WORLD WAR II: BETTER-KNOWN VETERANS

A sampling of veterans of World War II and the e ects the war had on their careers and, in turn, society. Joseph Heller 1923-1999 Joined the Army at age 19 in 1942, served with Army Air Corps in Italy as a B-25 bombardier, ying 60 missions before he was discharged in 1945. Studied English for several years under the GI Bill, obtaining a masters degree from Columbia University in 1949. His signature novel, Catch-22, was published in 1961, eight years after he wrote the rst words. He took a dark, satirical approach in describing the futile e orts of Capt. John Yossarian to avoid ying more combat missions, and how the Air Corps bureaucracy always thwarts him. The book became an anti-war classic. He went on to write six more novels, two autobiographies and several plays and screenplays and lectured extensively on creative writing before his death at age 76. Jeanne Holm 1921-2010 Joined Womens Army Auxiliary Corps in 1942, starting as a truck driver and then attending o cer candidate school to reach the rank of captain before mustering out. After attending college on the GI Bill, she returned to military service in the newly organized Air Force in 1948. She served as a war plans o cer during the Berlin Airlift and the Korean War, and by 1965 was a full colonel and head of the Women in the Air Force. She moved on to other sta and administrative positions where she constantly pressed for equal treatment and more career opportunities for women, becoming the Air Forces rst female general in 1971 and the rst major general in any service two years later. Soon after her retirement in 1975, the Air Force moved to integrate women into most jobs and units. John Chafee 1922-1999 Left Yale University to enlist in Marines in 1942, served as ri eman on Guadalcanal, later promoted to second lieutenant and led a front-line intelligence unit on Okinawa. After completing college and Harvard Law School he joined a Rhode Island law rm, but was recalled to Marine service in Korea in 1951, leading a ri e company. Chafee, part of a politically active clan in his own state, went on to serve as governor and Navy secretary and died near the end of his fourth term as a U.S. senator. A Republican moderate who often ru ed more conservative members of his party with his stances and willingness to compromise with Democrats on issues related to health and environment. He often noted nothing he encountered in political life was as tough as combat with the Marines. Julia Child 1912-2004 She had drifted through various jobs in advertising since graduating from Smith College in 1934, moved to Washington in 1942 hoping to join the womens branch of the Navy, but was deemed too tall at 6 feet 2 inches. She nally found work with the O ce of Strategic Services, precursor to the CIA, becoming an o ce supervisor. Admittedly in search of adventure, she later volunteered for service at stations in Ceylon and China, which collected intelligence from eld agents around Asia. During this time, she met Paul Child, who also worked for the OSS, and they married in 1946. When Paul joined the Foreign Service and was assigned to Paris, Julia went with him and was introduced to ne cuisine. She graduated from one of Frances nest cooking schools, launching a career teaching cooking in classrooms and to millions on television and through books that continued for more than 50 years. Hosea Williams 1926-2000 Enlisted in Army in 1942, served in a segregated weapons carrier unit attached to Pattons Third Army. He rose to the rank of sta sergeant and was severely wounded by a German shell that wiped out the rest of his platoon. He spent a year in a military hospital and was left with a permanent limp from his wounds. On his way home, he was beaten bloody by a group of whites in the Americus, Ga., bus station for trying to take a drink from a whites only fountain. Williams went on to complete high school and with GI bene ts complete a bachelors and masters degree in chemistry. But he also took the organizational skills learned in the army into mobilizing marches and protests for civil rights with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and he held several posts with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He sustained a fractured skull during the bloody Sunday attack on marchers at Selma, Ala., in 1965 that marked a turning point in securing equal voting rights. He held elected o ces from 1974 to 1994. Sumner Redstone 1923A student at Harvard and a member of the Army Reserves, he was among a group of accomplished language students recruited to a nine-month crash course learning Japanese. By 1943, he was part of a top-secret Army code-breaking unit working outside Washington. Messages gleaned from the team and a Navy counterpart in Hawaii gave the U.S. a huge advantage in many campaigns. He often says he learned tenacity from the experience. After the war and law school, Redstone went into the family theater and entertainment business, National Amusements, and continues to serve as chairman. He led the expansion from theaters to majority holdings in CBS, Viacom and a number of other lm, cable and broadcast enterprises.
Compiled by Lee Bowman, Scripps Howard News Service

Sources: O cial Biography of Sen. John Chafee, U.S. Senate; A Covert A air: Julia Child and Paul Child in the OSS by Jennet Conant; International Spy Museum, Washington; The Georgia Encyclopedia, Georgia Humanities Council; U.S. Air Force archives; Veterans History Project, Library of Congress; Museum of Broadcast Communication; Columbia University archives; University of South Carolina Cooper Library; The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw