With The Men In Service: May 21, 1943

With The Men In Service

Going Back For More After Two Torpedoings

Although William Lincoln Fouler jr., 23-year-old Whitmore Lake sailor, has already been through two torpedoings and has suffered injuries which laid him up for six months, he is back in in action again and probably itching for another crack at the Axis.

Bill was home on a brief furlough last month after spending six months in the Navy hospital at Treasure Island, off the West Coast. The hospital stay came about after he received a loin injury during action in the South Pacific in the Java area. Bill didn't tell his parents Mr. and Mrs. William L. Foster, of Whitmore Lake, or his wife, the former Rosemary Jones, 3339 Platt BIvd., much about his wounds, evidently intending to save details until the war is won.

A Navy man for five years, and on active duty since Nov. 14. 1940, Bill went through his first serious action on the morning of Feb. 20, 1942, when his ship was torpedoed somewhere in the Caribbean.

Bill wasn't hurt that time although he and his shipmates spent 11 hours in a small boat on the open water and did get a hospital rest-up period as recompense.

The Whitmore Lake youth's second skirmish with death last October. When he was released from the hospital at Treasure Island, he was given a 15-day furlough and got home to see his family. But on April 23, he reported back at Treasure Island and his wife has now been informed that he's been shipped out on convoy duty again.

Foster has charge of a gun crew while on duty and is usually stationed on a convoy ship for Merchant Marine vessels. He is ranked as a third class gunner.

In Radio School

John Jacob Gruizinga, 20-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Ben Gruizinga, 312 Koch Ave., has completed boot training at Great Lakes naval training station and is now attending a Naval radio school.

An apprentice seaman, Johnny tried once to enlist in the Navy but was turned down because of his work--as a riveter and instructor at Willow Run--but later was inducted into service on Feb. 22 and won assignment to the Navy.

Deciding to make the Navy his career, Gruizinga later enlisted in the regular Navy for six years.

Gruizinga, who was born in Decatur, Mich., on April 22, 1923, lived in Kalamazoo most of his life until moving here last summer. He was graduated in 1940 from Kalamazoo Central High school. He finished boot training and was selected for radio school on his birthday.

Motor Specialist

A hydraulics inspector at the Willow Run bomber plant in civilian life, a motor specialist in the Air Forces as a soldier, Warren Howard Scofield, of Ann Arbor, is now stationed at Wendover Field, Utah.

The 22-year-old former basketball player at Ann Arbor High was inducted into the Army last Sept. 10 and was promoted to corporal last month. Corp. Scofield, who was graduated in 1940 from high school, first went to Sheppard Field, Tex., then to the Wright Aeronautical Corp. at Patterson, N. J. and then Salt Lake City.

He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. John M. Scofield, 223 Mosley St. His wife, the former Katherine A. Steeb, to whom he was married Jan. 3 of last year, resides at 415 Observatory St.

Begins Primary Training

Aviation Cadet John A. Weese, 23, son of Mr. and Mrs. D. H. Weese, 515 S. Sixth St., has been transferred from pre-flight training al Maxwell Field, Ala. to Southern Field. Ga., for primary flight instruction. Cadet Weese's squadron was in the honor guard for President Roosevelt during the Chief Executive's recent visit to Maxwell Field.

Promoted To Colonel

Mr. and Mrs. John Bowler of Manchester have learned that their son, Webster Bowler, has been promoted to the rank or lieutenant colonel. He was formerly a major.

Lt. Col. Bowler is stationed at Fort Eustis, Va., with a searchlight battalion.

Two Sons In Service

Two sons of Rev. and Mrs. John Schurman are in the service a continent or more apart.

Robert Murray Schurman, 20, who enlisted in the Navy last Oct. 6, is in a Navy band aboard an aircraft carrier on duty in the Atlantic, with Norfolk, Va., as his shore station.

Jacob Gould Schurman, 18, who signed up with the Marines last Dec. 14, is attending a communications school at San Diego, Calif.

Bob has two ratings, first class seaman and second class musician. The first applies to his battle station duties as an ammunition passer; the second to his role as trombonist in the ship's band.

Called to service Oct. 13, he had five weeks' training at Great Lakes and then was sent to Norfolk for sea duty. He has seen a lot of ocean.

