the next day for Nashville, Tenn. A month later, Feb. 5, he was transferred to Maxwell Field, Ala., where he is now receiving nine weeks of military, physical and academic training preparatory to beginning his actual flight instruction at some primary flying school.

After receiving a B.S. degree from the University, Cadet Stodden went into medical school and had completed one year when he was called to active duty. While in college he was a member of Druids and M club and an honorary member of Sphinx. He is also a graduate of Ann Arbor High school, class of 1937.

According to him, "This is no time to be reading hooks. After the war is over I hope to come back to Michigan and finish my medical course." He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Burt Stodden, 408 Hamilton PI.

Cadet Stodden

In Advanced Training

Francis P. Hill, former Manila office manager of the Calamba Sugar Estate in the Philippine Islands, has moved from basic flight training into advanced training at Lubbock airfield In Texas. He was graduated from basic at Curtis Flying school, Tex. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Norman H. Hill, 118 N. State St. and has been enlisted since March.

Keeps 'Em Rolling

John C. (Jack) Dettling, son of Mr. and Mrs. Leo J. Dettling, of Ann Arbor and Portage Lake, is "keeping 'em rolling" in an Army ordnance motor-maintenance company, stationed at For Lewis, Wash.

Jack, who is 26 years old, entered the Army last August, being stationed first at Fort Custer and then for several weeks at Boise City, Ida. He has the grade of first class mechanic and likes the role the Army assigned him.

Of Washington, Jack has written home, “Don't ever let them tell you it never snows in Washington."

Jack Dettling

Wins Promotion

Pvt. William L. Bush, son of Mr. and Mrs. L. W. Bush, 512 Oswego Ave., has been promoted to the grade of corporal at Camp Wheeler, Ga., where he has been stationed since September. He enlisted Aug. 24.

At Grosse Ile

Nicholas Yanitsky, 27, who served four years in the U. S. Navy from 1936 to 1940 and received an honorable discharge, is in the Navy again. He's an aviation machinist's mate, third class, at Grosse Ile.

Son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Yanitsky, 537 Detroit St., he enlisted for the second time on Aug. 7 in the Naval Reserve and reported at Grosse Ile where he has been stationed since then. He was promoted Jan. 1 to his present ranking in the ground crew of the Naval Air Corps.

He is a graduate of Ann Arbor High school in 1935 where he was. active on the football team. At the time of enlistment he was working as a lathe operator at American Broach & Machine Co. His wife, Marie Peplinski of Cedar, is staying at 214 S. Thayer St., in his absence.

Nick Yanitsky

To Become Pilot

John A. (Jack) Weese, 23, son of Mr. and Mrs. Douglas H. Weese, 515 Sixth St., who has been on duty in Detroit since Oct. 12, is now at Nashville, Tenn., in preparatory training as aviation cadet with the Army Air Corps.

Cadet Weese, enlisted in the Air Corps Aug. 5 in Detroit and two months later, Oct. 6, reported at Fort Custer.

On Oct. 12 he was ordered to Detroit for special duty at the recruiting center there until such time as he was called for flight training.

But now he’s in the uniform of an aviation cadet and as soon as he's properly classified at Nashville and has completed the necessary physical training, he'll be sent to a primary school to begin flight training.

In Radio School

William Bostic, 25, son of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Bostic, 816 Fuller St., who enlisted in the Army Air Corps in November, 1940, is now in training to become a radio technician at Tuskegee Army flying school in Alabama.

A graduate of Ann Arbor High school in 1937, Corp. Bostic spent three weeks at Fort Custer and a year and a half at Fort Huachuca, Ariz., before being transferred to Alabama where he expects to be six months. He has lived in Ann Arbor for 16 years.

Bill Bostic