This Military Service Page was created/owned by
SSgt Harry McCown (Mac)
to remember
Ellis, Howard (Doc), MSgt USAF(Ret).
If you knew or served with this Airman and have additional information or photos to support this Page, please leave a message for the Page Administrator(s) HERE.
My wife and I are in full retirement at our home in Moreno Valley, California. I quit high school in University City, Mo., and enlisted in the Army Air Force on Oct. 24, 1942 and served with the 1074th Signal Svc. Co. and then 877th Sig. Svc. Co., from 1943 in England to 1945 at Munchen-Gladbach, Germany. Subsequently I re-enlisted and served in the army communications center, Pentagon, for one year as civilian. Then, in 1946, I re-enlisted in regular army (1946-50)still at the Pentagon, and was TDY-ed to Eniwetok, Atoll, S. Pacific, for Operation Sandstone A-bomb testing, as cryptographer. Subsequently, was assigned to Hq. in West Berlin as editor of post newspaper, BERLIN OBSERVER. IN 1950, was Honorably Discharged from the Army and enlisted in USAF and was assigned to Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, as information tech and editor of post newspaper. Subsequent assignments, all as info tech and base paper editor, were at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, from 1955 to 1957, March AFB, California, 1957 to 1963; then Goose Air Base from 1963 to 1964, then to Castle AFB, Merced, Ca., to retirement in 1965. I met my wife in Berlin in 1949 during the blockade era and we were married in 1952. We have three sons and two daughters and six grandsons...sort of bonus for our military service. After military retirement in 1965 I was a reporter and columnist on a San Bernardino, Ca. newspaper, The Daily Sun-Telegram from which I retired in 1990. 'NUFF SAID.
Other Comments:
DURING WORLD WAR II, as mentioned earlier, I was assigned to the Army Air Force as a (SSgt) Cryptocenter NCOIC in the 1074th Signal Service Co. (commander Lt. Robert Scott Gruhn of Wilmette, Illinois)from Oct. '42 to Dec.'43, from Harding Field, Baton Rouge, La, to Windsor, England, 8th Air Force support command, 8th AF; I was then transferred to similar assignment to the 877th Signal Service Co., 9th AF (company commander Capt. William T. Wills of Cheyenne, Wyo., 16th TAD commander Maj. Joseph A. Plihal). I served with the 877th through Normandy (safe arrival in July '44), through Rheims-Courcy AAF station in France, to Munchen-Gladbach, Germany in April '45 where we remained to war's end. We were,in July '45, returned to France - Camp "20 Grand" at LaHavre, for transport home and then to Laredo Army Air Field, Texas, for processing into civilian life on Oct. 16, 1945...but of course I ended up re-enlisting...smartest decision of my life along with my original enlistment decision Oct. 24, 1942. AND, TODAY, OCT.28,'09, got a letter from - of all people - then 2d Lt. Bob Cross (now 94 years old and Lt. Col., USAF, retired) who was OIC of our communications section in the 877th...he was my boss...we'd found each other via internet several years ago and been in touch until few months ago and I thought I'd lost him and I was the 877th's "last man standing" but Bob reassures me I'm not alone 'though he's in an 'assisted' living home in Maine. He does advise me he's the last of the 877th's officers still standing and neither of us knows if any of my fellow "enlisted men" are still somewhere sharing our old age. I gotta tell, no B.S.involved, our 877th was one of the finest military units serving in the ETO in WW2 and I am grateful Bob Cross is still with us and grieve for those who aren't...they WERE my BROTHERS too.
Best Friends A/1c Charlie Leo O'Brien A/1c Bob Smith T/Sgt. "Screwball" Sandoval They were guys I worked with when I was NCOIC of the Davis-Monthan AFB public information office and editor of the base newspaper, "DESERT AIRMAN" 1950-1953.
Best Moment I was stationed at Davis-Monthan at Tucson, Arizona, my first base assignment, for two months in 1942 shortly after starting my first enlistment (Oct. 24, 1942). I was then a buck private and only 17. I was assigned to the least military job on post, a bicycle/messenger for Western Union/Signal Corps. Pretty quick I had a run-in with a 2d Lt. George L. Rosenberg for wearing my cap indoors while delivering a telegram at base hq. while unarmed...a protocol no-no. He asked me how old I was and when I told him he sighed and said "get the Hell out of here sonny, come back when you're a soldier". As time and World War II went by I was, by golly, re-assigned to, of all places, Davis-Monthan in 1950 and reported to the base public information office for duty - as a S/Sgt. and found myself this time saluting, with hat off, to that same 2dLt. - Only now he was a major and MY NEW OIC, MY NEW BOSS. I didn't recognize him, but he looked me over, pointed to my cap-in-hand and said, "well, SOLDIER, I'm glad you shaped up..." He turned out to be a great guy who made me NCOIC and base paper editor/columnist. Eventually he got me my tech stripes. In retired civilian life he was managing editor of the Tucson Daily Citizen while I was night city editor of the San Bernardino Sun Telegram and we kept in touch until he died a few years ago. Life has its twists and turns. Like it isn't always good but it sure is darned interesting!
Worst Moment In 1953, after being at D-M so long, and now married and awaiting birth of first child (a boy, thank you), we were transferred to Stead AFB, Reno, Nev...It was a great experience there, casinos and all...but Davis-Monthan in those days was a base you didn't want to leave.
Chain of Command Hq 15th Air Force, Strategic Air Command
