ARCOLA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
Amazing ARCOLA, ILLINOIS

U.S. Navy Veterans

U.S. Navy Electrician's Mate 3rd Class Charles Darling Brown

Charles Darling Brown was killed during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. His remains were identified in 2017 and will be interred in the Arcola Township Cemetery on Saturday, April 20, 2024. Mattoon Journal-Gazette article.

Those Arcola High School students or graduates who served in the U.S. Navy are:
Allen, Neal Anderson, Larry R. Bergfield, Lloyd E. Bergfield, Lowell E. Blackwell, Sr., Samuel M.
Boland, Bernard R. Bright, Bobby G. Bright, Donald Ray Brooks, Frank Marion Brown, Charles Darling
Clark, James Emanuael Clark, M. Dale Cox, Edmund Earl Daugherty, Charles R. "Bob" Daugherty, Roger
Davis, Charles F. Douglas, Glen E. Edwards, Lloyd V. Ernst, Joseph William Fitzgerald, Clifford
Frantz, Donald W. Bouck, H. G. Gamble, Walter E. Ghere, Harry Walter Ghere, Roy Donald "Don"
Gibson, Wayne Allen Good, Jimmy L. Goodwin, Homer Harrington, Tom Harris, Floyd
Holterman, Raymond R. Honn, James B. Hudson, Clinton Lee Hull, Dale W. Jones, Fred C.
Kerns, William "Billy" Knaus, Terry Love, Archie F. "Dick" Lytle, Jr., Harry E. McClanahan, Paul
McCollum, Jerry McHatton, Carl Miller, Donald G. Moore, Albert Moore, Jr., Robert E. "Bob"
Murphy, Jr., Floyd "Bud" Pullen, Harvey Pullen, Robert H. "Popeye" Rayburn, Loyal Reinheimer, Harold Ray
Rollings, Larry Burton Rollings, William Lloyd "Bill" Saunders, Greg Shields, Benjamin T. Shields, Fred
Steproe, Gerald "Jerry" Stortzum, Robert Thornhill, Bill E. Tolin, Frank Tolin, Jesse L.
Trout, Jr., Dale Vandeveer, David Vandiver, Cleo Vogel, Leon L. Walker, Franklin J.
Walley, Harold Virgil
Fred C. Jones Arcola High School
Graduated 1910
Service
World War I
Mechanic
Edmund Earl Cox
30 Aug 1895 - 21 Jun 1950 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1914
Service
World War I
Rank
Yeoman 3rd Class

Bernard R. Boland
12 Oct 1897 - 11 Feb 1971 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1915
Service
World War I
Rank
Seaman 1st Class
Floyd Harris
1895 - 1944 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1916
Service
World War I - 1917-1919
Transport Service
Harry Walter Ghere
1896 - 1979 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1917
Service
World War I
Homer Goodwin Arcola High School
Graduated 1917
Service
World War I
Archie F. "Dick" Love
1895 - 1990 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1917
Service
World War I
Loyal Rayburn
1 Nov 1896 - 22 Jul 1917 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1917
Service
World War I
CO. C. 2. Hospital Corps
Samuel M. Blackwell, Sr.
28 Dec 1908 - 8 Apr 1984 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1928
Service
Enlisted May 1942
Naval Training School, Memphis, TN
Rank
Chief Petty Officer
Frank Marion Brooks Arcola High School
Graduated 1925
Service
U.S.S. Colorado
Died in Veterans Hospital at Dwight, IL on 23 November 1943
Rank
Musician 1st Class - Coronet

Roger Daugherty 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1927
Raymond R. Holterman
19 Aug 1910 - 22 Nov 1995 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1928
Rank
Ship's Cook 1st Class

Harvey Pullen
15 Sept 1912 - 27 May 1979 		Arcola High School
1926-1929
Service
World War II - 1943-1946
U.S.S. Scott (DE 214) - Norfolk, VA
Bermuda, West Indies, Europe, North Africa, Middle East
Rank
Machinist Mate 2nd Class

