Traveling with any one for a month you will learn things you never knew about people you have known for years. Such was the case with our friends Ralph and Rose Morgan. I have known Ralph for 28 years ever since I met him at the First Western Bank where I worked in
Castro Valley
in 1969. I liked Ralph and Rose instantly and through the years the friendship has been mutual. I thought I knew about everything this man ever did and everyone he ever knew until we went to
Europe
together to pick up a new car. As we drove through the countryside our minds wandered and he talked about everything from killing chickens on the farm to being a mid-wife for farm animals. With my wife Diane and Ralph’s wife Rose in the back of the car I didn’t dare stay on the farm animal conversation too long.
We were out of
Mannheim
,
Germany
zipping along at a pace that would land you in jail in
California
when I remarked to Ralph that I had an uncle who was a W.W.II co-pilot on a B17 who was shot down over
Mannheim
. I was only 8 years old at the time and truly didn’t understand what that meant other than my grandmother, who had moved here from
Germany
at the turn of the century and married another German was crying and couldn’t stop. Everyone was crying because Uncle Walter had been shot down and killed in action. I didn’t understand what that really meant until they said he was not coming home. Nana had a little flag in the front window with three stars on it and then one day one of them was gold. A few weeks later Nana got another letter and then everyone was very, very happy and someone said that Walter was a prisoner of war. Ralph looked over and said that he had a friend who was shot down who had not been as lucky.
He told me of Jesse Ray Dorris who he met while at McClellan AFB in
Sacramento
and how he and Jesse hit it off and had traveled to the bay area and had partied and gotten into trouble when they got back to base too late. He told me of trips to
Roseville
to visit Jesse’s aunt’s place where he lived prior to going into the service, and the job Jesse had at Southern Pacific Railroad waking up the guys to run the pushers over the mountains to
Truckee
. He spoke of the trips they took to
Indiana
where Jesse took a liking to his sister and to riding his horse and that he had been accepted into the Morgan family. Then he told me about the day the orders came through where Jesse would go on to fly P38s and he would be flying C46s. Jesse made one more trip on his way to Europe and how the Morgan family met him in Chicago to bid him farewell.
The months went by with Ralph flying the Burma Hump and Jesse flying lord knows where with letters going back and forth until one day a letter was returned KILLED IN ACTION. All Ralph knew was that it happened over
Ploesti
Romania
. As he had forgotten the aunt’s name and address that whole part of his life was put behind him until he heard of a W.W.II memorial that had been built in
Roseville
. One day on a trip to
Reno
he said he dropped by the memorial and to his surprise Jesse’s name was not on the memorial. My thoughts went back to Nana and how she had received the letter saying that Uncle Walter was still alive. Being the optimist, and having access to many computer lists I told him that one way or another we would find him. We talked about Jesse a few times after that and I felt that upon our return we could run a Lexis-Nexus report and run by the Mormon temple and this matter would be resolved. Worst case a two-day project. After all I had taught classes at Household Finance in finding people who didn’t want to be found. This one should be no problem at all.
The Lexis-Nexus gave us three people with the name of Jesse Ray Dorris [Ralph had given me the wrong spelling with one R in Dorris]. Two of them were in
Alaska
and one in
Arkansas
. I thought to myself one of them had to be related. None of them, to my surprise, flew P38s or had relatives that had. With that door shut we went to the Mormon temple in
Oakland
, we found nothing. I kept thinking of the sorrow in my friend’s eyes and remembering the tears that formed in Ralph’s eyes as he spoke of Jesse when we were in
Germany
. I pledged to Ralph WE WILL GET THIS MATTER STRAIGHTENED OUT, HIS NAME WILL BE ON THE WALL IN ROSEVILLE BY MEMORIAL DAY 1997. In the back of my mind I kept thinking this couldn’t be that hard. I went to the
University
of
California
at
Berkeley
and went through the newspaper archive section and found that the first
Ploesti
raid had been an American bloodbath had taken place on
August 1st 1943
. I read the obituary columns and the
Roseville
sections regarding people in the military for the month of August 1943 in the Sacramento Bee, no luck. I overstayed my welcome at a parking meter that day and got a ticket. I made a mental note that Ralph was buying the next time we went to lunch. I talked to people that had been pilots during W.W.II and found through a mutual friend, Bill Roberts, a guy that flew P38s only to find that he was in the Pacific. I became very discouraged. It was time to start a new direction.
