Freedom’s Voice The Monthly Newsletter of the

Military History Center 112 N. Main ST

Broken Arrow, OK 74012 http://www.okmhc.org/

“Promoting Patriotism through the Preservation of Military History”

Volume 5, Number 12 December 2018

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Important Dates

December 23 to January 2 – Christmas/New Year Holidays

Military History Center Closed

Happy Hanukkah

From the Editor

Our purpose with our newsletter is to promote the Military History Center. We endeavor to do this by keeping our readers informed of upcoming MHC events, reporting on those events after they have occurred, featuring one of the MHC’s artifacts or exhibits each month and presenting other items of interest. Because this a military themed newsletter, we attempt to find and report exceptional stories about exceptional people who have served, or are serving, in the United States armed ser-vices, with a focus on Oklahomans.

This past year, we have focused on the 100th anniversary of the final year of World War I. This edition of the newsletter marks the culmination of our series on Oklahoma’s Vietnam War MIAs. We have told the extraordinary stories of thirty-two remarkable Oklahomans, thirty of whom remain MIA. We at-tempt to present articles and events of interest that further our mission of “Promoting Patriotism through the Preservation of Military History”.

We enjoy bringing you the newsletter. We hope you enjoy reading it, and with each edition, learning something new of America’s military history and those who made it.

Pearl Harbor Day

At 7:48 a.m. Hawaii time (11:48 a.m. Oklahoma time), on Sunday, December 7, 1941, 353 Japanese fighters, bombers and torpedo planes launched in two waves from six aircraft carriers, began their attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet anchored at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and nearby air fields. President Roose-velt called December 7, 1941 “a date which will live in infamy”.

USS Arizona Memorial – Dedicated Memorial Day, 1962

The Pearl Harbor Attack

USS Arizona

USS Oklahoma capsized – USS Maryland in the background

Naval Air Station Ford Island

Naval Air Station Kaneohe Bay

USS Oklahoma MIA Comes Home

Fireman First Class Leonard R. Geller

Leonard Richard Geller was born in Payne County, Oklaho-ma, on January 6, 1920. He enlisted in the Navy on January 3, 1940. His military home of record is Garber in Garfield County. He was assigned to USS Oklahoma, and on March 15, 1941, he was promoted to seaman second class. On that date, he also took and passed the examination for fireman first class. On December 7, 1941, Oklahoma was tied up at her moor-ing berth, Fox 5, on battleship row, outboard of USS Maryland. Eight minutes after the Japanese attack began, Oklahoma was struck by two torpedoes. Four minutes later, at 0800, a third torpedo struck the ship, and she began to turn over. F1 Geller would have been stationed deep in the ship in the engine room, and would have had no chance to escape. Oklahoma was raised in 1943. Only thirty-five of the 429 sailors and marines who went down with the ship could be identified. The unidentifiable remains were buried as un-knowns. In April 2015, the Department of Defense announced that Oklahoma’s unidentified remains would be disinterred and subjected to DNA analysis. Exhumations began in June. On January 9, 2018, F1 Geller’s remains were identified by DNA and other evidence. At this writing, F1 Leonard Richard Gel-ler’s funeral has not been announced.

MHC Named Among Top Three Places to Visit in Broken Arrow

Trip Advisor, which advertises itself as the world’s largest internet travel site, has recently rated the MHC among the top three attractions to visit in Broken Arrow. The MHC was the only destination showcased in the most recent issue of Values Magazine that received a Five Star rating.

