The Hissem-Montague Family

These are the descendents of Jesse Hissam's youngest son, Abner, who, though born in West Virginia, moved to Iowa in 1865, at the age of 35. It is the line of my immediate family. Until the researches of the last few years, I never knew there were any other Hissems. The somewhat disorganized lineage below was taken from a photostat of the Six Family Bible.

"Lena Maye Six and Leo Worth Hissem July 28 1920." [their marriage]

"Children of Leo and Lena Hissem.
Alice Pearl Hissem was born April 20, 1922
Greall [sic] Gene and Derall [sic] Dean Hissem were born Dec 7th 1924. All in Van Buren Co. Iowa
Herbert Lozelle Hissem born Oct 4 1929."

"Arthur Walker Hissem born 1866 Jan 24 Van Buren Co. Son of Abner and Caroline Hissem.
Tillie Haney Hissem born Oct 23, 1868. Died Jan 8, 1927, daughter of Francis and Shirly Ann Haney.
Leo Worth Hissem born Dec 21, 1891 Davis Co.
Gladys Opal Hissem Boekhoff born Oct.21, 1902, Davis Co.
Marriedt [sic] Leslie Boekhoff Dec 26, 1923."

My G-G-Grandfather. He was born on 8 January 1830 in Tyler county, West Virginia. In the 1840 census of Tyler county Jessee [sic] Hissem, had three sons, 1 born between 1810 and 1820, Levi, and 2 born between 1825 and 1830, Thomas and Abner. In the 1850 census of District 61, Tyler county, Virginia as Abner Hissam, a 20 year old farmer, born in Virginia. He was still living at home with his parents, and his sister Eleanor. Eleanor and Abner had a separate "dwelling-house," but were listed as being of the same family. I suspect that Jesse had built a new house and his children occuped the old home, a kind of transition to adulthood.

From biographical data recorded in Van Buren county, Iowa in 1878: In the fall of 1850 Abner moved to Meigs county, Ohio. This is just north of Tyler county, across the Ohio river.

"Hissem, Abner, farmer, Sec. 5; P.O. Doud's Station; born in Tyler Co., W. Va., Jan. 8, 1830; fall of 1850, moved to Meigs Co., Ohio; spring of 1865, to Van Buren Co., and settled on his present farm; in the years 1863 and 1864, he owned and operated a sawmill in Meigs Co., Ohio. He married Serene Sayre Feb. 29, 1852, a native of Ohio; died April 9, 1861; had two children--Serene J., still living; he married Caroline Walker April 27, 1862; she was born in Meigs Co., Ohio, June 29, 1832; have one child--Arthur W. Mr. Hissem has 240 acres of land, valued at $8,000."

Abner Hissum [sic] married Serene Sayre on 6 February 1852. The marriage was conducted by Isaac Reynolds, MG. Serena was born on 6 October 1823 [seven years Abner's senior], in Ohio, the daughter of Robert and Martha (Jones) Sayre [sometimes Sayer] - from the "Sayre Family" by Theodore Melvin Banta. Robert Sayre was born on 29 January 1788 and married Martha in 1812. He was a farmer in Meigs county, Ohio, where he died on 4 August 1829.

Banta uses the Hissom spelling for Abner and indicates that the couple left no children, but as you'll see below I believe they had a surviving daughter. See the Heysham-Sayre Family page for another, earlier connection with the same Sayre family. After their marriage the couple lived in Letart Township, Apple Grove post office, Ohio.

In the 1860 census of Apple Grove, Letart township, Meigs county, Ohio as Abner Hissam, a 30 year old farmer, born in Virginia. Living with him were his wife, Serena, 37, and Thomas, 7, both born in Ohio. Serena's parents were near-neighbors. Abner had real property worth $2,500 and personal property worth $200.

Abner's wife, Serena, died on 9 April 1861 in Ohio of unknown causes. This may have been during the birth of their daughter, Martha J., who was born in 1861. Abner then married Caroline Walker on 27 April 1862. She was a school teacher, born on 29 June 1832 in Meigs county, Ohio.

By 1863 and through 1864, Abner owned and operated a sawmill in Ohio. In the spring of 1865 they followed Abner’s older brother, Thomas, and moved to Van Buren county, Iowa. Abner's sister Elenor also appears to have come along, making a real caravan with the Nicklins. Abner and Caroline settled on a farm at Doud’s Station, north of present day Milton (Milton was founded in the 1840's, but not incorporated until the 1880’s). A son was born early in 1866.

In the 1870 census for Chequest township, Van Buren county, Iowa as Abner Hissam [Hissons in Ancestry.com], a 40 year old farmer. He had 240 acres of land, valued at $8,000. Living with him were his wife, Caroline, 38, and children, Martha J., 9, and Arthur W. 4. Martha was born in Ohio and Arthur in Iowa. A George W. Harrington, 21, also lived with them. I assume he was a hired hand.

In the 1880 census of Chequest township as Abner Hissem [Hisseur at Ancestry.com], a 50 year old farmer, of West Virginia. Living with him were his wife, Caroline, 47, of Ohio, and son, Arthur W., 14, of Iowa, who worked on the farm.

In the 1885 state census of Chequest as Abner Hissem, 54, of West Virginia. Living with him were his wife, Caroline, 52, of Ohio, and his son, Arthur, 18, of Iowa. In 1895 state census of Chequest as Abner Hissem, 65. Living with him was his wife, Caroline [Croline in Ancestry.com], 62.

In the 1900 census of Chequest as Abner Hissem, a 70 year old [January 1830] farmer. Living with him was his wife, Caroline, 67 [June 1832]. They had been married 39 years and had one child together. Also living with him was his sister-in-law, Emaline Church, 74 [November 1825]

In the 1905 state census of Chequest township, Van Buren county as Abner and Caroline Hissem, of Douds Leando.

In the 1910 census Of Village township, Van Buren county as Abner Hissem, 80 years old and living on his "own income." Living with him was his wife, Caroline, 77.

Caroline died on 15 August 1912 in Leando, Iowa, 9 years before her husband.

In the 1915 state census of Chequest township as Abner Hissem, 85, a retired farmer, of Virginia. He had lived in Iowa for 50 years. He had six years of education. His father was from Pennsylvania [Jesse] and his mother was from Germany [I thought Elizabeth was from Virginia?]. Weldon G. Hissem signed the form.

In the 1920 Census for Chequest Township as Abner Hissem [Hasen in Ancestry.com], 90 years old and living on his "own income." The census said that his father was born in England and his mother in Germany. I’m guessing that really meant ancestry rather than their being born there. He was living in the household of Dudley E. Nicklin, his grandson.

According to his tombstone, Abner died on 20 May 1921 in Leando, Iowa, at the age of 91. He was buried next to Caroline. Records of the Campbell Kremer Funeral Home indicate that he died in Selma, Iowa, but confirm his birth and death dates.

His children with Serena were,
(24) Thomas Jefferson Hissem (1853)
(24) Martha J. Hissem (1861)

His children with Caroline were,
(24) Arthur Walker Hissem (1866)

A son of Serena Sayre, he was born in about 1853 in Ohio. He died between 1860 and 1870, perhaps in 1861 with his mother.

A daughter of Serena Sayre, she was born in 1861, perhaps on 26 February, in Meigs county, Ohio. In the 1870 census for Chequest township, Van Buren county, Iowa as Martha J. Hissam [Hissons in Ancestry.com], 9, born in Ohio.

I think she assumed her mother's name of Serena in honor of the woman she never knew. Other researchers claim there was a daughter, Serena, born in 1852, but I've been unable to find anything official about her prior to her marriage. There was no daughter of that name in the 1860 or 1870 census. When the name Serena does show up, in the 1880 census with her husband, she was only 19 years old.

From the Van Buren county marriage records: Serrena Hissem married Lloyd Alonzo Nicklin on 5 October 1877 in Van Buren county, Iowa.

Lloyd was born in 1855 in West Virginia. He was the son of William Nicklin, who was a neighbor of the Hissam's. In the 1850 census of District 61, Tyler county, West Virgina as William Nickllin, 19. He was living with his father, Samuel, 51. In the 1860 census of Tyler county as William Nicklin, a 30 year old farmer. Living with him was his wife, Elizabeth, 28, and a son, Lloyd, 5.

The William Nicklin family moved west to Iowa just as Abner had done. In the 1870 census of Salt Creek, Davis county, Iowa as William Nicklin. Living with him was his wife, Elizabeth, and son, Loyd, 14. Davis is the next county west from Van Buren.

In the 1880 census of Chequest township, Van Buren county as Lloyd Nicklin, a 24 year old farmer. He was living in the home of Oloff Friborg, a 63 year old farmer. Living with Lloyd were his wife, Serena J., 19, and a son, Dudly C., 6/12.

Sometime before 1900 Serena died. From at leasat 1900 to 1910 Loyd Nicklin lived as a widower in Village townhsip, Van Buren county. By 1920 he had married Fanny M.

In 1910, however, his eldest son, Dudley C. Nicklin, had moved into Chequest township and set up his own home with his wife, Blanche.

