Julius Bartels – Military Service
I originally
began this story about my dad’s service in the US Army Air Corps in 2012.
However, In February 2019 I retained the services of a military researcher, Lori
Miller, at Redbird Research in St Charles Missouri. She was able to obtain for
me my dad’s restored file that was previously thought destroyed in the 1973 St
Louis Archives fire. The edges of the documents are singed, by almost all are legible.
So, with the addition of this information along with my mom’s diary and other
research I previously completed, I am retelling the story. [Most people knew
my dad as Juke, so I will use Juke or dad interchangeably in this text].
Juke received his A-1 card from the
army on March 31, 1944. With a wife and two children to care for, this must
have been difficult news but with the war already ongoing for over 2 years, it
could not have been unexpected. On June 10, 1944 he received a letter from the
Army informing him that he will soon need to report for duty. Per mom’s diary,
this occurred on June 21, 1944. For the 2 nights prior to him leaving, “the
house was full of lots of company”
At the time of his departure he was
working as a machine molder or “closer” of molds at Western Foundry in Holland,
Michigan.
Dad reported to Fort Sheridan in
Chicago for his Boot Camp training and was inducted on June 22, 1944. He was then
officially part of the US Army Air Corps. He remained at Fort Sheridan until August 29, 1944. A comment on a form
dated July 18, 1944 indicates that he was “disqualified physically for air-crew
training (combat) due to overweight.” So being too chubby at boot camp made dad
exempt from any aircraft training (including bombers) and kept him safely in
the states.
On August 31, he was attached to
“Section T” at Truax Field in Madison Wisconsin. He was glad to have
remained so close to home. This base was used by the Army Air Corps as a Technical
Training Center for training radio operators and mechanics. Dad’s file states
that he graduated from a Radio Mechanics Course on January 16, 1945. His
military occupation is shown as Radio Mechanic AAF754 and his base line pay
was $50 per month.
On Sept 24, 1944, dad came home in
the early morning hours and mom and Chet traveled back to camp with him. They
went downtown Madison together and ate dinner there on September 26 and moved
into a cabin on the 27th through October 5.
On January 19, 1945 Juke reported
back to Fort Sheridan. I could not find in his military file where he was from
January 18 until March 9, 1945, but mom’s diary reflects that dad called her on
January 16 and told her that he was going to be transferred back to Chicago,
Illinois soon. Her diary shows with delight that he somehow was able to come
home the last Sunday in January and every Sunday in February 1945.
On March 9, Dad was officially attached
to Boca Raton Army Airfield, Squadron L, 3501st AAF Base Unit, Tech
School – Radar.
Boca Raton was a long way from home and
mom comments in her diary “I sure hate to see Dady (always with one “d” in her
diary) go away to Florida”. She was currently 8 months pregnant with Judy and
Joyce. All this impacted her rather hard as a March 3 entry states “I’ve got it
bad today. Laid down most of the time and sure am lonesome for my Love as he
cannot come home now”.
However, on March 15, 1945, the twins were born and dad obtained the first
of his 2 furloughs while in the service. His records reflect a March 18 to
March 31 furlough, but the diary indicates he somehow got that extended until
April 6. He accomplished a lot on the farm while at home.Dad’s file does not reflect specific duties while at the Boca Raton base, other than restating his occupation as Radio Mechanic. He was promoted from a private to a corporal on June 2, 1945. He obtained his 2nd furlough from June 2 through June 15, 1945. Dad was in some type of accident on June 7 and was laid up for a few days. He went to the doctor on June 9 but felt well enough to go to Church on June 10 for the twin’s baptism.
It was on July 17 that mom received a letter from Juke “saying he was going to try for a discharge” from the army. He followed through with this and his file includes this documentation:
“Corporal Bartels will be informed that his application for discharge has been disapproved after examination under appropriate regulations. Study of his case reveals that the necessity for release to provide care or support for his family in not extreme.” There is no reference of this decision in mom’s diary.
Although he remained assigned to the 3501st Squadron L, Juke was transferred back to Truax Field in Madison, WI on October 12, 1945. He was able to come home for a Sunday 5 times between this date and December 19 when he was discharged. His official separation from service occurred at Chanute Field in Illinois.
