Source: The Cedar Rapids Tribune, Sep. 27, 1945 page 3

Articles: 

News of SERVICE MEN and WOMEN 

Seaman 1/c Robert A. Barta, 1607 First street SW, has reported to the U.S. Naval armed guard center, Treasure Island, Calif. The armed guard center directs the training and assignment of all officers and enlisted personnel of navy gun crews of merchant vessels. In the Pacific, Barta has spent 13 months as a member of a gun crew aboard a merchant ship. 

Chief radio technician John D. Armstrong, whose wife, Mrs. J.D. Armstrong, lives at 1725 Hamilton street SW, is serving aboard the heavy cruiser Chicago in Sagami Wan, Japan. The Chicago is part of the fleet helping occupy the mainland of Japan. 

Seaman 1/c Richard G. Whitney, whose parents, Mr. and Mrs. R.D. Whitney, live at 421 O avenue NW, is serving with the navy's special activities division at Pearl Harbor. Whitney is a graduate of Roosevelt High school and has been in service since 1944. 

Gunner's Mate 3/c H.A. Lewis, 2124 G street SW, is a member of the recently revealed formerly secret Sino-American cooperative organization. This group consisted of a number of U.S. Naval guerrillas, intelligence agents and weather observers who operated behind the Jap lines in Asia. This group, know as the SACO began shortly after Pearl Harbor as strictly a weather reporting unit. The project grew until it was providing the U.S. Fleet, the 14th AAF and Chinese and American army headquarters with weather reports and intelligence on Jap ships, troops and supplies. Finally it became a feared fighting unit, killing Japs, blowing up trains and raiding Jap outposts. Its many activities came to extend all the way from Indo-China to the Gobi desert. SACO Americans became adept at Chinese disguises and slipped through enemy lines when they chose. Through the months and years of constant service not one SACE member was detected. 

Seaman 1/c Lews M. Justin, whose wife, Mrs. Katherine Justin, lives at 1032 Eleventh avenue SE, is serving aboard the carrier Wasp off Tokyo. A main topic of naval conversation is the Wasp's record week, March 14-20, during which time her crews shot down 14 Jap planes, smashed two enemy carriers, dropped three 1,000-pound bombs on two battleships, three 500-pounders on a heavy cruiser, a 1,000-pounder on a big cargo ship and successfully strafed a large Jap sub. Near the end of this terrific run the Wasp took a 500-pound Jap bomb through her flight deck and yet managed, within 50 minutes, to launch more planes. 

Machinist's Mate 1/c R. W. McGillicuddy, whose wife lives at 227 Fourth street NW, is among the 1,200 navy men from the Third fleet who arrived in Puget Sound navy yard on Sept. 13. The majority of these men are on their way to separation centers for discharges under the navy point system. 

Sgt. Phillip B. Wildeboer, 272 Twenty-first street NW, has been given his honorable discharge from the service at the separation center at Fort Lewis, Wash. Motor 

Machinist's Mate 3/c Kenneth M. Reed, 1673 Eighth street NW, has been serving aboard the repair ship Luzon out of Pearl Harbor. The Luzon, a floating shipyard capable of repairing and maintaining smaller combat vessels and all types of amphibious craft, was the first ship of its kind to be sent to the Pacific. With millions of dollars in equipment and scores of highly trained personnel, this sloating shipyard kept the fleet on the fighting line for the invasion of the Marshall Islands, Saipan, Guam, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. 

Sgt. John J. Mitchell, whose sister, Miss Genevieve Mitchell, lives at 1220 Third avenue, is returning to the states after some 31 months of service overseas. Serving with the 562nd engineer boat maintenance battalion, Mitchell has seen combat along the New Guinea coast, Hollandia, Biak Island, Leyte and the Philippines. He wears the American Defense ribbon, the Asiatic-Pacific theater ribbon with two stars, the Laurel Wreath of Meritorious Service unit award and the Philippine Liberation medal. 

Fireman 2/c Marion H. Armstrong, 1000 Third avenue SE, has been assigned to duty aboard the super carrier Midway at Newport, R.I. The present Midway is the third vessel to bear this name. The original Midway was renamed the Panay in April, 1943. The second Midway became the Saint Lo in 1944 and was lost during the battle for Leyte. 

