Freeman Army Air Field Seymour

Freeman Army Air Field
Seymour, Indiana
CLASS 43-K
December 5, 1943

Class	Graduation Date (1943)	No. Enrolled	No. Graduated	2nd Lieuts.	Flight Officers	Eliminated	Killed	Held Over
43-K	December 5	301	286	233	31	0	1	28

Abbott, Jack L.	43 K
Adams, Bennie F., Flight Cpl	43 K
Adams, Frank J., Jr.	43 K
Alexander, John W.	43 K
Algeo, Paul D.	43 K
Alvord, Charles H., Jr., Flight Lt.	43 K
Andrews, Homer, Jr., 1^st Sgt.	43 K
Antanaviczus, 2^nd Lt. Frank, Student Officer	43 K
Atkison, Howard M., Jr.	43 K
Bartelmes, Herman R.	43 K
Bartlett, Frank W., Jr.	43 K
Beals, Paul E.	43 K
Beatty, James M.	43 K
Beecher, Fredrick	43 K
Bellinger, Glen E.	43 K
Benedict, 2^nd Lt. John A., Student Officer	43 K
Bennett, David E.	43 K
Benson, Richard J., Flight Cpl	43 K
Benson, Sidney A., Flight Cpl	43 K
Berry, James W.	43 K
Biel, Albert H.	43 K
Bierwirth, 1^st Lt. George C., Student Officer	43 K
Bishop, 1^st Lt. Howard K., Student Officer	43 K
Bishop, Donald M.	43 K
Bitzer, Gustav H.	43 K
Blake-Lobb, James F.	43 K
Blakely, John D.	43 K
Boehm, Harold F.	43 K
Borg, Wayne M.	43 K
Bowers, Francis A.	43 K
Bradshaw, Horace F.	43 K
Brant, Henry M.	43 K
Breen, Hugh P. F.	43 K
Briston, Sterling W., Jr., Flight Cpl	43 K
Brockman, Roy E.	43 K
Brody, John J.	43 K
Brower, Arnold E.	43 K
Brown, Lawrence M.	43 K
Brownell, Douglass C, Supply Sgt.	43 K
Brunn, Howard W.	43 K
Bruse, William S.	43 K
Bryne, John F., Jr.	43 K
Buck, Wendell R.	43 K
Budd, Roger, Jr.	43 K
Buescher, Robert C.	43 K
Buich, Steven J.	43 K
Buker, Harold W., Jr.	43 K
Burlington, Ray, Jr.	43 K
Burnham, Earl H.	43 K
Busch, Robert E.	43 K
Buttfield, William S.	43 K
Byers, Charles S., Jr.	43 K
Callahan, Raymond J.	43 K
Calloway, Edgar R.	43 K
Carlson, Edward R.	43 K
Carneh, Arno I., Flight Guide	43 K
Carpenter, Richard R.	43 K
Carr, Fredrick W.	43 K
Chapman, John N.	43 K
Chapman, Norman M.	43 K
Cheffer, 1^st lt. Donald J., Student Officer	43 K
Chenault, James M.	43 K
Cherubini, John E.	43 K
Child, Clayton E.	43 K
Chynoweth, Samuel W.	43 K
Cielewich, Donale E.	43 K
Claflin, Chester W.	43 K
Clark, Howard M.	43 K
Clark, John L.	43 K
Clark, Morris E.	43 K
Clayton, John S.	43 K
Clemmons, James A.	43 K
Clunk, Edward C. F.	43 K
Cochran, Goff C., Jr.	43 K
Coffey, William J.	43 K
Cohen, Arnold H.	43 K
Colborn, Robert L.	43 K
Colkett, Thomas I., Jr.	43 K
Comelli, Carl R.	43 K
Comer, James M. L.	43 K
Comerford, Charles V.	43 K
Conner, David C., Jr.	43 K
Connors, Charles J.	43 K
Cook, Howard H.	43 K
Cooper, Harold W.	43 K
Cooper, John E., Jr.	43 K
Corley, Paul E.	43 K
Crandell, Lewis, G.	43 K
Crossley, Cruiser H., Jr.	43 K
Crume, Lyle L.	43 K
