From page 1
sire to present to you, Dear Read-
er, who these individuals were,
how they died, and where they are
now. It is a project I have worked
on for at least fou.r years and it's
a project that, unfortunately, is not
complete. Due to less-than-inspir-
ing government recording-keep-
ing, fading memories and the pass-
ing of friends and family members
who could have contributed to this
compilation, the finished product
here still leaves much to be de-
sired.
At the suggestion of our illus-
trious editor and office manager,
Jennifer Leonhardi, I have decided
to devote this week's column to the
six casualties about whom I could
find little or no information. Next
week I will focus on the remain-
ing five KIA's about which I have
more information.
The idea behind the ordering
of these two columns, of course, is
that more information might come
out of the historical woodwork
over the course of the next week
and can be included in the second
instalment.
I am especially interested in the
connection to Catalina that these
men had.
I suspect some of them were not
permanent residents of the Island,
but were perhaps the relatives of
property owners or even frequent
visitors to the Island. Whatever
their relationship to the Island,
they were evidently deemed "1o-
car' enough fo have their names
listed in the Honor Roll each
week.
The first "KIA" star to appear
in the Honor Roll was placed next
to the name of William Rexford
Smith in the Maroh 5, 1942, edi-
tion of the paper. Smith was an
aviation cadet with the
U.S. Marine Corps Re- '!'
serve and was based at
the newly-formed Na-
val Air Station at Cor-
pus Christi, Texas, at
the time of his death.
According to his
obituary in the Cata-
lina Islander, Smith
was only 9 months Jim Watson
old when the family Columnist
moved to Avalon in
1919. He had spent
'most of his life on the Island, a
place he "loved deafly," and spent
summers working as a deckhand
on the glass bottom boats.
He graduated from junior high
at Avalon Schools before the fam-
ily moved to Santa Monica where
he later graduated from Santa
Monica High.
On the evening of March
2, 1942, Smith was practicing
night dive bombing when his
plane--probably a T-6 or a BT-
13 Valient--crashed, killing him
instantly. His parents, Sherman
and Irene Smith, received the tele-
gram in the early morning hours
of March 3.
Today, William Rexford Smith
can be found in plot L80-4 at the
Los Angeles National Cemetery in
West Los Angeles. Of the 11 ca-
sualties in the Avalon Honor Roll,
geographically-speaking he is the
closest to the Island.
Another one of the early KIA's
on the Honor Roll was "Johnny
Botello". Sandy Putnam is much
too young to remember the war,
but she does remember
the Botello family and be-
lieves that Johnny died in
the Bataan Death March
in 1942. The Botel-
los were family friends
and Johnny and Sandy's
uncle often worked on
cars together in the ga-
rage at the family-owned
residence at 117 Whittley
Avenue. Military records
do show a "Pete" Botello,
who served in the 200th
Coastal Artillery Regiment in the
Philippines and who, in fact, was
classified as KIA in the Death
March, but he entered the service
through the New Mexico National
Guard. Whether or not it is the
same Botello is unknown at this
point.
.Sandy also remembers the fam-
ily of John "Jack" Voelkel, another
name on the Honor Roll, but had no
information about John. I did find
a grave listing for "Jack Voelker'
at the Golden Gate National Cem-
etery south of San Francisco. Ac-
cording to the cemetery's website,
he was a Marine Corps private and
was born January 27, 1922. He
died on March 13, 1945, location
unknown. He is listed by National
Archives data as having had a sis-
ter, Mrs. Virginia Vivian Lund, in
Alameda, California.
U.S. Navy Machinists Mate 1st
Class Alvin Silva was born July
12, 1912, and died on February
4, 1944. According to the weekly
Honor Roll, he was in the U.S,
Navy's Construction Battalion, or
"Seabees."
However, Gina Nichols, ar-
chivist for the U.S. Navy Seabee
Museum at Port Hueneme can find
no record of him. I did, however,
manage to find a grave for "Silva,
Alvin" at the Golden Gate Na-
tional Cemetery. Then there were
two names on the list that eluded
virtually all attempts at identifica-
tion. These names did not appear
on any of the casualty reports for
the Army, Army Air Forces, Navy,
Marines, Coast Guard or Merchant
Marine. They are Tom B. Jones
and William Donner.
There were two possibilities
for Jones, including a "Thomas
Booker Jones" and a "Thomas B.
Jones, Jr." But the former hailed
from Tennessee while the latter
was from Maryland.
Thomas Booker Jones was in
the Navy and is listed on the Tab-
lets of the Missing at the Manila
American Cemetery in the Phil-
ippines. Thomas Jones, Jr., was
in the 17th Tank Battalion and is
memorialized on the Tablets of the
Missing at the Netherlands Ameri-
can Cemetery.
The name William Donner was
the greatest enigma of them all.
His name first appears in the Cata-
lina Islander (with a "KIA" star
next to it) in the April 22, 1943,
edition of the paper. But in all of
my internet searches and inter-
views with local Islanders, no one
could place the name.
I could not find any "William
Donner" or any variation thereof
in any of the National Archives ca-
sualty reports for the Army, AAF,
Navy, Marines, Coast Guard or
Merchant Marine. In fact, no one
even with the surname "Donner"
is listed as having been killed dur-
ing the war.
Next week, I will focus on the
remaining five Islander's killed in
the war about whom, as mentioned
earlier, I have a great deal more in-
formation.
If you have any information on
the above individuals, please send
it to Mysterious Island, c/o Cata-
lina Islander, PO Box 428, Ava-
lon, CA 90704, or send email to:
jim @ channelcatalina.com.
New Screens * Rescreening * Free Estimates
P.O. BOX 2257
Avalon, California
90704
310-510-1904 Days
310-3:39-5252 Evenings
Kad@Catallnatsla ndScreens.com
www.CatalinaLslandScreens.com
A crew Working o 9 a World War II era plane. The first Islander "killed in action" was practicing night bombing when his plane crashed in 1942.
Courtesy photo
Staying connected with Catalina ust got a ot easier,