In the 1920 Census for Chequest Township as Dudley C. Nicklin, 40. Living with him were his wife, Blanche D., 36, and his grandfather, Abner Hissem [Hasen in Ancestry.com], 90.

The only child of Caroline Walker, he was born on 24 January 1866 in Van Buren county, Iowa. His last name was spelled Hissim in the LDS library. In the 1870 census for Chequest township, Van Buren county, Iowa as Arthur W. Hissam [Hissons in Ancestry.com], 4, born in Iowa. In the 1880 census of Chequest township as Arthur W. Hissem [Hisseur at Ancestry.com], 14, who "worked on the farm." In the 1885 state census of Chequest as Arthur Hissem, 18, still living with his parents.

According to a source on the genealogy of Serena Sayre, he was married twice, but I only have one wife's name, Tillie E. Haney. He married her in about 1891. Tillie Haney was born on 23 October 1868. Tillie’s parents were Francis Marion Haney and Sarah Ann (Sally) Lanman. The Haney’s owned a farm in close proximity to the Hissem farm in Iowa.

In the 1895 state census of Troy and Union townships, Davis county as Arthur Hissem [Hissner in Ancestry.com], 28. Living with him were his wife, Tillie, 26, and his son, Leo, 3.

In the 1900 census of Union township, Davis county, Iowa as Arthur W. Hissem, a 34 year old farmer. Living with him were his wife, Tille E., 30 [October 1869], and son, Leo, 8 [December 1891]. Arthur and Tillie had been married for 9 years.

Bloomfield. "Arthur Hissem, of Union township, transacted business Tuesday in this place." - from the Ottumwa Daily Courier of 11 February 1903.

In the 1905 state census of Troy post office, Marion township, Davis county, Iowa as A. W. Hissem, 39. Living with him were his wife, Mrs. A. W. Hissem, and children, Leo W. and Gladys.

In the 1910 census of Union township as Arthur W. Hissem, a 44 year old farmer. Living with him were his wife, Tillie E., 41, and children, Leo W., an 18 year old farm laborer, and Gladdis O., 7. This was Arthur's second marriage, but Tillie's first. They had been married for 19 years.

In the 1915 state census of Douds Leando, Village township, Van Buren county as Arthur Hissem, 49, of Iowa. He was retired. His house and farm were valued at $1200. He had 7 years of schooling. This reminds me of the scene in the movie "I Remember Mama" where the mother, Irene Dunne, excitedly realizes that her son can actually go to "High," as in high school. This was an accomplishment that most people, certainly for those that were poor or rural, could not hope for. Also listed was Tillie Hissem, 46. She also had 7 years of schooling. Her father was from Iowa and her mother was from Indiana.

In the 1920 census of Village township, Van Buren county as Arthur [Arther in Ancestry.com] Hissem, a 53 year old without occupation. Had he been so successful as a farmer that he retired to live on his rents? Living with him were his wife, Tillie, 51, and children, Leo, 28, and Gladys, 17.

In the 1925 state census of Village township, Van Buren county as Arthur Hissem, 59. He and Tillie, 59, were living with their son-in-law, Leslie Bockhott, 22, and their daughter, Gladys, 22. Arthur had 5 [sic] years of schooling and Tillie 7.

Tille died on 11 January 1927 in Iowa. In the 1930 census of Chequest township, Van Buren county, Iowa as Arthur W. Hissem, a 64 year old widower. He was living with his daughter Gladys and her husband, Leslie J. Boekleff. His father was from West Virginia and his mother from Ohio.

According to his tombstone Arthur died on 17 June 1936, just shy of 70 years old, and was buried in the Troy Cemetery, Troy, Union township, Davis county, Iowa. My father remembers the "death watch" maintained by the family around the old man's bed. His children were,
(25) Leo Worth Hissem (1891)
(25) Gladys O. Hissem (1903)

My grandfather. He was born on 21 December 1891 in Iowa. In the 1895 state census of Troy and Union townships, Davis county as Leo Hissem [Hissner in Ancestry.com], 3. In the 1900 census of Union township, Davis county, Iowa as Leo Hissem, 8 [December 1891]. In the 1910 census of Union township as Leo W. Hissem, an 18 year old farm laborer.

In the 1915 state census of Douds Leando, Village township, Van Buren county as Leo Hissem, a 23 year old farm laborer. He had 7 years of schooling.

Leo W. Hissem registered for the draft on 5 June 1917. He was born on 21 December 1891 at R.R. #1, Troy, Iowa. He was 25 years old at the time, a single farmer working for Wm. Wagner in Ankeny, Iowa. He was living in Douds Leando, Iowa. He was described as of medium height and build, with blue eyes and brown hair.

Leo Hissem enlisted in the Army on 20 September 1917 in Keosauqua, aged 25. His cousin, Weldon, enlisted on the same day. Cousin Earl beat them both, enlisting on 15 August.

Private Leo W. Hissem was in the Rainbow Division. My Dad remembers him mentioning Douglas MacArthur, their commanding officer when he was still a promising Colonel, but more often referred to General 'Black Jack' Pershing, the head of all American forces in Europe. By the way, the nickname 'Black Jack' came from a period when a young Pershing was placed in charge of a 'negro' battalion. Dad also mentioned that he knew his Father had fought in the battles of the Argonne Forest.

My Grandfather fought at least through the battles of the Argonne, but did not take part in the occupation per to my Father. In one of these last battles Leo was gassed. According to information gathered by my Uncle, Richard Six, "Leo was a disabled veteran of WWI, seriously wounded and exposed to mustard gas during his service in Europe. His injuries included the loss of one lung and a wound in his side that was left open to drain for the remainder of his life. In later years he lost an eye as a result of his war injuries."

Leo returned to America and, I assume, spent some time in Army hospitals recovering. He was discharged on 30 May 1919. In the 1920 census of Village township, Van Buren county as Leo Hissem, 28, living at home with his parents, and his sister, Gladys. On 28 July 1920 Leo married Lena May Six. See the Six Family page for more information about her family. She was born on 2 November 1894 in Illinois. Lena and Leo Hissem are at the right.

In the 1925 state census of Chequest township as Leo W. Hissem, 33. Living with him were his wife, Lena M., 30, and children, Alice P., 2, Gerall G., 1, and Derall D., 1. both Leo and Lena had 8 years of schooling. There seems to have been a lot of confusion with the spelling of the twin's names.

In the 1930 census of Milton, Jackson township, Van Buren county, Iowa as Leo W. Hissem, a 38 year old with no occupation. According to my father Leo was too ill to farm so instead he rented the two 160-acre farms he had inherited, including to his in-laws. He apparently invested wisely because the family weathered the Depression with no more than expected problems. Living with him were his wife, Lena M., 35, and children, Alice P., 8, Garrell G., 5, Darrell D., 5, and Herbert R. [sic], 6/12. Leo also had a seven-acre plot in town and a family residence of another two-acres, also in town. The census indicated that he owned his own farm, worth $700 [I assume this was just the in-town farm he resided on], and he had a radio.

Golden Anniversary of George and Lucy Six at Lena and Leo Hissem's residence in Milton, Iowa.
Front row: Evelyn Six, Clara Six, Baby - Bob Six?, Alice Hissem, Garrell Hissem, Darrell Hissem, Kenneth Six, Junior Six, Marian Six, Donald Six, Iva Six and Frances
Second row: Juanita McNeff, Ruth Six, Opal Six, Roy Six and John Six
Third row: Uncle Albert Orr, Aunt Nettie Orr, Aunt Ary [?] Orr McNeff, ____, Uncle Mark Orr, George Six, Lucy Orr Six, ____, ____, ____
Fourth row: ____, ____, Mildred Six, Uncle Loren Six, Otis McNeff, Hilda Six, Nina? McNeff, Leonard Monson, Violet Six Monson, J.O. McNeff, Essa McNeff, Aunt Gladys Six holding Richard, Leo Hissem, Lena Hissem holding Lozelle
Fifth row: Everett Six, Elva Six, Harold Six, ___, Margie Six, Ralph Six, Earl Six

Leo died on 26 November 1945 and was buried in the Sunnyside Cemetery in Milton, Iowa. See more about Leo in the section about my father, below. Lena died on 28 April 1976 and was buried in the Sunnyside Cemetery, next to Leo. Leo and Lena had the following children,
(26) Alice Pearl Hissem (1922)
(26) Garrell Gene Hissem (1924)
(26) Darrell Dean Hissem (1924)
(26) Herbert Lozelle Hissem (1929)

My Aunt Alice was born on 20 April 1922 in Van Buren county, Iowa. My Father indicated that Alice did not live in her parents house, but rather with her grandparents. I assume these were the Sixes since Tille Haney Hissem had died by 1927. I guess the house was too small for all the children. She apparently spent a lot of time at her parents house, but slept apart.

Alice Hissem graduated from Milton High School in 1939.

She married Carrol Lester Rogers. They had five children.

(27) Marlena Kay Rogers
(27) Carla Marie Rogers
(27) Shawn Carrol Rogers
(27) Leora Janine Rogers
(27) Zena Alice Rogers

My uncle, my father's twin, was born on 7 December 1924. While this may have no relevance what so ever, note that the Gorrell family, near neighbors of the Hissam's in West Virginia, pronounced their name as "Garrell." Was this the origin of Garrell's name? My father, unfortunately, can't remember the story of his brother's naming, though he's sure he was told. In the 1930 census of Milton, Jackson township, Van Buren county, Iowa as Garrell G. Hissem, 5.

