Current Residence: Springfield
Family (spouse, children or grandchildren): Wife, Ann; three children — Mark Waters, Jan Coyle and Kim McAfee; and three grandchildren
Career After the Military: Property and casualty insurance underwriter and field representative
Hobbies: Golf (in the past), World War II history buff, photography
Branch of Service: Army Air Corps
Did you enlist in the military or were you drafted? Joined the Army Air Corps in June 1943 after graduating from high school.
Dates of Service: Aug. 28, 1943 to Oct. 30, 1945
Bases/Deployments: Amarillo, Texas; Las Vegas, Nev.; Dyersburg, Tenn.; and Foggia, Italy
Length of service? Two years, two months and two days
Job/assignment in the military: Tail gunner on a B-17
Medals/awards: Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster and Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster
What did you learn from serving in the military? Never volunteer (just kidding); learned teamwork and cooperation, as well as confidence in individual ability.
What’s a memorable moment or story about your service? I was missing in action for 28 days! Ended up in Russian-occupied Hungary. (Low on fuel and oxygen, his plane crash-landed in Hungary in 1945 after it was hit by German machine gun fire. He was injured and taken to a Russian field hospital for treatment while crews worked on repairing the plane. After several delays, they were finally able to return to their base in Foggia.)
Hometown Heroes is a new weekly feature profiling Clark and Champaign County veterans compiled with the assistance of local Vietnam veteran Randy Ark. To nominate a veteran, e-mail samantha.sommer@coxinc.com or randyark48@gmail.com or call 937-328-0363. Any veteran of any military branch, years of service and age is eligible to be profiled.
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