Cuccaro, Robert A.	43 K
Culver, Edwin L.	43 K
Curry, Deane G.	43 K
Daggett, James L.	43 K
Dalton, Robert J.	43 K
Davies, Charles B.	43 K
Davis, James D.	43 K
Davis, John T., Flight Cpl	43 K
Del Bianco, Alexander F.	43 K
DeRidder, Joseph A.	43 K
Des Jardins, Earl A.	43 K
DeWitt, William J., Jr.	43 K
Dibbell, Robert A.	43 K
Dill, Willard R.	43 K
Dobson, Robert A., Supply Sgt.	43 K
Donaghue, Carnelius E. J.	43 K
Donan, James C.	43 K
Donley, Eugene P.	43 K
Donohue, William R.	43 K
Duffy, Harry E., Flight Cpl	43 K
Dunnuck, William M.	43 K
Dussinger, Martin B.	43 K
Eastman, Harold, Jr.	43 K
Edwards, Evan M.	43 K
Eichenbaum, Leonard	43 K
Elder, Edgar R., Flight Lt.	43 K
Emond, Eugene P.	43 K
Endelicato, Marion	43 K
Everitt, Edward P., Jr.	43 K
Fields, Kenneth A.	43 K
Ford, Kinsman D., Jr.	43 K
Foss, Clifford W.	43 K
Frazee, Malcolm C.	43 K
Geller, Julius	43 K
Gerhard, Austin W.	43 K
Golubic, Walter R.	43 K
Goodgame, James E.	43 K
Gordon, Edward L., Flight Cpl	43 K
Grant, 2^nd Lt. Douglas G., Student Officer	43 K
Green, 2^nd Lt. John W., Jr., Student Officer	43 K
Greenich, Albert L.	43 K
Griffith, 1^st Lt. Ole C., Jr., Student Officer	43 K
Grimm, William F.	43 K
Grindrat, Norman R., Jr., 1^st Sgt.	43 K
Halteman, Clemence W., Jr.	43 K
Hamilton, Stephen P., Jr.	43 K
Hapke, Norman F.	43 K
Harden, Charles R.	43 K
Harding, Clifford	43 K
Harris, Clifford H., Jr.	43 K
Hawkins, 2^nd Lt. William R., Student Officer	43 K
Hedrick, Marcus O., Jr.	43 K
Hegarty, 2^nd Lt. William F., Student Officer	43 K
Henning, William D.	43 K
Hodges, Edward F.	43 K
Hogshire, William J., Flight Cpl	43 K
Hoke, Asa H.	43 K
Homan, Eugene F.	43 K
Hoyer, Walter P.	43 K
Huffman, Roy S.	43 K
Hume, 2^nd Lt. Robert A., Student Officer	43 K
Ingram, Herbert D., Jr.	43 K
Isaacs, Herbert S.	43 K
Iverson, Clifford T.	43 K
Johnson, 2^nd Lt. Edward H., Student Officer	43 K
Johnson, William J.	43 K
Jones, Ellsworth D.	43 K
Juraschek, Theodore	43 K
Kaufmann, Ray S., Flight Guide	43 K
Kelly, Landon B.	43 K
Kennedy, Willis H., Jr.	43 K
Kent, Bernard B.	43 K
Kenyon, Perle C, Supply Sgt.	43 K
Kershaw, Maury W.	43 K
Kier, Karl F., Jr.	43 K
Knutson, Carroll F.	43 K
Koblik, 1^st Lt. William R., Student Officer	43 K
Kohlston, Herbert F.	43 K
Lade, Jack A.	43 K
Langston, Norman D., Jr.	43 K
Laughter, William F.	43 K
Leahy, 1^st Lt. Edward D., Student Officer	43 K
Leatherman, Glen C.	43 K
Lee, Herbert E., 1^st Sgt.	43 K
Lemery, Thomas M.	43 K
Lewis, George L., Flight Cpl	43 K
Lian, 1^st Lt. Elmer T., Student Officer	43 K
Locke, Victor B., Jr.	43 K
Lojewski, Telesphor	43 K
Lombard, Frank R.	43 K
Lowe, Mahlon H., Jr.	43 K
MacCarter, David, Jr.	43 K