Garrell joined the Army about the time of his 18th birthday in December 1942. This is an estimate based on my father’s joining in April 1943, which he termed as “four to six months after” his brother joined. They both entered the Army, but Uncle Garrell, the more adventuresome of the two according to my father, opted to become a parachute combat infantryman in the Airborne.

Garrell served during WW II as a paratrooper in the Pacific. He probably was assigned first to Fort Benning, Georgia, where the Army's Jump school is located. At left are jump towers at Fort Benning in 1944. He became a member of the 503rd PRCT (Parachute Regimental Combat Team). The 503rd was comprised of the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment, 462nd Parachute Field Artillery Battalion and 161st Parachute Engineer Company. See The 503rd P.R.C.T. Heritage Battalino Online for more about the unit.

On 20 October 1942 the Regiment had left San Francisco on the MS POELAU LAUT. They stopped first in the Panama Canal zone to pick up the 501st Parachute Battalion, which was redesignated the Second Battalion of the 503 PIR. They eventually landed in Cairns, Australia on 2 December 1942. During more than three years service in the Southwest Pacific theater, the 503rd served in five major combat operations.

Garrell joined the PRCT no later than when they arrived in Australia because he fought in New Guinea, their first jump. On 5 September 1943 they jumped into the Markham Valley, New Guinea in the first successful Airborne Combat jump. The Regiment forced the Japanese evacuation of a major base at Lae to take a route which proved to be disastrous for them. The third Battalion of the 503d had a major skirmish with the rear guard of this exodus. The successful employment of Parachute troops in the Markham Valley has been credited with saving the concept of vertical envelopment from being abandoned following several less than successful engagements in Europe [I remember my Dad telling me about Uncle Garrell's time in New Guinea].

Shortly after their assault on the Markham Valley the 503d adopted the "descending wildcat" to become their official insignia. The 503d proudly wore their "wildcat" during the next two years. The "Wildcat Patch", right, which was soon nicknamed the "Cat Patch", had been dreamed up by the Walt Disney Studios some time shortly after 7 Dec 1941, and several paratroop units adopted similar Disney based patches. The backgrounds remained the same, and the number of the unit was added, so the design was hardly unique to the 503d.

It was only after the unit's successful liberation of Corregidor that the symbolic "Rock Patch", created by one of the unit's own men, was adopted for wear on the sleeve as a unit patch, below.

The 503rd's penultimate mission was the combat jump on Corregidor on 16 February 1945 to liberate the island from occupying Japanese forces. Left, the 503rd prepares to jump into Corregidor. This was the premier combat jump of the Pacific War and was the most vicious combat action in which the combat team was engaged. There were an estimated 6550 Japanese on the island when the 503d landed. Of those, only 50 survived. The 503d lost 169 men killed and many more wounded. The drop on Corregidor was done at 700 feet with just enough time for the chute to open and slow the men's fall before they hit the ground, see above. They carried a huge amount of gear and had to be in excellent physical condition.

Below are shots of the jump and subsequent action.

On the units return to Mindoro from Corregidor a series of photographs was taken of the surviving members of the 503d PRCT. They were photographed in their State of Origin groupings. The photo below shows 503rd members from Iowa.

In the 1st Row are, L. to R., Pfc. Smuth, Pvt. Morgan, Pfc. Heflin, Pfc. Kock, Pfc. Clark, Pfc. Jordan, Pvt. Anderson, Pfc. Lary, Pfc. Ashlack, Pfc. Hissem (in the white t-shirt, second from the right), Pvt. Swafford. During this campaign Garrell was listed as a Corporal [sic?] in Second Battalion HQ & HQ. His photo is in Harold Templeman's "The Return To Corregidor."

After Corregidor Uncle Garrell also saw action in Mindanao, the Philippines.

By early November 1945 the 503rd Parachute Regimental Combat Team ceased to be operational. All men with lengthy service in the Southwest Pacific had been rotated to the United States while those who had served the Combat Team for a shorter time had been reassigned to the 11th Airborne Division and sent as occupation troops to Japan. The Regiment was inactivated on 24 December 1945 at Camp Anza, California.

After the war, I assume in late 1945, Garrell came home. His combined pay and leave from his extended combat duty allowed him to take six months off duty at home. He had a girlfriend who he had written to throughout the war and, perhaps, thought to marry on his return. When he got home, however he found she had planned out his life for him, a life that did not include the military that he had learned to love. There was a falling out and when he met Margie Smith of Rock Island, he married her. His brother, my father, served as his best man.

Garrell G. Hissem re-enlisted in the Army as an Infantry Staff Sergeant on 15 January 1946 at Fort Snelling, Minnesota. He had always enjoyed the service life and was good at it. My Dad remembers that soon after marrying he was sent to Fort Snelling, Minnesota. Was this a return trip or the actual time of his re-enlistment? I think he also went there for processing and to pick up further orders. His enlistment was for the Hawaiian Department [never heard of it]. He had three years of High School and was classifed a machine operator, the same as my Dad.

After Fort Snelling, and probably because of his excellent combat record, Garrell was assigned as a jump instructor at the Fort Benning Parachute school. The U.S. Army Parachute School has been known by a variety of names over the years. In 1946 it was the Airborne School. By the end of the year it was the Airborne Army Aviation Section, of the Infantry School. Garrell’s superiors at the jump school pushed him to seek a commision and he eventually did. He attended officer training at Fort Riley in Kansas, probably in 1947-1948, and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant.

Garrell’s first assignment after OCS was to Trieste, Italy where he served in the 351st Regiment of the 88th Infantry Division. This was in the early 1950”s, a period when Trieste was one of the “hot spots” on the globe and it drew many “hot” officers who wanted to make their mark. The 351st was considered at this time to be an “elite” unit by the U.S. Military Academy. I should also point out that this was probably less onerous duty than war in Korea, the other hot spot.

I believe Uncle Garrell was in Armor, or tanks, as his final assignment, below, attests. Below are pictures of “tankers” of the Trieste United States Troops. I don’t know that any of the pictures are of him, though the top left shot looks very like him. If nothing else, it gives a flavor of the men, their equipmenta and mission.

In a recent email, Charles Nobles wrote,

"I stumbled onto your genealogical website last night when I googled Garrell Hissem. I was a young recruit when I was assigned to Tank Company 351st Infantry Regiment in the Free Territory of Trieste. We were miles apart in rank as he was Executive Officer in the company while I was the newest of the new. You mentioned that you had no picture of him over there. Yes, you do. On that page of tankers (I have the same copy of the book), he is shown in the upper left. I put together a reunion association of the officers and men who served in Trieste during the years of the Free Territory (1947-54). We meet annually. Although our numbers are dwindling rapidly, we have formed a strong bond with the TRUST Tankers."

"Yes, Garrell was a tanker, at least, he was wearing Armor Brass on his labels."

"I'm sending you a link to the second page of the "Old Soldiers Home". It is a website for the Yanks and the Brits who served in Trieste. On this pg 2, is a massive document that I transcribed from the magazines, newspapers, and Army documents from the end of WW II to the end of October 1954 concerning Trieste. It is in PDF format. I would recommend that you check out the index before you import any of the three sections to see if there is anything that particularly interests you. On page one of the Old Soldiers Home is a guest book that is used by former members of TRUST to communicate with one another on a daily basis. You may want to check the links. TRUST (Trieste United States Troops) was indeed the finest command in the Army at the time. I had just turned 18 when I arrived in Trieste and it was my home for over two and a half years. Crudely put, our mission was to keep the Italians and Yugoslavs apart while the politicians settled on the fate of the port city of Trieste. It was awarded to Italy at the end of WW I as a prize for joining the Allied side in that war. Tito wanted it and was willing to take it by force. The members of TRUST became my brothers and remain so to this day."

McNeese, Frank J. Capt
Hissem, Garrell G. 1st Lt
Bell, John E. 1st Lt.
Blazins, Joseph J. 2d Lt.

My Dad had implied that Garrell didn’t go into Armor until his last tour, at Fort Hood.

Garrell's wife, Marjorie, and his daughter, Linda, came home from Trieste in 1952 on a WWII troop transport.

"From Trieste, FTT, 17 October 1952, USNS GENERAL R. E. CALLAN (T-AP139) [photo above], arriving at port of New York, NY 1 November 1952 . . .
Hissem, Marjorie E., 27, Female, 546 22nd St., Rock Island, Illinois, Married, Iowa
Hissem, Cinda [sic] J., 5, Female, 546 22nd St., Rock Island, Illinois, Single, Georgia" - from the "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957"

He was assigned to duty in Korea, as an infantry officer according to Dad, probably from 1955 to 1957. It is impossible at this point to say which unit he was attached to. It was while in Korea that Garrell had the first indications of the illness that would kill him. The doctors there, however did not feel competent to treat or even fully diagnose the problem. According to research by my cousin, Richard Six, Garrell sometime later graduated from the Command and General Staff College, Ft Leavenworth, Kansas.

The Command and General Staff College (CGSC) This the Army's senior tactical school. It develops officers able to lead fighting units at the tactical and operational levels of war. Mid-career officers, majors and some promotable captains, attend the 10-month Command and General Staff Officer Course. The course educates selected officers in the values of the profession of arms, and in the conduct of military operations during peace, conflict, and war with emphasis at corps and division level. Students include Army active and reserve component officers, international officers, and officers from other branches of the U.S. Armed Forces. The college was established at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas in 1881.

I assume that the Staff College tour came fairly late in this career, probably just before his last assignment. Garrell’s final tour of duty was as a Captain, Headquarters Company, Second Medium Tank Battalion, of the Patton 37Th Armor (known as the Iron Dukes), Second Armored Division, at Fort Hood, Texas. General Patton created the Second Armored Division in the mold of the German Panzer divisions of Field Marshall’s Guderian and Rommel. It is famous for its drive across France after the break-out from Normandy and its relief of Bastogne. The Battalion had been stationed in Germany, returning to the United States in early 1958. It remained at Fort Hood until 1963 when it returned to Germany, where it remains today.

Did Uncle Garrell know Elvis when they were together in the same Battalion? My guess is no. Garrell’s illness had probably shown up by this time, distracting him from any other concern than for his family’s future.

We visited Garrell’s family at least once while they were stationed at Fort Hood. Dad was stationed at Bryan Air Force Base, Texas at this time so the drive wasn’t long. I do remember the visit. The base was huge and it seemed we drove forever from the front gate until we got to their house. They lived in a white frame row house [base housing] that was situated on a rise above a parking lot below. I remember this because we played on the hill. There is a picture of my family in front with our 1956 Buick when we visited. Georgia and Linda, Garrell’s eldest daughter, were, according to Dad, ga-ga over Elvis and could barely control their excitement at being so close to him. Dad and my Uncle were unimpressed.

Dad says he and Garrell went riding while there. Garrell was a good rider and possessed a full Patton-esque riding regalia. Again, according to Dad, Garrell looked every inch the rising officer.

He died in the US Army Hospital at Fort Hood, Bell county, Texas of colon cancer on 9 January 1959. He was buried at the National Cemetary on Rock Island, across from the city of Davenport where his mother lived. I believe he received what is known as a “deathbed” or "tombstone" promotion to Major.

The brothers looked quite a bit alike, but not identical, at least to my eye. I remember Uncle Garrell as a smooth and urbane version of my father. As an example, for a Christmas present he gave my father a smoking jacket. Dad never knew what to do with it.

Garrell's widow later married Thomas Woods, now retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army. They live in Columbia, South Carolina. Both Linda and Susan were adopted by Tom Woods. Garrell's children were,
(27) Linda W. Hissem (1947)
(27) Susan W. Hissem (1953)

Linda teaches gifted children in Sammamish, Washington, in the Lake Washington School District outside of Seattle, which has been her life’s work. She has 120 students, 1st-6th grade, who come to her one day a week from about seven different schools.

She first married James Cox, with whom she had a daughter, Jessica, now 27. Jessica is currently attending graduate school at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, studying atmospheric physics. Linda married a second time, but without children. She then married Steven Dull, a Navy man and lived in Florida, California, and now Seattle [actually I think she lives in the suburb of Redmond]. Steve was an S-3 'Viking' pilot and retired as a Captain. He is now the 737 project director at Boeing.

Susan married Clyde Perryman. She now lives in Highpoint, North Carolina with her son, David, who will attend Jr. College next year. He is an Eagle Scout.

Garrell’s twin brother, he was born on 7 December 1924 in Milton, Iowa. I believe he was born second, but I’m not certain of the fact. In the 1930 census of Milton, Jackson township, Van Buren county, Iowa as Darrell D. Hissem, 5.

My Dad grew-up on a small, but prosperous farm in Milton, Iowa. While in the years of the Great Depression there was very little actual money to be had, the family did not want for food, clothes or housing. Most of what they needed that could not be obtained on the farm was gained by barter, something like the small-town doctor who is paid for his services in chickens. The house was small enough that my Aunt Alice had to live with her Grandparents, but they were close by and Alice spent most of her time at home. The adjacent barn was painted a red and white candy-stripe, so clearly my Grandfather had style and was not just some dour, American Gothic type. A pall was cast over the family, however, by the lingering effects of his war wounds. Troubled by a wound that never fully healed and the after effects of gassing, he was never an entirely well man again. I never knew him. He appears to have been prosperous, owning two 160 acres farms northeast of Milton, near Douds-Leando, which he rented out, a 7 acre property in town which he farmed and on which his house was located, as well as other properties he bought and sold throughout the Depression. Another odd clue to Leo's character - Dad remembers he had a subscription to "True Confessions" magazine.

My grandfather married Lena May Six. Her father, George Six, had a reputation for being less, perhaps, "serious" than my grandfather. Certainly he was not the nose-to-the-grindstone type. As he told the story, George went prospecting in the Klondike, struck it rich, but was robbed on the way home, explaining his destitute condition. On more than one occasion Leo Hissem had to support his father-in-law, so I'm told, and rented one of his farms to him.

Mechanization came to the farm in my father's youth and Dad told me about the excitement engendered by the arrival of the Steam Tractor, like the one to the left. A number of farmers wouLd go in together to rent this huge, slow moving machine and my father clearly remembers the awe inspired by its slow approach - it only went about 2.5 miles an hour. It was quickly superceded by diesel tractors, but during my father's life horses continued to be important work animals.

The family also kept a ram named "Billy" and my father and his twin brother used to harness it to a cart. To encourage it forward they would squeeze its testicles, which would cause the animal to bolt. Because the traces were somewhat elastic the cart would take off some time after the ram did, then quickly gather speed, bumping into the ram further exciting him. I suspect all such excursions ended in disaster. At right my Dad is riding Billy in a quieter moment. Lozelle is in the background, in front of the shed.

My Dad and his brother mowed yards to make a little extra money, charging between 35 and 75 cents, depending on the yard’s size. The 75 cent yard was an all day affair. Dad was delegated the duty of collecting payment and found some of his neighbors slow to pay off. Later they were offered a job mowing the Sunnyside cemetary. They quickly took up the offer when they realized it included a power mower.

The other story my Dad had from his childhood was when his twin, Garrell, carved his name in the school house door. He was caught, of course, and forced to sand down the door. His father imparted one bit of good advice to Garrell, "If you're going to carve something in the school house door, let it be something other than your own name." There was a one-room school house in the area known as the Hissem school, but I don't know if my Dad ever attended it. He went to the two story, brick school house in town, shown above. My father played baseball as a boy, doing well at third base. He did not finish high school.

My Father took his first airplane flight in a Ford Tri-Motor in about 1940. "Big" Ben Gregory offered 50-cent plane rides out of Cram Field in the "Tin Goose." The airplane he flew is to the right. Note on its side the logo "Fly with Ben." The plane carried 14-passengers who sat on wicker seats for their light weight.

7 December 1941 was my father's seventeeth birthday and he heard the radio broadcast announcing the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor while cruising in a Chevrolet convertible. His brother, Garrell, entered the Army first, I think on his eighteenth birthday, but Dad delayed some months, not going until April 1943. During his youth my father had a heart problem and he assumed he would be refused entry. This was a kind of secondary, echo heartbeat (I have the same thing). I think this perceived debility embarassed him which explained, in part, his delay in entering the Army. However, the heart arrhythmia had either disappeared or this doctor was none too picky because my Dad was accepted and eventually became a part of the Army Air Corps, as an aircraft mechanic.

Darrell D. Hissem of Scott county, Iowa enlisted as a Private in the Army on 12 April 1943 at Camp Dodge Herrold. He had three years of High School and was classified as a machine operator.

His first assignment was to the 309th Bombardment Group (M), Columbia Army Air Base, South Carolina where he worked maintaining B-25G's. They were part of an advanced bomber training squadron. Like most young men, however, he wanted in the fight and badgered his superiors for a transfer to Europe, finally winning approval, but not until 1945, after the war was over. By the way, the B-25 pilots of the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo were all volunteers from Columbia Air Base and began their training there, though they did the majority of their training at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.

The B-25G The B-25 “Mitchell” was an excellent medium bomber. The G-model had the green-house nose replaced with a solid structure housing a 75mm M4 cannon and two fixed .50-cal. machine guns. The cannon was manually reloaded after each shot; twenty one 75mm rounds were carried onboard. Since the -G model was primarily intended to fill the ground attack and strafing role, more armor plating protecting the crew and ammunition storage areas was added to the aircraft.

My Dad had campaigned for transfer to the European theater and, probably on the disbandment of the 309th, he finally got his wish. He traveled to Europe in a troop transport and told me of the boredom of the trip. Not one to gamble, he used to watch the porpoises riding the ship's bow wave. Years later, while we watched the "Flipper" TV show, he noted that while this porpoise was blue, all those he had seen during his transit had been brown.

He landed in the port of Le Havre, right, in October 1945. After the city had been secured by Allied troops in September 1944, the area had been ringed with camps to serve as staging areas for new troops entering the area. MOst of these camps were named after cigarettes, Camp Chesterfield, Lucky Strike, Pall Mall, etc.