Upon our return from
Europe
I decided it was time to get a new home computer. We had one at home but it was good for nothing, even too light for a boat anchor. I told Randy Greenfield at the bank that I wanted to get one just like the one on my desk at work. The time had come to attack the Internet. Armed with my “first 50 hours free on
America
on Line disc” I logged on. For the first few days I didn’t know where I was going, where I was or how I got there. Each morning I would corner Randy, Mike or Carol at the bank and ask endless questions always taking notes and trying out my new found knowledge upon getting home. One day upon using that old adage “when all else fails read the instructions” I put a message out on one of the bulletin boards and upon turning on the AOL one night I got a “you’ve got mail”. That’s nice, I thought to myself, now how in the hell do I read it? My first response was from J. B. Popnoe, JBP5345@rain.org of Carpenteria
California
. I read his E-mail and sent one back and thought to myself how easy it was and hey I have a new friend. After getting instructions on the e-mail that I should try bringing up certain web sites on the WWW I thought enough of this and called him on the phone and said HUH. J.B. I don’t have a clue how to do that. He taught me.
One day someone said you could check webs sites and send e-mails and they also said you can key in certain things in the members roster and you may find someone that can help. I went crazy and sent out about 10 e-mails a night to W.W.II pilots, P38 pilots, fighter pilots,
Ploesti
pilots. Every day I would look forward to getting on the net to find out who may have answered and given me the information for which I was looking. Each day I received nothing about Jesse but suddenly even though I never flew a combat mission, fired a weapon of war or been in any battle I was accepted into one of the greatest fraternities in the world, the W.W.II pilots. Everyone wanted to help. Even though they flew P47s, P51s or Corsairs and regardless of their location,
England
, the Pacific or if they never left the states I would get E-mails with ideas on how to find Jesse. I followed every lead but to no avail. It was now November and I was not getting anywhere.
Each year in January Diane and I go to a bank president’s conference in
Santa Barbara
. We decided to call J.B. and invite he and his wife Betty to join us for dinner at the Biltmore. In late November while I was trying to interview everyone that had ever flown a plane during W.W.II I met, on the net, a Corsair pilot by the name of Bill Landreth BILLGNGR@aol.com. While he said he was Navy not Army, and in the Pacific not
Europe
, and flew Corsairs not P38s he would still like to help. He also mentioned a friend Col. Herb Johnson (HerbConnie@aol.com) who not only flew P-38s but also flew them in
Europe
out of
Italy
. He was also an ace with 5 confirmed and 2 probables. I was on a roll; they all lived within about 30 miles of
Santa Barbara
. Diane and Betty hit it off immediately and the other 4 of us started talking war stories.
I had a team, we would not fail. Herb said step one was finding out what outfit he was in and told me some of the fighter groups that were in
Italy
that may have been over
Ploesti
. J.B. came up with the name and phone number of Joe Onesty 455 Galleon Way,
Seal Beach
,
California
, 90740-5937 Phone 310-431-2901. Joe is in charge of the records of the 14th Fighter group 48th fighter squadron.
Upon our return from
Santa Barbara
I called Joe Onesty in
Seal Beach
. Once again no luck in finding Jesse but the “how can I help” attitude of the old warriors. He told me the numbers of all of the outfits and gave me a history lesson of the region during the war and best of all the names and addresses of all of his counterparts in those fighter squadrons. I entered a letter in Microsoft Word, the only program I really know anything about, and sent off letters on Tuesday January 21st. On Thursday afternoon I got a call from Ralph, a Very solemn call. Ralph said, ”you found him”. E-mail from John Mullins jmullins@hilconet.com said that Jesse was in the 15th Air Force, 71st Fighter Squadron, and 1st Fighter Group. He had been shot down over
Ploesti
on
August 31, 1944
while flying cover for a B24 group going to
Ploesti
to pick up POWs. He could not understand how Jesse was lost on a “milk run”. He further advised us that Jesse is buried in the Florence-American Cemetery in
Italy
. I guess the part that was interest was that John had written a book called “An Escort of P38s” which is sold by Barnes and Noble. A book that tells the history of the 1st Fighter Group and the 71st Fighter Squadron. We called
Oakland
and they said they didn’t have it, We called Michelle at the
Newark
store and she called all of the bay area stores and said we will have to order it. We ordered two.
Upon receiving an e-mail from J.B. Mullins we were able to find the past president of the 71st fighter group, Peter J. Maimone
818-289-2434 2404 Stranahan Dr
.
