Rex Clyde Barber Rex Barber entered the military four days before the attack on Pearl Harbor and served in WWII from December 1941 to February 1946. He spent the first part of the war in England. He then was sent to officers candidates school in Florida. He graduated with the rank of second lieutenant and spent the second half of his time in the war in China. Rex was in the first bomb group stationed in England. Their bomb group had the longest tour there. Rex got to substitute as a waist gunner on a couple of missions and was quite proud of that. At one point, during his tour of duty in England, Clark Gable was in the same group. Rex felt close to this group and has been to many reunions with them. They once had a reunion in England, which Rex enjoyed very much. In the early 1950s, a story came out in Reader's Digest about the pilot who was responsible for shooting down Yamamoto. It came out that the person responsible was Lieutenant Rex Barber. Everyone in town thought it was their Rex Barber. But even though they had the same name, rank and were both stationed in China, they weren't the same man. The Rex Barber who shot down Yamamoto was a pilot, while this Rex Barber wasn't though at one time he wanted to be. After the article and stories appeared, some of his friends in town told Rex jokingly that he was just being modest. Submitted by Delsa Barber, wife Glen Ririe Barlow Navigator Training School Glen Barlow rose to the rank of captain in the Air Force. He served in England and was attached to the 9th Air Force as a navigator on a C-47 troop carrier. Robert G. Bateman Robert served in the United States Air Force with his entire enlistment time-spent in the United States, including Texas and Colorado. Upon his return from the service, Robert attended Weber College in 1947 and 1948. He has always been grateful for his time spent at Weber College and feels that this was definitely the foundation for his lifelong career. Delbert J. 'Bus' Bingham 4 After successful operations on D-Day in France in June 1944, we moved to France for further progress in the war efforts. We then moved back to England to prepare for the largest air attacks by gliders of the war and the mission for which I received the air medal and promotion from flight officer to second lieutenant. On September 17, 1944, we began the largest aerial attack of any war ever (before or since) 'Market Garden'. It took some time to become organized in flights to start across the Channel and the North Sea. It was really a feeling of great responsibility to know all the preparation that the Air Force, Army, Marines, Navy and civilians had put into this single operation. We were flying without a copilot and knew that the success of every single unit depended on the ability of each individual to do the work correctly that he had spent so much time training to accomplish. We knew it would take more than luck. I knew that I would need the help of my Father in Heaven, and I had asked for His support, guidance and direction that I might take all our load safely to our destination. He answered my prayers. Many were not so fortunate. Early in the crossing, I observed a British glider break loose from his tow. He was carrying a small tank. When he hit the water, the whole plane went straight under; and although the Navy had many small ships to give aid, it was not possible. Shortly after that, an American glider tow rope came loose. When he landed, they skidded along and would probably have a chance to be picked out of the water. As soon as we hit the coastal areas, enemy guns were encountered and some of our planes were being hit. I was so busy flying (we were on double tow) to keep in position, my thoughts were strictly on flying, not too concerned about taking a hit. We were continuously flying at low levels and being good targets for small arms fire, as well as for the antiaircraft guns that were in place periodically all along our route to Holland. Paratroopers were dropped a few hours earlier to supposedly control our landing area. But when you attack behind the front lines, anything is possible, and the paratroopers had no control of all they planned. My base leg for landing was occupied by German infantry men, and we were getting a lot of small arms fire. I knew our best chance would come after we were on the ground. I therefore pointed the nose down to gain speed and went into my approach leg very fast and pulled on my parachute arrester to slow me down for when we touched ground. The landing surface reminded me of a sugar beet patch and was rough, but I could control the glider; and we made a safe landing. We were in range of German mortar fire which was coming at us while we were unloading our jeep and preparing to get to the prearranged gathering area so we could fly as a unit as planned. We were able to get organized and dig our foxholes for the protection we would need to help attain our goals. When night time came, we were not very knowledgeable of the success we were making. We only knew that we had to keep alert at all times and be ready for anything. It was very unnerving to hear the movement of tanks in the night and not be able to know for certain if they were German or British. We hoped that the British had gotten to Nijmegen as planned with the armored division. Communication should have been better, but that was not always possible. The next day, we knew we were having good success with our objective but things were not going well for the British at Arnhem. The Germans, unknown to our armies, had pulled back and were congregating around Arnhem. Heavy losses were occurring. Glider pilots' assignments were to get back to the home base as soon as possible to make a second flight. So we were working toward that goal when we could. But it all depended on the success of the operation going on. We were taking prisoners and obtaining our objectives very well, and it was decided to send the glider pilots back through Belgium. On the tenth day, we loaded into trucks and started on our way. Many of us gave our weapons to the paratroopers. I was using a Browning machine gun which I gave to a paratrooper. We hadn't gone but a few miles when we were attacked along the road by sniper fire and some in the trucks were hit. We then headed for cover in irrigation ditches along the road and some British tanks in our area were called to give help. The Germans had zeroed in on the area with 88mm cannons and knocked out two of the tanks quickly. We continued on out of the area toward Belgium and the airport to get back to our home base. By early October we were in England still straining for whatever and making supply missions to France or wherever they needed us. We made one mission to the Irish Coast to pick up light aircraft. We took two days to obtain them, flying across Ireland and England and the English Channel delivering to an airbase in France for use as 'artillery spotters' - a job even glider pilots would not enjoy. Several more months of missions and assignments and the war in Europe was completed. We could go home to our loved ones!! I had been well blessed. In the nine days of 'Market Garden', combined losses - airborne and ground forces - in killed, wounded and missing amounted to more than 17,000 (more than the Invasion of Normandy). I have played a lot of athletics in youth for which I have received a lot of attention, but the thing I am 5