Dad had arrived in France with orders to move on to Tempelhof airbase, in Berlin, which we had received from the Russians. For the first few weeks in France, however, he lived at Camp Lucky Strike and during that period made many trips to Paris. The camp was little more than a tent city and was extremely cold. They slept on cots in thin sleeping bags, the cold creeping in from underneath the cots.

If you believe the story I've told about our family's very earliest origins, then Dad was camped not many miles up the coast from the lands of his forefathers, in Fecamp, circa 1050.

At the heart of the camp was a chateau, left in a modern photo, and Dad often talked of living in a chateau while he visited Paris, but I think he merely meant that he camped out near one [or, in those latter days after V-E day, perhaps some of the soldiers did move into the main building].

The men took frequent liberty to Paris. On one of those excursions the gendarmes decided Dad did not have the proper documents or pass and locked him in an elevator between floors in place of a jail cell while they resolved the matter. I suppose they thought he was a deserter. His pass probably wasn’t valid, because he had no one in real authority to sign it. The gendarmes finally let him go, but did not offer transportation back to the camp. The usual transport had already left by this time and my Dad realized he did know how to get back on his own. He eventually found his way into the center of the city by the simple expedient of walking downhill and there found transportation.

An officer had been in charge of the group of men ordered to Berlin that included my father, but at some point, and for reasons unknown, he decamped and my father took charge.

When Dad got to Berlin in November 1945 he was promoted to Staff Sergeant, but if that was due to the action of a promotion board or as a reward for leading his men successfully to Berlin, he didn’t know. He was assigned to the European Air Transport Service at Templehof airport in Berlin where he did maintenance on the C-47's. Dad mentioned that he got ribbed a lot because the patch he wore on his uniform had the outfit's acronym, EATS.

Tempelhof Air Drome, Berlin, Germany This base was the home of the 301st Troop Carrier Squadron (squadron code "Z4") beginning on 4 July, 1945. They had C-47's including five modified to the VC117B standard. After 1945 Tempelhof was taken over by the U.S. as an air base. The 473rd Air Service Group, United States Army Air Forces, led by Col. William Booth, took command of the U.S. Army Air Force Station, Tempelhof following the end of World War II, on May 27, 1945.

While at Tempelhof Dad was approached to take charge of a hangar full of aircraft, including a P-51 the Operations office pilots wanted to fly, a P-38-F5, a P-47 that was to be transferred once it got a propeller swap, an L-4 the general wanted to fly for currency, and some Stinson L-5's (4 of them?) used for weather recce.

Dad jumped at the chance to maintain this diverse group of aircraft and was given a few junior personnel to assist him. He made a PFC, who had experience with the Mustang, the crew chief for the P-51. Dad took the P-38, though, in the end, this aircraft was never flown. It seems that on a regular basis a Soviet YAK-3, like the one to the left (though he may have meant YAK-9, which was in use at the end of the war and more of a match for the Mustang), would fly over the field, "taunting" the Americans, and the P-51 was used to respond.

The L-5's went out almost every day on weather recce's and Dad would grab a back seat ride whenever he could. He said he had always idolized pilots and this was when he first realized that flying wasn't really all that hard and he might be able to do it himself. When he returned from Europe he immediately started flying lessons in Davenport. His experience was obvious to his flight instructor and Dad eventually soloed in under 8 hours.

Dad thoroughly enjoyed his time at Tempelhof and sought to extend on active duty, but extending was rarely granted - it was assumed you must be in the black market - and Dad went home on time. He left Europe, through Le Havre and Camp Lucky Strike again, in April 1946 after a brief stay in the Alps at what he called a "repo depot".

The north Atlantic was rough in April and my Dad, who does not suffer from sea-sickness, reported that he had the mess decks pretty much to himself. He arrived in New York and went by train to Camp McCoy, a separation center in Wisconsin, where he was honorably discharged. On the train he spent a good deal of time in the bar car and, he reports, it was one of the quickest trips he can remember taking. At Camp McCoy he met, against all odds, an old friend from Milton, Iowa.

When Dad got home he began flight instruction in the Piper J-3 Cub at Elliott Aviation. This was a fixed-base operator (FBO) located on Cram field, on the west side of Davenport. His instructor was Roy Moses. At right is a picture of Roy sitting at a desk in the Parts department. Dad solo'ed in 7 hours and got his license with 40 hours of flight time.

After he learned to fly his logbook was filled with the names of friends and relatives he took flying. These included his finacee, my Mom, his brother-in-law, Carrol Rogers, and his younger brother, Lozelle, whose name filled the book. Lozelle wanted to learn to fly as well and grabbed as many flights as he could. My Dad reports that when Lozelle began his flight instruction he did so in the Aeronca Champ. This aircraft was similar to the Cub, but the pilot sat in the front seat whereas in the Champ it was flown from the rear. The Champ was also a little faster. The airplane my Father flies today, a Citabria, was a development of the Champ.

In October 1946 Dad married his girlfriend, Jeanne Katherine Offerman, my mother. One of my favorite stories is that, while in Europe, Dad had bought Mom a bottle of French perfume [in Paris or at the PX in Camp Lucky Strike on the way home?]. During all of his subsequent travels he had been careful to keep this fragile bottle safe and when he arrived back home he proudly showed off the gift he was going to give to a friend of his mother’s. Of course the bottle slipped, hit the hard wood floor and burst. Dad was inconsolable – and the finish on the floor was never the same.

Dad spent about eight months out of the service, working as a tool salesman, selling the Stanley line to the local farmers. He did well in the job, but disliked the uncertain nature of sales, so when a local recruiter offered him his old stripes back and duty in the local area as a recruiter, he jumped at the chance. Another perk of the job was that he would receive per diem, an important point for the newly married Sergeant. Before starting his new job he was sent to Omaha where he was trained by insurance salesmen in the art of sales. It was said they best understood the selling of intangibles, whether that be a secure future for your family or a career.

Having learned the love of flying in Europe Dad started flight instruction in the J-3 Cub. He solo'ed before re-upping.

Later, when he was working as a recruiter, he signed up his brother Loselle. Losie afterwards learned to fly in imitation of Dad and owned a war-surplus Vultee trainer for a couple of years.

I know Dad worked in the Musketeen area for a while, as an Air Force recruiter, because my sister was born in Davenport, Iowa in 1948, but soon after that they moved to Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, just outside Las Vegas.

Nellis Air Force Base Nellis had started out in World War II as the Las Vegas Army Air Field. This training facility was shut down after World War II, but reopened in 1948 as an Air Force advanced single-engine training base. On the advent of the Korean War it became a jet fighter base.

In the immediate post-WWII years housing was hard to get and while at Nellis my Mom and Dad bought a house trailer. They didn't really like it, however, or the trailer park. I believe Dad worked on P-51's at this time.

After Nellis, the family moved to Luke Air Force Base, on the west side of Phoenix, Arizona. Like Nellis, Luke had been a training base in World War II and closed soon after. It was reopened in February 1951 as an Air Force base, part of the Air Training Command. Students at Luke progressed from the P-51 Mustang to the F-84 Thunderstreak. The Air Force demonstration team, the Thunderbirds, was formed at Luke AFB in 1953.

I was born at the Luke Air Force Base hospital and spent the first two years of my life in a craftsman-style home in the suburbs of Glendale, just east of the base. Georgia still remembers Dad telling her about "tying down the Mustangs" at the end of his work day, which horrified my horse loving sister. He was, of course, securing the P-51 fighter aircraft. My Dad was then transferred to Okinawa, where he maintained a squadron of F-86's. He found the commanding officer, the ace Frank Gabreski (who died on 31 January 2002), to be one of his best. Gabreski was the top American air ace of World War II, having shot down 28 German aircraft over Europe. Later, during the Korean war, he downed a further six enemy jets. In the meantime my Mom took my sister and me back to Iowa to live in Davenport. Here my first real memories begin. As I remember it, we lived in a white frame, two-story row house. My Grandma Hissem, now a widow, was a matron in a home for orphan boys, the Annie Wittenmyer Home. My impression is that this orphanage was just around the corner from our house, but, being only a few years old at the time this could be wildly inaccurate. I enjoyed visiting the orphanage, though my grandmother warned me to stay away from the boys, who were much older than I was and a bit too wise in the ways of the world. Here I'd frequently meet my cousins Shawn and Keating, as well as my many female cousins. The orphanage was in the shape of a quadrangle, with one end open. Each "house" was separate but connected by a colonnade. Terrifying and intriguing to me was the fire escape. Simply a tube shaped like a child's slide, but enclosed, it was pitch dark inside and went from the second story of each house to the ground. I never dared use it, though my cousins did.

Below are pictures of some of the individual homes taken after the home closed. The Wittenmyer home had originally been a Soldiers’ Ophans home, much like the one that George Heysham, of the Robert Heysham branch of the family, put his children in after the death of his wife.

Front and back views of the home, below. Playing fields were below the rise in the picture on the right. The fire escapes are not present in these pictures.

