Heart of a hero

H ometown hero Charles John Mueller of Plainfield survived 13 months as a prisoner of war.

Mueller served in the Army Air Corps from 1942-46 with the 8th Air Force, 452nd Bomb Group, 731st Squadron.

He was awarded his Purple Heart after the air battle of March 8, 1944, when the B-17 he was aboard was shot down. There were several German fighter planes that were also damaged at that time.

"Our bombardier was killed and I was hit in my face, causing the loss of the use of my left eye," Mueller said.

Mueller served as a navigator, and the last rank he held was second lieutenant.

Mueller remained in Stalag Luft III POW camp from March 1944 to April 1945. This is where the book and movie "The Great Escape" was based.

Months later, after being liberated in April 1945 by Gen. George Patton's Army, Mueller received his letter dated Aug. 6, 1945, officially awarding him his Purple Heart for injuries he sustained during the air battle. He also received two air medals during his military career.

"After doing extensive research, I secured assistance from Richard Braun, a German historian of air battles over Germany, and through him I was able to find and meet the pilot who shot our plane down and whose excellent flying caused my injuries," he said.

Mueller is married to Lenore.

I am currently looking for veterans who have received the Purple Heart to be included in my Veterans Day column scheduled to run on Nov. 5.

I will need the veteran's name, a photo of the veteran in uniform, month/year awarded the medal, hometown, and the reason cited for receiving the award in one short paragraph.

All the information must be received by 1 p.m. Oct. 30. If you have questions, contact Jean Edwards at 815-439-5312 or e-mail jedwards@scn1.com

Join forces to cheer up our troops this holiday season and let them know we care about them by contributing to Operation Care Package, a nonprofit organization that plans to ship more than 10,000 care packages to soldiers serving overseas. The efforts will put smiles on those that cannot be home for the holidays.

For a list of items needed for the effort, visit www.operationcarepackages.org.

For more information, call Debbie Smothers at 815-723-6960 or 815-693-3215, or Pat Curran at 815-954-7438. Checks should be made payable to Operation Care Package, 611 Wilcox St., Joliet, IL 60435.

Veterans who served in conflicts ranging from World War II through the current Iraqi and Afghanistan wars are invited to attend a ceremony in observance of Veterans Day at the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery, 20953 W. Hoff Road in Elwood. The ceremony is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Nov. 11. At 9 a.m., red, white and blue bouquets of flowers will be placed on all grave sites. Guests will include Illinois National Guard Maj. Gen. William Enyart and Gov. Pat Quinn. A flyover will be conducted by the Illinois Air National Guard and the Air National Guard band will be perform.

Indian Trail Middle School, 14723 S. Eastern Ave. in Plainfield, is seeking local veterans to attend and be honored at the school's Veterans Recognition Assembly at 8:30 a.m. Nov. 13. Veterans are asked to be at the school by 8:15 a.m. Veterans who are interested in attending should contact Indian Trail staff members Shannon Kozak or Erin Menconi by Nov. 2. The staff members can be contacted at 815-436-6128 or via e-mail at skozak@psd202.org or emenconi@psd202.org.

Minooka High School students are looking for local service persons who are currently serving or may have served in the armed forces, firefighters and police officers to dedicate their daily pledge of allegiance to. If you know of someone, call Sandy Houser at 815-521-4190 or e-mail her at shouser@mchs.net.