In Memoriam

President Geroge Herbert Walker Bush

George Herbert Walker Bush was born on June 12, 1924, at Milton, Massachusetts. He was a World War II Navy combat pilot, businessman, Congressman, diplomat, CIA director, vice president, 41st President of the United States, humanitarian and patriot. After high school graduation in 1942, he enlisted in the Navy on his eighhteenth birthday. After completing torpedo bomber training, he was commissioned an ensign in the U.S. Navy at NAS Corpus Christi three days short of his nineteenth birthday, mak-ing him the youngest naval aviator to that date. In September 1943, he was assigned to Torpedo Squadron 51 as the photo-graphic officer. The following year, his squadron was based on USS San Jacinto as a member of Air Group 51. He was promoted to lieutenant junior grade on August 1, 1944. On September 2, he was ordered on a four-plane mission to destroy a radio tower on Chichijima, one of the Bonin Islands, 620 miles south of Tokyo. Bush’s aircraft was hit by anit-aircraft fire, but he com-pleted the mission. Afterwards, he had to bail out and then spent four hours in a life raft until rescued by the submarine, USS Finback. Bush returned to San Jacinto in November 1944 and participated in operations in the Philippines area until his squadron was relieved and sent home to the United States. LTJG Bush completed fifty-eight combat missions. Among his decora-tions are a Distinguished Flying Cross and three Air Medals. After his separation from the Navy, Bush enrolled at Yale and graduated with honors, earning a BA in economics. He was also a superb athlete, and in his senior year, was captain of the Yale baseball team. Bush declined to enter his father’s investment banking firm. He wanted a business career on his own. He and his young family moved to Odessa, Texas, where he went to work for Dresser Industries as a salesman. Eventually, he want-ed his own business. He rounded up some investors and started Zapata Oil Company. The company became highly successful and was later sold to Penzoil, making Bush a wealthy man. Now, retired from business, Bush entered politics. He lost his bid for a Senate seat, but later won a House seat in a Houston district, where he now lived. After two terms, he again tried for a Senate seat and again lost. President Nixon appointed him am-

LTJG Bush in his Grumman TBM Avenger torpedo bomber aboard USS San Jacinto in 1944

bassador to the United Nations, and two years later to head the Republican National Committee. Bush was one of the senior Republicans who pressed Nixon to resign. President Ford ap-pointed him Chief of the Laison Office in China and later to the directorship of the CIA. Bush entered the 1980 presidential race. He lost, but Ronald Reagan, who easily won the nomination, selected Bush for his vice-presidential running mate. After Reagan’s two terms. Bush was the natural choice to succeed him and won the 41st presidency. President Bush’s presidency is best known for the expulsion of the Iraqi army from Kuwait in operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, the end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Bush lost his bid for reelection in 1992. He spent his post-presidential years mostly in humanitarion activities. President Bush died at his home in Houston on November 30. He was laid to rest on the grounds of his presidential library at Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas. His was a life well lived. He was a perfect exemplar of the Greatest Generation.

President Trump saluting former President George H. W. Bush lying in state in the Capitol rotunda

“Fair winds and following seas, sir, we have the watch.”

SGT George Joseph Eisenberger – MIA

George Joseph “Bucky” Eisenberger was born at Pawhuska (Osage County), Oklahoma on March 2, 1940. He joined the Army about 1959. By December 5, 1965, he was serving as a Sergeant in Co. B, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Infan-try “Big Red One” Division in South Vietnam. On that day, he led a team on a ground combat mission in Binh Duong Prov-ince. The unit came under hostile fire from what was believed to have been a Viet Cong encampment. In the first burst of fire, SGT Eisenberger was mortally wounded.

When the unit was able to withdraw from the combat area, it was not possible to recover his body. When the enemy threat abated, the squad reentered the area in an attempt to find his body and those of two other men killed in the action, but the bodies were gone. It was generally believed that they were taken by the Viet Cong and probably buried, which was not uncommon for the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese to do.

SGT Eisenberger’s name is inscribed in the Courts of the Tablets of the Missing in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific and on The Wall. He has no special memorial.

Year-end Giving

As the year draws to a close, many of you will be con-templating your year-end giving. We realize that most of you are committed to your church, synagogue or favorite charity. If you have a place in your budget for discretionary giving, we ask you to consider the Military History Center. We believe the MHC provides a valuable service to the local community, especially to our veterans and to students. We invite you to join us in “Promoting Patriotism through the Preservation of Military History” and in recognizing the sac-rifices our veterans have made, and are making, to keep America free and safe.

Please go to our Support/Donate link on our website at www.okmhc.org for more information.

Monetary donations, as well as gifts in kind, are tax de-ductible, subject to IRS regulations. Record your donation on Schedule A as MVA, Inc. dba Military History Center.