When my Dad came home from Okinawa we moved to Bryan Air Force Base, Texas, near College Station and the University of Texas. My memories of these years are of moving, usually every two years or so. Always rising well before sunrise, I'd sit, half asleep in the back seat of the car, watching the black highway illuminated only by the headlights of our car. For the next several assignments my father was in the Air Training Command, working on T-33's and later T-38's. In Texas my folks bought a small blue house on Mockingbird Lane in a new suburban neighborhood. I think it had two bedrooms, a single bath, with just a living room and kitchen in addition. It also had a single carport. I don't remember much about the interior of this house, but outside is indelibly imprinted on my brain. There was a large forest behind the houses across the street and my friends and I spent every waking Moment there. There was a lightning-struck tree, which had fallen over onto another tree, creating a perfect ramp to climb into the higher branches. There was also a creek in which we sailed model boats and, on at least one point, sailed and sunk my sister's dog, Buttons. The family car was a blue and white 1956 Buick Special. It was always spotless. I didn't go to either pre-school, which probably wasn't available, or to kindergarten, which was considered new-fangled and unnecessary. "The Mouseketeers Club" was our favorite TV show, though I remember something about the "Lives of the Bengal Lancers" whose antics we aped. I would up in the emergency room because of that show.

Our next assignment was Greenville Air Force Base, Mississippi, which was a huge culture shock. Greenville is in northwestern Mississippi, not far from Vicksburg and the river. The area was depressed, poverty was endemic, and I had never seen a black person before. Finding housing was more difficult than ever. My folks had not sold their house in Bryan, so they were looking for a rental. I remember going with them looking at houses and, in particular, one that reminded me more of a shed whose floor tilted noticeably. They finally found a place in Leland, Mississippi, but it was still pretty horrible. Leland was a small time due east of Greenville. A two-bedroom tar-paper shack with chickens in the back yard. Very rustic. Later we moved across the street to a frame house with a finished attic that became my bedroom and playroom. I had complete privacy up in my room, for the first time ever, and I loved it. I had a model railroad set, not the Lionel, but the cut-rate American Flyermodel, which I played with endlessly. My Dad traded the Buick in on a White 1959 Chevrolet Impala. I attended first and second grade in Leland in a segregated school. Blacks did not live in town, but on the other side of the tracks in a place called "Black Dog." Their school was held in a small Baptist Church. My best friend was Smitty Reeves, whose father ran the lumberyard. Smitty gave me my first taste of beer, the warm remains of a Budweiser that I found awful.

We then moved to Williams Air Force Base, Arizona, on the east side of Phoenix. We lived on base in military housing. The houses were built along semi-circles with large grass areas in the middle, and just to the other side of the road was the desert. It was a perfect place for play and we engaged in endless games of army, cowboys & indians, and football. Once again, we spent as little time inside the house as possible. The only exception being when the TV show "Combat" came on. All games were put on hold for that event. I attended third, fourth and fifth grades there. I had a lot of trouble in the third grade, perhaps because of the poor schooling I had received in Mississippi, and had to attend summer school at the end of that year to improve my reading skills. After that, however I learned to like school and love reading. My best friend was Steve Lloyd, who lived next door. My Dad bought a used Vespa, hand-painted red, to get and forth to the flight line because my Mom was using the car to drive to her work. She now worked as a secretary in the Civil Engineering Department of the base. My Dad started flying again after a long hiatus as a member of the Air Force Flying Club that used the base's runways. I had my first flight when my Dad put me in the jump seat of a Cessna 140 while he got his check-out from a club pilot. The Club had the 140, a Navion and a T-34. At other times they had a Cessna 120 and a couple of Travel-Airs, however by then I had become contrary and decided I didn't like flying so I never flew these aircraft.

We almost never went on vacations, usually just visiting relatives while enroute from one base to another, but in 1960 we drove to Los Angeles and went to Disneyland for a day. I remember I was terribly disappointed that the Jungle Cruise was closed. I’ve made up for it by taking my family to the park every year.

My Dad was strict in our upbringing and somewhat remote, as Dad's of that era were, but the atmosphere was always loving. I did get "whuppin's" for various transgressions from both my Mom and Dad, though I don't remember thinking any of them was undeserved.

My father was then transferred to Iceland. Choosing not to take his family on this arduous tour, he was able to limit his term to just a year. However, the family had to leave base housing, so we moved to Chandler, Arizona, the nearest town to the Air Force Base where my mom continued to work. I attended sixth grade in Chandler. While in Iceland my Dad worked on the F-102 as the Chief of Maintenance Control. The aircraft were assigned as Interceptors, used to patrol the northern skies and intercept Soviet bombers, like the Bear and the Badger. Later, when I was in the Navy, we intercepted the same type aircraft [considering their out-of-skew economics, perhaps the very same ones].

Just before my Dad got to Iceland the squadron had failed its Operational Readiness Inspection. A big part of his job was getting the squadron maintenance back on its feet. He related how satisfying this tour was because he was able to have such a significant impact on the squadron's performance.

When my father came home we found that he had been ordered to Webb AFB in Big Spring, Texas. My Mom had hoped to return to Williams AFB and worked hard to turn these orders around, but to no avail. My Dad traded the Impala in on a gorgeous maroon 1964 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu SS convertible. I was the envy of all, or so I thought, and especially loved it when my Mom would pick me up at school - with the top down of course. Actually, my Mom almost never picked me up and these were very special occasions. I either walked or rode my bike to school. Dad had also brought home a 1963 Volkswagen that he had used in Iceland. Later both my sister and I learned to drive in this car.

Big Spring, Texas was another big shock. It was a small town of about 30,000 isolated in the middle of a vast scrub-land. The closest town of any size was Midland, about an hours drive away. Collocated with an oil refinery, the town always smelled of rotten eggs. By the way, the opening sequences of the movie "Midnight Cowboy" were filmed in Big Spring. Its the town John Voight can't wait to get away from and I shared his feelings. I attended seventh, eighth and part of ninth grades in the Goliad Junior High School. The locals were all the sons of ranchers or oil workers and had little use for the "cosmopolitan" Air Force kids. I had a lot of run-ins with the local toughs and had a difficult time of it.

A Webb AFB aerial view is to the right. The Air Training Command side is at the bottom, while the Air Defense Command site is the ramp on the top right side of the photo. My Dad was assigned to the 331st Air Defense Command squadron, which flew F-104's, a beautiful, if ineffectual aircraft. He was again in charge of Maintenance Control, but here there was a more senior enlisted man who kept Dad from putting in place those improvements he thought necessary. The squadron was never, in my Dad's opinion, as "hot" as the 57th.

Much of west-central Texas is a relatively flat, dry region noted for its geographic monotony.

My Dad also belonged to the Air Force Flying club there. They flew out of the local general aviation airport, Howard County airport, and had a Cessna 150 and 172. It was a good club and we frequently met for picnics at the airfield. There would be spot landing contests, we'd wash the planes, and eat. I remember my Mom was always careful to bring extra for the bachelor officers in the group.

Fearing transfer into the developing Vietnam War, my Dad retired from the Air Force after about 22 years of service and we moved back to Arizona, settling in Tempe to be near the University. When my Dad put in his papers his commanding office let him know that the squadron was moving into an "exciting new mission," training Jordanian pilots in the F-104, and was quite disappointed, per Dad, when this failed to sway my Dad into staying in. We then moved to Tempe, Arizona. I completed high school at McClintock High School, a fairly new facility and then attended Arizona State University, as did my sister. My Dad was concerned with getting a job as quickly as possible and when an aircraft maintenance job didn't come along soon enough, he accepted a position with the Post Office and worked there for another twenty years. I don't think he was ever happy being a mail-man, but he did a good job at it. When the people on his route found he was retiring, they threw him a very nice party. Not something I can imagine doing for my mailman. My folks had built a new house in Tempe where they lived for many years.

While in college I learned to fly and then took an aerobatics course in a Citabria with Cliff Sterrenberg. My flying encouraged Georgia to learn and we determined to buy an airplane together. When our discussions got serious my father joined us making the ownership a true possibility. We bought a brand new 1973 Citabria 7ECA, an aerobatic two-seat aircraft like the one on the left, and Georgia and I picked it up at the factory in Osceola, Wisconsin. We kept the aircraft at various places at first, finally settling at Falcon Field in Mesa. My Mom, tired of family conversations that revolved exclusively around flying, finally decided she'd learn to fly too, and did, getting her license at the age of fifty. When I left to join the Navy, Georgia and Dad bought me out. Later Dad bought out Georgia and she purchased a Smith Mini-Plane, N1G, a tiny single-seat biplane similar to the one on the right.

"This Smith Mini Plane N1G was started in mid 1961 and was first flown on November 12, 1967 at Chino, California. It was built by Norm Ginn who operated a small company named Aircraft Spruce Co. selling spruce lumber in the early 1960's. In 1965, Norm sold the company name to Flo and Bob Irwin who began to build the business into what is today Aircraft Spruce & Specialty Company. Thus, N1G is the first homebuilt using materials from "Aircraft Spruce". Norm sold N1G in 1970, and today it is with its seventh owner in Texas. "

My Mom and Dad used the insurance money from the Debbie to buy a 1970 V35B Beechcraft Bonanza, a truly beautiful airplane. In the mean time, to have a simpler, cheaper airplane for local hops, my Dad joined several of his friends to buy an Aeronca Champ. Years later the group traded this airplane in on their current aircraft, a Citabria GCBC.