Alhambra
,
California
91803-3851
. Peter did not know Jesse as he got to the 71st in Nov. of 44. He is going to send the list of the 200 members of the group to me. The new president is Jim Graham 206-772-2752
Seattle
,
Washington
. Peter does not have e-mail and is unaware if any one in the 71st does. They hold a reunion every two years; the last one was in Sept. of 1996. Called Jim Graham 206-772-2752 7620 So Sunnycrest Rd.
Seattle
Washington
98178. E-mail JNMIG@scn.org.
As has always been the case with the old warriors I received a call three hours later from Peter. He said here are 4 guys that were at the base the same time as Jesse.
Melvin Hill Charlie McCann
11555 1/2 35th St. NE
Rockville
,
Maryland
Seattle
,
Washington
98125
(301) 881-1876
(206) 363-5922
Charlie Simpson Herb “Stub” Hatch
1510 W Avenue J
40 Skokomish Way
San Angelo
,
Texas
76901-4435
La Conner, Washington 98257
(915) 655-5325 (360) 466-4219
He went on to say that Stub became an ace in one mission shooting down 5 planes in one day. He was right in the middle of a German formation and just started firing with planes dropping out of the sky. As Ralph had questions to ask regarding what happened to Jesse he made the calls and he’ll make the report.
Saturday morning the computer gave me the welcome call of “You’ve Got Mail”, The E-mail was from John Mullins who provided us with the missing persons report, a copy of which is in this book. Jesse and two other pilots were over
Nis
,
Yugoslavia
and Jesse was having engine trouble when the other two in the flight called “BREAK”, Jesse didn’t hear the command and was shot down dead astern. That afternoon I went to the
University
of
California
at
Berkeley
and went through 30 days of microfilm looking for the obituary on Jesse, none were found. In looking at some of the dates it seemed to take up to 60 days to get the notification from the war department to the newspapers. After two hours and eyestrain [the fine print was smaller than they use on an insurance policy] I decided to give it up for another day, perhaps next week with all of the irons in the fire one will get hot and give us our tie to Roseville.
It appears that our irons in the fire are growing cold. My secret weapon working out of a congressman’s office [not my own] has tried just about everything known to mankind and has struck out. There are a few things that are still working but I must admit nothing seems to go right. In looking through the records of the mission Jesse shows a sister in Franklin Tenn. by the name of Mrs. Chester Stevens at
909 West End St
. The white pages show 21 people with the name of Stevens in
Franklin
but no
Chester
. This looks like a Ralph project. I copied a letter to the Stevens clan with 21 copies and gave them to Ralph to send to
Tenn.
The confirmation of the shootdown also had the names of the two pilots with Jesse, a Robert E. Hoffman and Art Hoodecheck. Back to the white pages and bang we find Hoodecheck in
Florida
. I gave the name and number to Ralph to call, he reported back that Art died a month ago. There are hundreds of Robert E. Hoffmans. It is time to go in new directions.
The Internet is a wonderful thing complete with Web Sites. I found one in
Roseville
and sent an E-mail to the library requesting Polk directories. She e-mails back no info past 1960. I e-mail the Web Site that I would like to get a story to the local paper, no answer so far. I find that there are 41 people on AOL with the name of Dorris I e-mailed them ALL. Now we will see if anybody ever signs on to get their mail and if they do if they will respond. There has to be an angle I haven’t thought of-------yet. It is now late February and I am running out of time! My secret weapon, Ann, reports back no info from driver’s license, census records or other irons in the fire. I called the R.L.Polk directory in
Michigan
only to find they do not keep old books and sent me back to the local library. Perhaps the Sutro library in S.F. might have them. We know he lived there, what else can we do?
It is now March, time for new directions and old follow-ups. Ralph got 2 responses out of 21 letters to the Stevens clan of
Tennessee
. I got 3 of 41 E-mails, how sad it is that this man who gave his life to his county to protect our way of life is so soon forgotten even by those who could be related. We will send them a second notice! Perhaps Ann is right, it is time for a public appeal, there must be some one in
Roseville
that remembers him. It is time to try the Roseville Press Tribune either by story or my something in the personals. At dinner at a friends we discussed the issue over a glass of wine, OK many glasses of wine. New people, new ideas.
Dee
says he knows the old Mayor of Roseville and will call him on Monday. Hell, I’ll call the new mayor. The police department couldn’t help but maybe, somehow the mayor can, it’s worth a shot. Ann is now also going to see if she can break down the wall at Southern Pacific R.R. it is time to prepare more packages and get them in circulation. The info is out there in memory or in record form we only have to get to the right person. There has to be someone out there that cares as much as Ralph, Ann and I do.
