Relatives of Deceased WWII Veteran Sought...and Found
Cath, now 81-years-old, contacted the Fond du Lac Reporter with her story, through her cousin, Barry Sherwin. She's looking for any living family members of Melvin, so that she can return some photos and mementoes she has from that special summer when they were both 19. I couldn't help doing a bit of "sleuthing" when I saw the story and discovered that Melvin was from a large family. Unfortunately, all of his brothers and sisters are now deceased, but there are some nieces and nephews still living in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, who are now looking forward to hearing from Cath Moorley.
I spoke with Cath Moorely by phone today, and she is such a wonderful, sweet lady. She spoke with great fondness of her short summer with Melvin. She was a civilian working in the Women's Land Army and their hostel backed on to the field of the Bassingbourn aerodrome where the 91st BG's B17 fortresses were stationed (it's famous as the base of the B-17 Memphis Belle). She met Melvin, who she described as "a lovely boy," at the dances held for the soldiers. She plans to write to his family and send them some photographs of him in his uniform, along with a bracelet he made, some wings, and other mementoes.
Comments
How lovely and sad.
Definitely sad. It makes me that much more grateful that my grandparents similar WWII story had a happy ending – at least for a while (my grandfather died of cancer at the age of 47).
My father John Frederick Werner was the Bombardiar on Sherries Cherries on Nov 2nd 1944 SHOT DOWN ON THE mERSBURG RUN, i HAVE HIS LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT AS HE DESCIBED THIS AS A DEATH CREW. HE SURVIVED. MAIL ME
Hello Alf! We’ve had the pleasure of contacting each other in the past.
My Uncle was Theodore (Teddy) Knapp on “Sherrys Cherries” he was a gunner in the waist with Claude Harper. I actually had the pleasure of speaking with Mr. Harper on the phone. He told me “they flew Sherrys Cherries but once, the 24th mission… They flew most of there missions in the “Mary Lou”
MARY LOU
42-97504 B-17G
91/323 OR-P
I have the whole crew on the National WW2 Memorial site. http://wwiimemorial.com Try a search for the crew members in the registry. I have pictures of the crew while training in Alexandria, La. But no others. It would be complete if I could get pictures of them in the Registry.
My husband is Claude Harper’s grandson. Grandpoppy did write down his story/experience of being shot down for us (somewhat). Any info any of you can share would be appreciated! Thanks!
My father was a bombadier on Sherrys Cherries and named me after his plane. Richard Cusson
I would love to get any stories I could from this group as he died at 39 yrs old when I was only 8 and missed out on these stories.