Items gleaned from the discharge papers include:
-
Military Qualifications: Marksman with the 30 caliber
M-1 carbine
-
Service schools attended: Radio School, Truax Field
-
Decorations and Citations:
o
American Theater Ribbon
o
WWII Victory Medal
-
Exit physical shows him in good health and 5’ 8” tall
and 200 lbs (“56 pounds above standard for height, but with good distribution”)
-
Other notes:
o
Character: Excellent
o
Efficiency: Excellent
I will end with mom’s December 20, 1945 diary entry: “Boy are we happy as we
got Dady home last night and went shopping all day. We sure had a good time.
[Dad was paid $200 at discharge]
Here is some of the same and some additional information from Mom’s Diary
-Visited Uncle Tony at Camp Custer on
August 11, 1942
- Dad received his A-1 card on March
31, 1944
-June 7, 1944 dad was in
an accident (auto?). He was injured and stayed in bed 2 days
-On June 10, 1944 he received
a letter from the Army informing him that he will soon need to report for duty
June 15, 1944, Uncle Dave
(Vander Kooi) left for the Army (per an interview with Uncle Dave on August 17,
2010), he said that he and Dad were at Camp Sheridan at the same time, and confirmed
that they did not arrive on the same day.
-Dad left on June 21,
1944. For the 2 nights prior to him leaving, “the house was full of lots of
company”
-June 23, 1944, he
returned home for two days
- Dad to move to a new
camp (Truax Field, Madison, WI) around August 29, 1944
-Dad arrived at home by
train in the morning and left in the afternoon of September 3, 1944 for Madison
-Dad came home Sept 10
& 11 (was Chet’s birthday). Arrived by train and returned to camp by plane.
-On Sept 24, 1944, dad
came home in the early morning hours and mom & Chet traveled back to camp
with him. They went downtown Madison together and ate dinner there on September
26 and moved into a cabin on the 27th through October 5
-October 18, 1944 Dad
arrives home via train
-Dad returned home by
train on October 25, 1944 and went back to camp the same day. Mom fell and was
injured. She went to the doctor on October 26.
-November 1, 1944 dad was
home again arriving at 1:30 in the morning.
-November 8, 1944 dad was
home again arriving at 1:30 in the morning once again
-Dad came home again on
the 16th and returned to camp on the 18th.
-Nov 19, 1944, dad was
home again. They picked him up from (the train station) in Holland
-Nov 25, 1944, dad came
home during the night again and returned to camp on the 26th
-Dec 3, 1944, dad was
home again
-Dec 24, 1944, dad was
home again but returned to camp Christmas night
-December 30, 1944, dad
home again & took the train back to camp on January 1, 1945
-January 12, 1945, dad is
home again
-January 16, 1945, dad
called mom & told her that he was going to be transferred to Chicago, Ill (Fort
Sheridan?) soon. He was transferred on January 18, 1945
-Dad came home on the
following Sundays and returned to base the next day
-January 28, 1945
-February 4, 1945
-February 11, 1945
-February 18, 1945
-February 25, 1945
-Dad left for (Boca
Raton) Florida on February 26, 1945
-March 15, 1945; Mom goes
to the hospital & Judy and Joyce are born
-March 19, 1945; Dad
arrives home on the 9:15 train
-March 22, 1945, mom
returns home from the hospital
- April 6, 1945, Dad
returns to camp
-May 7, 1945, mom
comments about VE Day (“the war in Germany is over”)
-June 6, 1945, Harris
Scholten took dad’s car back to camp
-June 9, 1945, dad is
home
-June 14, 1945, dad
returns to camp
- August 10, 1945, Mom
comments “it sounds like the war will be over soon”
--August 14, 1945 “The
war is over, let’s hope Juke comes home soon”
- October 12, 1945, dad
transferred to Truax Field (Madison, WI)
-October 14, 1945, dad is
at home for less than a day and takes the car back to camp
-October 19, 1945, dad
arrived home at night and returned Oct 21, 1945
-October 26, 1945, “Dady
came back home again” (Dady was always with one “d” in mom’s old diary) and
returned to camp by bus on Oct 28
-November 3, 1945; Dad
came home during the night and returned to camp by train the evening of Nov, 6
-November 8, 1945, dad is
home, but left for Muskegon on Nov 9 (apparently in route to Madison?)
-December 16, 1945, Dad
is on this way home and stopped at Chanute (Air Force Base, Rantoul, IL); mom
is snowed in
-December 20, 1945, Dad is home to stay!
-January 1, 1946; an
entry in mom’s diary says that Egbert was also home now too.
-April 21, 1946, Betty is
burned
My note: Mom told me on more than one
occasion that the happiest Christmas she ever had was in 1945. Dad, Uncle Eg and
Uncle Tony were all safely back home following the war