Upon discharge, awarded $19.08 in Separation Pay & $9.40 in Travel Pay

James Emanuael Clark
20 Dec 1913 - 		Arcola High School
1928 -1931
Service
World War II - 1943-1946
U. S. Naval Training Center, Great Lakes, IL; Phib Tra Base Solomon Islands - USS LCI (L) 777; R.B. Portland, Oregon
Rank
Signalman 3rd Class
Medals
Victory Medal; American Area; Asiatic Pacific Medal, 1 Star; Philippine Liberation, 1 Star
Walter E. Gamble
2 Mar 1916 - 3 Aug 1974 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1934
Rank
Commissaryman Petty Officer 2nd Class

Donald Ray Bright 		Arcola High School
1933-1936
Service
Inducted April 9, 1942
Pacific
Killed in Action - buried at Sea
Rank
Aviation Radioman 3rd Class
Charles Darling Brown
4 May 1919 - 7 Dec 1941 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1936
Service
Killed in Action Dec. 7, 1941 aboard the U.S.S. West Virginia at Pearl Harbor
Rank
Electrician's Mate 3rd Class
Leon L. Vogel Arcola High School
Graduated 1936
Rank
Seaman 1st Class
Tom Harrington Arcola High School
Graduated 1937
Service
Great Lakes Naval Station, IL; North Atlantic

Harry E. Lytle, Jr. 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1937
Service
Enlisted September 9, 1937
Pearl Harbor, HI; Tampa, FL Rank
2nd Machine Mechanic

First man from Arcola to enlist and serve during WW II in the Navy

William Lloyd "Bill" Rollings
(with Thena)
10 Sep 1919 - 11 Jul 1997 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1937
Service
Inducted 6 Jan 1942
1941 - 1945
Rank
Aviation Chief Machinist Mate

Franklin J. Walker
11 Feb 1920 - 13 May 1994 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1937
Service
World War II
Rank
Aviation Machinist's Mate Petty Officer 2nd Class

Roy Donald "Don" Ghere 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1938
Service
Inducted 13 March 1942
1942-1945
U.S.S. Riddle (DE-185) - Destroyer Escort
Rank
Chief Petty Officer
Medals
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, American Campaign Medal, Philippine Liberation Medal, Good Conduct Medal

Carl McHatton 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1938
Service
Norfolk, VA; Cuba; Brazil; Jamaica
Rank
Aviation Machinists Mate 2nd Class

Robert H. "Popeye" Pullen
31 Jul 1919 - 31 Aug 1943 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1938
Service
1940-1943
U.S.S. Houston - crane operator & battle station leader-heavy shells
Naval battles at Flores Island, Java Sea & Sunda Straits
U.S.S. Houston sunk during the Battle of Sunda Strait (1942)
Taken prisoner by the Japanese
Killed in action August 31, 1943 - Japanese 100 Kilo POW camp, Burma
Rank
Seaman - 1st Class
Medals (Posthumously)
Purple Heart, Bronze Star, Prisoner of War Medal, American Defense Service Medal, Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal, Victory Medal World War II, Philippine Defense Medal, U.S. Presidential Unit Citation Ribbon, Philippine Presidential Unit Citation Ribbon

Of the 1,061 crew members, only 365 survived. "Popeye" was taken prisoner by the Japanese and he and the other prisoners were sent from Singapore to Burma where they worked on the Burma Thailand Railroad. In June 1943 at 100 Kilo Camp about 50 miles south of Moulmein, Burma, he suffered his leg injury that developed into a "tropical ulcer." The ulcer grew and became infected. He died 31 August 1943.

Ghere/Pullen/Reinheimer VFW Post #7862 named in his memory

Harold Ray Reinheimer
8 Sep 1921 - 27 Jun 1944 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1939
Service
Inducted - 8 April 1942
Killed in Action - 27 June 1944 during the invasion of Saipan
Rank
Pharmacist's Mate Second Class
Medals
Posthumously: Bronze Medal, Bronze Star

His father was Walter Reinheimer who whistled constantly. He never whistled again after his son was killed.

