Everything Under Control – The marines landed and had the situation well in hand when three sons of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Bookhart, 3114 Fifth Avenue, arrived home simultaneously. Left to right—pictured are Eddie, George, Mrs. Bookhart and James. James and George have been in service nine months and are stationed at San Diego, Eddie was delayed in training three months by an operation, but has been stationed at Great Lakes naval station. All three are aviation mechanics and hope to be sent into combat area soon.
Source: The Sioux City Journal, April 7, 1943 (photograph included)
Sioux City Sergeant Home on Leave Has Never Killed Jap
Sgt. George Bookhart, 23-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. F.M. Bookhart, 3114 Fifth Avenue, joined the marine corps three years ago with the idea of fighting the Japs and Nazis and eliminating as many of them as possible.
Now, despite the fact that he has just completed 15 months of service in the most hotly contested areas of the south Pacific and wears a presidential citation and stars denoting participation in two major battles, the sergeant insists that he has never been in combat and that he never killed a Jap.
“My unit was always behind the front lines,” he says. “Sometimes it wasn’t very far behind. Sometimes there were Jap snipers in trees and caves. Sometimes they sent a few bullets over to where we were working, but we weren’t there for the purpose of fighting. We were aviation machinists and our job was to set up shop and get ready to service American fighter planes. Other units of marines did all the fighting for us.”
Sgt. Bookhart’s unit followed the American advance, island by island, through the Marshalls, establishing fighter bases and servicing fighter planes for the next step in the conquest of Jap held islands. The presidential citation was awarded for “extraordinary service under great difficulties.”
One of three brothers who joined the marines at about the same time, George is the only one with overseas service. James Bookhart is stationed at Cherry Point, N.C. and Edward Bookhart is at a marine aviation base, Chicago.
Source: The Sioux City Journal, February 18, 1945
