It’s been 82 years since World War II broke out, when men and women of many nations sacrificed comfort and their own lives to answer the call to serve their countries.

America has long celebrated those who served in the conflict, but this year, four of Brown County’s servicemen were thanked for their duty to the nation and freedom on Armed Forces Day.

The community came together at the Brown County Playhouse May 15 to pay tribute to Second Lieutenant Graham T. “Teed” Howard, Petty Officer Third Class U.S. Navy Foreman Earl Lloyd Soley, Private First Class Robert “Bob” Gipson and Chief Petty Officer Robert “Bob” Vollmer.

There are at least five living WWII in Brown County, according to Veterans Service Officer Chris Snell. Though only four were present, Veterans Coalition President Keith Baker said they were representative of all Brown County’s WWII veterans. Three or four passed away last year.

The Veterans Coalition — the VFW, Vietnam Veterans and American Legion — has a strong presence in the county, Baker said, holding meetings, visiting homes and providing services to the men and women who have served the nation.

Baker shared short biographies and stories he’d compiled with the crowd at the Playhouse. He said he wanted to go deep into their stories to develop “the human side” which they don’t often share at veterans meetings.

‘Teed’ Howard

Graham T. Howard was born Jan. 19, 1926, in Indianapolis, weighing 2-and-a-half pounds. As an infant in a shoebox crib with a warm light bulb over it, he was nicknamed “Tiny,” which was then shortened to Teed.

Howard grew up in a military family, his own father a retired 1st Sergeant, serving in the Philippine Insurrection in World War I.

Howard is an Eagle Scout and had a career as a professional scout executive. He is also an expert in Native American history and culture.

His education was condensed in the early 1940s due to the ongoing war. Howard attended Purdue University in the morning and high school in the afternoon, completing two years of college before his 18th birthday.

He enlisted in the U.S. Army in April 1944 and trained as a 40mm anti-aircraft gunner. Initially, he was sent to Scotland for air defense, then was moved to an airborne regiment to operate from gliders because of Operation Market Garden, the invasion of Holland. His original unit didn’t know where he was until he returned to operate mobile quad 50-caliber machine gun mounts until the end of the war.

Howard witnessed the liberation of concentration camps and was in the second unit that entered the Buchenwald Camp.

He returned to Indiana in August 1946 where he finished his bachelor’s degree in forestry at Purdue. In 1950, his honeymoon was interrupted by military police recalling him to duty in Korea, where he served in combat as a surveyor and field engineer, eventually receiving a battlefield commission to Second Lieutenant. He returned home in 1951 and retired to Brown County in 1989.

Earl Lloyd Soley

Earl Lloyd Soley was born April 30, 1927, in Oak Park, Illinois, now a suburb of Chicago. He had a passion for chemistry and joined the war effort as a Navy hospital corpsman.

After boot camp at the beginning of 1945, he received specialized training as a military pharmacist, attending at a base in northern Idaho. From there, he received orders to serve at the U.S. Naval Hospital Mare Island near San Francisco, compounding special medicines needed for the recovery of the many wounded and sick soldiers and sailors coming back from the Pacific.

He achieved the rank of Petty Officer 3rd Class in a few short months. After his service in the war, he returned to college at the University of Illinois, where he met and married his late wife, Carol. He graduated in 1950 with dual degrees in chemistry and geology. He received a master’s degree in business administration from Xavier University in 1972.

For nearly 40 years, he worked in engineering before retiring to Brown County in 1985, where he’s volunteered with the Brown County Lions Club and Brown County Public Library. He is a new and active member of the American Legion.

Bob Gipson

Robert Luther “Bob” Gipson was born Sept. 22, 1925, in Shady Grove, Ky. After school, he moved to Evansville, where he worked for an auto body manufacturer building cars for Dodge Motor Company.

He entered the Army in late 1942 with four of his closest friends, all five of them attending Fort Knox, Ky., for additional training as infantrymen. Two of those friends were later killed in combat and another died after the war from complications.

Gipson is the last remaining prisoner of war in Brown County, having been captured by German troops in the spring of 1945. He and seven other men from his company were holding a defensive position near the German town of Prum, in Bavaria, when all eight of them were overrun and captured by German troops.

After they were marched for days at bayonet point through fields and farms, they were loaded into trucks to a prisoner of war camp. He was liberated at war’s end by a U.S. Airborne division and processed back through medical channels to the states.

He told Baker that the passing of the Statue of Liberty was the second-best memory of the war; the first was returning to his mother’s arms in Kentucky. She had been told by the Army that he was missing in action, presumed dead. She had not been notified that her son was alive and had been liberated from a prison camp.

After the war, Gipson served in the Air Force, met his wife, Delores, and moved to Brown County in 1957. He has been honored by the state of Indiana for his prisoner of war experience and service to his country.

Bob Vollmer

Robert Charles “Bob” Vollmer was born May 20, 1917, in Washington, Indiana. After attending school, he enlisted in the Navy and trained as a machine gunner, builder, bulldozer operator and electrical specialist.

Vollmer was a “Fighting Seabee,” trained to operate construction equipment with one hand while firing a weapon with the other.

He was among the group that took back the islands of Attu and Kiska in Alaskan territory from the Japanese Navy in 1942. In 1943, his unit was deployed to the South Pacific in support of one of the first and bloodiest battles, Tarawa. It was in this battle that his brother, a U.S. Marine rifleman, lost his life in combat.

It was at the invasion of the Philippines in the Letye Gulf that Vollmer salvaged equipment and bailing wire to make generators and communications at the front. He was promoted to Chief Petty Officer for these efforts.

After the war, he returned to Purdue University and received a degree in civil engineering, then worked for nearly 70 years as a surveyor for the state of Indiana. He retired in 2019 at the age of 102.

He turned 104 last week, and was presented a birthday cake on stage.

Turning from the crowd to the honorees, Baker offered words of thankfulness and gratitude to these men.

“When faced with a dangerous and unknown future, you stepped up and placed duty and honor above your personal safety so that others at home could continue to enjoy a life without fear,” he said.

“After seeing the horrors of war firsthand, you returned and did everything in your power to make sure that this country led the world as an example of peace and prosperity.

“What is good about America, and all that is great about the life we are allowed to enjoy today, is embodied in the spirit and sacrifice of you — all of our WWII veterans. Our country will never forget what you did for us.”

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The Brown County Veterans Coalition is trying to locate local World War II veterans. They don’t know exactly how many are still left in Brown County; just last week (after the Armed Forces Day ceremony), they found a fifth in addition to the four who had been honored on stage.

If you or someone you know served in WWII, contact Veterans Outreach Officer Sam Banter at 812-988-5600.

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VFW POPPY DAY

VFW Poppy Day will take place on Saturday, May 29 from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. VFW members will be stationed at the Village Green (Four Corners) at Jefferson and Main streets, Brown County IGA and the courthouse.

Poppies are the official memorial flower of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States. The Buddy Poppy program provides compensation to the veterans who assemble the artificial poppies, provides financial assistance in maintaining state and national veterans’ rehabilitation and service programs, and partially supports the VFW National Home for Children.

Money from local poppy sales will go to the VFW Post 6195 in Brown County for veterans assistance programs.

MEMORIAL DAY CEREMONY

The VFW Memorial Day ceremony will take place outside the courthouse on Monday, May 31 from 10 to 11 a.m. All are welcome.

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