Loveland Daily Reporter-Herald

LOVELAND, Colo. (AP) Warren Penner is proud that he served his country as a U.S. Marine. Sitting at the kitchen table in his home west of Loveland, the hourly chimes from the clock on the wall are immediately recognizable as the "Marines' Hymn."

"I don't regret one minute of it," he said.

Born June 8, 1921, in Chicago, Penner spent most of his life there, and remembers he went to the old U.S. Post Office in December 1941 to enlist with a friend. They both wanted to go to aviation school.

"We were chosen alphabetically. He got what we wanted and I got `spud locker' peeling potatoes, carrots and onions in the mess hall," he said with a grin.

That happened Jan. 12, 1942, but after a month he was on a slow train with blacked-out windows bound for basic training in San Diego, Calif.

"That was the first time I ever wore an overcoat. It's cold there at 5 a.m. in a Marine boot camp," he said.

Penner was assigned to the 83rd Platoon that shipped out to Hawaii, where four Marine squadrons were formed. He served in the supply unit in the same 223rd fighter squadron throughout the war. There were 125 men in each squadron, plus 20 pilots.

Following training at Eva Base on Oahu, the group sailed for the South Pacific in August.

"The planes we had then were obsolete compared to the Japanese Zeros. Then Grumman started making a new airplane the F4Fs. One of the best the U.S. had at that time. They were $50,000 each direct from the factory. We couldn't believe it was so expensive," he said.

The F4F Wildcat had an airspeed of 320 miles per hour, and was built with two, four and eventually six .50-caliber machine guns in the wings. The pilot, who flew alone, controlled the guns that were set up before being loaded on the plane.

"The planes held 50 gallons of fuel in wing tanks. We used a funnel with a chamois to filter the gas. You didn't want anything in there that would cause the plane to stall. They were all propeller-operated and we had to hand-crank the engines to get them started," he said.

Various ships aircraft carriers, troop ships and others brought supplies into the ports along the Southeast Pacific Islands where the Marines were stationed. Penner had 10 men working under him as all kinds of supplies arrived parts for planes, flight jackets, pistols, sunglasses, food, etc.

"We were always getting new stuff. We were always hollering for new stuff. It was rough like that. We might get sheep tongue from New Zealand, or a case of canned peaches or sardines. It was just part of living," he noted. There were always coconuts on the islands and sometimes wild boar.

The Marines made their way from island to island New Caledonia, New Hebrides, and the Solomon Islands, where they landed on Guadalcanal in August 1942.

"We were on Guadalcanal for two months," Warren said. The Japanese were building an airfield on the island, which would have been a major threat to the Allied forces in the area. The Marines battled for this field and on Aug. 20 Wildcat fighters and bombers landed at what became known as Henderson Airfield.

After he was promoted to corporal on Guadalcanal, Penner and his squadron were once again on the move.

"We continued up the chain of islands toward Japan," he said. They were on Midway Island for three months, then Bougainville and Green Island, where they remained for two months. "We needed to get a foothold on the Japanese who were coming south and taking islands. We were headed to Rabaul where there were many Japanese," he said.

The island campaigns ended with the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan in August 1945. "That saved a million American and Japanese lives. With the good things come some terrible things," he said.

Penner told of one furlough back to the U.S. during more than three years of active duty when he helped recruit and promote the troops in the war.

"We were asked to go visit factories, arms plants and such to give talks," he explained. He also spent time in California at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, which opened in November 1942.

While on leave, he also married his hometown sweetheart, Muryel. Later, she was able to join him in El Centro, Calif., where he spent the last six months of the war and was discharged with the rank of master tech sergeant.

Penner has lived in Loveland since 2003 to be closer to some of his children and grandchildren. He has two daughters Leslie, who lives here, and Carol, of San Diego and a son, Jeff, in Chicago. Mrs. Penner died in 1992.

This proud American veteran just turned 90, but he is a familiar sight riding in an original World War II jeep in local parades. He owns the restored vehicle and takes extra-good care of it for just such special events, and for enjoying with other veterans in the area.



Information from: Loveland Daily Reporter-Herald, http://www.reporterherald.com/