November 2024

Frank Casey

World War II
Jan. 18, 1943 – Dec. 26, 1945

Army Private

First Class Marksman Rifle
Two Bronze Service Stars
Good Conduct Medal
WWII Victory Ribbon
American Theater Ribbon
AP Theater Ribbon

Frank Welker Coit

Private, U.S. Army

Born Jan. 16, 1892 - Died Sept. 27, 1918

After his family moved to the El Reno area from Missouri, Frank Welker Coit — who like many during that era bore his mother’s maiden name as his middle name — attended grade school in El Reno.

He was among the 25 students who graduated from the El Reno Grammar School on Jan. 22, 1909, in a ceremony held in the auditorium of the El Reno Carnegie Library.

He then went on to attend El Reno High School for a time as well.

Douglas L. Brown

MSG (retired), U.S. Army
August 1986 to August 2008

Attended basic training at Fort Knox, Ky.

Advanced individual training at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Trained as a medic.

Assignments include Fort Stewart, Ga., Camp Hovey, Korea, Fort Ord, California.

Army recruiting at Boston, Mass., Fort Hood (Fort Cavazos), Texas, Bad Aibling Station, Germany, U.S. Army Central Command, Fort McPherson, Atlanta, Ga.

Evelyn Hall Baumwart

Sister of Eugene Hall

Army - World War II

1944-1946

Sgt. Eugene Hall

Brother of Evelyn Hall Baumwart

Korea — Vietnam

1949-1975

Grover Benjamin Bannister

Private, U.S. Army Coastal Artillery Corps, Company 1

Born Oct. 8, 1888 - Died Oct. 6, 1918

Grover Benjamin Bannister was the son of Judge Charles A. Bannister and Josephine Wilma (Hanks) Bannister.

He was born Oct. 8, 1888, in Pratt County, Kan., and he and his family moved to Oklahoma in 1889, first settling on a farm east of El Reno. In 1895, the family built a new home at 200 N. Barker Ave., where they lived for decades thereafter.

William Roberts “Billy” Laird

1940 graduate of El Reno High School.

Born March 16, 1921 - Died Feb. 7, 1943

Laird enlisted in the U.S. Navy on May 18, 1942, just about six months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

SM3c Laird was one of two signalmen assigned to the troop transport ship the Henry R. Mallory.

The ship was sunk on Feb. 7, 1943, by a German U-boat submarine in the North Atlantic Ocean, en route to Reykjavik, Iceland, from New York after making a stop at Halifax, Nova Scotia.

A total of 272 individuals died in the attack.

Harry Eugene Bradly

Born Dec. 13, 1922 - Died Jan. 25, 1943

Died in a crash of an AT-6 Texan trainer aircraft along the coast of Texas.

Bradly only attended El Reno schools through the seventh grade, at which point his family moved to Chicago, Ill., his father working for the Rock Island Railroad and being transferred there from El Reno.

Bradly graduated from Calumet High School in Chicago in 1941.

The Tribune would like to thank Brian Rukes, El Reno High School English teacher and District Historian, for his contributions to this special section honoring our veterans.

Also, to all those who contributed information about the men and women they love who served this nation.

Harry J. Moss

Born Sept. 10, 1910 - Died March 4, 1945

Graduated from El Reno High School in 1928.

Played semi-professional baseball for a time.

Was an engineer on an early version of the B-17 Flying Fortress, based at Clark Field in the Philippines when the Japanese attacks occurred in December 1941.

Died as a Prisoner of War of the Japanese six months before the Japanese surrendered to end World War II, and more than three years after he was first captured.