PO3 Jimmy Don Hyde - MIA

Jimmy Don Hyde was born at Caddo (Bryan County), Okla-homa, on October 21, 1944. On December 5, 1965, he was a Petty Officer Third Class servicing on the minesweeper, USS Dynamic. Hyde flipped another man overboard while joking around. When he saw that the man was a poor swimmer, he and another shipmate dove into the water in an attempt to help him. Neither Hyde nor the other two men had on life jackets, but life rings and jackets were thrown into the water by other crew members and a rubber raft was manned. While Hyde was swimming toward the troubled man, he suddenly called for help. However, before the man he dove overboard with or other swimmers from the ship could reach him, he dis-appeared beneath the surface. His body was not recoverable.

Jimmy Don Hyde’s name is engraved on a memorial to Cad-do men killed in World War I through the Vietnam War – Geth-semane Cemetery, Caddo, Oklahoma.

LTC Ronald Jack Ward – MIA

Ronald Jack Ward was born at Elk City (Beckham County), Oklahoma, on December 16, 1933. At some point in his early live, his family moved to Anadarko, Oklahoma. He was a gradu-ate of Oklahoma A&M College (now Oklahoma State Universi-ty). He joined the Air Force on August 18, 1955, shortly after graduation.

LTC Ward was the pilot of a F-111 fighter aircraft. On the first day of Operation Linebacker II, also known as the ”Christ-mas bombing”, which began December 18, 1972, one hundred, twenty-nine B-52s arrived over Hanoi in three waves, four to five hours apart. They attacked several airfields and rail yards. Protecting their flight were fighter jets, serving as SAM sup-pression, ECM protection, and laying a chaff corridor for the B-52s. The pilots of the early missions reported that "wall-to-wall SAMS" surrounded Hanoi as they neared its outskirts. On the first night of bombing, December 18, only one TACAIR aircraft was lost.

On the first day of Operation Linebacker II, LTC Ward and his co-pilot, MAJ James R. McElvain, were scheduled to strike the Hanoi International Radio Communication Transmitter at 0853 hours Hanoi time. The last radio contact with them was received by an orbiting Moonbeam C-130 command and con-trol aircraft at 0854 hours after bomb release on the target. No trace was ever found of the aircraft, and both Ward and McElvain were declared missing in action. Ward was declared dead on August 16, 1978. His last rank was Colonel. He was the last Oklahoma MIA of the Vietnam War, shot down five weeks before the Paris Peace Accords were signed.

COL Ward’s memorial in Memory Land Cemetery Anadarko, Oklahoma

Veteran of Battle of the Bulge

Alvie Lowell “Al” Price - 1944

Seventy-four years ago, this month, CPL Al Price was a jeep driver in the 2nd Infantry Division, fighting in the Battle of the Bulge. He had entered World War II at Normandy on June 7, 1944. From there, he served with the 2nd ID across northeast France into Belgium and finally, Germany. Price was awarded a Bronze Star for action during the Battle of the Bulge. (The MHC displays a framed copy of the above World War II photograph.)

Al Price was born in Tulsa on January 2, 1924. Because of an unstable situation at home as a child, he moved to Tulsa Boys Home, where he lived for five years. He graduated from Central High School in 1942.

One of Price’s passions was dancing. He took up tap danc-ing in his seventies and became accomplished at it. One of his most cherished memories was tap dancing with Gregory Hines at an event in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, when he was in his eight-ies. Hines was duly impressed by the older man’s talent.

Alvie Lowell Price died at Norman, Oklahoma, on November 3, 2018. He is buried in Memorial Park Cemetery in Tulsa.

Al Price – 2015

Ed. Part of this article was taken from an interview by Tim Stanley of the Tulsa World published on September 28, 2015.

The Tulsamerican

The Tulsamerican was a B-24J heavy bomber, the last of 952 such World War II bombers assembled at Tulsa’s Douglas Air-craft plant located at Tulsa Municipal Airport (now Tulsa Inter-national Airport). The components of the bombers were man-ufactured at the Ford plant at Willow Run, Michigan, and trucked to Tulsa for assembly.

