John G. 'Jack' Hayes Jack was part of the elite 101st Airborne Division, 506th Infantry about which Stephen Ambrose has written so much. He trained in Ireland and England before the D-Day Invasion June 6, 1944. His first big action was on June 5, 1944, just before midnight on the historic day of the landing at Normandy, France. He was a pathfinder, one who is parachuted in before the rest, in order to light and mark the way for the others to follow. He was among the first 350 men parachuted behind enemy lines. He nearly died on that drop as he landed in a river near Caen, France, and had to remain there nearly submerged in the cold water for about 24 hours because he was dropped in the wrong position. On the banks just above him was a German unit, so he could not emerge from the water. He finally escaped this position and made it to a church, where U.S. forces had medical units stationed. He was treated for shock from being so cold for so many hours. In a couple of days he was sent to the beaches at Normandy to recover bodies of soldiers. There as he was working alongside others, he saw a coworker blown up ... he always said that was traumatic to see. Jack was in the Battle of the Bulge, the famous siege of December 1944. He was wounded after Christmas and sent to a medical unit near Metz, France, to recover. He was hit in the knee and had to have a metal plate put in. He always favored that knee and later in his life became crippled and walked with a bad limp, partially due to that injury. Jack was also at the U.S. victory at the Eagle's Nest, Hitler's retreat, towards the end of the war. His activities during the war were similar to those noted in the Stephen Ambrose book, Band of Brothers, as that was the unit Jack served with. He received the Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster (which means he was wounded more than once); The American Theater of Operations Ribbon, European African Middle Eastern Service Ribbon and a Good Conduct Medal. After the war, Jack returned to Ogden, met and married Marian Tracy, daughter of former Weber College president, Aaron W. Tracy. Jack attended the old lower Weber College campus on Jefferson and 24th Street. He enrolled in the automotive program and later graduated. Jack died October 21, 2001 in Ogden. Dennis W. Hendry Dennis W. Hendry served in the 101st Airborne Division of the Army as a paratrooper. Herbert Miles Hillier Herbert enlisted in the 222nd National Guard Field Artillery Band on February 3, 1941. His unit was inducted into Federal Service - 40th Infantry Division on March 3, 1941. He was elected to attend the OCS (Officer Candidates School) for Artillery in Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. On December 1944, he returned to the Infantry Division on line in Germany during the Battle of the Bulge. In April of 1945, his unit was reassigned to Pacific Operations and was sent to Camp Lucky Strike in France. In November of 1945, the armistice was signed, and he received an honorable discharge at Ft. Douglas, Utah. Asael B. Hyer Asael B. Hyer served in the Army and had the rank of corporal. He was an expert rifleman. He served in four battle campaigns. His honors were the Croix de Guerre, the Bronze Arrowhead and 4 bronze stars. He writes: 'I was in the invasion forces at France on D-Day, June 6, 1944, as part of the 5th Engineer Forces Special Brigade.' Merrill Jenkins 98 Merrill Jenkins served in the Army Tank Corps where he attained the rank of corporal. Many years later, Joseph L. Bishop, President of Weber State College, awarded him the President's Citation. Merrill's family has the first and second Extras published by the Honolulu Star Bulletin newspaper dated December 7, 1941. They also have maps showing the battle route of the 9th Armored Division and the 656 Battalion (which were the Tank Corps) and a German flag. After leaving college, Merrill was called on a L.D.S. mission to the Hawaiian Islands to serve among the Japanese people. When Pearl Harbor was bombed, he was on the big Island of Hawaii. Things really changed at that time. He was then put into Government Service to monitor all calls on the telephone exchange. They were required to patrol the beaches because a submarine had fired on the Hilo coast a couple of times, and they had to do this service until the National Guard could come. It was a difficult time for everyone. He had to stay on his mission three months longer because there was no ship to bring him home. The army was his next call of duty. He reported to Camp Hood, Texas, where he was assigned to the tank corp. He was sent to radio school where he was trained to send and receive the Morse code. He became a radio operator to the top executive officer of the 656 Tank Destroyer Unit and was made a corporal. They were sent to Europe as replacements in the Battle of the Bulge. They fought their way through France, Belgium and were lucky enough to come to the bridge at Remagen on the Rhine River only to find it still intact. The Germans thought they had destroyed it, but it had only been weakened, and they were able to cross. Many lives were saved when they didn't have to fight to 'take' the bridge or build a new one. Continuing on, they were the first ones to meet Russian allies coming from the other direction which was a tank outfit, with mostly women drivers. Merrill was elected to the Utah House of Representatives in 1958 and served until 1962 when he was appointed to the Senate. He served there until 1976. One of the things that was special to him was he was able to help sponsor the bill that changed Weber State College from a two-year college to a four-year college. He worked tirelessly to have the Dee Events Center built where it is now; even though many on the committee wanted it to be built downtown. He always worked tirelessly in his effort to gain funds for the college. In 1965, Senator Jenkins was effective in helping to pass the state's first bonding program that financed numerous new buildings at Weber State College. Submitted by Eleanor Jenkins, wife Emron A. Jensen Emron Jensen was a student at the University of Utah when he received his draft notice and was inducted into the U.S. Army in April of 1944. After the traditional sixteen weeks of basic training at Camp Roberts, California, he was given a two-week leave and then was sent directly overseas through Scotland to the European Theater, landing in Belgium just six months after he was sitting in classes at the university. He was assigned to the 28th Infantry Division, issued a Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) and taken by truck to the Hurtgen Forest, one of the deadliest sectors on the front lines, where his unit was subjected to a heavy artillery barrage their first night on line. Emron survived the devastating combat of the Hurtgen Forest from October to the middle of December when he was granted an R & R in Luxemburg. The R & R was to be short lived, however, because of the German breakthrough in the Ardennes that became known as the Battle of the Bulge. He was quickly issued his combat gear and transported into the midst of the German offensive where his unit was immediately surrounded. After a fierce firefight they were overrun by the German offensive. Under cover of darkness, he hid in a nearby forest where the next morning he discovered 15 other men from his company of 200 who had survived. They quickly analyzed their options to hide and make their way back to the American lines or to openly fight their way back or to surrender. The recent atrocious execution of American POWs by the German SS at Malmedy made surrender unthinkable, and they didn't have the numbers or firepower to fight their way out so they chose to attempt sneaking back to friendly lines, by night. For the next four days, they hid by day and traveled by night, experiencing several close calls of being discovered by the German forces that were clogging the highways with the troops and materiel of their attack. This behind-enemy-lines odyssey included any number of encounters and close encounters with the enemy. One night, while moving through a small valley, they were subjected to enemy fire from the high ground on either side of the valley. They returned fire, but quickly double-timed out of the valley. When they looked back, the Germans were firing at each other across the valley in the darkness of the night. They smiled at their small 'victory' in a large battle. Finally, hungry, cold and exhausted, they found friendly lines, only to discover that they were in Bastogne, a major target of the German offensive and a 99