of Private Melvin W. Johnson
Honor Roll (B)
Lest We Forget
Winston Churchill once said of World War Two that it was not a war of princes or chieftains, but of peoples and causes; a war fought by unknown heroes. Here we acknowledge the unknown heroes that Churchill was referring to as well; our fallen heroes as well as those that fought for our freedoms and returned with their memories. We remember and honour in our hearts the Allied heroes, war veterans and all the affected people, who valued freedom in their life above all else.
Fred Balester
Corporal, US MarinesScout / Sniper, First Scout Company, First Division
Guadalcanal
On December 8, 1941, Fred Balester, Jr., seventeen years old and in his first year at Bucknell Junior College in his home town of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, rushed off to join the Army Air Corps. He wanted to learn to fly, and, as he put it ”was bitterly disappointed to learn that one had to be 21 years old and have 2 years of college to qualify for flight training in either the Army or the Navy. They of course wanted to enlist me in the regular Army, but I got even. I joined the Marines.” He was assigned to Platoon #180 at boot camp on Parris Island, South Carolina in January 1942. In response to a dire need for troops in the Pacific, training had been shortened from three months to about a month and a half. Balester found himself in Tent City, New River, North Carolina in February. When asked what outfit he would like to join, he replied, thinking of James Fennimore Cooper, that he would like to be a scout. At the time the First Tank Company was being transformed into the First Scout Company. That, and some good marksmanship, is how Balester became a scout/sniper.
On August 7, 1942, Balester landed with the First Division on Guadalcanal. He writes: “Since our Scout Platoon had no specific role in the initial assault, we were to stay aboard as a work party and help unload the ship. And work we did. All of this stuff was urgently needed ashore and the sound of bombs kept us moving.” The scout cars (light tanks) were never unloaded, so the Scout Company, which was meant to be the advance party for the tanks, were instead attached to line regiments. The First Scouts were attached to the First Marine Division. Balester was creative with his duty assignments: “We were supposed to rotate. One day we would be on patrol and the following day on guard duty. A friend of mine was deathly afraid of the jungle, and I had trouble coping with the monotony of guard duty. So we made a deal. Whenever he was posted for patrol duty I took his place. He took all of my assigned guard duty. Since I was on patrol almost every day, I probably knew that sector better than anyone else in the division.” Balester was point on 60-70 scout missions and was dubbed “Snowshoes” for his delicate and stealthy step. Like all the Marines, he contracted malaria and faced near starvation until relief came on December 7, 1942.
Photo of Corporal Fred Balester Cape Gloucester, 1944
Newspaper Article
VMail home 29 November 1942
Balester ended up in Melbourne, Australia. There, in Flinders Street Station on the way back to camp, he met Alison McLeod-Sharpe, a young girl from the suburb of Mentone who was working in the War Department. They dated for 8 weeks, and began a long correspondence.
After a short stay at Goodenough Island, where Balester was promoted to corporal, the First Scout Company joined the First Marines in New Britain, Cape Gloucester. Balester continued his scouting, this time suffering in the murky, wet climate with jungle rot. His photo appeared in George McMillan’s The Old Breed, page 169, leading a party on the day of the landing. He stayed on New Britain until April of 1994. Although he hoped the next stop would be Melbourne, he ended up on the tiny island of Parvuvu. Within a few months, he became so ill with kidney infection that he was shipped back to Oak Knoll hospital in San Francisco and later transferred to the Naval Hospital in Philadelphia. He was discharged in March of 1945.
In October of 1946, Alison (also called Dawne) found passage on the S. S. Monterey to San Francisco. Balester had posted a $500 bond to bring his “war bride” to the States. She arrived in November, and a week later the two were married. They had five children, and remain married to this day. ~ Submitted by daughter, Valerie Balester
Roland Behn
Able SeamanC/JX 318962
H.M.S. Ulster, Royal Navy
Defence Medal, the 1939-45 War Medal, and the 1939-45 Star
At the outbreak of the Second World War, Roland Behn joined the Peldon Detachment of the Home Guard, as soon as it was formed. Roland volunteered for the Royal Navy in December 1941 and reported for duty on 12th January 1942. He started his career at H.M.S. Ganges, the shore training establishment in Suffolk. On the 27th March 1942, he joined H.M.S. Pembroke, which was the Chatham shore base. On 11th June 1942, he was transferred to the base ship, H.M.S. Baldur. She converted to a rescue ship in 1943 after Roland had left her. In May 1943 he rejoined H.M.S. Pembroke to await a new ship. This was H.M.S. Ulster. He joined H.M.S. Ulster 21st June 1943.
