Our War: WWII

It was a war fought seven decades ago, in the mud and muck of Europe and the strangling jungles of the South Pacific. "Our War: WWII" tells the stories of the metro-east men and women who fought that war, saved the world for democracy, and returned home to live out their lives. See below for their recollections, and click here for a new series of articles, "Our War: Korea."

Joseph Purlee for decades volunteered to fix his neighbors' lawn mowers or appliances, then taught the next generation to repair their own.

Ed Bott never flew in an airplane until the U.S. Army Air Corps drafted him in February 1943.

Ruthie Wehmeyer's been gone for two years, seven months, four days.

When World War II veteran Oscar L. Covarrubias talks to local students about his experiences fighting in the Battle of the Bulge, he tells them how devastating war is and how lucky he and his three brothers were to come home.

Millstadt resident and World War II veteran Herman Pellmann was on guard for America even before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.

Raymond F. "Buddy" Brueggemann Jr. entered the Army Specialized Training Program while a student at Cathedral High School in Belleville. After graduating, in September 1943, he was sent to the University of Wisconsin in Madison. In November 1943, his whole class was washed out and put in the infantry. Buddy then volunteered for the Rangers (comparable to the Philippine Guerillas), and was sent to Fort Benning, Ga., for basic training.

"Got damn it's hot out here," the jokester said. Then Heltzel saw the three gold stars. Gen. George S. Patton Jr. spent much of that day during World War II in Heltzel's machine gun emplacement at the front.

I was drafted in 1942 and sent to Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis.

Bert Watkins turned 18 in February 1943. On his birthday he registered with the draft and asked for a deferment so he could finish his senior year of high school in Bethalto.