WORLD WAR II

MILLER

EDWARD MILLER, Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps, son of Joseph Miller and Maud Nichols. He was born June 3, 1921 in Cass, Franklin Co., Ark., and died July 24, 1982 in Fort Smith, Sebastian Co., Ark.  Ed enlisted in Little Rock on August 16, 1941 and was honorably discharged at Norfolk, Virginia on September 13, 1945.  He participated action at Guadalcanal, from January 4th to February 19, 1943; then at Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands from November 20th to November 23, 1943; he as in the battle at Saipan, Marianas Islands from June 15th to July 8, 1944; finally at Tipian in the Marianas, from July 25th to August 25, 1944.  Information taken from his discharge certificate and service record.

WALL

IRA DEFOREST WALL, Sgt. U.S. Army, son of Reason Deforest Wall and Winifred Pearl Tyler was born August 16, 1914 in Sharon Center, Medina County Ohio. He graduated from Sharon Center High School in June 1933. In December 1942 he enlisted in the Army and served in World War II as a radio operator with Army Engineer Combat Battalion 246, Company C. He received combat stars for campaigns in Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes and Central Europe. Among his decorations are the WWII Victory Medal, Good Conduct Medal, Distinguished Unit Badge, European African Middle Eastern Campaign, American Campaign Medal, and five Bronze Stars. He was discharged on November 30, 1945 and returned home to Ohio where he married Florence Smedley in 1948, had children James, Linda and Susan and died on January 23, 1996 in Wooster, Wayne County, Ohio.

RALPH ALLEN WALL, Sgt. U.S. Army Air Corps, son of Reason Deforest Wall and Winifred Pearl Tyler was born May 26, 1907 in Sharon Center, Medina County Ohio. Ralph enlisted in the Army Air Corps on January 15, 1942 and was discharged on September 15, 1945.  Ralph was stationed in Topeka, Kansas and what is today Davis Montham Air Force Base.  He was a refueling specialist on B-17 bombers.

VIVIAN ARLIE WALL, Pvt., U.S. Army, the youngest child of Reason and Winnie Wall and was born in Sharon Center, Medina County, Ohio on November 11, 1921.  He was drafted into the Army on September 10, 1942. He completed infantry training at Mineral Wells, Texas and was transferred to Massachusetts to await shipment to the European Theater of Operations.  He departed the United States in April 1943 for Libya, North Africa and saw action there and in Sicily and Italy before World War II ended.  During the war he was an intelligence scout and ambulance and light truck driver.  In November 1945 he returned to the U.S. and was discharged at Indiantown Gap Military Reservation, Pennsylvania during the general demobilization.  His medals included the Good Conduct Medal, Europe, Africa, Middle East Service ribbons with one Bronze Star. Vivian was killed in March, 1946 when his car was struck by a switching engine at an unmarked rail road crossing.  He left a wife, Clara (Corbett) Wall and two small sons, Ronald and Arthur Wall.

WESTFALL

BERNARD VALENTINE - Corporal, 600 Army Air Force Band (13th Air Force); enlisted 12 Dec. 1942, Pittsburgh, Penn., discharged in 1946, Fort Knox, Kentucky; served in the Bismark Archipelago, New Guinea and the southern Philippines during the liberation of the Philippines; medals - American Theater Ribbon, Asiatic Pacific Theater Ribbon with 3 bronze stars, Phillipine Liberation, Good Conduct, WW2 Victory Medal.  Corporal Valentine played trumpet in the Army Air Force band.  Husband of Marian Foley and father of Mrs. Vickie Moon who is a descendant (through her mother) of Nathaniel Westfall and Catlherine Emmons.   Corporal Valentine is buried at V.A. Cemetery, West Los Angeles, California, section 406, row K space 35.

WHITSETT

ROY GENE WHITSETT - Son of JAMES GUY WHITSETT and HESSIE MELINDA BARRETT; born December 27, 1921, Crawford County, Arkansas, died, December 21, 1995, Van Buren, Crawford County, Arkansas.  Enlisted in Little Rock, Arkansas on August 13, 1942 for the duration of the war at the rank of Private.  No other information on Roy's military service is known at this time (Jan. 2009).