With the Men in Service: July 27, 1943

With The Men In Service

Learning Ground Crew Duties

Learning his duties as a member of an Army Air Forces ground crew unit is Pvt. Vernon Richard McCarty, 20-year-old son of Mrs. Frank Newhouse, 9437 W. Six-Mile Rd., Salem township.

Pvt. McCarty is stationed at Wilmington, Del.

Born in Canada on Jan. 24, 1922, Pvt. McCarty lived in Detroit most of his life but moved with his mother to Salem one year ago. He attended Redford High school.

Prior to his induction into the Army, he was employed at the Willow Run bomber plant.

Pvt. McCarty

Sticking To It

Rolland "Bud" Cobb, 22, son of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Cobb of Manchester, recently assigned as a truck driver in the quartermaster company at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., has been selected as one of 55 truck drivers to make a state-wide "scrap tour" of Missouri.

After his induction on Aug. 14 of last year, Pvt. Cobb reported to Leonard Wood from Camp Custer, and was assigned to the field artillery there.

Two weeks later, Pvt. Cobb was placed in the hospital for 27 days and upon being discharged while awaiting his reclassification, he was made fireman and given charge of two barracks. A month later he was re-classified, assigned to the quartermaster company, and given charge of the camp theaters.

An employe at the Superior Dairy Co. prior to his induction, he had tried to enlist twice before his induction, only to be rejected because of physical disabilities. Then when he did get in, "Bud" was the only one in his outfit not to return for the extra days leave during his induction.

"If I get in, I'm staying," declared Pvt. Cobb, and it looks as though he will, too, for his present job is scheduled to take at least 10 months.

Rolland Cobb

In Air Forces

Adrian C. Onderdonk, 19, is a member of the Society of Friends, commonly known as Quakers, but did not apply for exemption from the draft because he feels it is his duty to serve his country in the armed forces.

In February, 1943, he was inducted in the Army and reported to Fort Custer. Following a short stay at Custer he was sent to St. Petersburg, Fla. where, as a member of the Army Air Forces ground school he was stationed in the famous "tent city" which has recently been condemned.

For the past three months, Pfc. Onderdonk has been stationed at Gulfport, Miss., where he is taking an instruction course in the Army Air Forces school there. He received his promotion to the rank of private first class when he left St. Petersburg.

Adrian attended Ann Arbor High school and was a riveter at the Ford bomber plant at Willow Run prior to his induction. His father is a designer there and his brother is employed there as a liason engineer.

Adrian Cortelyou Onderdonk is named after Dr. Adrian Van Der Donck who is believed to be the ancestor of all the Onderdonks who are now living in America. He left Holland in the 17th century.

Adrian's middle name has quite a historical significance as it belongs to his paternal great grandmother who was related to George B. Cortelyou, secretary of the Navy in Theodore Roosevelt's cabinet.

Adrian's ancestors or family have served in all the great wars, one ancestor having been imprisoned by the British in the American Revolution, a great-uncle having served in the Union army during the Civil war and his uncle, Andrew J. Onderdonk, jr., having seen action in the Navy during World war I.

Pfc. Onderdonk is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Francis S. Onderdonk, of 1331 Geddes Ave. He has lived in Vienna, Austria and Protivin, Czechoslovakia, and has two aunts, who, when last heard from, were residing on the outskirts of Prague, Czechoslovakia.

Pfc. Onderdonk

Training To Fly

Lawrence Carroll Dietle, 19, son of Mr. and Mrs. Clarence F. Dietle of Chelsea, of the Army Air Force, has been sent to Sheppard Field, Tex., for his basic training.

He qualified for enlistment as an air cadet on April of this year and was sworn in on May 31.

Cadet Dietle was gradated from Chelsea High school in 1942 and was employed as a draftsman at the Chelsea branch of the Federal Screw Works until he entered the Air Force.

Cadet Dietle

Promoted

Mr. and Mrs. Israel Friedman of 1110 Broadway have received word that their son, Morris S. Friedman, an administrative officer in the Army Air Forces has been promoted from the rank of second lieutenant to first lieutenant.
Lt. Friedman received his commission in December 1942 and was then assigned to Rosencrans Field, Mo. where he has been stationed ever since.

On Honor Roll

Naval Aviation Cadet George Bradley Waterman, 20, who is taking his pre-flight training at St. Mary’s College, Calif., has been placed on the station's honor roll according to an announcement by the Commanding Officer, Comdr. Clyde W. King.

Cadet Waterman was chosen because of leadership in scholastic training, and in order to attain this honor had to maintain an average of 3.4 or better out of a possible 4.0 during his first six weeks of training which he has just completed.