It is Monday the 2nd of March and it is time to call Ann to see if her luck was better than mine-----it wasn’t. It appears that Southern Pacific is our last hope. Ann asked if I could trace someone down in the congressional office of S.P., which of course is now Union Pacific. As I called I thought to myself there is no was that records of 1940 will still be in existence. When I called of course they were in the process of transferring all of the records back east. After explaining what I wanted and why I wanted it I was transferred to Mike Furtney [415-541-1652 Fax 415-541-1256,
1 Market St.
Room 965, San Francisco, ca. 94105]. Mike was in public relations and was most excited, as his uncle was a P-38 test pilot for Lockheed on the P-38 project. My hopes soared, there is a God looking out for this project and us. He gave me the name of the editor of the Roseville Press Tribune, Richard Walker 916-785-0742, he then gave me the name of John Signor who operates the S.P. Historical Train Line [916-235-0261] in Dunsmuir, Ca and the name of the historian of the S.P. Railroad in Omaha Ne. [402-271-3775] four new contacts, all we need is one. Full packages were sent to all.
Mid-March and Ralph called to say that one more Stevens checked in to say that they were not related. In thinking this thing through the odds of Jesse moving here from
Tennessee
are better that the odds of his sister moving to
Tennessee
. Many strokes on the Internet later I find that the name of the paper in Franklin Tenn. is the Franklin Review Appeal. It is located in Williamson County Tenn. Playing a little longer I find a genealogy Society in
Roseville
, the Maidu Genealogy Soc.
1550 Maidu Dr.
Roseville
, Ca .95661, 916-786-0186. Then I find someone in
Tennessee
that will help and he is on e-mail AMTRAIN@aol.com. We now have two more irons in the fire.
It is now late March and I called John Signor to see if he is having any luck. He says he does not have time to look but all of the records are at the Sacramento Rail museum under the control of Ellen Halteman 916-323-8073. He says that there is a
Roseville
section of the paper and that his entry and his death should be covered. It is time to go to
Sacramento
!
It is now April 3rd and I called to see what the hours were if we went up on Monday. Kevin at the museum says we are closed on Monday. After clearing off my desk and arranging a free day I told Ralph we will by-pass
Sacramento
and go to
Roseville
to see what we can find. The day after the change to Daylight Saving Time I wake up at AM ready to go, I call the Morgan’s at
7:30
and Ralph is still asleep! I said to Rose shake him and tell him I am on my way over. We got to
Roseville
at
10:30
with the warning light on for fuel and after putting 20.4 gallons in the tank we proceeded to the newspaper. Richard had given me the name of Sharon McCoulough so we asked for her. 10 minutes went by and Jim Jannson came out, we explained out project and during the explanation in walked Richard Walker and after a quick review said “it looks like a story”. As the first package sent up had been misplaced a back-up package was given to Jim. We then went by the memorial and took pictures. After a Lunch, which I bought as I guessed we would need 22 .4 gallons of gas and Ralph bet on 20.2 we went to the Library. Ralph had been there before and we went to the desk of Elizabeth Dosher who said she had been searching with no luck in the
Roseville
yearbooks. After 3 hours of looking at microfilm of all the Roseville Press Tribunes from
9-1-44
to
3-20-45
we decided to go home.
Elizabeth
said we should talk to Karen before we go so we went to the desk to ask someone there if she was in. the woman said not yet but maybe she could help. Ralph said that it was in regards to a missing person and that it was a long story. She said is this regarding Jesse Ray Dorris? She went on to say she has received e-mails, Faxes, phone calls from a congressional office and inquiries from the genealogical and historical societies. My faith in mankind was renewed people do care.
As we drove home we figured that this will be our best shot either some finds it in the paper of we have to go back to go through the records of people going into the service, the records of
1-1-42
to
7-1-42
. It was a long night and following morning.
At 2:30 I was in the board room with the doors closed at our Hayward office locked in negotiation at a $2.245,000 loan when the door opened and a note was dropped in front of me, “the search is over” call Jim Jannsen. I could not believe my eyes WE DID IT.
The Jesse squadron pulled through, the work and efforts of so many people that in many cases we never met or even talked to have given us a chapter in history. Jesse’s name will be there for eternity.