H.M.S. Ulster was a 1710 ton destroyer built by Messrs. Swan Hunter and completed 30th June 1943. On completion she was allocated to the Home Fleet and proceeded to Scapa Flow to work up. On 27th July, she left Scapa Flow in company with the Battleship H.M.S. Duke of York and other ships for Operation "Governor", a diversionary operation by the Home Fleet, designed to increase the "War of Nerves" against Germany and to pin down forces in Norway, before launching the invasion of Sicily.
On the 16th August 1943, the Ulster left Scapa Flow for Skaalsfjord for Operation "SF" - a routine anti- U-boat patrol between Iceland and the Faeroes. At the beginning of September, she was temporarily detached to the Plymouth Command. She left Plymouth on the 18th September for the Biscay patrol. On the 4th October, H.M.S. Ulster was operating, as part of Force "X" along with H.M.S. Wensleydale, Limbourne (with the Senior Officer), Tanatside, and Grenville. On the night of 3rd October "X" Force was engaged in operation "Tunnel" at 270 degrees 10 miles from the island of Triagoz, off the coast of Brittany.
At 0100 hours they obtained radar contact with a force of 4 or 5 Elbing class German destroyers, who were to the South and steaming westerly. Force "X" illuminated with searchlights the German Ships and opened fire at a range of 7500 yards. The Germans promptly turned East and fled for home, splitting into two groups. H.M.S. Grenville & H.M.S. Ulster chased the two Germans steaming in the Northern group and hit both causing fires. H.M.S. Grenville was herself hit and set on fire early in the action and dropped astern to join H.M.S. Limbourne. H.M.S. Ulster continued the chase eastward until she also was hit.
H.M.S Ulster returned to Plymouth independently, having fired all her torpedoes and in view of electrical damage.
The southern group of enemy, engaged by the Hunts (the other destroyers were Hunt Class Destroyers) outdistanced them and got away, though a number of hits on them were seen. Force "X" then reformed, searched westward for about 15 miles and then returned to Plymouth. There was some evidence that E-boats may also have been present.
6 February 1923 - 4 October 1943
Roland is commemorated at Plymouth (Weston Mill) Cemetery. Commonwealth War Grave 18050 .
Adolf Burg
Csl. samostatné brigády v SSSR (The Czechoslovak Brigade)Adolf Burg escaped 1939 through Poland and the Ukraine and was hidden in a Romanian village. But he was betrayed because he was a Jew. By SS he was put in a concentration camp near Czernovitz. His death was extremly near. But in a night he took a possibility to escape crossing a river into Soviet area, in this way he survived. He joined the Czechoslovak Independent Brigade in East Europe to fight against nazi-occupation, later he fought in the Csl. Samostatne Brigady v sssr of General Ludvík Svoboda and Lt. Col. Karel Klapálek.
by Mario Daniel Burg (son)
Homer L. Braddock
Master Sergeant, US Army544th Transportation Company
Homer Braddock was born in Arkansas and moved to Michigan in 1935. Braddock landed at Normandy and earned five battle stars. He is currently a member of the VBOB and VFW in Corunna, Michigan. His company commander made a visit to our farm here in Michigan two years ago. As his nephew, I went on the 60th Anniversary trip to Belgium in 2004 and walked in his footsteps. In the Village of Sprimont, Belgium, I met a 66 and 68 year old man and woman, respectively, who then were only six and eight. I have photos of the 544th in Sprimont and pictures of Uncle Homer and men in his company being awarded medals for the Ardennes Campaign. Capt. Lipcon told of the German captured trying to drive a Jeep loaded with explosives into US lines. They executed him the next day. Submitted by nephew, Gary Higgins.