Academic subjects include navigation, aerology and essentials of naval service, and at the same time they are undergoing math and physics courses these boys are given intensive military and athletic training.

George is the son of Mr. and Mrs. John B. Waterman, 1611 Broadway and played both baseball and basketball on city teams before he enlisted last September.

Cadet Waterman

Returns To Camp

Sgt. Mark R. Miller has returned to his duties at Camp Swift, Tex., after spending a 12-day furlough with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Miller, 1059 Wall St.

Ground Crew Member

Corp. Harvard Stanley Lefevre, 23, who lived in Ann Arbor for only two years before his enlistment in the Army Air Forces last August, is now stationed at Inglewood, Calif. as a member of the ground crew there. Stanley is the son of Mrs. Delia Lefevre of Stephenson, Mich. he graduated from Stephenson High school in 1938 and played both basketball and football while in school. Likewise he attended nigh school in Ann Arbor.

For a time after his graduation from school, Stanley worked on a farm but for the two years prior to his enlistment he did work for the Navy in Ann Arbor.

Corp. Lefevre first attended ground crew school at San Angelo, Tex., then was transferred to Sheppard field, Tex. and recently was moved to Inglewoood, where he also received his corporal's stripes.

Corp. Lefevre was married April 10, 1943 to the former Mary Lee Moore of Twisa, Okla. who is at present living in Ann Arbor.

Corp. Lefevre

In Louisiana

Sgt. Raymond Chester (Nick) Lewis, jr., is stationed with Army forces somewhere in Louisiana, his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Raymond C. Lewis, of Salem, believe. They are not sure of the fact because his duties have apparently kept him so busy that Sgt. Lewis hasn't written home in some time.

Twenty-three years old and a native of Salem, Nick entered Army service on Dec. 11, 1941, and has been serving with a medical battalion. He went from Fort Custer, where he first reported, to Camp Wolters, Tex.; later to Huachuaca, Ariz., and finally to Louisiana.

A former railroad and garage mechanic in Salem, Sgt. Lewis attended the Salem Union school where he received his formal education.

Since entering the Army, Nick has been married to the former Ethel L. Watson of Fort Worth, Tex. The couple exchanged vows on Nov. 1, 1942. Two of Nick's brothers, Robert H. and Lindsay Lewis, are serving with a quartermaster unit in the Hawaiian islands.

Sgt. Lewis

Marine Photographer

Back in 1940 Steve Toth was a semi-finalist in the novice middleweight class in Ann Arbor's Golden Gloves matches. Today he is awaiting his chance to help punch the Japs groggy, though he may have to do it with flash bulbs.

Steve--Sgt. Stephen Toth--is in the photographic section of the Marine Corps, stationed at Camp Pendleton, Calif.

He is the 22-year-old son of Technician and Mrs. Robert H. Tostle, 903 Plum St. His step-father is now home on leave after spending a year on Iceland as a surgical technician in the Medical Corps.

A peacetime member of Company K, Steve, then a corporal in the National Guard unit, left for Louisiana when the guardsmen were called up in October of 1940. In 1941, by then a sergeant, he was released when his enlistment period expired and he returned to Ann Arbor.

He went to work at the Willow Run bomber plant but, unhappy out of uniform, enlisted in the Marine Corps last Sept. 8. He reported the next day at Quantico, Va., becoming a private first class in December and a corporal in January. On June 21 he was promoted to sergeant and sent to Camp Pendleton.

On Nov. 2, 1941 he married Ethel Donelson, of Detroit, a former student nurse at University hospital, who now is living nearby, at Hollywood, Calif.

Steve's brother, Louis Toth, also is a former member of Company K, being a sergeant at the time his enlistment expired in 1941. He now lives at Denton.

Sgt. Toth, born in Detroit and later a resident of Milan, has lived in Ann Arbor for many years and attended Ann Arbor High school.

Sgt. Toth

Naval Air Cadet Now

Albert G. Wright, 19, son of Mr and Mrs. A. G. Wright of 1930 Norway Rd., has been appointed a naval aviation cadet and was transferred to the Naval Air Training Center at Pensacola, Fla. for flight training.

Upon completion of this course, he will receive his Navy wings as a naval aviator, and will be commissioned an ensign in the Naval Reserve or a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps Reserve.

Cadet Wright graduated from University High school on his 18th birthday in May of last year and enlisted in the Navy the following week.

First stationed at the Ann Arbor Airport and quartered in the Michigan Union building for six months for a pre-flight course, he was then sent to Iowa City for three months of physical training arid later to Minneapolis for further flying instruction, before his current appointment.

Albert Wright