Lieut. Murray C. Marks, whose wife, Mrs. Alice Marks, and daughter, Lynn, live at 2701 Westwood drive NW, has arrived in the States. Lieut. Marks, who served as pilot of a B-24 in the Fifth AAF, has seen action in the Pacific theater and participated in the Philippine liberation. A brother, Lieut. Richard F. Marks, is serving as a pilot of a B-25 in the Fifth AAF. Both men are the sons of Mr. and Mrs. Neil Marks, 2716 Waveland drive NW. 

First Lieut. Leonard D. Dvorak arrived in Cedar Rapids Monday on a delay en route and is spending a few days with his wife and son, Donald, 370 Sixteenth street SE. He is a son of Mr. and Mrs. Wencil Dvorak, 68 Nineteenth avenue SW. Lieut. Dvorak entered the army May 27, 1942, took officers' training at Fort Benning, Ga., and went overseas June 8, 1943. He landed at Oran and took part in the invasion of Sicily. Other campaigns in which he participated included Salerno, Cassino, Anzio, Southern France and Germany. He landed in Boston Sept. 19, and will report to Ft. Sheridan, Ill., Sept. 27 for separation. 

Fireman 1/c Ralph A. Sellers, 1208 First street NW, is serving aboard the Detroit in Tokyo Bay. The Detroit is 23 years old and was put into service before many of the men now aboard her were born. 

Radioman 1/c Dwight D. Donnewald, whose mother lives at 1227 Fourth avenue SE, has been serving aboard the destroyer minesweeper Ellyson now in Tokyo bay. The Ellyson, one of the first Allied ships to enter the bay, led her forces in clearing the channel of mines for the Missouri and other major units to follow. Sweeping from Okinawa to China, the Ellyson led more than 100 minesweepers in clearing 7,000 miles of ocean in July. She with the others completed this biggest sweeping job in history in three and a half weeks. 

Lieut. Commander John A. Whitacre, whose wife, Mrs. Elizabeth Whitacre, lives at 1261 First avenue SE, has recently been awarded the Letter of Commendation with ribbon. Whitacre, who has been serving as approach officer and navigator aboard the submarine Ronquil, received the award for his conduct during a war patrol in the Pacific. Lieut. Commander Whitacre is a former resident of Marshalltown where his parents, Mr. and Mrs. J.A. Whitacre, make their home. 

Lieut. John L. Davenport, whose parents, Mr. and Mrs. Louis Davenport, live at 523 McKinley street SE, is spending a leave from combat duty aboard the carrier San Jacinto. Serving as a signal officer, Davenport took part in seven major operations of Pacific campaigns. 

Fireman 1/c Francis J. Minor, 1604 Fourteenth avenue SE, has been serving with the 85th Naval Construction battalion now stationed at Pearl Harbor. This veteran Seabee battalion spent 17 months in the Aleutians before coming the the South Pacific for a long period of duty. 

Seaman 2/c James R. Brown, route 3, is serving aboard the tender Argonne in the Pacific. This tender has been action in almost every sea lane from Pearl Harbor to Leyte gulf. 

Fireman 1/c Francis V. Kendall, whose wife, Mrs. Gladys Kendall, lives at 1012 Fifteenth avenue SE, is serving aboard the Graffias off Japan. The Graffias is a unit of the North Pacific force that began the occupations of Hokkaido and northern Ronshu by taking over the naval base on Mutsu bay, headquarters of the Jap's Fifth fleet. 

Electricians Mate 3/c J.B. Hamisch, 632 Ninth avenue SW, Machinist's Mate 3/c J.W. Evans, 307 Ninth avenue, Marion, and Chief Water Tender J.W. Becicka, 2311 J street SW, are serving aboard the repair ship Xanthus off Japan. This ship is equipped to make extensive emergency repairs for any type of vessel in the Pacific fleet. The Xanthus saw duty in the Hawaiian area and the Aleutians before joining the Fourth fleet. 

Source: The Cedar Rapids Tribune, Thur., 9/27/1945, page 3