Ch. 5, The Brothers In England

It was soon after Copely’s death that King’s brother Mark arrived from Lincoln Nebraska, where he had been living with the Havens family. It was the summer of 1941, and the storm clouds of WWII were looming on the horizon. Mark soon found himself in the military with his brothers, and not long thereafter, met and married Mabel Bateman. Before long, King and Mark were transferred to Stockton Field, in California. It was at Stockton, that Mark was able to connive acceptance to Officers Training School (OTS), through the efforts of his uncle Nelson, and Nelson’s son-in-law, Al Pilson. By November of 1941, King was transferred back to McClelland AFB in Sacramento and the bombing of Pearl Harbor occurred shortly thereafter.

Things happened quickly now, and King found himself in England by May 5, 1942, having sailed there on the U.S.S Cathay. It was here that he flew a total of 37 bombing missions over Germany as a bombardier on B-17’s.

King’s first assignments on arriving in England was to establish storage depots for the “soon to arrive” American troops. He began in Kettering by converting the existing Kettering Co-op shoe factory to a food storage depot. After this, the outfit moved on to Burton-On-Trent where they converted a part of the old Bass Brewery into a clothing depot. After a couple of days in Burton-On-Trent, King had the occasion to go to the Burton Baths (the local swimming pool) where he met his future wife, Elsie Merina Shorthose.

                                         Elsie and King, 1942

Elsie’s father, Arthur Edward Shorthose was in charge of operating the boilers that heated the bath’s waters. King and Elsie dated for a couple of weeks until King left to the City of Manchester where his outfit was constructing a repair hangar for aircraft.

From Manchester, Kings next assignment took him Poynton to establish a clothing depot. During this time, King was making occasional trips back to Burton-On-Trent, by bicycle, to visit his girlfriend Elsie. King had met his commanding officer, Major Wogan, at McClelland Field in Sacramento and had always considered him to be a nice chap, but when they got to Europe, Major Wogan became a little mentally unstable, and refused King permission to Marry his girlfriend Elsie. Being in charge of the food depot, King managed to abscond with enough provisions to supply a rather large wedding party, and married Elsie on December 5th, 1942 in spite of the Major’s orders.

 Upon returning to his station, Major Wogan had King incarcerated for his transgressions. King, through some friends, made contact with a couple of Colonels that he had befriended and asked for an investigation into Major Wogan’s activities. Upon the arrival of the investigating team, they discovered that Major Wogan had promoted himself to Lt. Colonel, and was in the habit of shooting any of the farmer’s cows that inadvertently escaped and blocked the roads. King was immediately released, and Major Wogan was incarcerated in an asylum wherein he was found hanged a few days later.

Soon after the events in Poynton, King and Elsie’ first child, Kenneth, was born October 16th, 1943. At about this same time it was discovered that King had gone through Bombardier training, and he was reassigned to the newly formed U.S. Army/Air Force, and fell in with the 92nd Bombardment Group and the 1st-11th CCRC (Combat Crew Replacement Center) at the newly established Poddington Air Station.

King’s brother Mark also arrived in England at about this time, and he visited King on several occasions at Poddington. Again, at about this same time King’s other brother Ralph arrived at his station at nearby Deenthorpe, and King finagled a transfer to be with his younger brother.

                                  L to R: William, Ralph, King and Mark

It was here that King and Ralph flew their combat missions over Germany and France. On their first flight, Ralph and King flew on the same airplane on the same mission. King’s brother Ralph only flew a few missions before a bad experience ended his flight career and he never flew again. King went on to fly a total of 37 missions.

Next: D-Day and Me