For my column nearest Memorial Day, I pore through newspapers of our past and find stories – big and small – that recall those who served during the nation’s wars, in combat and on the homefront. Here are a few worth remembering:
A great escape
In a story seemingly right out of Hollywood, Army Pfc. Lloyd C. Greer of Ontario returned to American lines in Italy after being missing for 90 days in World War II.
He was part of a machine gun platoon in February 1944 in the midst of heavy fighting. Other members of his platoon were forced to withdraw, but he refused to budge.
He was last seen surrounded by the German troops, according to the Sun of June 11, 1944. Greer was officially declared missing in action on March 1.
Miraculously, he was recovered by an American patrol after 90 days. Greer had spent much of the time away as a German POW, but he managed to escape his captives and hide in the nearby mountains. He said he wandered for 19 days before he was rescued.
Later that year, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his efforts in the battle in February. An Associated Press wire story about the award on Oct. 23 called him a “demon with a machine gun.”
For Greer, returning home at war’s end added an unfortunate twist as shown in a classified ad he placed in the Pomona Progress Bulletin on Sept. 20, 1945.
“Liberal reward for the return of the Purple Heart and the DSC and Iron Cross of Valor. Lloyd C. Greer (is) engraved on back of Purple Heart and DSC. No questions asked,” read the ad with Greer’s Ontario address.
Surrender
A La Verne medical corpsman was one of three unarmed Army medics who convinced 75 German soldiers to surrender to them in France in August 1944.
Lt. Kevin M. Rothrock of La Verne and two others were captured after they mistakenly drove a Jeep into what turned out to be a German-occupied village in northwest France, said a Pomona Progress-Bulletin article on Sept. 23, 1944.
The main German force later departed but the three American captives were ordered to assist doctors tending to 75 wounded soldiers who remained there with plans to travel to Brest the next day. One of the Americans, Col. James W. Branch, explained to the German doctor in charge that prospects for his wounded men were not very good. In those weeks after the D-Day invasion, the Germans, in retreat, had few medical supplies available for their wounded.
After two hours of negotiating, the German doctor in charge understood the difficulty of his situation and allowed the three Americans to escort the 75 Germans to allied lines, arriving on Sept. 1.
Sweets needed
We don’t know his name, but a Riverside soldier sought help from home while “somewhere in France” in January 1918 during World War I, according to the Associated Press.
He wrote his parents with a simple plea: “For heaven’s sake, send me some candy!”
Alas, that same month, the U.S. Council of National Defense strongly urged folks at home not to send such goodies to the men “over there.” Too-rich food being sent from home was causing stomach problems for the troops, the council said.
“Besides, the soldiers are well fed, anyhow,” the council claimed.
Taking charge
In March 1944, it had been more than two years since her husband had become a prisoner of war in World War II. Dorotha Estes Lundberg of Colton decided to help the war effort by taking things into her own hands.
On her 10th wedding anniversary and 27th birthday, Lundberg quit her job as a telephone operator and enlisted in the Navy Waves on March 24, reported the Sun newspaper five days later.
Her husband Harold had become a Japanese prisoner just a few weeks after the war began. He had served on the submarine tender Canopus whose crew was captured during the fall of the island of Corregidor. He would ultimately spend most of the rest of the war imprisoned in Japan.
After her enlistment, Dorotha Lundberg did get two cards and a letter from her husband sent from his captivity. One letter was even distributed globally, read by the notorious Japanese radio broadcaster “Tokyo Rose,” in August 1944.
The couple ultimately reunited at war’s end.
New role
Redlands’ Col. Richard M. Chubb served as a doctor in Vietnam and played a key role in setting up the base hospital in Da Nang in 1967. It was a far cry from his previous role at Norton Air Force Base in San Bernardino, according to the Sun newspaper, July 20, 1967.
Prior to coming to Vietnam, Dr. Chubb was an aerospace medical monitor for astronauts for several of the early manned spaceflight missions. He was sent to various tracking stations during Mercury and Gemini flights, monitoring the health of the spacemen.
Would he want to go to space himself? “You bet, but I’m afraid that’s impossible,” he told the Sun Feb. 6, 1966. His height (6 feet) and weight (195) made him too big for an astronaut in those days.
Dangerous flu
Soldiers in World War I faced not only enemies on the battlefield but also a deadly influenza epidemic that was killing millions around the world. Many men in cramped military camps were struck down by the flu in 1917 and 1918 before ever going to Europe.
William Jennings Holland was one such victim, dying from the flu in Spokane, Washington, after only two weeks in an Army uniform. He lived in Hemet before his family moved to Pomona.
The Pomona Progress Bulletin reported his death on Nov. 1, 1918 — just a few days before the end of fighting in the war. His brother, Curtis, was also seriously stricken with the flu while with the Army in San Francisco but managed to recover.
Heavy traffic
In January 1952, reports were circulating locally that the National Guard’s 40th Division would be activated to fight in Korea – rumors that later proved to be true.
Sgt. Robert Hood of Riverside was one of the first soldiers of the 40th Division, which included much of the Inland Empire, to reach Korea as a member of a heavy weapons company, reported the Riverside Daily Press, Jan. 8, 1952. The paper printed part of a letter he sent his mother.
“Don’t worry about me now, mother,” Sgt. Hood wrote. “There is no more danger there than in Los Angeles traffic.”
Historic tours
The Historical Society of the Pomona Valley will offer tours of two of its sites the next two Sundays.
Historic tours of the Spadra Cemetery, 2850 Pomona Blvd., Pomona, will be from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, May 26. The cost is $10.
A tour of the Casa Primera, 1569 N. Park Ave., Pomona, will be from 2 to 4:30 p.m. June 2, costing $5.
Tickets must be purchased in advance atpomonahistorical.org
Joe Blackstock writes on Inland Empire history. He can be reached atjoe.blackstock@gmail.comor Twitter @JoeBlackstock. Check out some of our columns of the past at Inland Empire Stories on Facebook atwww.facebook.com/IEHistory.
