A LOOK BACK:

This month the country remembered with solemn prayers the men and women who perished the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.

The day became Patriot Day and it was celebrated in Huntington Beach at Pier Plaza.

More than 60 years ago the world was faced with Hitler’s dreaded Gestapo during World War II. This week we’re going to look back to the boys of Huntington who believed in their country and, in the end, gave everything.

It was on New Year’s Day 1944 that a messenger arrived with a telegram from the War Department at the home of our then-city attorney, Ray Overacker.

As his eyes scanned the document they began to tear up at the news that his 27-year-old son Clifford had died from wounds Dec. 13, 1944, while fighting German soldiers near Aachen.

Although Clifford had been born in Palo Alto, he had spent most of his life in Huntington Beach. He attended our grammar school before going to Huntington High where he graduated in 1936.

With a bright future ahead, Clifford entered Fullerton Junior College where he graduated in 1938 and in 1940 he graduated from UC Berkeley with a bachelor’s degree.

Once out of school, Clifford went to work for The Los Angeles Times, and in May of 1942, shortly after the country went to war, he joined the army.

Two years later he was stationed with the Fifth Armored Division in Germany when his future was cut short.

James G. Hurst delivered a special memorial service Jan. 7, 1945 for Clifford.

Meanwhile, with only one more mission to complete his 35th, Charles Fred McIntosh was looking forward to returning to his home in Huntington Beach. Fred was the son of John and Eunice McIntosh.

Like Clifford, Fred had graduated from Huntington High; he would attend UCLA with plans of becoming a dentist. He later enrolled at Santa Ana Junior College to take pre-dental courses.

In September 1942 Fred joined the Army Air Corps to learn to fly, and in April 1944 he was sent overseas, where he distinguished himself in the air.

Fred was awarded the air medal with three oak leaf clusters, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the European theater ribbon with two stars and a presidential unit citation with one oak leaf cluster.

But while flying his B-17 Flying Fortress over Germany, on Sept. 10, 1944, he was shot down, leaving his wife, Peggy, to raise their 2-year-old son, Monti, alone.

A month before Fred died in his Flying Fortress, another McIntosh died while stationed in Italy.

Although Kenneth A. McIntosh was not part of Fred’s family, they were both hometown boys.

Kenneth was born in Pennsylvania Aug. 25, 1920, to Robert N. McIntosh and his wife. The family moved to Huntington Beach where Kenneth attended both grammar and high school.

After he graduated from high school in 1939 Kenneth went to work with his brother-in-law, Billy Hengoed, at the Triangle service station at 426 5th Street.

Later, in 1939, Kenneth joined the Army Air Corps as a ground crewman for the colorful Flying Fortress squadron.

Kenneth’s group was one of the first air force units to reach England in the middle of 1942.

Kenneth was transferred to Africa and was based in Algeria and Tunisia where the Flying Fortresses bombed Rommel’s African Corps.

He would later be transferred to Italy where he helped keep his planes flying against Hitler’s “Fortress Europe,” as they hit targets in Italy, France, Austria and Germany.

Back home in Huntington Beach, on Aug. 22, 1944, his parents received a telegram from the War Department. Master Sergeant Kenneth A. McIntosh had been accidentally killed Aug. 4, 1944.

The next week his parents received a letter from Major General J.A. Olio that explained how their son had died.

While inflating one of the huge tires on a Flying Fortress, it exploded, fracturing Kenneth’s skull.

On Sept. 3, 1944, The Rev. James G. Hurst conducted a memorial service just as he would do in January 1945 for Clifford Overacker.

It was Feb. 17, 1924 that William Phillip Henry, Jr., was born in Los Angeles.

Shortly afterward the family came to live in Huntington Beach where William attended our schools.

He later attended Huntington High and Whittier High schools and, like Clifford, went to UC Berkeley and was a member of Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity.

William joined the army March 31, 1943, and took his training at Camp Roberts before transferring to the infantry. He trained for the Signal Corps at Sacramento and finished his training at Fort Leonard Wood. He was sent to France Dec. 6, 1944.

The Rev. Luther A. Arthur of the Baptist church held a special memorial service for William March 31, 1945.

So you can see how the lives of these sons of Huntington Beach would pay the ultimate price to keep America free and it may even be possible that a fellow Oiler from Huntington High, Kenneth McIntosh, had serviced the Flying Fortress Fred McIntosh had flown.

JERRY PERSON is the city’s historian and longtime Huntington Beach resident. If you have ideas for future columns, write him at P.O. Box 7182, Huntington Beach, CA 92615.