Douglas employees posing with The Tulsamerican – August 1944

The Tulsamerican was assigned to the 765th Bombardment “Liberaiders” Squadron, 461st Bombardment Group, Fifteenth Air Force, based at Torretto Air Field south of Foggia in south-ern Italy. Seventy-four years ago, on December 17, 1944, 1LT Eugene P. Ford, lifted The Tulsamerican off from Torretto for a mission to bomb oil facilities at Obertal, Germany. She was the lead aircraft in a flight of six B-24s. As they neared the target, more than forty German fighters attacked the bombers. The Tulsamerican was heavily damaged. 1LT Ford jettisoned his bombs and turned back to base, flying down the Yugoslavian coast until he could turn west to Torretto. Two more engines failed, and the crew decided to ditch the airplane in the Adriat-ic Sea rather than risk bailing out over Yugoslavia.

The bomber hit hard and broke apart, killing three of the crew – 1LT Ford, 2LT Russell Landry, navigator, and SSGT Charles Priest, flight engineer. The other seven crew members, including bombardier Val Miller of Duncan, Oklahoma, sur-vived.

The Tulsamerican in flight

The Tulsamerican went down near the British occupied is-land of Vis (Vĕs), off the coast of Croatia. The survivors were picked-up and taken to a British field hospital on Vis. Some of them were seriously injured, including Miller, who suffered a severely broken leg. Val Ray Miller was born at Duncan on September 9, 1922. He graduated from Duncan High School in 1940. Soon after high school, he joined the Army Air Corps and was trained as a bombardier. After the war, he received a law degree from the University of Oklahoma and went on to a career with the law firm of Crowe & Dunlevy in Oklahoma City. Val Miller died at age ninety-four in Oklahoma City on January 16, 2017. In 2010, amateur Croatian divers located the wreckage of The Tulsamerican about a mile off Vis. Several years later a DPAA team found 1LT Ford’s remains and his wedding ring. He was positively identified in January 2018. He was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery.

Val Miller in 2014, the last crewman of The Tulsamerican

The Tulsamerican’s nose art

765th Bombardment “Liberaiders” Squadron

Osage Air Warriors

MG Clarence Leonard Tinker, Sr. – 1942

Clarence Tinker was born near Pawhuska, Osage Nation, Indian Territory (now Osage County, Oklahoma) on November 21, 1887. Although Tinker was only one-eighth Osage, he was raised Osage and spoke the language fluently. He was an ad-mirer of the Osage scouts who served in the U.S. Army on the frontier and Chief Arthur Bonnicastle, who served in the 9th Cavalry in China during the Boxer Rebellion. After graduating from Wentworth Military Academy in Missouri in 1908, he was commissioned a 3rd Lieutenant in the Philippine Constabulary. Tinker received a commission in the U.S. Army In 1912 and was posted to the 25th Infantry Regiment (a Buffalo Soldier regi-ment) at Fort George Wright, Washington. The following year, the 25th Infantry was transferred to Schofield Barracks in Ha-waii. There, Tinker met his future wife, a native of Canada. During World War I, he acquired an interest in flying and came to believe in the future of aerial warfare. He began flying lessons in 1919 and received his wings in 1922 at age thirty-seven. He then transferred to the Army Air Service. Tinker rose steadily in rank. He served as the Air Attaché at the American Embassy in London. He later attended the Army Command and Staff College in the same class as Dwight D. Eisenhower. In 1927, he was named Commandant of the Air Service Advanced Flying School at Kelly Field, Texas. Tinker commanded various pursuit and bomber units during the 1930s. He later served as Chief of Aviation Division, National Guard Bureau. On October 1, 1940, he was promoted to Brigadier General.

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the commander of Hawaii Air Force (HAF) was relieved, and Tinker was named his replacement. He immediately began a reorganization of HAF (re-designated Seventh Air Force on February 5, 1942) and petitioned for additional aircraft and personnel. In January 1942, Tinker was promoted to Major General, the first Ameri-can Indian in U.S. Army history to attain the rank.

On June 4, 1942, the Japanese began their attack on Mid-way Island. On June 7, Tinker led a force of LB-30 bombers (an early version of the B-24) of 31st Bombardment Squadron against the retreating Japanese. His plane was seen to go out

of control and plunge into the ocean west of Midway. General Tinker and his entire crew perished. He was the first general killed in World War II. The names of MG Tinker and his crew are engraved on the Tablets of the Missing at National Memo-rial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii. MG Tinker was inducted into the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame in 1999.

