On This Day In Family History

…My father and uncle joined the American military

One day following December 7th, 1941 —now infamously known as Pearl Harbor Day—my father Artie ‘Jack’ Cotner and his younger brother Bill (pictured above) did what so many Americans did, they enlisted in the U. S. military to fight in World War II against the Axis powers of Germany, Japan and Italy. Their other brother, my uncle Mitchell, was not eligible for military service because of his employment on the railroad—a necessary element of the war effort. My uncle Bill was a Navy man and found himself stationed in the Aleutians and my father--Army Air Corps--went off to eventually serve two years in the Pacific Theater stationed in Australia, fighting in the Coral Sea Battle and others before spending two more years in Europe, stationed in Great Britain as part of the enormous and deadly D-Day Invasion.

Veterans Day 2009

Here’s a picture of my father, Artie ‘Jack’ Cotner, U.S. Army Air Corps, taken in London, England just days before the D-Day Allied Invasion of Continental Europe. He and his flight crew led by Colonel McCloud in their B-26 Marauder, named “Dee-Feater” (in honor of Colonel McCloud’s wife, Dee). The crew logged more than 66 missions over the European Theater. On D-Day, the crew was seventeen minutes out ahead of the actually invasion force bombing key coastal targets along the French coast. The Dee-Feater, with its prominent white ‘invasion striped’ wings, is one of the planes often seen in the World War II film footage of the D-Day Invasion.

A salute to all Veterans this day for their service and sacrifice.