Scott Nelson

10/26/2017: On this date in 1923, Walter Sharbo was born in Williston. He became a fighter pilot during World War 2, flying a P-47 Thunderbolt. Walter served with the famous 56th Fighter Group, also known as Zemke’s Wolf Pack, so-named for Commander Hubert Zemke. Zemke’s Wolf Pack was part of the 8th Air Force and flew air cover for bombers attacking German occupied Europe.

10/12/2017: Clarence lay in his life raft and knew he was going to die. He was only 20 years old.

7/7/2017: Wyman Galbreath graduated from Enderlin High School in 1940. He attended the Wahpeton School of Science where he enrolled in Aviation Mechanics. In 1942, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps. By the spring of 1944 he was piloting a B-17 heavy bomber.

6/13/2017: On or around this date in 1944, Richard Baron from Mandan found himself having a drink with the enemy – a pilot in the German Air Force.

5/16/2017: Nicknamed Pinky, Francis Register was born in 1917 and raised in Bismarck. Pinky always had an interest in airplanes and with the coming of World War II, he joined the Navy Air Forces and became a full-fledged flying officer on December 12, 1941, just 5 days after the US entered the war.

3/2/2017: LeRoy Milton Nayes was born on this date in Fingal North Dakota in 1923.

2/7/2017: Stalag Luft 3 was a German prisoner of war camp in use from March of ‘42 through January of 1945. This camp was operated by the Luftwaffe, the German Air Force, for Allied flight officers shot down over German occupied Europe. Early in the war it housed primarily British personnel, but as the war went on, thousands of Americans were also interned there.

2/3/2017: Edgar “Frosty” Potter died at the age of 100, his longevity due in part to a rusty pitch fork. He could have died 87 years earlier.

12/26/2016: Donald Emerson was born on a farm near Joliette North Dakota in 1923. While growing up Don was fascinated with airplanes. Occasionally, young Donald would see a small biplane flying over the farm, and chores were forgotten as Don ran after the plane to watch it disappear over the horizon.

11/7/2016: Raymond Wicklander is known around his hometown of Washburn as a retired implement dealer and buffalo rancher. Many do not know of his service during World War II as a Navy dive bomber pilot and recipient of the Navy Cross.