In the final years of their lives both my Grandma Hissem and Grandma Offerman lived with my parents in Tempe. I was gone, deployed with the Navy, when Grandma Hissem died and I missed her funeral, but I was home on leave when Grandma Offerman passed away. The family flew back to Iowa for the funeral in the Debonair, the last leg into Davenport under a quickly lowering sky and growing snow storm. I flew this leg and was happy that my folks were familiar enough with the countryside south of Davenport to be able to direct the flight based on the roads we could see underneath us.

After my Dad and Mom retired they moved to a smaller house located on the Camelot Golf course in Mesa, Arizona to be closer to the airport, as well as the golf course. Dad had a perfect retirement. Every morning he would get up early and head to the airport, or "to work" as he sometimes called it. He might make an early flight, or just work on the airplane. With the hangar open, it was a sign to the other aviators to come calling, and after a little conversation, everyone headed over to the cafe for coffee and perhaps a little breakfast. Afterwards they'd decamp to someone's hangar to help a buddy with a maintenance problem or to the administration building where they could get another cup of coffee and watch the aircraft takeoff and land, critiquing the performance. Some day's they'd get several aircraft and go out for lunch. Other times they'd stay local, but still go out in a convoy. Meanwhile my Mom played golf and took positions of authority in the local league. She also joined the 99's, writing their newsletter and in general being a ball of fire.

My Mom developed heart trouble and died, suddenly, on 15 October 2001. Her death was a terrible blow to my father. My Dad died on 3 May 2006. When he collapsed he was at the airport, surronded by his friends. It was the way he would have wanted it to happen. Darrell and Jeanne's children were,
(27) Georgia Jean Hissem (1948)
(27) Steven Dean Hissem (1952)

Georgia was born in Iowa and, like me, went to a variety of schools throughout her young life. This included a stint at the Howard County Junior College in the year before Dad retired. At that point she entered Arizona State University and earned a Bachelors degree in Microbiology. She held a variety of positions early on, but settled into work in a local hospital on the western side of Phoenix.

She continues to live in the Phoenix are on a small ranch on the western end of the valley, underneath the White Tank mountains. She married Charles T. Mulhern (1956) and had two children.
(28) Kerry Jean-Marie Mulhern, who is currently attending Arizona State University, pre-vet.
(28) Charles Phillip Mulhern, a member of the Civil Air Patrol

I was born on 29 March 1952 at Luke Air Force Base, just west of Phoenix, Arizona. At the time my parents lived in the suburb of Glendale. My first memories are of living in Iowa near by Grandma Hissem, while my father was overseas with the Air Force, in Taiwan. After his return we moved to Bryan Air Force Base, near College Station, Texas. Assignments to Greenville AFB, Mississippi, and Williams AFB, Arizona, followed. My father then went overseas again, to Iceland, while the family stayed in Chandler, Arizona. On his return we moved to Webb AFB, Texas, from which Dad retired. We then moved back to Arizona, settling in Tempe, where my sister and I attended Arizona State University.

I earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Sociology from Arizona State University in 1973 and a Masters of Science in Systems Management from the University of Southern California in 1987, where Anita and I met, and a Certificate in Program Management from the Defense Systems Management College at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

I married Anita Lee Montague in San Diego on 18 February 1987. Anita is the daughter of Lloyd Lee Montague, originally of Bishop, California. Lloyd is a retired Navy Captain, having served as a fighter pilot, flying the F-4U Corsair, F-6F Hellcat, AD-1 Skyraider and FJ Fury aircraft, and, later, as an intelligence officer. See the Wells and Montague pages for my interpretation of Anita’s family background.

While working on an earlier Masters degree at ASU, that I never finished, I decided to join the Navy and in October 1975, after selling my portion of the Citabria, I left for training at the Aviation Officer Candidate School in Pensacola, Florida. This is the school mimiced in the Richard Gere film "An Officer and a Gentleman," though they used an abandoned site in Washington state when the U.S. Navy refused to cooperate with the filming. While there is a lot of silliness in that movie, it is essentially correct in the behavior of the drill instructor, the climate of the school and the attitudes of the cadets [not to mention that of the local girls]. I was in battalion three, class 28-75 [ooh-rah!] and my drill instructor was Staff Sergeant Conners. In February 1976 I was commissioned an Ensign.

Training continued after commissioning when I entered VT-10, the basic navigation school, followed by VT-86, the advanced navigation & radar school. My training was a combination of classroom, desktop trainers, simulators and flights in the T-2 and T-39 aircraft. It was in VT-86 that I was trained as a Radar Intercept Officer (RIO), that is, a backseater in Navy fighter aircraft. I earned my Naval Flight Officer 'wings' early in 1977.

I then received orders to VF-121, the training squadron, or Replacement Air Group (RAG), for the F-4J Phantom fighter aircraft. The squadron was located at Naval Air Station (NAS) Miramar in San Diego, California and was my first visit to the city I would eventual retire in. After a quick six months I finished training and, to my shock, was ordered to VF-161, the Rock Rivers, onboard the USS MIDWAY in Yokosuka, Japan. Two excellent web sites for this ship are at CV41 and USS MIDWAY. Interestingly, that ship, now decommissioned, is docked in San Diego as a tourist attraction.

After that tour, in 1980, I received orders to become an instructor at VF-171, the East Coast F-4 RAG at NAS Oceana, Virginia. While living in the "party town" of Virginia Beach, I bought a Hobie 16 sailboat, like the one pictured to the left. A friend and I sailed it in the Atlantic for many years. Later, after many years out of general aviation, I bought a Stolp Starduster II, a two-place, open-cockpit biplane, similar to the one below, and based it at Portsmouth, Virginia.

When a position came open, I volunteered to go back to sea duty early and received orders to VF-21 in San Diego. I flew the Starduster from Virginia to San Diego while a British officer I knew from the squadron on exchange duty and his wife drove my car west on a vacation, sightseeing throughout the country. At the time VF-21 was flying the old F-4N, an updated version of the F-4B aircraft used during the Vietnam War. We deployed onboard the USS CORAL SEA, CV-43, and made an around-the-world cruise in 1984. The lowpoint came early in the cruise when cracks were found in the wings of our aircraft. The aircraft had to be flown off to a depot repair facility in the Philippines to be patched. It wasn't all bad because I was the officer-in-charge of the detachment. The highlight was our passage through the Med, with a stop in Cannes, France. I never knew how good the LANT fleet sailors had it on liberty!

After an around-the-world cruise on the old USS CORAL SEA, the squadron transitioned to the F-14A Tomcat fighter. Following training at VF-124 at NAS Miramar, Roger Boenighausen, the Commanding Officer, and I went to Long Island to pick up one of the fighters fresh off the production line at Grumman and flew it back to San Diego.

In 1985 I was selected, along with pilot John Conkey, to go to the Navy Fighter Weapons School, TOPGUN. While "An Officer and a Gentleman" did accurately mirror much of what went on at AOCS, the movie "Topgun" was wildly inaccurate in almost every detail. One of the few true things about it was that there was a Kelly McGillis-type character who analyzed combat engagements and crunched numbers. She did not, however, have such a central role. There was no top-crew award, the very idea of which was anti-thetical to the squadron's mission, and we didn't take steamy showers together after our flights. There was one good thing to come out of the movie, though. When someone asks what a RIO is, the answer is now simple: "Its Goose! The funny guy in the backseat who died when he ejected."

In 1985 the squadron deployed on the USS CONSTELLATION. During that cruise, and the work-ups leading to it, I was in charge of training and the creation of new Maritime Air Superiority tactics utilizing the F-14 and new F/A-18 aircraft. For those efforts I was selected the Pacific Fleet Naval Flight Officer of the Year in 1985. In a career you receive many awards, earned and unearned. Of this one, and the medal that went with it, I am quite proud.

While on deployment, off the Kamchatka penisula, I and my pilot, Pete Romaneski, got a chance to tangle with Soviet Combat Air Patrol aircraft, some really pretty MIG-23's, who were guarding their airspace. They were fairly aggressive, the number two man trying to maneuver to our six [which we prevented], but when our wingman showed up they turned tame.

Heading back to shore duty in 1985 I was assigned to VF-126, the Bandits, an adversary squadron at Miramar. They flew F-5's and A-4's, and later F-16N's, and played the 'bad-guys' to the RAG and Fleet Squadrons. Utilizing Soviet tactics they helped Navy squadrons hone their skills against the most realistic opposition available. I was able to get quite a bit of stick time in the squadron's TA-4J's, like the one below. These were also used in the adversary mission, though of course they had less oomph that a single seat A-4F. I got to be pretty good at ACM [Air Combat Manuevering}, or dogfighting, and took the opportunity to make my own Atoll kill's [including on Squatty, an old squadron mate from VF-21]. The squadron also flew the T-2, teaching pilots how to recognize and recover from spins. Randy Cunningham, the Navy's only Ace in the Vietnam War, was the commanding officer of the squadron. I was the Maintenance Officer of the squadron.

