Kearney Chamber of Commerce executive director Stacie Bratcher will serve as Master of Ceremonies and Sheriff Will Akin will be the keynote speaker.
As a tribute to these fallen heroes, KPGZ News will publish biographies of the soldiers as provided by Rich Kolb of the Kearney-Holt Fallen Warriors Memorial.
E. Howard Porter
Birthplace and date: Platte County, MO
Home of record: Smithville/Paradise
E. Howard grew up on a farm one mile from Paradise. He attended school in Smithville, yet maintained close ties to Paradise, becoming a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows there, for example. Early in the war, Howard worked for Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corp. in San Diego, Calif.
Although not required to serve because of his age and occupation, he nonetheless joined the service out of a sense of obligation after a close friend from Smithville was killed over the English Channel. He enlisted on Sept. 16, 1943, trained in St. Joseph, Mo., and was sent overseas in January 1944 to the China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater.
As a C-46 pilot with the Air Transport Command (ATC), he ferried supplies over the Himalaya Mountains into China. Stationed at Calcutta in the Assam Valley of India, his outfit, Station No. 2, 1325th Base Unit, flew from Chabua Airfield. After only a couple of months of overseas duty, he lost his life. Upon take-off from Kunming, China, he and his co-pilot were killed when Chinese civilians overloaded the back of the plane, causing it to crash. Flying the “Hump” was extremely hazardous: the ATC lost 328 planes in crashes, killing 1,314 crew members and losing 345 missing. The ATC in the CBI was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation on Jan. 29, 1944 – the first non-combat outfit earning this prestigious honor. The Chinese-erected Kuming Monument pays tribute to all the Hump crews who perished.
Porter was initially buried in China, then his remains were removed to the Punchbowl in Hawaii, and finally returned home in 1947. He left behind a wife, Virginia, and a 1-year-old daughter, Claudia, in San Diego. His second daughter was born on Victory-Japan Day in August 1945. His parents, two sisters and younger brother still resided in Missouri then. Brother Mac Porter is a long-time, prominent resident of Kearney.
Robert E Seuell
Birthplace and date: Paradise, March 24, 1921
Home of record: Holt, Clay County
Robert was single and a clerk when he enlisted on Jan. 17, 1942, at Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis. He had a brother, Maurice. Trained as a tail gunner on a B-29 bomber, he was in the Army Air Forces for one year and nine months before his untimely death at Blythe Army Air Base in Riverside, California.
The Army Air Forces used the airfield there as a heavy bombardment crew training base for the 2nd Air Force’s 16th Bombardment Training Wing. The 34th Bombardment Group was assigned there on Dec. 15, 1942. The mission of the training school was to prepare combat air crews for shipment overseas. It was that duty that claimed Seuell’s life on Oct. 4, 1943. Aircraft training took a horrendous toll in lives during WWII. At Blythe alone, 126 airmen were killed in accidents.
The memorial in Jesse James Park will serve as a permanent site of remembrance, a focal point for Memorial and Veterans Day activities. Remembering the names and lives of those who gave all is a sacred obligation, and today all three communities can be proud that this debt has been symbolically paid in full.
Brian Watts contributed to this story.