Madden, George A., Flight Lt.	43 K
Madden, Joseph M., Flight Cpl	43 K
Madeley, Clinton R.	43 K
Manuel, Charles A.	43 K
Marsh, Charles L.	43 K
Martin, Gregory L.	43 K
Mason, Paul A.	43 K
Matlack, Vincent D., Jr.	43 K
McCoy, Robert R.	43 K
McCumsey, Louis M.	43 K
McDevett, Frazier T., Flight Cpl	43 K
McGee, 2^nd Lt. John V., Student Officer	43 K
McGrath, Robert T.	43 K
Mehner, John E.	43 K
Michael, Melbourne G.	43 K
Miller, Arthur L.	43 K
Miller, Fredrick C.	43 K
Morris, Raymond J., Flight Cpl	43 K
Morse, Charles W.	43 K
Mortensen, Robert E.	43 K
Morton, Howard R.	43 K
Murff, Rex M.	43 K
Muszalski, Joseph F.	43 K
Nagel, Otto P., Jr.	43 K
Napier, Winston J.	43 K
Nelms, Richard A.	43 K
Nelson, Bernard F.	43 K
Nesmith, Ellie R.	43 K
Noiseau, Raymond C.	43 K
North, Ernest J.	43 K
Olde, Warren T., Flight Lt.	43 K
Oltman, Fred	43 K
Otterson, Val L.	43 K
Page, Frank N.	43 K
Patat, Claud T., Jr.	43 K
Pelot, Paul E.	43 K
Pendergast, Raymond G., Jr.	43 K
Potts, 1^st. Lt. James I., Student Officer	43 K
Prisco, Nicholas T.	43 K
Qualls, Stanley F.	43 K
Radkem Victor C.	43 K
Radomski, Bernard E.	43 K
Ramlow, Charles F.	43 K
Ratcliff, David W.	43 K
Reeser, Frank E.	43 K
Ressler, William H., Jr.	43 K
Reynolds, Thomas J.	43 K
Richards, Franklin T.	43 K
Richardson, Charles A.	43 K
Riegel, Lawrence W.	43 K
Robinson, Leroy S., Jr.	43 K
Rogers, Robert H.	43 K
Rollinson, Harry, Jr.	43 K
Rose, Roscoe R.	43 K
Roth, Donald J.	43 K
Ryan, Stephen F.	43 K
Sage, Robert C., Flight Cpl	43 K
Sandlin, Jesse O.	43 K
Savoca, William C.	43 K
Schimandle, Frank J.	43 K
Schmuck, Erwin, Jr.	43 K
Scott, Charles G., Flight Cpl	43 K
Seidell, Robert E.	43 K
Shackelford, WOJG Cecil L., Student Officer	43 K
Simmons, John W.	43 K
Sincock, 1^st Lt. William R., Student Officer	43 K
Smith, Capt. John D., Student Officer	43 K
Smith, Howard E.	43 K
Spencer, Stanley T. J.	43 K
Spensley, Gavin T.	43 K
Stewart, Robert S., Jr.	43 K
Sturm, 1^st Lt. William A., Student Officer	43 K
Taylor, Thomas D.	43 K
Theurer, Harry A., Jr.	43 K
Thomas, Frank A.	43 K
Thompson, Jay B.	43 K
Thompson, Lyle W.	43 K
Thompson, Robert N.	43 K
Thorne, Walter W.	43 K
Tonne, William F., Supply Sgt.	43 K
Torrance, Robert N., 1^st Sgt.	43 K
Trapnell, Joseph, IV, Flight Cpl	43 K
Troiano, John J.	43 K
Vehlow, Roy C.	43 K
Webster, Kenneth E.	43 K
Weiss, Eugene A.	43 K
Wicken, James C.	43 K
Wikenhauser, Lyle E.	43 K
Williams, Mason M.	43 K
Williams, Theodore H.	43 K
Wilson, Bennie D.	43 K
Wilson, Robert E.	43 K
Wineinger, Arlys D.	43 K
Wolcott, Myron F.	43 K
Wood, 2^nd Lt. Harold, Student Officer	43 K
Wright, Charles E.	43 K
Wrightson, Clifford E.	43 K
Yinger, William E.	43 K