The call at the newspaper was from Joe Guisti, Jesse’s uncle,
7771 Glenn Ave
Citrus Heights
, Ca. 916-725-7404. Jesse had lived with Margaret and Louie Guisti on Elefa St. Margaret was from
Tennessee
. Her husband Louie was a foreman on the railroad and spent a lot of his time in
Truckee
. Joe lives in
Citrus Heights
. Joe said that Jesse was Margaret’s nephew and that he did not finish high school as he quit to join the service. Both Louie and Margaret have passed away but there is a Louie Jr. Joe said that he had heard that Jesse had been killed but that they had never been notified and that he too wondered why Jesse’s name was not on the wall with his brother’s name. Joe said that he had already been in contact with the Phone Co to arrange for Jesse’s name to be cut into the wall. At Ralph’s house another call came in from a woman who said she remembered Ralph and Jesse as they had taken her to a movie. Rose didn’t seem to be jealous. Joe said he would do some research to see what other information he could find as someone in the family was entitled to get Jesse’s insurance money. E-mails went out saying thank you to everyone who helped. John Mullins e-mailed back that he shared a glass of cabernet with our toast. I e-mailed him back that I had a bottle of 1992
Silver
Oak
Napa
Valley
if he made it out for the event on memorial day and two more if he would do a fly over in a P-38 after the dedication.
April 14, 1997
received a call from Mike Furtney who went by the
Sacramento
Train
Museum
and went through all of the old papers. Jesse’s death was listed in the November 1945 paper 15 months after his death. He kindly sent us a copy that he had taken of the paper.
April 16th I had e-mailed (SallyL6191) in Berry Creek; she was my only hope with an address on AOL. She came through with flying colors. She visited the home and dropped off the information and Ralph’s number. When she called Ralph’s he of course was at my house. We called and talked with Josephine Dent [63] who was Jesse’s cousin. We had a nice chat that included much info. Mrs. Chester Stevens of Franklin TN. is now J. Reba Wright at 141 Broadway,
Covington
,
Conn.
06238
1-203-742-9711. Jesse had two brothers one has passed away but his widow is Geraldine Dorris 311 Tyne Blvd., Old Hickory, TN 37138 1-615-754-2365 and his other brother was J.B. Dorris 1712 Lake Rd., P.O. Box 588 Ridgetop TN. 37152 no phone. He also has an Aunt Martha Smith Lineville
Alabama
, 36266 1-205-396-5668. The house in
Roseville
was
119 Elm St.
Geraldine has many photo albums of Jesse as well as information regarding his assignments. She mentioned that Jesse had broken his arm?
For the next couple of days we tried to reach the sisters and brothers to no avail, then on April 20th, I dropped by Ralph’s on the way home to try it once again. We reached Geraldine Dorris who would have been Jesse’s sister in law and the person who had the photo album. She said it had been years since she had looked at it but that she would send it out so that we could copy the pictures. We spoke of the family and she advised us that her husband, Jesse’s brother, had passed away as well as his other brother and sister in law. Mrs. Chester Stevens now Reba Wright is still living but in poor health. They did in fact get the insurance money, which they split 3 ways. Jesse was born in Davidson County Tennessee and his parent’s names were John Bradford Dorris and his mother’s name was Stevie. The parents passed away when Jesse was about 8 so each relative ended up with a child. Jesse of course ended up in
California
. Geraldine married Jesse’s brother in July of 1944 just before Jesse went overseas. Soon thereafter they were notified of his death. Jesse’s aunt, Martha Smith AKA Beck Smith, is still living and her address is
P.O. Box 232
,
Lineville
,
Alabama
36266
.
I started thinking, there must be some way to get a picture of the grave site in
Italy
, so I sat down and offered to pay up to $50.00 if I could get a picture and some additional information on the
Florence
American
Cemetery
. Surprise! they responded that not only would they do it, but it would be only on cost of film basis only. They sent some great pictures. Jesse3, Jesse8, Jesse4 What a deal, everything seems to be falling into place.
We got a call from Stewart Brown at the Phone Company who said he would like to have us there when they cut Jesse’s name into the wall. We responded that we only need to know about a week in advance. Jesse’s Uncle, Joe, was there and said that Jesse’s name was also on a memorial in
Citrus Heights
. It looks like Ralph and I will be spending a full day on this journey. On April 29th, Stewart Brown called and said that May 1st has been selected for the day to put Jesse’s name on the wall and that they would like us there for the occasion. I told him that Ralph and I would be there front row center.
At last the dream becomes a reality!
