It’s your turn. Ancestor
who was a Sailor
My uncle, Lawrence WICKENHEISER, was the only sailor in my
ancestry that I know of. Well, not exactly a sailor, but he was in the US Navy.
He was born on 2 August 1916 to August
John (Gus) WICKENHEISER and Eliza Paulina (Lena) RIVARD, the eldest of ten
children. Always ambitious, he helped
around the farm and worked part-time jobs, and graduated from Airport High School
at age 16. He worked at several businesses including driving a semi, selling insurance,
and finally finding his true passion when he gained his wings and began a flight
business training and ferrying passengers and goods out of Grosse Ile, MI
airport.
Larry joined the service in 1943. The USAF was not fully formed at the time,
even though there had been pilots in the military since 1907. In July 1947 the National Security Act
created the Department of the Air Force, and the United States Air Force was
established September 18. 1947. But the United
States Navy accepted pilots, so Larry joined.
(2 of his brothers joined the US Army Air Corp). He spent WWII on Grosse Ile, MI teaching men from the UK how to fly in wartime. Discharged from the Naval Air Corps 17 January
1946 as a lieutenant (Jr grade) he was promoted to full lieutenant on 1 February
1946. He was recalled to active duty in
September 1950 as a member of the Navy reserve squadron.He flew up and down the coast of N. Korea doing reconnassaince. In 1952 he played a prominent
role in the search of survivors of a B-17 bomber accident at sea, sighting one of the men in the water. He was stationed at Pensacola
FL at the time of his discharge, with Squadron 8-A, flying PBY’s, After his military service he remained a Florida
resident and flew international flights for commercial airlines until his retirement. He died at his home in Miami FL on 7 April
1989. He is buried at St Patrick #2, Carleton MI next
to his parents.
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