Ghere/Pullen/Reinheimer VFW Post #7862 named in his memory

Harold Virgil Walley 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1939
Service
Inducted 11 May 1940
Cuba

Paul McClanahan 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1940
Service
USS Texas
Dale W. Hull Arcola High School
Faculty 1942
Service
Naval Reserves
Rank
Ensign

Hull had been teaching agriculture at Arcola High School and went to Princeton, New Jersey to begin a 60-day indoctrination course as Ensign in the U.S. Naval Reserves. Before he left town, he was given an identification bracelet with the U.S.N. insignia on the top and the inscription "Arcola F.F.A." on the back. He had a wife and daughter, Beth, at the time.

He had spent 22 months of his navy career aboard a fleet minesweeper assigned to the Pacific. His ship was the first to enter Leyte Gulf during the invasion of the Philippines and the third to enter Tokyo Bay in advance of the battleship Missouri aboard which the official Japanese surrender document was signed.

After the war, Dale W. Hull received the assignment of teaching sixty Douglas County ex-servicemen the technical side of faming under the Veterans Administration vocational on-the-job training program.
Frank Tolin
24 Jun 1924 - 		Arcola High School
Service
27 Nov 1939 - 11 Dec 1959
USS Hornet
Cleo Vandiver Arcola High School
1939-1942
Service
Enlisted 12 Mar 1942

Donald W. Frantz
26 Jun 1923 - 8 October 2020 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1942
Service
U.S. Navy
1943-1946

William "Billy" Kerns 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1942
Service
Signal School at University of Chicago

Albert Moore 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1942
Service
Anzio; Mediterranean
Rank
Yeoman 2nd Class

Dale Trout, Jr. 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1942
Rank
Seaman 1st Class
H. G. Bouck Arcola High School
1940-1943
Service
Inducted July 1, 1943
Stationed in Alaska
Rank
Ensign

Joseph William Ernst
23 Jan 1924 - 1 Mar 2015 		Arcola High School
1939-1942
Service
1942-1947
Great Lakes Training Station, IL; USS Kaplan; USS Audacious; USS Sachem; USS Caney; USS Cavalier
Participated in a suicide mission on 6 June 1944 - D-DAY - in which he and his fellow sailors scuttled his ship, the USS Audacious, to act as a breaker for the incoming invasion forces
Rank
Coxswain
Medals
American Campaign Medal, China Service Medal, Navy Occupation Service Medal, WW II Victory Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, Navy Good Conduct Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with Bronze Star, Navy Occupation Service Medal with Asia Clasp, Combat Action Ribbon

In July 2009 the Consul General of France in Chicago, Illinois awarded him the National Order of the Legion of Honor, the highest honor given by France, for his service on D-Day and the liberation of France from Nazi rule.

Lowell E. Bergfield
17 Jul 1925 - 28 Nov 2009 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1943
Service
World War II

Jesse L. Tolin
29 Nov 1929 - 11 Nov 1998 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1943
Service
Enlisted 16 Nov 1942
San Diego, CA
Rank
Seaman 1st Class
Clinton Lee Hudson
1 Sept 1923 - 30 Jan 1954 		Arcola High School
1940-1944
Service
World War II
Rank
Ship's Cook 2nd Class

Bobby G. Bright 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1944
Service
1944-1946
Great Lakes Naval Station, IL; Charleston, SC; South Pacific; Okinawa
Rank
Machinist Mate 2/C

Charles R. "Bob" Daugherty
1926 - 1979 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1944
Service
World War II
Rank
Photographer's Mate Petty Officer 2nd Class

James B. Honn
1 Nov 1925 - 14 Jul 2015 		Arcola High School
1941-1944
Service
1944-1946
Aviator-Radioman
Rank
Petty Officer 3rd Class

Floyd "Bud" Murphy, Jr.
1926 - 1977 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1944
Rank
Fireman 1st Class

Lloyd E. Bergfield
21 Sept 1927 - 20 Sept 2020 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1945
Service
World War II
Charles F. Davis
25 Sept 1927 - 8 April 1993 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1945
Service
World War II
Rank
Yeoman 3rd Class
Clifford Fitzgerald Arcola High School
Graduated 1945
Service
World War II
Rank
Seaman 2nd Class

Lloyd V. Edwards
25 May 1929 - 5 Aug 2010 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1945
Service
Korean War
Rank
Hospital Corpsman 2nd class (HM2)