You could not have asked for a more beautiful day. Although the drive to
Roseville
was windy, it was a smooth drive. Joe Guisti and Edo Pieracci met us at the Black Angus restaurant, soon thereafter, Stewart Brown came in and we spoke of the events for the day. After an excellent lunch and part of dinner, we went to the memorial. The wall had been prepared and Jesse’s name was on it but not yet sandblasted in. We wanted for the photographer from the newspaper and it seemed all of a sudden there was a group of about 15 or 20 W.W.II veterans with their VFW hats all telling of incidents they had ruing the war. Jim Jannsen shows up and a few minutes later so did the photographer and the blasting began. The owner of the monument company with the skill of a surgeon, cut Jesse’s name into the wall in his sandblasting gun while cameras, including mine, clicked to record the event. In a matter of minutes, he was through. My thoughts turned to Ralph and how happy and proud he was that we had accomplished Jesse’s final mission. As they were taking his picture next to the wall, pointing at Jesse’s name, and then looking at the name, I could tell that Ralph thoughts were with Jesse. The photographer, looking through the lens did not see the tears of emotion and relief that welled into Ralph’s eyes. He turned and walked away to just stare out into space. We stayed at the monument a little while longer and then went to the house at 119 Elm St. Ralph had us looking on the wrong side of the tracks on our last trip when we looked for the house before. I though to myself, “thank God C-46s had navigators, or Ralph would have landed in
Tokyo
during the way.” The neighbors must have thought that we crazy taking pictures of the house. All Ralph could say was, yes this is where he had eaten all of the fried chicken. Maybe on Memorial Day, we should drop by Kentucky Fried Chicken.
On the way home, we went back tot he
Roseville
Telephone
Museum
. You start realizing just how old you are when you see a phone that looks just like the one you grew up with and it is at the beginning of the walk through time. The museum shows the loving care and pride that Stewart has with this company and his job. Everything there looked as good or better than the day they took it out of the box and put it into use in someone’s home or office. From there we went to
Citrus Heights
to see the other memorial that Joe Guisti had told us about. The memorial was located in a park with a rose garden behind it, there was a bench there and the place was a very nice, serene setting. We snapped a few pictures and headed home. We got about three mile down the road when we stopped at a Foster’s Freeze, Ralph ordered a root beer and ice cream and I ordered a root beer freeze. Ralph had never had a root beer freeze. I though to myself, “how could anyone get to his stage in life without ever tasking something as wonderful”, I let Ralph taste it but grabbed it back quickly before he drank the whole thing.
With the name on the wall, I received a call from Josephine who said that Reba Wright did not support our effort to get Jesse’s name on the wall. She ways that Jesse was born in
Unionville
,
TN
and that his parents are buried there at
Ivy
Point
Church
and that should be where he is remembered. I told her that Jesse had spent more than half of his life in the
Roseville
area and had entered the service from
Roseville
. I see no reason that Jesse could not be remembered at both locations, were he was born and where he was raised. As an outsider, I find it interesting that the costs of bringing Jesse home were not taken from the insurance money instead of taken as a personal financial windfall. Why, if Jesse was so close to this family unit in
Tennessee
, did he not mention where he was born and that he had two brothers and a sister? The last word on this is that Jesse’s name is on the wall and it was verified by those in charge that it belongs there.
Memorial Day 1997 was a beautiful day. The sun was bright and there were only a few clouds in the sky as we drove to
Roseville
for the event. We were greeted by the ever present Stewart Brown and introduced to many people. The customary speeches were made Roseville Memorial Wall and Ralph and I were introduced along with excerpts of the story of Jesse and how much it meant to Ralph to get his name on that wall. Ralph and Rose Taps were played and the event was over. Honor Guard We stayed and spoke to people who came by to offer their thanks that after all these years someone still cares and would take the time to do something about it. It was then that Ralph and I decided that next year on Memorial Day we would stand together in
Florence
Italy
to celebrate at Jesse’s gravesite. Ralph and Rose, Diane and I then went to a luncheon following the event and met with Josephine and her husband as well as Joe Guisti and his wife. As we drove home there was a feeling of satisfaction of a job well done. Also a feeling of sorrow that the wonderful people of
Roseville
that we had just met would probably never be seen or heard from again. Rose and Diane were talking about places to shop in
Florence
.
