When World War II broke out for Americans after the Japanese air attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941,
many from Portage County were already in service under a peace-time draft instituted a year earlier. And unlike
Wrorld War I, most of the men went directly into the army, navy or marine corps rather than through
the National Guard. But the Guard, nevertheless, played an important role. Two Stevens Point units, Headquarters
Battery and Battery D, 2nd Battalion, 120th Field Artillery, 32nd Division, were inducted into federal service
on Oct. 15, 1940 with 189 officers and enlisted men. This battalion was redesignated the 129th Field Artillery
Battalion on Jan. 16, 1942 attached to the 32nd Division which arrived at Port Adelaide, Australia, May
14, 1942. The division bore the brunt of the burden in jungle fighting and island hopping operations all the
way from New Guinea to the Philippines. By the end of the war casualties and disease had practically denuded
the 32nd Division of its original complement of Wisconsin men.
But the 3,8741 men and women from the county in World War II fought not only in the Pacific, but in
the fetid jungles of Burma, across the wind-swept deserts of Africa, over the terrible mountains of Italy, and along
the treacherous hedgerows of France. With the Navy behind them they went ashore in the greatest amphibious
operations ever known and immortalized beachheads like Sorrento, Anzio, Normandy, Tarawa, Saipan, Iwo Jima and Okinawa
And there were men from the county who flew in the 8th Air Force over northern Europe, the 15th Air Force
over Italy and southeast Europe, the 14th Air Force over China, the 10th Air Force over Burma, the 20th
Air Force over Manchuria and Japan, the 5th, 7th and 13th Air Forces over the Wrestern Pacific. Some were in
the navy at Midway when Torpedo Squadron Eight ("One man left to tell the story/ Of a rendezvous with
fate/ Tell the story of the glory! Of Torpedo Squadron Eight") turned back the enemy in the decisive battle
of the Pacific. Some from the county went down in flames, or bailed out and were picked up by a friendly
underground, or taken prisoner. Some barely made it, like Col. Thomas J. Classen and Earl Cooper who, in
separate air actions, bailed out over the Pacific and spent many days on a life raft before rescue.
Men from the county who paid the supreme sacrifice in combat or line of duty were:
Men from the county who paid the supreme sacrifice in combat or line of duty were:
Arndt, Clarence E.
Bader, Robert E.
Bartkowiak, John
Bekowski, Andrew J.
Berg, Sidney E.
Bestul, Luther J.
Blavat, Felix J.
Brill, Eugene D.
Busa, Frank A.
Cashin, George H.
Cater, Clifford D.
Cauley, Thomas W.
Christensen, Carl B.
Cisewski, Leonard J.
Cisewski, Myron B.
Clark, Orville BS.
Cote, Hilmer G.
Crabb, John C.
Crotteau, Donald C.
Cutnaw, Kent P.
Dahlen, Leonard L.
Demski, Harold F.
Dolkre, Emil A.
Domack, Eugene R.
Doyle, LeRoy M.
Drefcinski, Thomas K.
Drewa, Harry J.
Drifka, Raphael E.
Dulski, Benedict W.
Dumphy, Frank G.
Durand, Edward D.
Dzwonkoskri, Onufry
Epright, Wilbur E.
Falkowski, Frank E.
Firkus, Anton A.
Fischer, Frank F.
Fletcher, Jerome B.
Fredoch, Ernest W.
Garski, John A.
Glisczynski, Leo
Glodowski, Chester F.
Golomski, Richard N.
Grzanna, Joseph A.
Halkoski, Alex J.
Hathaway, Albert E.
Heinen, Ira E.
Henkel, Clarence A.
Hintz, Bruno
Hintz, John E.
Hopkins, George H.
Jablonski, Joseph R.
Kawleski, Raymond D.
Kazmierczak, Bernard
Klasinski, Walter J.
Klesmith, Leonard A.
Klish, Chester B.
Kolinski, Donald J.
Koltz, Benedict J.
Koshollek, Joseph C.
Kryshak, Joseph S.
Larson, Richard L.
Lea, Garth A., Jr.
Liebe, Edward F.
Lisiecki, Valentine V.
Love, Robert J.
Mansavage, Ralph L.
Matkey, Leonard E.
Mayek, John W.
McGuire, Thomas P.
Meacham, Harold S.
Mish, Ignatius P.
Nelson, Emery J.
Nowak, Clifford
O'Brien, James W.
Olson, Joseph A.
Ostrowski, Nick C.
Palash, John L.
Peskie, Frank C.
Phaneuf, Duane R.
Pieczynski, Raymond J.
Platt, Paul F.
Powers, Donald W.
Przekurat, Clifford V.
Ramchek, George J.
Rath, Willard F.
Roberts, Richard F.
Roe, Ezra, P.
Schfranski, William J.
Scribner, James MI.
Secosh, Chester S.
Severt, Frederick A.
Shafranski, Felix F.
Shudarek, Ralph J.
Sopa, Chester L.
Stimm, Howard M.
Strasser, George P.
Strope, Douglas K.
Suplicki, Bernard A.
Swanson, Clifford H.
Szymkowiak, Bernard J.
Taggart, Gordon
Tiarks, Werner C.
Turzinski, Leo E.
Vaughn, Rolyn D.
Vincent, Jack E.
Walukones, Alvin
Wanta, Hubert J.
Warner, Wesley G.
Watts, James W.
Wiener, John C.
Winkler, William L.
Winter, Howard G.
Wiora, Henry H.
Wishman, Roman J.
Worden, Neal O.
Yach, Robert P.
Zeleski, Raymond S.
Zivicki, Hubert D.
Zoromski, Richard H.
Zmuda, John A.