Characters

Love of Country Leads Me is an historical fiction novel. The story is based on the life and experiences of Leo Carlton. The author has spent hours scouring the Internet to identify the real people Leo interacted with in the various stages of his journey – the flight to Europe, bombing missions, squadron members, bystanders, fellow prisoners of war and more.

While the personality of the characters in the book is subject to the authors interpretation, many of the facts shared in the book are accurate based on what he was able to find online – old yearbooks, military records, FamilySearch.org, etc.

Below is a list of the characters in Love of Country Leads Me, organized by the setting in which Leo worked with these men.

Photo from 1943 of a B-24 Liberator bombing crew standing in front of the plane they trained in.

Leo’s Original Crew of the ‘828’

Horace Allatt, 1st Lt. (24) – Pilot
Leo Carlton, 2nd Lt. (22) – Co-pilot
Adam Wiley, 2nd Lt. (23) – Bombardier
Elijah Gordy, 2nd Lt. (24) – Navigator
Edwin Benveniste, S/Sgt (22) – Radio operator/Nose Turret?
John Bowden, S/Sgt (24) – Flight Engineer/Top Turret?
Glenmore Wickum, S/Sgt (23) – Ball Turret
William Battelle, S/Sgt (23) – Waist gunner?
Thomas Whyte, S/Sgt (24) – Waist gunner?
Clement Pless, Cpl (28) – Tail gunner?

Fellow Members of the 459th Bombardment Group

John Spargo, 2nd. Lt – Bombardier of the Naughty Angel (ended up at Stalag Luft 3, West Compound). Eugene McManus, 1st Lt. (pilot), Glenn M. Strong, 2nd Lt. (co-pilot) and Frederick C. Lindberg, 2nd Lt. (navigator – first mission) were also on the Naughty Angel when it was shot down on June 9, 1944 (the same mission as the Cherry II).

Vintage photo of a B-24 Liberator, the Cherry II, on the ground in Austria after the crew made an emergency landing

Crew of Cherry II – June 9, 1944

Herbert Oleson, 1st Lt. – Pilot
Leo Carlton, 2nd Lt. – Co-pilot
John W. Crosby, 2nd Lt. – Navigator
Darwin Norton, 2nd Lt. – Bombardier
Stewart Hunkler, T/Sgt – Engineer/Gunner
Thomas Carideo, S/Sgt – Engineer/Gunner
John Robson, S/Sgt – Gunner
Loran Taylor, S/Sgt – Radio Operator
Daniel Donovan, S/Sgt – Tail Gunner
William Arsenault, S/Sgt – Ball Gunner

Missing in Action Crew Report (MACR) for June 9, 1944

Group of people standing on a grass lawn, with names of those who were eyewitnesses to the landing of a B-24 Liberator in World War II

Eyewitnesses from Höchst, Austria, who saw Cherry II Land and the Crew Marched into Town

Elmar Brunner, Born 1928, Eyewitness
Helmut Brunner, Born 1932
Felix Brunner, Born 1939, Eyewitness
Luis Humpeler, Born 1940, Eyewitness
Wismar Schneider, Born 1932, Eyewitness
Dieter Schneider, Borth 1940, Eyewitness
Rudolf Wörz, Born 1930, Eyewitness

Collage of yearbook photos and newspaper clippings, showing four Lehi High School boys who ended up in the same POW camps in World War II

Prisoners of War Leo Knew from Home (Lehi, Utah)

Dowaine Clifford Daniels (Graduated Lehi High School in 1939. Leo was classmates with Dowaine’s younger brother, Glenn)
Ralph Southwick Roberts, 2nd Lt. (Graduated Lehi High School in 1941)
Robert Smout Wilson, 2nd. Lt. (Graduated Lehi High School in 1941)
Cecil Grant Ash, F/O (Graduated Lehi High School in 1941)

Sketch of a typical barracks layout from Stalag Luft 3 in World War II
Sketch is part of a book created by Bob Neary, who was a prisoner at Stalag Luft 3, West Compound, during World War II.

The Men in Barracks 172, Room 15 at Stalag Luft 3

Joseph C. Arborio (New York) 2nd Lt.
Leo Carlton (Utah) 2nd Lt.
William “Wally” Coon (Calif.) Capt.
Dowaine Clifford Daniels (Utah) 1st Lt.
Vernon Drower (Illinois) 1st Lt.
Hal W. Everett (Kansas) 1st Lt.
Murray J. Lirette (Louisiana) 2nd Lt.
Gerald L. Schaeffer (Montana) 2nd Lt.
Russell J. Smith (New York) 2nd Lt.
Bradford A. Tupper (North Carolina) 2nd Lt.
Richard H. Wallace (Illinois) 1st Lt.
Homer A. Weeks (Oklahoma) 2nd Lt.
Frank S. Young, Jr. (Kentucky) F/O
Eugene Gilbert Zarak (Wisconsin) 2nd Lt.

The names above were extracted from a roster the author was provided of the West Compound of Stalag Luft 3. Jason searched the list of more than 2,000 airmen to compile the list of those assigned to Barracks 172, Room 15.