Bridgeport Men in WWII

News of Boys in Service October 15, 1942 Bridgeport Leader

Word has been received of the change of address of Junior Chapman. He enlisted in the Air Forces in January 1942 and is now rated as a staff sergeant, taking an aerial engineering course after graduating from a course in machine gunner school and special instruction in mechanics. His address is S Sgt. G.0. Chapman, 21st Bomb Group, 315 Bomb Sqd., Macdill Field, Tampa, Florida.

Lieut. E. R. Mayfield, son of Mr. and Mrs. O .N. Mayfield of this city, has been confined to the hospital with lead poisoning. His address is Lieut. R. Mayfield, Special Service Officer, 68thCoast Artillery (AA) Fort Dix, New Jersey.

Private Barton W. Osborn, nephew of Mr. and Mrs. B.R. Lewis and former resident of this city has a change of address from Camp Quaide, California to the following: Private Barton W. Osborn, Battery C 265th CA (A D) Fort Taylor, Key West, Florida.

Merrill R. Sanders, son of Mr. and Mrs. Earl Sanders, of Bridgeport Route 1, has been promoted to Staff Sergeant. He is serving as a mechanic in the armed forces in Australia. His address is S/Sgt. Merrill R. Sanders 6915630 3rd Mat. Sq. A P O 931, C/O Postmaster – San Francisco, California.

“Hitting the deck”, Navy lingo for getting on the job was the first expression the two Bridgeport, Illinois men who reported to the US Naval Training Station at Great Lakes last week, learned on beginning their recruit training. Now classified as ‘boots’, these men are receiving instructions in military drill, seamanship, and naval procedure, plus vigorous, toughening under the Navy’s hardening program. Upon completion of this training, the men graduate from ‘boots’ and become ‘blue jackets,’ and at that time are granted a nine-day leave. In returning from their leaves, these men will either be retained for specialized training at one of the Navy’s many service schools, or assigned to duty aboard a Man-o’-War or some other shore station. These Bridgeport men are: Forrest R. Smith son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Smith and Henry A. Gilliatt, Jr, age 21, son of Mr. and Mrs. Henry A. Gilliatt, Sr.