While at VF-126 I took the opportunity to go back to school, earning a Masters degree from the University of Southern California, attending classes at night. It was during one of these early classes that I might my wife-to-be, Anita. We were married in 1987. In 1989 my son Jeffrey was born.

I was originally ordered to VF-194 after my tour in VF-126, but when that squadron was abolished I was rather suddenly sent to VF-111, the Sundowners. They deployed on the USS CARL VINSON in 1989.

In 1990 I was sent to the Pentagon where I was assigned to the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition. I became an action officer for Air-to-Ground ordnance, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, and the Harpoon and Tomahawk missiles. At the end of my tour I was sent to the Program Manager's course at the Defense Systems Management School at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. My son Timothy was born at the hospital at Fort Belvoir in 1990.

I returned to San Diego in 1993 to be the Weapons Department Head onboard the USS KITTY HAWK, based at NAS North Island. After returning from a deployment in 1995 I transferred to my final Navy tour, at the Fleet Air Control & Surveillance Facility (FACSFAC) San Diego, also located at NAS North Island.

In March 1999 I retired from the Navy [I still can't believe I'm not in the Navy anymore] as a Commander after almost 24 years of service. I had over 3000 flight hours and 800 carrier arrestments. In all that time, however, I never got any 'green ink' in my flight log. In the log book black ink is used for day flights, red for night flights, while green is reserved for combat missions.

Squadron Patches Every squadron in the Navy, and in the world for that matter, has a squadron insignia and a patch normally worn by its personnel. The following are those I wore and still have on my flight jacket. By the way, every one of these squadrons has been disestablished (it wasn't my fault). Pilots and NFO's in the Navy also all have nicknames. For pilots this is their radio call sign. My nickname was 'Snake,' though while in VT-86 it was 'Achmed.' During the time when I was in training in that squadron the Shah of Iran was still in power and he sent his pilots and NFO's to the Navy to train to fly his F-14's. Before the instructors at VT-86 had seen me they saw my name and assumed my last name, looking middle-Eastern, must mean I was an Iranian student and initially assigned me to one of their classes, which were separate. The mistake was discovered quickly, but not before my friends found out about it and dubbed me 'Achmed Mohammed Hissem.'

I now work for the Anteon corporation (then OSEC, Apogen and now QinetiQ) as contract support to Shipboard Installations at the Space & Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR), in San Diego. Anita and I, and the boys live in the north county, in the suburb of Rancho Bernardo, just south of Lake Hodges.

In 2006 I couldn't stand renting Cessna's from the local club anymore and bought a 1/2 share in a Mooney 201, below, based at Montgomery Field, in San Diego. She's a beauty to fly, fast and solid, yet surprisingly docile in the landing pattern. I also recently picked up an Instrument license to more fully utilize the Mooney's capabilities - I went to the Sheble school in Kingman, Arizona, but that's a story to share over a beer. I've since discovered that the Mooney is an excellent instrument platform, and extremely stable on final.

My children are,
(28) Jeffrey Lloyd Hissem (1989)
(28) Timothy Darrell Hissem (1990)

Jeff was born on 7 February 1989 at Sharp Hospital in San Diego, California and named for his maternal grandfather, Lloyd Montague. An Eagle Scout, twice Senior Patrol Leader of his troop, a member of the Order of the Arrow, scouting's honor society, and chief of his local chapter, and now, as an adult, an Assistant Scout Master for Troop 685. Jeff is a Sophomore at San Diego State University, majoring in Computer Engineering. He is a member of the Air Force ROTC.

Tim was born on 11 April 1990 at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, just south of Washington D.C and named for his paternal grandfather, Darrell Hissem. An Eagle Scout, a member of the Order of the Arrow, scouting's honor society, where he is Chief of the Tiwahe Lodge of San Diego and Imperial counties, and now, as an adult, an Assistant Scout Master for Troop 685. Tim is a Freshman at the University of California at Riverside, majoring in Geology. He is a member of the Army ROTC.

He was born on 4 October 1929. In the 1930 census of Milton, Jackson township, Van Buren county, Iowa as Herbert R. [sic] Hissem, 6/12.

Herbert L. Hissem graduated from Milton High School in 1947.

Originally known as Herb, "Losie" (the Depression made the name Herbert [Hoover] unpopular) served in the US Army Air Force following WW II after having been recruited by his older brother, Darrell. He married Laura Jo Vincent. His cousin Richard Six remembers him last as an Air Policeman at Lackland AFB, Texas. Like his older brother, Darrell, he loved flying and was a licensed pilot. At one time he owned a war surplus Consolidated Vultee trainer, like the one at left. He died of cancer on 7 September 1957.

He was born on 22 September 1952 in San Antonio, Bear county, Texas. I believe that was at Lackland Air Force Base. I remember Keating from the 1950's when we'd meet at the Orphanage where Grandma Hissem worked. He, I and Shawn Rogers would "hang," as they say today. I remember little of what we did, but near my grandmother's cottage was a fence made of round steel tubing. We competed to see who could walk along the top of the fence the longest.

Keating married Janet Lynn. Today they live in Montrose, Iowa. This is a small town on the Mississippi river in Lee county, population: 957.

His children are,
(28) Heather L. Hissem (1977)
(28) Jeremy L. Hissem (1980)
(28) Kelsey R. Hissem (1981)

She attended Culver-Stockton College and is now a teacher at Clark County R-1 Schools in Kahoka Missouri. She married Matt Fuger and lives in Argyle, Iowa. Argyle is a small town midway between Fort Madison and Keokuk, near the Missouri border. Heather has a daughter, Lilly. Heather wrote in November 2006:

Hello Family,

". . . I just wanted to let you know that I teach at Clark County R-1 Schools in Kahoka Missouri. I sing semi-professionally at weddings, church, and corporate events. I have a daughter Lily Noel Fuger born December 5, 1998. My husband is Matthew Scott Fuger. We now have a son named Keating Matthew Fuger after my dad Keating Lin Hissem. He was born on September 27, 2004. We are a very close knit family that enjoys yearly camping trips together. We still live in rural Argyle. My husband owns a construction company. Lily, myself, and my dad sing (I direct and sing) in a yearly show called the DEC Hands in Donnellson Ia. We raise money through ticket sales and contributions to help those in need in the community.

Kelsey Rae Hissem is living in DesMoines and is a manager of a T-Mobile store.

Jeremy Lozelle Hissem married Kelli Lynn Cecil and they had a daugher Kinsey Lynn Hissem on August 20, 2005. Kelli is a dental hygienist and Jeremy still teaches at Lone Tree and coaches baseball and wrestling and is pursuing a Masters in Education Administration.

Dad (Keating Lin Hissem) works at Griffin Wheel in Keokuk IA as an Lubrication Specialist. He has worked there for 30 years in April. He enjoys fishing, playing his guitars and singing as well as playing with his grandkids. Janet Lynn (his wife) babysits Keating Fuger and enjoys time spent with family as well.

. . . My son (Keating Matthew Fuger) looks almost identical to my grandfather (Herbert Lozelle Hissem) and the picture on this site was uncanny. Thanks for your work preserving our history!

Heather Fuger

Of Montrose, Iowa. He went to Central Lee High School and then attended and graduated from Culver-Stockton college in Canton, Missouri as an Elementary Education major. A Member of the Psi Chi National Honor Society in Psychology. He played college baseball where he appears to have played left/right field. He also appears to be musical, being an amateur singer.

Jeremy taught for a year at Clark County High School in Kahoka, Missouri and is now a mathematics teacher and a coach of the wrestling team at the Lone Tree Middle School in Iowa.

A biography for a school website: "Mr. Hissem is a 2003 graduate of Culver Stockton College in Canton, Missouri. He will be graduating in December 2007 from Drake University with his Master's Degree in Educational Leadership. This is his fourth year here at Lone Tree and his fifth year teaching. Currently he teaches Algebra I, Pre-Algebra, 7th Grade Math and Consumer Math. He is also junior high and high school wrestling coach and the head baseball coach. He and his wife, Kelli, live in Lone Tree with their beautiful two-year old daughter, Kinsey and are expecting their second child in June."

Of Montrose, Iowa. She attended Culver-Stockton college. A singer, like Jeremy, she was a lyric-soprano in the Opera Workshop. In 2003 she was the Manager of the Family Video store in Fort Dodge, Iowa.

In the 1910 census of Union township as Gladdis O. Hissem, 7. In the 1915 state census of Douds Leando, Village township, Van Buren county as Gladys Hissem, 12. She had 5 years of schooling at that time. In the 1920 census of Village township, Van Buren county as Gladys Hissem, 17.

She married Leslie J. Boekleff.

In the 1925 state census of Village township, Van Buren county as Leslie, 22, and Gladys Bockhoff, 22. Leslie had 8 years of schooling and Gladys 12. It looks like her parents, Arthur, 59, and Tillie, 56, were living with her.

In the 1930 census of Chequest township, Van Buren county, Iowa as Gladys Boekleff. Living with her were her husband, Leslie J., and her father, Arthur W. Hissem, a 64 year old widower.

Steve Hissem
San Diego, California