Two days later Ralph called and said that the Roseville Lions Club had heard of our story and would like to invite us to return to
Roseville
as guest speakers with, of course, Stewart Brown, to tell the Jesse story first hand. As we drove to
Roseville
I was thinking that my car was getting programmed to drive to
Roseville
automatically. I have always liked the Lions Club. They provide assistance for the blind and for the most part are just regular guys who want to help and do things for the communities that they serve, the
Roseville
group was no exception. We were greeted like old friends who had just returned from a trip. Ralph kept saying you do the talking, I can’t get up in front of all these people and talk. Stewart introduced me and I hit the highlights and some of the problems we encountered on our quest. Stewart then introduced a very nervous Ralph whom after the first sentence kept talking and answering questions and was totally at ease in front of the microphone. Ralph at the club I thought I was going to have to get a hook or pull the plug as some of the Lions had to get back to work and Ralph was ready to talk all day. After the meeting we stayed and talked to some of the old warriors of
Roseville
and I listened to stories of their exploits in their youth. Ralph was a happy man.
E-mails came from all over saying congratulations on a job well done. In turn e-mails were sent to many people to say thanks for their help in getting the job done. In early June I got a letter from Elizabeth Dosher at the Roseville Library asking for a copy of the
Book that I gave to her. It seems that people in
Roseville
had heard about the book and were interested in reading it.
Elizabeth
asked if I would make a copy of the book and give it to the library so they could have it for the history section. I made up two copies and sent them up. She remarked in her letter that whenever she walks by the monument it gives her a warm feeling to see Jesse’s name on the wall. She is indeed a nice lady.
Because of my involvement with the Jesse project my girls gave me a ride in a T-28 trainer for my birthday and Ralph kids likewise gave him a similar gift. Ralph and I went to
Tracy
and went flying. It was called Warbirds and it was a lot of fun. Ralph, of course, was in his CBI flight jacket even though it was 90 degrees outside. As we were flying “Warbirds” he said I should call him Ace and I likewise called myself Running Scared. It’s funny that after all these years thinking that I would have been a good pilot I found myself about 2 inches from airsickness. Ralph of course was having the time of his life doing rolls and stalls and some vertical maneuver with a stall at the end which I am sure would have either created a heart attack or filled up the barf bag. I was happy to see the ground again.
An E-mail came in one day in July from John Mullins requesting that the story be a featured article in the 1st Fighter News. Permission granted. John also pointed out that Robert Hoffman (Jesse’s wingman) had become a concert pianist after the war and had passed away a few years ago. He also said that the next reunion of the 1st fighter group was going to be at
Dayton
Ohio
in September of 1998 and asked if we could attend. I told him I still owed him a glass of the world’s finest cabernet, Silver Oak, and that it would be our pleasure and our treat for dinner. For a guy who gets air sick flying a kite it will be interesting to get back there talking with some of the heroes of W.W.II.
The time is now September and it is time for my annual visit to go to
Washington
and see what our government was doing to us now. Two issues this year, credit unions that want to provide and compete with banks but feel that they should be tax exempt and a banker relief bill that was for the most part written by the stock brokers and the insurance industry. What a crazy world we live in where an industry feels that they should be tax exempt and where a bill is written by the competition of an industry for their “relief”. On the brighter side the Morgans and the Kahlers took out the Bonos and Nestandes for dinner. The evening was very relaxed. The Bono’s are just regular people that make you feel totally comfortable. Everyone wanted to sit next to Sonny. I learned at a very early age that perfume always smells better than after-shave lotion. If only everyone in congress knew what was going on as well as Congressman Bono the world would be a better place. He kindly let Ralph and me to have our pictures taken with he and Brain Nestante. Most of the people we send to
Washington
become jokers when they get there, this time we send a comedian and he became a statesman.
It was about 5 days before Veterans Day when Stewart Brown called and asked if Ralph and I could come to
Roseville
for a Rotary Luncheon to celebrate Veterans Day. The drive was wet with a light rain as we went to
Roseville
this time. The program was great and the wall was discussed and the importance of remembrance was emphasized. The story about how much it meant to be on the wall was underscored by the Jesse story and Ralph was introduced to the crowd. He received an ovation for his efforts. On the way home we dropped by the wall again and found a young man there whom had been at the luncheon. As we discussed our project and showed him Jesse’s name I couldn’t help but reflect and wonder where Jesse would have ended up if he would have come back from the war. Would he have settled in
Indiana
or
Tennessee
? No, I think he would have come back here as
Roseville
as about as close to a big family as you can get.
Whenever Ralph calls I can always tell by his voice if he is happy, sad, mad, his computer won’t work or as was the case today, he wanted something. He was talking to an old friend of his who was surprised that after all these years we were able to obtain information on a WWII pilot. Ralph opens his big mouth and says no big deal so his friend says that’s great because a friend of his always wondered how and where his cousin, a P-47 pilot by the name of William McKenzie was KIA. There is a certain sheepish voice inflection that Ralph gets in his voice when he calls to tell me he has volunteered my services. Armed with only the information stated above I started on the Web. The next day I got a call and E-mail from Ted Darcy wreck1@ctn.net who gave me all the information on McKenzie whom of course was a P-51 pilot. I sometimes think Ralph gives me bad information just to make it harder. I thought to myself if only we knew of Ted before we could have had the information on Jesse 3 months earlier and could have talked to Art Hoodecheck who was Jesse’s wingman. It’s a shame we got there too late.