Army Air Force Commanding General, Henry Arnold, imme-diately ordered that Oklahoma City Air Depot be renamed Tinker Field in MG Tinker’s honor. When the base was made permanent, it became Tinker Air Force Base. Today, it’s home to the USAF’s largest Air Logistics Complex. It provides depot level maintenance for B-1B and B-52 bombers, KC-135 tankers and E-3 AWACS aircraft. It’s also the home base of the AWACS 552nd Air Control Wing.

MG Clarence Tinker, Mrs. Tinker and 2LT Clarence Tinker, Jr. Kelly Field, Texas – 1939

Clarence Leonard Tinker, Jr. (called Bud or Buddy) was the oldest of MG Tinker’s children. He was born at Schofield Bar-racks, Hawaii Territory, on January 13, 1916. In 1937, he passed his military entrance examination, dropped out of college and entered the Army's flight training program at Randolph Field, Texas. His father presented the newly commissioned 2nd Lieu-tenant Tinker with his wings and 2nd lieutenant’s bars at Kelly Field on February 1, 1939. Tinker was serving in the Panama Canal Zone, when he re-ceived the news of his father’s death. Soon afterwards, he was posted to the 14th Fighter Group in North Africa. On May 19, 1943, Major Tinker led a flight of P-38 fighters from Tunisia toward Pantelleria Island, southwest of Sicily. The flight was met by a numerically superior force of Germans. MAJ Tinker’s aircraft was shot down in aerial combat and crashed into the Mediterranean. One year later he was officially declared KIA. Major Clarence Leonard Tinker, Jr.’s name is engraved on the Tablets of the Missing at North Africa American Cemetery and Memorial in Tunisia.

14th Fighter Group

A Final Word on World War I

“War is the unfolding of miscalculations.” Barbara Tuchman, August 1914

One interesting observation seems pertinent to most wars: If the aggressor party could have known the outcome, he would have found a way to reconcile the issues. The other par-ty likely would have also been more amenable to a peaceful settlement. There is no possibility, that the emperors of Ger-many and Austria-Hungary would not have exercised their au-thority over their military leaders and found a way to settle the issues that troubled them if they had been able to foresee the outcome of the war before they started it. Following a series of fatal miscalculations, Germany and Austria-Hungary, or more accurately their military leaders, started what became a world war that ended with their countries defeat, the destruction of their monarchies and their empires.

Once war began, none of the combatants were willing to quit until they achieved their objectives, even though the bod-ies continued to pile up. For over two years, the British and French hoped that somehow the United States would come to their aid. In another fatal miscalculation, the German govern-ment obliged them by unnecessarily renewing unrestricted submarine warfare and clumsily attempting to entice Mexico to enter the war on their side. Otherwise, the Germans would have likely won the war. Instead, they unleashed what Japa-nese Admiral Yamamoto more than two decades later called a “sleeping giant and filled him with a terrible resolve”. It took the United States more than a year to gear up for the war and to get enough troops into France to make a differ-ence, but the sleeping giant accomplished it in spades. By Sep-tember 1918, a million American soldiers were in France and 10,000 more were arriving every day. They sealed Germany’s fate, although it took a couple of months and tens of thousands of additional casualties before they accepted the inevitable. The small number of American war dead compared to those of the other major combatants may seem paltry to some. The United States lost 53,402 men in less than six months of com-bat or a little more than an average of 10,000 per month. By comparison, the French Army lost 27,000 killed on August 22, 1914, during the Battle of the Frontiers. The British lost 19,240 killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme in 1915. Nei-ther the British, French nor Germans learned anything from these and many other such horrendous examples.

The United States dead of World War I represented slightly more than one-tenth of one percent of the population in 1917. Still, the 54,402 American battlefield dead, the 63,306 non-combat deaths, 4,451 missing and presumed dead and approx-imately 320,000 wounded and sick had a profound and lasting impact on the World War I generation. Americans became in-tensely isolationist and resistant to any future war to save Eu-rope. The feeling became more intense as Americans watched Europe drift into another war as a resurgent Germany became more and more bellicose. That dreaded European war broke out on September 1, 1939. The United States was able to stay out of it until December 11, 1941, when Hitler foolishly and inexplicably declared war on the United States. He had learned nothing from his predecessors’ miscalculations.

