Union City World War II Veterans
Union City Times
Monday, August 7, 1944
Beth Wright
Miss Beth Wright, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Wright of 31 Hemlock Street, Union City, has joined the U.s. Coast Guard SPARS.
She graduated from Union City High School with the class of 1942 and has recently been employed at the Art Metal plant in Jamestown, New York.Miss Wright leaves Thursday, August 10, 1944, for Cleveland, Ohio, to join with other SPARS and entrain for Palm Beach, Florida, where all Coast Guard SPARS take their basic training.
Thursday, September 28, 1944
Sgt. Sam F. Mineo
The 15th Army Air Force Headquarters had announced that Sgt. Sam F. Mineo, 24, son of Mr. and Mrs. John Mineo, of 20 Putnam Street, Union City, has been awarded the Air Medal.
In the words of the citation: "Sgt. Mineo was awarded the Air Medal for meritorious achievement in aerial flight against the enemy."
He is an aerial gunner on a B-24 Liberator Bomber and has flown combat mission over many of the countries of Europe held by the germans. He received his training and his wings at Tyndall Field, Florida.
Dennison F. Whitford
Thursday, June 1, 1944
The 15th Army Air Force Headquarters announced that Staff Sergent Dennison F. Whitford, 20, of Union City, Pa., has been awarded the air medal.
He received the medal for "meritorious achievement in aerial flight while participating in sustained operation activities against the enemy."
Sgt. Whitford is a ball turret gunner on a 15th Army Air Force Liberator bomber and is stationed in Italy with a 15th AAF Liberator bombardment group which has been bombing German-held targets in Austria, Roumania, and northern Italy.
The sergeant is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Grant G. Whitford of Union City. Before he enlisted in the service, he attended Pomona Junior College in Pomona, California, for one year and played baseball there.
Union City Times
Thursday, June 29, 1944
Sgt. Joseph M. Kozik
Sgt. Joseph M. Kozik, 21, a radio operator and the son of Mr. and Mrs. Martin Kozik of Union City, participated in an exciting mission recently. With both motors shot out by German tommy gun snipers, a C47 tow-plane, after releasing its CGA4 glider over the landing zone, crash landed smack in the center of a pitched battle between Allied paratroopers and Germans concealed in a forest.
Sgt. Kozik said, "I never saw guys like those paratroopers. They're so full of guts they can't be beaten."
The introduction of the airmen to the parachutists was sudden. When both engines spluttered out in tune to accurate enemy fire, the C47 tore up 200 yards of timberland, ripped off the right wing and plowed into the earth with the other wing folded under the fuselage.
The navigator, 20-year-old Leonard Baer from Neenah, Wisconsin, and Sgt. Kozik threw themselves flat on the floor. After they hit solid ground, they came up to see U.S. paratroopers blazing away a dozen feet on either side of the ship.
The co-pilot, 21-year-old Floyd C. Bennett of Portland, Oregon, was knocked unconscious. "A paratrooper came up and borrowed three flak suits," Baer said. "he put one on and wrapped the two others around him. Then he walked toward the wooded area. When the enemy fired, he dropped. But he got up almost immediately and dashed with other paratroopers to the now revealed hostile position. They cleaned out the area."
First Lt. Ruth L. Mallick
First Lieutenant Ruth L. Mallick of the Army Nurse Corps has spent the past month with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Earl Mallick of 31 Miles Street, Union City. She returned from ten months active duty in Australia and New Guinea the first part of June 1944 due to a serious skin condition and has spent the past four months in Army hospitals receiving various treatments.
Lt. Mallick returned to Crile Army Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, where she will be reassigned for further duty.
In March 1945, First Lt. Mallick arrived at the Army Ground and Service Forces Redistribution Station in Ashville, N.C. where she would be reassigned.
Fish Brothers
Union City Times
August 1944
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Fish of 7 Atlantic Street in Union City, report that their two sons, Ted and Wayne Fish, have met in Italy and visited for a time. The Fish brothers have been overseas since March 1943.
On August 18, 1944, Pfc. Wayne M. Fish and Cpl. Ted Fish saw each other for the first time in a year. Wayne went to see his brother, whom he had learned was stationed only one half mile away from him. They have visited each other several times since then.
Wayne was inducted on June 9, 1942, and is serving in a medical unit. Theodore was inducted on May 7, 1942, and is in a signal unit.
Union City Times
October 1944
Collis P. Hudson
In October 1944, Collis P. Hudson, a former teacher in Union City High School, and now a Lt. Colonel with General Mark Clark's swift moving Army in Germany, wrote some interesting facts about the General and the country the Army invaded.
"All the men like General Patton: he works them long and hard but works just a little harder himself," he said.
Hudson said that German planes didn't start coming over until about eleven o'clock at night and they kept flying over until about four in the morning. When the air raid siren sounded, the men had to leave their tents pitched under the trees and hedges and get into trenches.
According to Hudson, the French farmers harvested their crops in 1944 for the first time in four years. The farmers in France were very poor and their clothing was mostly in patches. Shoes were deplorable and the women made dressed out of parachutes that had been discarded by the air-borne troops. These dresses were made in various colors, some a bright red, others green, and some yellow.
"We came across the channel in a LST boat and landed without incident," he said. "I was at St. Morie where all of the buildings were blown free of their roof, windows out, and other damage, all proof of some fierce fighting. Not a complete building remains. In the center of the town stands a large marble cross and there was not a mark on it. After seeing so many like incidents where religious monuments have been spared, it is no wonder we pause to think."