Twingine Times
July 7, 1944

The Story of a Freeman Graduate

One of the most poignant letters ever sent to Twingine Times from a man in combat arrived last week through Major Poe, deputy for training and operations. The letter was written by Lt. Fredrick H. Ihlenburg, Jr., of New York City, a graduate of Freeman Field with Class 43-K and was sent to Mrs. Francis L. Jordan of Seymour, the lieutenant’s wife.

The Ihlenburgs became close friends of the Jordans when the lieutenant was in training here. Like many other Seymour people, the Jordans entertain personnel in their home and prepare delicious “home cooked” meals. Mrs. Jordan is affectionately called “mother” by the Ihlenburgs.

In Mrs. Ihlenburg’s letter, which accompanied the lieutenant’s, she said he had received the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal. He had just recently become squadron training officer and was responsible for the indoctrination and training of new crews, scheduled practice missions, checking out pilots, gave instrument checks and helped with the planning of missions and briefings.

Mrs. Ihlenburg commented that since the war she and her husband had been brought close to God, “a place where neither of us were before – and it’s such a comfort.”

The lieutenant’s letter follows:

Since I last wrote you, I have probably had the greatest experience in my life.

We were headed for target Berlin. We were to go there the day before, but were forced to turn back short of the target due to lack of oxygen. So, when we got to the same point the next day with only 23 pounds more oxygen than the day before, I just said a silent prayer and kept going. I knew we couldn’t make it all the way, especially at the terrific altitude we were flying at. It was 52 degrees below zero up there, the highest and coldest I’ve flown.

We had the usual run to the target sweating it out all the way.

Then Berlin – you never saw so much flak in all your life. It just filled the sky, and they are awfully good shots.

While that hell was breaking loose, my oxygen supply warning light went on – which means you haven’t got long to go.

I stuck it out in formation until I began to feel a bit queer. That was about ten minutes after bombs away, two hours inside enemy territory.

I maintained radio silence not to give my position and trouble away to the enemy and shot red flares for fighter protection.

We had to drop fast to get down to where we could work without oxygen and I took advantage of it in speed so that it wasn’t even necessary for a P-38 to circle us. Possibly I was indicating 300. I may have told you we were being checked out as lead men which made Clem lead navigator. Well, he was getting his final check this day so wasn’t riding with us. I thought he was lucky not being with us until yesterday when they told me he went down right after we left formation. I don’t know if he’s dead or a prisoner in Germany. Too bad, he was a good boy.

I sure missed him on the trip home. Without a navigator you can trust it’s no fun especially with a solid undercast so you can’t see checkpoints or flak bottoms until they start shooting. They don’t have to see you, they use radar.

You try hard, but you don’t know, you just don’t know – and I think we hit every flak oven in Germany.

Being that far in, I couldn’t afford to hit the deck as altitude can come in awfully handy when you’re trying to stretch distance.

Even being alone and able to do violent evasive action, we sustained heavy flak damage on the way out. After one of these scrimmages, we found ourselves all alone – no fighters. That’s a hell of a feeling. We were still more than an hour inland.

It’s hard to tell a 109 from a 51 at any distance, especially when you look for a 51 the 109 is painted just like it and uses his tactics. We kept our eyes on them and they just flew along with us as an escort would for about ten minutes.

Next thing we knew at about 12,000 – they peeled off at us. Due to our speed, they couldn’t get us head on, but came in from the rear and both sides near. Those boys were really good, but it cost us too much to find that out.

On the first pass, they shot out No. 2 engine and both gas tanks in the left wing. My bullet-proof glass proved to be just that as it stopped four 303 mm machine-gun bullets, the concussion of which knocked my sunglasses off my face, I thought I was dead and took time out to feel for blood and stuff. I couldn’t believe it. Shortly, the ball turret, got one on that pass. It just blew up into nothing. The next pass was the worst. They shot Shorty out of the ball, and Rohman out of the top turret. Rohman was blown out of it like he was shot from a cannon and landed in the aisle between Bob and me.

I thought he was dead, but he got up, shook his head and got back up in the turret in time to get another glance on the next pass. Mind you, there was no glass left in the top turret except the piece in his eye which was the only place he got cut up, somehow.

Shorty crawled out of the ball, with a hole through his leg, into the radio room just in time for the third pass.

