Betty Wendling married Frank Walker, who later became a captain in the Indianapolis Fire Department and presided over station #32 in Broad Ripple. The station is currently stripped of its fire truck. The couple had four boys.

Jim Wending served with the U.S. Marines in the pacific. He and his wife Bonnie had three children. After working at Broad Ripple Heating Co. for twelve years, he and his family moved to Florida where he retired. He died there with Parkinson's disease.

Ralph joined the Air Force and was stationed in Texas where he served as an aircraft mechanic. He and his wife had seven children. They now live in Dayton, Ohio, where he retired after working forty years for General Motors.

Fred and his wife, Barbara, have three children. He retired from Western Electric. They live in Fishers, Indiana.

Asked about his early life, Bill recalled that he and his brother, Don, did a lot of things that they thought were cute, but their parents didn't think so. Mr. Wendling, being a salesman, was away from home for much of the time. When he arrived home, Bill's mother apprised him of their delinquency. Bill noted that he never whipped them; he just withdrew privileges.

When Bill and Don got into it, their father took them to the basement and put boxing gloves on them and made them go at it. Bill, being younger, usually got the worst of it and found himself sitting in a tub of ashes! He went on to say that in adult life the two brothers were as close as brothers could be, sharing time with each other, especially in fishing, their favorite pastime. He noted that the only arguments they got into was over who had caught the biggest fish! Don died of a brain tumor later in life and Bill misses him more than he can describe.

Bill bought his first car, a huge 1939 Buick Roadmaster, from a next door neighbor on Guilford for $560. It had spare tires in wells mounted on the front fenders. This he kept during his first jobs and in service, where it burned more gas than his ration coupons allotted. His gas mileage was about 6 MPG. He sold the car in 1947 for $1100.

Regarding Bill's early employment, after high school where he was active in baseball, basketball, and football; he went to work at Bud Offut's Standard station at 59th and College. From there he went to work at Allison's in the experimental department.

In 1942 Bill enlisted in the Army Air Corps as an aviation cadet. As a humorous anecdote of his early military duties, he thought he would advance more quickly if he volunteered a lot. This put him in the kitchen where he peeled potatoes for two days and nights. He was happily transferred to Kelly Field in Texas. After several more transfers, he received his wings at Altus Air Force Base. From there, he went to San Antonio where he became an instructor in flying. He saw twenty three of his students become commissioned pilots. He then volunteered for combat and was sent to the Mediterranean theater of operations where he was awarded several medals for flying missions in Africa, Sicily, Italy and Southern France. He flew C-47 transports dropping paratroopers and (frequently) leaflets warning the populace to remove themselves from the target area. The runs were executed mostly at night and were no mean accomplishment. They had about three hours to do this before reaching the drop zone. The zones would cross roads or open fields, and some pilots could not find them because of bad weather, or they simply got lost. The zones were always in enemy territory and they had to fly low to drop the soldiers. There was little antiaircraft fire and no enemy fighters at that altitude, but bullets reached them. After troops were away, the pilots were on their own to find their way back to base. They often got lost, but most made it.

The closest he came to catching a bullet was when one hit a hydraulic line causing his co-pilot to suffer burns about the head. The most harrowing experience that Bill recalled was when returning to base; he found that the fog and rain were so heavy that all he could see were his wings. When the fog lifted, he could see trees above his wings!

An interesting anecdote was added to this story. At one point in time overseas, Bill had a roommate from Columbia City, Indiana. On this occasion, the latter wrote home to report to his mother that they were out of popcorn. She reported this to her church and by the end of the month the boys had received over 300 pounds of popcorn!

Bill developed ear problems and was discharged at Wright Patterson in Dayton, Ohio, in 1944. He went to work for Texaco and operated a distributorship for them. He moved to Indianapolis in 1959 and lives in Fishers today with his wife Juanita. He has a son, Bill, Jr., from a previous marriage. The latter is an attorney living in Indianapolis.

His group has had a reunion every year since 1977. It was held at Wright Patterson A.F.B. in 1987 when Bill was president.

In January, 2005, when Bill was purchasing a condo in Fishers, he hired a firm to examine it. The examiner left the flooring off in a closet into which Bill stepped and fell through. He was injured, requiring six men from the fire department to get him out and onto a stretcher. He was in the hospital for several days and still receives treatment. He is waiting to see how he comes out before filing any lawsuits.

end part two