Monday, August 7, 1944
Beth Wright
Miss Beth Wright, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Wright of 31 Hemlock Street, Union City, has joined the U.s. Coast Guard SPARS.
She graduated from Union City High School with the class of 1942 and has recently been employed at the Art Metal plant in Jamestown, New York.Miss Wright leaves Thursday, August 10, 1944, for Cleveland, Ohio, to join with other SPARS and entrain for Palm Beach, Florida, where all Coast Guard SPARS take their basic training.
Thursday, September 28, 1944
Sgt. Sam F. Mineo
The 15th Army Air Force Headquarters had announced that Sgt. Sam F. Mineo, 24, son of Mr. and Mrs. John Mineo, of 20 Putnam Street, Union City, has been awarded the Air Medal.
In the words of the citation: "Sgt. Mineo was awarded the Air Medal for meritorious achievement in aerial flight against the enemy."
He is an aerial gunner on a B-24 Liberator Bomber and has flown combat mission over many of the countries of Europe held by the germans. He received his training and his wings at Tyndall Field, Florida.
Dennison F. Whitford
Thursday, June 1, 1944
The 15th Army Air Force Headquarters announced that Staff Sergent Dennison F. Whitford, 20, of Union City, Pa., has been awarded the air medal.
He received the medal for "meritorious achievement in aerial flight while participating in sustained operation activities against the enemy."
Sgt. Whitford is a ball turret gunner on a 15th Army Air Force Liberator bomber and is stationed in Italy with a 15th AAF Liberator bombardment group which has been bombing German-held targets in Austria, Roumania, and northern Italy.
The sergeant is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Grant G. Whitford of Union City. Before he enlisted in the service, he attended Pomona Junior College in Pomona, California, for one year and played baseball there.
Union City Times
Thursday, June 29, 1944
Sgt. Joseph M. Kozik
Sgt. Joseph M. Kozik, 21, a radio operator and the son of Mr. and Mrs. Martin Kozik of Union City, participated in an exciting mission recently. With both motors shot out by German tommy gun snipers, a C47 tow-plane, after releasing its CGA4 glider over the landing zone, crash landed smack in the center of a pitched battle between Allied paratroopers and Germans concealed in a forest.
Sgt. Kozik said, "I never saw guys like those paratroopers. They're so full of guts they can't be beaten."
The introduction of the airmen to the parachutists was sudden. When both engines spluttered out in tune to accurate enemy fire, the C47 tore up 200 yards of timberland, ripped off the right wing and plowed into the earth with the other wing folded under the fuselage.
The navigator, 20-year-old Leonard Baer from Neenah, Wisconsin, and Sgt. Kozik threw themselves flat on the floor. After they hit solid ground, they came up to see U.S. paratroopers blazing away a dozen feet on either side of the ship.
The co-pilot, 21-year-old Floyd C. Bennett of Portland, Oregon, was knocked unconscious. "A paratrooper came up and borrowed three flak suits," Baer said. "he put one on and wrapped the two others around him. Then he walked toward the wooded area. When the enemy fired, he dropped. But he got up almost immediately and dashed with other paratroopers to the now revealed hostile position. They cleaned out the area."
First Lt. Ruth L. Mallick
First Lieutenant Ruth L. Mallick of the Army Nurse Corps has spent the past month with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Earl Mallick of 31 Miles Street, Union City. She returned from ten months active duty in Australia and New Guinea the first part of June 1944 due to a serious skin condition and has spent the past four months in Army hospitals receiving various treatments.
Lt. Mallick returned to Crile Army Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, where she will be reassigned for further duty.
In March 1945, First Lt. Mallick arrived at the Army Ground and Service Forces Redistribution Station in Ashville, N.C. where she would be reassigned.
Fish Brothers
Union City Times
August 1944
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Fish of 7 Atlantic Street in Union City, report that their two sons, Ted and Wayne Fish, have met in Italy and visited for a time. The Fish brothers have been overseas since March 1943.
On August 18, 1944, Pfc. Wayne M. Fish and Cpl. Ted Fish saw each other for the first time in a year. Wayne went to see his brother, whom he had learned was stationed only one half mile away from him. They have visited each other several times since then.
Wayne was inducted on June 9, 1942, and is serving in a medical unit. Theodore was inducted on May 7, 1942, and is in a signal unit.
Union City Times
October 1944
Collis P. Hudson
In October 1944, Collis P. Hudson, a former teacher in Union City High School, and now a Lt. Colonel with General Mark Clark's swift moving Army in Germany, wrote some interesting facts about the General and the country the Army invaded.
"All the men like General Patton: he works them long and hard but works just a little harder himself," he said.
Hudson said that German planes didn't start coming over until about eleven o'clock at night and they kept flying over until about four in the morning. When the air raid siren sounded, the men had to leave their tents pitched under the trees and hedges and get into trenches.
According to Hudson, the French farmers harvested their crops in 1944 for the first time in four years. The farmers in France were very poor and their clothing was mostly in patches. Shoes were deplorable and the women made dressed out of parachutes that had been discarded by the air-borne troops. These dresses were made in various colors, some a bright red, others green, and some yellow.
"We came across the channel in a LST boat and landed without incident," he said. "I was at St. Morie where all of the buildings were blown free of their roof, windows out, and other damage, all proof of some fierce fighting. Not a complete building remains. In the center of the town stands a large marble cross and there was not a mark on it. After seeing so many like incidents where religious monuments have been spared, it is no wonder we pause to think."