Armed with this new source I decided I should find out about my Uncle Walter. Ted has everything on computer and reported that 2nd Lt. Walter Hauptman Ser# 0743013 was a co-pilot on a B-17G #42-31146 which was shot down over
Gladbach
,
Germany
January 30th 1944
. Eight bailed out and 2 were killed in action. He was a member of the 708th BS 447th BG flying out of
Rattlesden
,
England
. The pilot’s name was LT. Merten Putnam. Hard to believe that Gladbach is near
Cologne
not Manheim. If I had known that information the conversation regarding my uncle would never have taken place and none of this would have taken place. Walter spent the rest of the war at Stalag 1 near the
Baltic Sea
. I contacted someone in
England
SSBaldrick@aol.com near Rattlesden who said there is nothing left of the airfield.
The time is now January of 1998 and as I watched the news that night I watched in horror as it was announced that Sonny Bono had been killed in a skiing accident. My thoughts went to Mary Bono and to their children. Just a few short months ago he was laughing and joking with us at dinner and now he is gone. I told Diane that once the millions of letters are behind her I would like to send her a letter as well as a letter to Brian Nestande. He was a great man and a great congressman. He will be missed.
January 11th E-mail came from ewilson@cell-tel.com asking for help regarding her Uncle Carl Hoenshell who was also in the 71st. Carl had been killed in action
6-10-44
and Carl’s family never knew what happened to him. Timing was a little rough as I had the State Banking Dept. and the FDIC coming in the next day. I E-mailed her that I would attach the story with all of the leads, phone numbers, E-mail addresses and the name of a great book called “An Escort of P-38s” along with Mullins name and E-mail address.
The following day she called me with a lot of emotion in her voice and said that not only was Carl’s story in the book but she also talked to the wingman who was with him the day he was killed in action. As she read me the events surrounding his death tears formed in my eyes. He was truly a hero who had led the enemy planes away from 2 crippled aircraft. While saving their lives he lost his. He and his wingman Stub Hatch had attacked 6 ME109s knowing full well they had no ammunition. They thought they could “scare them off”. Stub said, “they didn’t scare real well”, the last Stub saw of Carl he was leading the ME109s into the clouds. His body had never been recovered. I then E-mailed Elizabeth Wilson that we will find him. Bank examiners or not I decided I would devote at least 30 minutes per night to the project.
The Carl Hoenshell story came to life and a story of it's own had started.
The second weekend in January and it is time for the annual meeting of the Jesse Squadron again. Bill and Ginger Landreth as well as JB and Betty Popnoe met us in the lounge. After deciding that we couldn’t talk in there because of all the noise from the drunken bankers we moved into the restaurant. We consumed wine, told war stories, and had a great reunion. Next year we must find a quiet place where we can talk and hear each other. Next year perhaps we can get the whole Squadron together with Ralph and Rose as well as Herb and Connie Johnson. Bill gave me a picture of himself standing next to his Corsair on some
Island
in the Pacific. As I looked at the nose of the aircraft I started thinking of Bill blowing up an ammo dump which blew him out of the sky. He also gave me a lapel pin from the Corsair get together they had last year.
Ralph called today to say that Elizabeth Dosher from the Roseville Library wrote him a note and included a copy of the Roseville Press-Tribune saying that the story regarding Jesse was one of the top 5 stories in
Roseville
in 1997. What an honor to have been involved in this mission. Ralph and I have been treated so well by the people of
Roseville
that we almost feel like natives.
Because of the problems in the Mid-East we decided against going to
Florence
this year. It is a shame that so few people in this world can create problems for so many.
It is now September of 1998 and we were extended the honor of being guests of the 1st Fighter Group and the 71st Fighter Squadron in
Dayton
Ohio
. What a great opportunity to meet face to face Jim Graham, John Mullins, Jim Advey and the whole group from the Carl Hoenshell family including of course Liz Wilson. I was introduced and allowed to say a few words about Jesse as well as Carl. It was truly an honor to be in the same room as these heroes of WWII.
- Dick Kahler
|
Lt Jesse Rae Dorris 
