Everett Alumni Serving in WWII

 

Everett Teacher John Zielinski recently made an exciting find.  He came across a large number of photos of Everett Alumni who had served in WWII.  Apparently, it was common for those serving to send their military photo back to their high school.  To honor those that have served, I will be scanning the photos and placing them in this section for recognition.  I do apologize if any of the names are spelled incorrectly.  The photos are old and the handwriting can be difficult.  If you have corrections, please feel free to email me (there is an envelope icon at the bottom at the page which will connect to my email).

Teacher John Zielinski provided me with this narrative to explain the photos.  It’s really informative.  Thank you John for your continued interest in keeping Everett history alive.

EVERETT HIGH SCHOOL

World War Two Alumni Photographs

6 October 2016

John Zielinski, Social Studies Teacher

Hello Laurena and Everett Alumni

I am so pleased that Laurena has scanned and published those Everett World War Two alumni photographs for her website.  It is amazing that those pictures have finally found a home after over 70 years of floating around both Everett buildings.  What a very interesting time capsule they provide for Everett High School history.  This is the generation of your parents.

Apparently it was a custom that former Everett students sent their military photographs back to Everett as they prepared for war.  I am unclear whether this was a universal custom for all military personnel from all United States high schools.  I have never heard of this before I came across this batch of photos.

My Everett studies began in August, 1996, when Dale Glynn hired me as a teacher.  That was the first of his ten years as Everett building principal.  I came in prepared that I would do something school-wide in observances of Veterans Day and Memorial Day.  My programs lasted 20 years, but I have recently retired them.  Nothing lasts forever, and it was time to put them away.  My programs morphed into my Everett historical studies.  I am the last of the Everett High School historians, so it is important that we preserve my narratives for the future.  That is why I am so happy to have met Laurena.

So these pictures bounced around two buildings until I came across them while poking through the counter drawers in the Everett main office, in circa year 2002.  I removed them and put them in storage in the wall locker of my classroom for roughly many years.  I always meant to do something with them, but my technological skills are relatively non-existent.    Then, I lost touch of them for a few years as my classrooms were changed multiple times.  Yes, I finally had it out with Everett Administration about moving me every year.  Currently, I am in my eleventh year in room 311.

It so happened that my partner, Dave Schaberg (Everett 1968), had stored them in his house for a few years.  I am so glad he had them.  It used to make me stomach-sick that I had “lost” them.  Dave gave them back to me to do nothing with them for a little while longer; before I came across this website.  Laurena took them from me last month and began retracing this valuable Everett archive for all to browse.

In the Fall, 1971, Paul Powers dedicated the Everett High School Memorial Plaque.  It contains the names of 23 Everett alumni who died or were killed during their military service.  It still stands just inside the main entrance of the school.  During my Everett experience, I used that plaque (and those names), as the basis for all of my research.  I would have still worked my programs, but Paul’s dedication made so much possible.  It steered me in directions I might not have traversed otherwise.  I inducted Paul posthumously into the Everett Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame in 2003 or 2004 (I cannot quite remember which year, but it was at one of our 911 Ceremonies).  Interestingly, the only person who knew anything about that Memorial plaque was Ken Wilson, former head custodian at Everett.  None of the rest of my colleagues knew anything about it, and they knew all other things about Everett.  Perhaps   it was a sign of the times that this plaque dedication was not a school-wide function.

Twelve of those men are listed upon the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which was dedicated in Washington DC eleven years after our Memorial was dedicated.  Three of our men (Randy Twichell, Jeffrey Campbell and Robert Pangle), died while on active duty during the Vietnam Era.  This important information is detailed elsewhere in Laurena’s website, and we will get back to them on another occasion.  You can search for information about your 12 fallen classmates at vvmf.org.  That is the official website of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.  You must hit the .org to get directly to this website; otherwise you get thousands of hits.  It is fascinating browsing.

I believe that the other eight names from the Everett Memorial Plaque are those who perished during the Second World War.  Their names are Kenneth Baumer, Andrew Clark Jr., Duane Gould, Rolland Heintzelman, James Marrs, Donald Muir, Robert Skinner, and Jack Turner.  Donald Muir and James Marrs submitted military photos to Everett before they met their destinies, and they are pictured in Laurena’s photo gallery.  I have never seen photos of the other six men.  Hopefully, we may someday be able to attach faces to their names.  The difficulty is that their remaining living classmates and friends are all in their nineties.

Dave was able to trace a few of these men back to the 1940 Census records which were released a couple of years ago by our federal government.  It was very interesting reading about their families and viewing where they lived while in our south Lansing community while attending Everett High School.  I do not, however, still possess those paper copies.

I did come across a document from the summer, 1944, from American Legion Post 12, which listed that Donald Muir and Jack Turner were killed within eight days of one another  earlier that summer.  Post 12 was trying to offer some support to those gold star families.  Unfortunately, I lost my copy of this memorandum.

My (our) friend, Ted Bauer, turned seventeen years of age on the original Pearl Harbor Day.  He is still healthy and active.  He fought in Burma during the war, and commanded a howitzer battery.  His mule was number 1696.  Ted contracted malaria during this time, and has been afflicted periodically with bouts from this terrible disease for the rest of his life.  Perhaps he would submit his military photo as part of this folder.  It would also be interesting to discover if any other former Everett faculty or staff fought during this war.

John Christopher Zielinski

Everett Teacher