World War II Illinois Veterans Memorial

I received the Europe-Africa-Mideast Theater Ribbon, the Asiatic Pacific Ribbon, the Philippine Liberation Medal, the American Theater, WW II Victory Medal and Two Bronze Stars.

Angelo Alesandrini thought his fighter plane had been shot down. The first lieutenant had just pulled his P-47 fighter out of a strafing pass against a Nazi armored column in northern Italy when an anti-aircraft shell tore into his plane’s engine at about 3,000 feet. He thought he’d had it. “Oh, boy,” he said to himself in alarm. The fighter plane’s 2,000-horse- power engine immediately lost power. It had lost four of its 18 cylinders, but kept running.

Nearly 987,000 men and women from Illinois served in World War II. It was not entirely uncommon for multiple members of the same family to be serving our country at the same time. The following story about a family from a small community in southeastern Illinois is an incredible example of going “All Out for Victory”.

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Hometown: Norwood Park Township, IL
Albert served in the Army from April 18, 1941 to November 18, 1945. Originally, Albert served in the United States. However, when it began to look like Germany would lose the war, Albert was sent to Europe to be a truck driver. He transported officers in Germany, […]

Hometown: Norwood Park Township, IL
Robert began service April 12, 1944 after graduating from high school. After Boot training, he received nine weeks of special schooling and was stationed at San Diego, California. He was among the few men selected to be a member of Mrs. Roosevelt’s Guard of Honor. In November, […]

Jack Armstrong joined the U.S. Army at East Saint Louis, Illinois. He attained the rank of Private 1st Class and served as an ambulance driver in Europe. He was assigned to Clearing Station to the Evacuation Hospital. He served in Northern France, the Ardennes, Rhineland and Central Europe Campaigns. Jack was awarded three […]

Leonard A. Baer joined the U.S. Army from his hometown of Melrose Park, Illinois. He served in Europe with Company D, 34th Tank Battalion, 5th Armored Division.
Leonard Baer
Melrose Park, IL

He was assigned to the 81st Wildcat Infantry Division that was headquartered at Camp Jackson, South Carolina. Bill Baise was born in December, 1924 at Columbia, Kentucky and entered service there as a young man. He remembers especially the battle of Peleliu in the South Pacific.

Donald Lee Beck was inducted into the U. S. Navy at Great Lakes, Illinois in 1943.

Our first mission was to bomb Frankfort, Germany’s submarine pens. We lost several planes on this mission and we had 47 holes in our plane including the loss of the right wing flap and a 3 foot hole in our tail assembly.