M. Dale Clark
17 Jul 1929 - 4 Oct 1987 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1948
Rank
Aviation Machinist's Mate Airman Apprentice

Wayne Allen Gibson
26 Aug 1932 - 24 Oct 2000 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1950
Service
Korean War

Benjamin T. Shields
9 Apr 1932 - 30 Apr 1991 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1950
Service
Korean War
1951-1954
Rank
Electrician's Mate 3rd Class

Donald G. Miller
27 Aug 1933 - 7 Oct 1997 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1952
Service
Korean War
Rank
Yeoman Petty Officer 3rd Class

David Vandeveer 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1952

Glen E. Douglas 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1955
Service
27 July 1955 - 8 July 1958
Personnel Man School, Bainbridge, MD; Naval Supply School, Newport, RI; U.S.S. Salem (CA-139), 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean Sea
The U.S.S. Salem served as the flagship for the Commander of the U.S. Sixth Fleet Vice-Admiral Charles Randall “Cat” Brown.
Rank
Personnelman Petty Officer 2nd Class

While serving on the U.S.S. Salem he had the privilege of seeing President and Mrs. Harry Truman, Princess Grace, and the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Arleigh Burke.
Gerald "Jerry" Steproe Arcola High School
1953-1956
Service
2 Nov 1956 - 26 Oct 1960
Europe and the Mediterranean
Rank
Machinist's Mate 3rd Class
Medals
Good Conduct
Larry R. Anderson
30 Dec 1939 - 19 Jan 2011 		Arcola High School
1954-1957
Rank
Boiler Technician Petty Officer 2nd Class

Jim Binford 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1959

Fred Shields 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1960
Service
Great Lakes, IL; Long Beach, CA

Glenn Rogers
5 May 1943 - 20 Aug 2020 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1961
Service
1961 - 1965

Neal Allen 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1962
Service
Korea
Rank
Yeoman

Larry Burton Rollings
29 Oct 1945 - 19 Sept 2011 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1963
Service
August 1968 – April 1972
Pensacola, FL; Morocco; Okinawa
Copied Morse Code (Highest clearance)
Rank
Communications Technician Petty Officer 2ND Class (CT2)
Medals
Naval Sailor of the Month in Okinawa

Greg Saunders 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1963
Service
1968-1972
Fleet Intelligence in the Pacific
Rank
Communications Technician Three
Medals
National Defense Medal

Jerry McCollum 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1964
Service
1964 - 1972
U.S. Voge (DE 1047); U.S. Naval Station, Newport, RI (1966 - 1968)
Rank
Radioman 2nd class

Bill E. Thornhill 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1964
Service
Great Lakes Recruit Training Command, IL; US Naval Hospital, Charleston SC; "D" Co. 2nd Marine Division Camp Lejeune, NC; "E" Battery 1st Marine Division Viet Nam, 67-68
Rank
Hospital Corpsman 2nd class-E5

Robert Stortzum
7 Aug 1947 - 11 Feb 2016 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1965
Service - U.S. Army
1968 - 1969
Viet Nam - 2d Battalion, 7th Cavalry
Medals - U.S. Army
Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster with “V” Device for valor in battle near Khe Sahn, Purple Heart
Service - U.S. Navy
1970 - 2005
Rank - U.S. Navy
Master Chief Petty Officer (E-9)

Terry Knaus
6 Apr 1948 - 12 May 2018 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1966
Service
1967 - 1971
Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 74 (Seebees)
2 Tours in Viet Nam
Rank
Equipment Operator Petty Officer 3rd Class (EO3)

Jimmy L. Good 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1970
Service
Vietnam - USS America July 1972-February 1973
Rank
Petty Officer Third Class (PR3)

Robert E. "Bob" Moore, Jr. 		Arcola High School
Graduated 1976
Service
1976-1980
Great Lakes, IL; Charleston, S.C.; Gaeta, Italy
USS Orion (AS-18), USS Albany (CG-10)
Rank
Petty Officer Third Class (E4)
Questions/Comments to arcolaalumni@yahoo.com
Last Revision April 19, 2024