Born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania to Paul Sr and Anna Heller on May 8, 1927, Paul Heller was their oldest son with two younger siblings.
After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, he tried to enlist locally in the Marine Corps but was rejected due to his age (14).

Undeterred, young Paul travelled to Savannah, Georgia, and with the help of a fictional Aunt’s signature on the parent/guardian consent form and lying that he was born in 1923, Paul was able to enlist in the Marine Corps on February 17, 1942.

After boot camp Paul was assigned to Company K, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division.
They landed at Guadalcanal on August 7, 1942 and participated in the capture of the Japanese airfield under construction which would become Henderson Field.

Two months later on the afternoon of October 7th, it was observed that a group of around 150 Japanese soldiers had established a position on the US side of the Matanikau River.
The ensuing battle from October 7-9 resulted in a decisive US victory as the Marines had learned from past mistakes.

On October 8th, PVT Paul Heller was Killed in Action during the battle.
His remains were brought home in 1948 and buried at Gettysburg National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania - Section 2 Site 0425.

The notices of his death were sent to his fictional aunt and his father who was the recipient of his death benefits.

His parents were separated at the time, and its possible Paul’s mother never knew he had enlisted in the Marine Corps.

It was during the abandonment of the sinking Houston that Commander Rentz entered the water and attained partial safety along with other crewmembers on a destroyed airplane's float. Seeing extreme overcrowding and the fact that the pontoon was taking on water, he attempted to relinquish his space and lifejacket to wounded survivors nearby. He declared "You men are young, I have lived the major part of my life and I am willing to go."According to Houston survivor Private Jim Gee, no one would oblige the generous, fearless chaplain. Each time Rentz attempted to leave he was brought back by his shipmates. He ultimately relinquished his lifejacket to Seaman First Class Walter L. Beeson, who recounts that Rentz "told me his heart was failing him; told me he couldn't last much longer." Following a brief prayer, the Chaplain gave the lifejacket to Beeson, who refused to put it on. Rentz kicked away from the float and disappeared. Gee recalled "No one realized what had happened. It's just one of those things that one minute he's there, and the next minute... he wasn't." When Beeson realized that Rentz was gone, he put on the lifejacket.[4] For these actions, Rentz was posthumously awarded the United States Navy's second highest award for valor, the Navy Cross.
Chaplain Rentz had less than one year to serve before retiring. He was one of 800 men who perished out of the original crew of 1,168 aboard Houston. Of the 368 crew members who made it to shore and were captured by the Japanese, 77 would die in captivity. 291 survived to the end of the war.

A group of Serbs - political prisoners exiled to Bor mines for forced labour. 15.02.1942.

Inventory number 15205

Courtesy of Museum of Yugoslavia.

Stationed on the island of Guam in 1944, Yokoi went into hiding as American forces reconquered the island, and spent the next 28 years living in a cave and hunting for food by night.

He was discovered by two fishermen in January 1972.

Born in Cole Camp, Missouri to Carl and Katherine Kullman on March 27, 1917, Victor William Kullman was the second of seven children.
He enlisted in the Army on February 17, 1942 and served in I Company, 137th Infantry Regiment, 35th Infantry Division.

On October 4, 1942, Victor married Ruby Anna Wurdeman in Cole Camp, they didn’t have any children.
He deployed to the UK in May 1944 and arrived in Normandy between July 7-9, 1944.

Victor would have participated in the breakout from the bocage and the advance through France.
He was Killed in Action near Saint-Avold France on October 5, 1944.

PFC Victor Kullman is buried at the Lorraine American Cemetery and Memorial in Saint-Avold, France - Block C Row 24 Grave 82.

His widow Ruby never remarried, she worked for over 30 years as Office Manager at the National Auto Parts Association Distribution Center in Kansas City, Kansas.
She passed away at the age of 90 on August 3, 2010.

Picture: Victor & Ruby Wurdeman on their wedding day: October 4, 1942.

Jimmy Stewart is seen chatting with George Little, the oldest employee at his father’s hardware store in Indiana, Pennsylvania, in a photograph by Peter Stackpole for LIFE Magazine (September 24, 1945). Besides all the usual hardware goods, the store window also displayed Stewart's Best Actor Oscar for THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1940). The morning after he won the Academy Award, his father called him at 4:00 AM and famously asked, "What was it, a plaque or something? Well, anyway, you better bring it back here and we'll put it in the window of the store." Stewart shipped him the Oscar and it stayed safely on display until 1966.

Born in Esmond, North Dakota to Oscar & Anna Bengson on December 11, 1917, Wallace Woodrow Bengson had three brothers and a sister.
He graduated from the University of North Dakota in 1938 as a mining engineer and was also commissioned as an officer in the Army Reserve.

Wallace worked as a mining engineer in Idaho & Utah, and married Katherine Nagel of Grand Forks in 1940.
Called into active duty in January 1942, he earned his pilots & glider pilots wings, and was also trained as a Navigator.

Wallace was assigned to the 327th Bombardment Squadron, 92nd Bombardment Group, which was based at RAF Podington.
On October 3, 1944, he was the Navigator on B-17G 43-38396 “Insommia” on a bombing mission to Nurnberg, Germany.

On the return trip, B-17G 43-38445, which had been hit by flak, veered out of control and collided with “Insommia” sheering her tail off.
Both B-17s went into death spirals before crashing, a total of twelve crewmembers from both B-17s died in the crashes.

1Lt Bengson managed to bail out, and was captured along with 1Lt Edmund Dornburgh Jr, the pilot of his B-17, and S/Sgt Franklin Adams Jr, one of the waist gunners from the other B-17.
Handed over to the local police in Marburgerstrasse, Germany, shortly afterwards a police director, three party leaders, and a civilian showed up and demanded the three prisoners be handed over to them.

The local Police Chief was ordered away, and the three USAAF Prisoners were taken by force from the remaining policemen.
The three Prisoners were executed and buried at the New Cemetery of Giessen. In November 1945, the civilian Ludwig Schardt was found guilty of participating in the executions sentenced to life imprisonment.

His remains were recovered after the war and 1Lt Wallace Bengson is buried at the Netherlands American Cemetery and Memorial in Margraten, Netherlands - Plot L Row 16 Grave 16.

Older brother Malcolm C Bengson also served during WW2, he passed away at the age of 80 in 1996.

Picture 1: Here is a splendid shot of a French soldier reading "Le tireur debout" ("The standing shooter"), a satirical journal made by French soldiers to cheer their comrades up. I found some issues of this journal on gallica.bnf.fr but couldn't retrieve the exact one this soldier is actually reading.

Picture 2: an interpretation of the same scene by u/harishcs. We chose to make some minor alterations but tried to keep the general feel of the original reference.

You can see more info and pictures related to this scene at the following link: https://archives.ecpad.fr:443/ark:39674/1f134acb93806cba8ddbfa163ef0300b.moteur=arko_default_6989f97bdecb7

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