The bloodbath and destruction that were World War I pro-foundly affected the psyches of western Europeans. It was a major factor in the attitudes of the British and French govern-ments as they passively watched while Germany violated the Treaty of Versailles, rearmed for war and threatened, bullied and lied to acquire Austria and Czechoslovakia. By the time they were roused from their passivity, it was too late to stop Hitler without a war.

The unspeakable slaughter of World War I was so deep-seated in the consciousness of the British, that as late as 1944, Prime Minister Winston Churchill feared the Normandy land-ings would stagnate into a repeat of bloody trench warfare.

The following table of World War I military dead goes far to explain why western Europe, especially France and Great Brit-ain, remained apathetic in the face of Germany’s aggressive behavior in the 1930s.

United Kingdom (including Ireland) 744,000 France 1,150,000 Italy 350,000 Russia 700,000 Austria-Hungary 1,016,000 Germany 1,800,000

The British dead represented about 1.5 per cent of their population, the French dead about three percent and the Ger-man about 2.6 per cent of their 1914 populations. It’s im-portant to remember that the war dead were overwhelmingly young men in their late teens and twenties. The dead were only part of it. Hundreds of thousands of men returned home with horrible and debilitating wounds including many shell-shocked – what today is call PTSD. Many died prematurely or never fully recovered from their wounds, physical or mental. The foregoing losses do not account for civilian casualties. The war fell hardest on Belgium and northeast France, where almost all of the Western Front fighting took place. These areas were under German occupation for four years with the at-tendant fear, brutality and hardship. The Germans behaved ruthlessly towards the civilian population, murdering many outright, especially in Belgium. Physical destruction in the com-bat zones was near total. The British naval blockade brought starvation to many Germans, especially the very old and very young. Finally, returning soldiers carried the Spanish flu across Europe. Altogether, millions of European civilians died from the war or its effects. Numerous widows were left with young children to provide for without the means or skills to do so. With so many young men dead, countless young women found it difficult or impossible to find suitable husbands and start families. Disillusionment gripped much of the population. This was indeed Europe’s “Lost Generation”.

1914 American Red Cross poster soliciting clothing for the people of Belgium and northern France

This Month’s Featured Exhibit – Oklahomans in the Military

Oklahomans are featured in many of the exhibits in the MHC, but this exhibit has been dedicated to artifacts and militaria particular-ly relevant to Oklahoma. On the far left hangs a framed photograph of USMC PVT William T. Morgan of Bushyhead, a veteran of the Battle of Tarawa. He was killed in the West Loch Disaster in Pearl Harbor on May 21, 1944. On the far right is the Class A uniform of Captain Brian Edward Wheeler of Tulsa, a veteran of Somali (twice) and Iraq. A painting of the gunboat, USS Tulsa, which operated in the southwest Pacific during World War II, is shown on the wall above the display case. Many other artifacts pertinent to Okla-homa or Oklahomans are displayed in the Exhibit.

Museum Hours and Admission Fee

Tuesday – Friday: 10:00 – 4:00; Saturday: 10:00 – 2:00 Closed Sunday and Monday and major Federal holidays

Adults – $5.00 Members and Children under 18 – Free

For more information, call (918) 794-2712

www.okmhc.org

Howard Coy and Gary Johnson next to their vehicle waiting for the Start of the Broken Arrow Christmas Parade – December 1

“To Remember is to Honor”

On December 15, chapters of Wreaths Across America held ceremonies at cemeteries all across the country to remem-ber America’s veterans. Afterwards, volunteers laid Christmas wreaths on their graves. The local chapter held its cere-mony at the Field of Honor in Broken Arrows’ Floral Haven Memorial Gardens. MHC volunteers, Susan Virdell (L) and Lindsay Donaldson (R) laid wreaths on veterans’ graves after the ceremony.

Freedom is not free.

Freedom’s Voice is the voice of MVA, Inc. dba Military History Center, a 501(C)3 private foundation, as a service to its members and supporters. Contents may be reproduced only when in the best interest of the Military History Center. Please direct comments or suggestions to the Editor at newsletter@okmhc.org. Ken Cook, Editor.