Andy, the tail gunner, got another and Dory, waist gunner, a probable on that pass. I’m pretty sure Dory got his too, cause they didn’t ask for any more, thank God. And this time, yours truly was making shots for the boys and spoiling theirs and praying like a mad man.

Well, we took inventory. No radio – so Bob acted as my communication system running from one to the other and reporting results to me. Two engines out and three gas tanks leaking, one empty. The 20 mm shot half the wing off, cutting through five spars, leaving only the main one to hold it on and a hole big enough for me to crawl into. The rudder also had a hold big enough to crawl into and several you could put your head through. In all, we counted 67 bullet holes or good-sized flak holes – not counting a few dozen peppered holes here and there. Four shells had passed right through No. 2 prop. Our flaps were shot out, my compass and gyro instruments, too. Bob had to run down to see the navigation compass up front and tell me if I was going the right way.

We still had a one-half hour to go to the coast, and truthfully I didn’t think we’d make it. This might sound like something or other, but I still believe I actually prayed my way in. I’ll never understand how we got over the enemy coast which is just solid with flak and at only 9,000 feet too. Boy that channel looked good and when I saw the English coast, I cried !

I wish it were possible for me to give you a picture of the hell, the turmoil, confusion, panic and tension in a flight light that, but that’s impossible as it’s indescribable and can only be appreciated when you have gone through it.

If you can picture me in a matter of minutes, trying to fly the ship with six guys yelling at me over the interphone for position, having bullets whiz past you by inches, (there were 17 peppered holes right by my legs and seat) feathering props, cutting switches, transferring pumps and gas tanks and convincing the tail gunner not to bail out and a 101 things I can’t describe, you might get a small idea of what I mean.

I spotted the first field I could which turned out to be an RAF base and somehow managed to make the nicest landing ever with that wreck. Even with the smooth landing, the battered wing started to buckle at the impact.

I was OK until I got into the ambulance with Shorty and Young. I shed some bitter tears over them. After I saw them in the operating room, I went to pieces and don’t know what I’d have done if it hadn’t been for the swell chaplain that stuck with us from when we first landed.

I came to a day and a half later feeling pretty queer. My bed was doing slow-rolls and I couldn’t focus my vision yet. I can see OK now, but as you probably have noted, my penmanship is a little worse than usual and goodness, that’s bad enough. It’s hard to light cigarettes too.

I was three days a the RAF hospital – flown back to my field for interrogation and then on to where I am now. I’m at what we call a rest home now. I will be for a week. It’s a beautiful place o the Thames where you do just as you please. We wear civilian clothes, go boating, horseback riding, tennis, bicycling, golfing, drinking – just anything.

There are about 24 of us here and we have this whole British mansion to ourselves. It’s just like you see in the movies of an old English estate with the latest improvements and the best food.

I can’t help being a little proud to tell you that I’ve been recommended for the Distinguished Flying Cross – which I should get in about three weeks.

Warren T. Olde
Freeman Class 43-K12-5-1943

Freeman AAF - Flight 6 - February 1944
Back Row, l-r: Lts. Robert M. Loving, Robert E. Holloway, Mervin T. Liedtke, THomas E. Broughton, Earl E. Hagen, Capt Senate McNeely, Commanding, Lts. Lloyd O. Peterson, Richard P. Epke, Paul L. Updyke, F. M. Williams, Arther M. Petersen, John A. Stevens, D. B. Dockstader, William N. Kirk

Front Row, l-r: Lts. Robert L. Davis, William C. weldon, Joseph D. Stoeklein, Max G. Moody, James S. Boggs, Warren T. Olde, Wallace N. Taylor, Lt. Kenneth L. Waterbury, Capt P. G. Prater

Louisville Courier-Journal, July 13, 1944
"Not So Dizzy" Dean Content To Remain At Radiocasting
by Tommy Fitzgerald, Courier-Journal Staff Writer

His once very live pitching are now swings from half mast - a soft, sidearm delivery that is a sad contrast to his celebrated St. Louis Cardinal days, when he used to rear back and fog 'em in. But he gets from $500 to $5,500 for pitching just a couple of innings.

