Source: The Council Bluffs Nonpareil, Council Bluffs, Iowa, Saturday, February 27, 1945
Three From Here With B-29 Unit
Three Council Bluffs soldiers were among a group of eight southwestern Iowa men, who among hundreds of enlisted men at a superfortress base in the Marianas “whose diligent efforts have made it possible for the Giant B-29 bombers of Maj. Gen. Curtis E. Lemay’s twenty-first bomber command to strike regularly at the heart of Japan’s war industry,” an Associated Press dispatch revealed Tuesday.
The Council Bluffs men include Cpl. Frank A. Grunel, son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph F. Grunel, 824 North Thirty-sixth street; Cpl. Francis E. Mulqueen, son of Mrs. Ella F. Mulqueen, 110 Third street; and Cpl. Emil R. Christofferson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Emil Christofferson, 3446 Avenue C.
Other southwestern Iowa service men listed in the dispatch includes S. Sgt. Donald N. Pearson of Coin [Page Co.]; Sgt. Albert C. Krisinger of Creston [Union Co.]; Pfc Gregory C. Michels of Defiance [Shelby Co.]; Pfc. William N. Jorgensen of Kimballton [Audubon Co.]; and S. Sgt. William D. Noel of Red Oak [Montgomery Co.].
The work of these men and their fellow soldiers is directly responsible for the success of the B-29’s in bombing Japan’s war industries,” Gen. O’Donnell said in congratulating them recently. “They realize their responsibilities in the pre-mission task of insuring the maximum chance for safe return of the air crews.
“Without the spirit of teamwork which has been exhibited by every man, our pioneering job, which is only a beginning, could not have been a success. They have given their services fully and in complete disregard for person comforts and pleasures in lieu of hard work and long hours.”
Source: The Council Bluffs Nonpareil, Council Bluffs, Iowa, Saturday, February 27, 1945, p. 8
