With The Men In Service: April 25, 1944
With The Men In Service
Trains As Pilot
Completing the basic flying phase of his Army Air Forces ptlot training at Marana. Ariz., Army Airfield. Maj. John F. Wisler. who was ammunition officer of the United States forces in the early months of the Guadalcanal occupation, hopes to see aerial combat action against "either the Japs or the Germans "
Maj. Wisler, son of Prof. and Mrs. Chester O. Wisler, of 810 Arch St., dispatched 420 tons of ammunition a night at the Japs in the early days of the Solomon Islands campaign.
According to Wisler, "As a pilot I won't be able to send as much ammunition at the Japs or Jerrys but I will be able to deliver it personally."
The 28-year-old veteran doesn't care "what kind of a plane they give me to fly, just so it's a fighter or low altitude bomber in a combat theater."
Wisler was graduated in 1939 from the University, where he majored in metallurgical engineering. He has been assigned to Williams Field, Higby, Ariz., for the final 10 weeks of advance training in which he will specialize in twin-engine fighters, the Lockheed P-38.
Accepted for flight training 19 months after leaving New York for the South Pacific, Maj. Wisler probably will be the last officer of his high rank to go through Western Flying Training Command pilot schools. A few days after he began the rigorous courses last August, the War department limited acceptance of student officers to the ranks of second and first lieutenants. Student officers undergo the same rigid pilot training as younger aviation cadets and students.
"It s a tough grind," Maj. Wisler said upon completing Marana's 10-week basic course, "but there's no doubt in my mind that it's worth it. I'm enjoying myself every minute of this training and am anxious to get at some tactical ships."
Maj. Wisler went to Guadalcanal as an ammunition officer when the Army joined the Marines on the bitterly contested island in November, 1942, and remained there until July, 1943. Originally, he was to supervise the handling of ammunition for the Army division but found himself supervising all ammunition for two divisions, the Marines and the Army and Navy Air Forces
"We handled all the ammo from rifle bullets to one-ton aerial bombs and had dumps scattered all over the island," recalled the major. "Because of the flood in which it was funneled into the island, sometimes we couldn’t store it in protective piles, dispersed for safety from aerial attack. Once we had a dump nearly a mile long and although the Japs bombed our area frequently, we never lost a man due to ammo explosions. Our ammo losses were negligible."
Later when U. S. forces occupied all of Guadalcanal, it became the operations base for action against other islands in the group. When American forces attacked Rendova island, Maj. Wisler’s outfit had to move 420 tons of ammunition nightly from the dumps to the docks and load It on LST craft for the night run to the fighting area.
Maj. Wisler, then employed in the research division of the New Jersey Zinc Co., Palmerton, Pa., was called to active duty with the reserve commission of second lieutenant in January, 1941, and applied for air training that year while on maneuvers in the Carolinas. His outfit returned from maneuvers on Dec. 7, 1941, and a few weeks later he was aboard a convoy headed for New Caledonia.
The major re-applied for air instruction in the New Caledonia area and received orders to return to the United States for pilot training only after prolonged exchange of forms and letters.
"I was hospitalized with malaria and yellow jaundice, Wisler chuckled, "on the day I received notice to take my physical exam."
His wife, the former Marjorie Martin, of Edgerton, Wis., is with him in Arizona. His 21-year-old brother, Aviation Cadet Robert Wisler, is receiving Navy pre-flight training at Athens, Ga.
Maj. Wisler
Home On Furlough
Recently made a corporal at Fort Ord, Calif., Clifford D. Davis, 22, son of Mrs. Martha Davis, 711 Arbor, is home on furlough for 10 days. Cpl. Davis is in the Field Artillery.
A graduate of Ann Arbor High school in 1941, Cpl. Davis was working as Foreman of Salvage inspection at the Ford Bomber plant when he was inducted into the Army on April 6, 1943. After reporting to Camp Custer, he was sent to Camp Hood, Texas, where he remained until August of last year.
Navy Majority
The Navy seems to have scored a two-to-one victory in the family of the Waldo Gottners, 1120 Oakland, even though Raymond, the Army son, has managed to win his commission ahead of his two Navy brothers, William and Donald.
Raymond, 20, now a second lieutenant in the Army Air Forces, following his recent graduation from the advances pilot's training course at Napier Field, Ala., has been in the armed services since January, 1943. Prior to his induction, he was employed by the Willow Run bomber plant at Ypsilanti.
William, 21, who took his basic training at Great Lakes, Ill., is now a torpedoer, third class, on the USS Sitkoh Bay In the Pacific. He has been overseas since April 1.
Donald, the 17-year-old brother, who left for overseas duty in the Pacific March 1, is now on board the USS San Jaciato.
All of these boys attended Dowling High school in Des Moines, Ia., before moving with their parents to Ann Arbor in September, 1942.
Ray Gottner
Wm. Gottner
Don Gottner
Home From Abroad
Home from two years of active duty abroad is Capt. Bradley M. Fessenden, who Is visiting his wife, Loella Fessenden, 609 Lawrence St., and his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Fessenden, 119 Virginia Ave., for a few days before leaving for Ft. Monmouth, N. J., where he will be stationed.
Capt. Fessenden, who was called into the Army in June, 1941, and stationed in Louisiana for six months before leaving for overseas duty, has to date seen action in Ireland, England, Africa and Italy. He arrived back In the United States on March 8.
The captain is a graduate of the University and was director of CCC camps in the Upper Peninsula and in Kentucky for two years prior to being sworn into the Army.