He murders the King's English and pretends to think that elocution is somebody with a sister named Mabel. But he gets about $12,000 a season broadcasting the home games of the Cardinals and the St. Louis Browns.

Nickname
He, you may have guessed, is Jerome Herman "Not So Dizzy" Dean, who didn't need to tell us, who can put $16,000 and $500, if not two and two, together, that he wasn't nicknames "Dizzy" because he's a screwball despite a popular notion to the contrary.

Between puffs on a borrowed cigarette in a dugout at Parkway Field Wednesday night as he awaited his assignment to pitch a couple of innings for Freeman Field against the Black Colonels (incidentally the Colonels won 3 - 2), "Not So Dizzy" revealed the zany pseudonym became attached to him through the exhortation of Mike Kelly, then a White Sox coach, in an exhibition game.

Then a gangling, freakish-pitching youngster hurling for a San Antonio semi-pro team, Dean provoked the coach into yelling to the batters not to let that "dizzy kid get you out."

"Not So Dizzy" is perfectly happy and contented in his broadcasting work and the exhibitions he manages to work in on major league off-days and harbors no ambition to return to organized baseball. He thinks, however, that if he got in real good shape he could pitch as good as "Sewell and Tobin and guys like that I could catch with my bare hands."

A Scream
As a baseball broadcaster, "Not So Dizzy" is one of radio's greatest personalities. His casualness, naturalness, frankness and lack of inhibitions have gained him millions of listeners. He got his biggest kick and his audience one of the biggest screams during the radiocast of a game in the rain between the Browns and the Yanks his first year on the air three seasons ago.

At the time there was a Government prohibition against giving reports on the weather, but no restriction can stifle "Not So Dizzy" completely.

"I jest told them," he said, :that there was sumpen wet on the ballplayers heads and it wasn't sweat."

"Not So Dizzy" didn't have time before he grabbed a glove to warm up for his pitching chore for Freeman Field against the Black Colonels, to relate how he stopped in the middle of a broadcast once to interpolate apologetically:

"EXCUSE ME"

"Excuse me, folks, I jest had a nice long cool drink of beer (he's sponsored by a beer company) and I liketa belched right into this dern thing."

Or to comment on his description of the runner who "slud into third and was throwed out" or of "the pitcher who was standing very confidential out there on the mound."

Returning to the dugout for a last-minute breath (he seemed to need it) before taking the mound, "Dizzy" began praising "Satchel Paige, the great Negro hurler and his opponent of the evening.
"As good as any pitcher who ever lived," summed up "Not So Dizzy" after a lengthy eulogy. "I wished I could of pitched like him."

Dean pitched the first three innings for Freeman Field, allowing no runs and but two hits. In the fourth he went to first base for the remainder of the game. Paige tossed the first five innings for the Black Colonels, yielding no runs and also two hits. He struck out the last 11 men to face him. A crowd of approximately 3,000 saw the game.

Wednesday, Dec 1, 1943
Eighth Cadet Class Get Silver Wings

The eighth class of aviation cadets to receive their silver sings at Freeman Field will hear a first hand account of the bombing of Pearl Harbor at graduation exercises Sunday, Dec. 5.

Major Paul H. Harrison, intelligence officer at the Hawaiian Air depot, Hickam Field at the time of the Jap attack, will relate incidents about the bombing.

Col. E. T. Rundquist, commanding officer at the field, will introduce Major Harrison.

Exercises will be held at 11 a.m. in hangar 5 on the flight line.

The 405th band, under the baton of WO Mitchel Chetel, will open the program and Chaplain Daniel A. McGuire will give the invocation. Major William B. Poe director of training, will award silver wings to graduates in Class 43-K and Major Albert E. Hughes, commandant of cadets, will administer the oath of office. Chaplain Phillip B. Henderson will pronounce the benediction.

The graduation dance, an invitational affair, will be held Saturday from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. in hangar 5, with the post orchestra playing. The committee includes aviation cadets Edgar R. Elder, Hoyt M. Howard, Charles H. Alvord, Jr., and Warren T. Olde, class officers. All officers and their guests will be guests of the new officers at a cocktail party and tea dance graduation day from 5:30 to 8 p.m. in the Officers' Club, with the post orchestra playing for dancing.

Above courtesy of Warren T. Olde, 01-2008