POST #22-09
...Something A Bit Different...
Mikey's Dads 100th Birthday Would Have Been This Month And We Will Be Putting Up Some Photos Of Him And Some Day-By-Day Details Of His Time In The U.S. Marines And The Intense Battle On The Pacific Island Of Iwo Jima...
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| Willard W. Wemple - 1922 - 2007 |
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On February 22, 2022, (2-22-22) Mikey's Dad, Willard W Wemple would have been 100 years old. Some photos of Dad's younger days...
He was a great Dad to 3 boys...The "House Apes"...
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| Dougie, Mikey and Chuckie |
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| Mikey, Chuckie, Dougie |
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| Willards Wife Naomi, Dougie, Mikey and Chuckie |
Mikey was the only one of the three to do this with Dad!...
When in his late teens, Willard headed out to California. He worked a variety of jobs, in avacado orchards, sawmills and a dog kennel where he counted Clark Gable and Carole Lombard among his clients. He also took care of "Toto" from the Wizard Of Oz! Finally moved to San Diego...
Where he joined Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Company, and helped to build the PBY Catalina Flying Boats....
While he was working at the Aircraft Factory, he registered with The Selective Service on June 30th, 1942...
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| Willard's Selective Service Registration Card |
Mikey's Dad, Willard stayed on at Consolidated for the next few years as a war worker, but the need for manpower at the front outweighed the requirements of wartime industries. On June 10th, 1944, Willard was inducted into the US Marine Corps...
And then reported to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego for boot training...
Private Willard Wemple was sent to infantry school at nearby Camp Pendelton to learn proficiency with small arms.
Then Dad, Private Willard Wemple was assigned to the 24th Replacement Draft, which was attached, but not fully integrated to the 4th Marine Division, and shipped out for Camp Maui, Hawaii, along with over 2600 other Marines on November 13, 1944 on the USS General Callan....
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| USS General Callan |
Then, on January 27, 1945, Dad and hundreds of other Marines departed from Maui on the USS Hendry...
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| USS Hendry |
And arrived on February 18th, 1945 at their destination, an unknown island somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean...Known as IWO JIMA.
Over the next posts and next day we will be posting numerous updates that will follow the battle through daily logs and stories of the battle as told by a Military Historian on the 1-24 Marines Website...
Until Next Time!!
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