Jay waited a month, until Jan. 12, after enlisting, before he was called to begin service with the Marine Corps. He was sent to San Diego. where he took his basic training, and then was selected for a communications school at same base.

Both servicemen are graduates of Capac High school. Bob in 1940 and Jay two years later. Bob played football and basketball, sang in the glee club and played the trombone in the school band. Before joining the Navy he was employed in the drafting department of the Capac factory.

Jay also played football and basketball and sang in the club, being captain of his senior basketball team and being selected co-captain of the 1941 all-star football team of the Southern Thumb High School Athletic Association. Before he joined the Marines he worked here in the Cook Spring plant.

Their father is pastor of Calvary Evangelical Church.

In Boot Training

Getting in his licks as a boot trainee at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station is Owen Lon (Bud) Cady, whose home is at 309 Judd Rd. near Milan.

Bud, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Lou Cady, left his work as a truck driver for an Ypsilanti construction company on April 19 to go into Navy service. He reported at Great Lakes on April 20 and is listed as an apprentice seaman.

He is a former Ypsilanti Central High school student and is married to the former Naomi Jean Swann. Bud is 17 years old.

Guadalcanal Marine

Lee Allen Claude Mayne, a marine who was in on that "picnic" at Guadalcanal, has broken a long unexplained silence with a letter telling his parents he has been hospitalized but is "all right now and back on duty."

It was the first letter to come through to Mr. and Mrs. Claude Mayne, 1001 S. Forest Ave., since Feb. 1 It gave to clue to his whereabouts, except that there are so many rabbits there that the firemen find it necessary to kill them.

Mayne, who has finally reached the rating which he once hold in Company K, that of line sergeant, wrote that the little finger on his left hand was deformed and no longer of much use, but that it didn't bother him much. He didn't tell what happened.

The Marine sergeant expressed praise for Roosevelt's decision to take over the coal mines and asserted that the trouble would end in a hurry if the strikers were put in the front line for a while.

At Carlsbad Base

Pfc. Harlow M. Carr is stationed at the Carlsbad air base in New Mexico where he is learning his duties as a medical detachment soldier.

The son of Mr. and Mrs. John Carr, of Stockbridge, Harlow was inducted into the Army last Sept. 2 and spent training time at Luke Field, Ariz., before being sent to Carlsbad. He is 23 years old.

Pvt. Carr has recently returned to duty after spending a 15-day furlough at the home of his parents.

The Stockbridge serviceman received his first promotion, to private, first class, while at Carlsbad.

With Infantry Unit

Harold W. Koch, 20-year-old Dexter serviceman, is putting in training time at Camp McCain, Miss., where he is stationed with an infantry outfit. Pfc. Koch is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Koch and a graduate of Dexter High school with the class of 1939.

He entered Army service last Feb. 13, was indoctrinated at Fort Custer and later was sent to Camp McCain where he acts as a mail clerk. On April 1, he was named a first class private.

Pvt. Koch, who has lived at Dexter for eight years, attended Michigan State Normal College at Ypsilanti for three years. During his school career, Pvt. Koch was active in athletics, competing in baseball, football and basketball. He also was president of his class for three years.

At Fort Custer

Russell Aurelius Howard, 19, son of Mr. and Mrs. Russell H. Howard, 518 N. Fifth Ave., who was in the Enlisted Reserve Corps at Wilberforce University in Ohio before he was called to service May 3, is in training at Fort Custer.

Pvt. Howard, known to his friends as Rusty, is a lifelong resident of Ann Arbor and is a member of the Second Baptist church. He was graduated from Ann Arbor High in 1941 and was a student at Wilberforce when his call to duty came.

Transferred

Pvt. Dwight A. Gerstler, son of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Gerstler, 916 S. Main St., has been transferred from Fort Hancock, N. J., to Miller Field on Staten Island, N. Y. Inducted Dec. 30, he is in a medical detachment of the coast artillery.

In a year of sugar rationing almost 9 billion pounds of refined sugar have passed to American consumers.

W. L. Foster
John Gruizinga
Corp. Scofield
Bob Schurman
Jay Schurman
Seaman Cady
Private Carr
Rusty Howard