Mar 31, 2005 By Steve Ferris 5 min read

Memories of some Fayette County residents who served the country in World War II are being recorded to give today’s generation a glimpse of what life was like when the world was at war. Infantry soldiers fought in Europe, a nurse patched up Marines injured at Guadalcanal, a pilot was shot down in the Himalayas and a mechanic kept warplanes flying.

Their different experiences gave them different perspectives, but they seemed to have at least one thing in common: They don’t see themselves as heroes.

“I don’t consider myself a hero – just an ordinary man that answered the call to serve his country,” said George J. Plava, 87, of Gates, whose Army Air Corps supply plane was one of 12 shot down in the mountains near the China-Burma border on Oct. 23, 1943.

Crews from only two of those planes came home, he said.

Plava and at least 60 other veterans and a few people who served on the home front are sharing what they experienced during World War II.

A local company, Wave Systems, is recording interviews with them for a compilation that will be played during the “Heroes All: 60 Years Later” event in Uniontown planned for May 1-8.

The interviews will be played in the State Theatre Center for Arts, but the dates for those showings have not been scheduled yet.

Mark “Kingfish” Wasler, Wave Systems owner and a member of the Heroes All committee, said he hopes to present at least four hours of the interviews.

Some veterans became emotional at times during their interviews, and some of their stories left Wasler awestruck.

“We’re getting some interesting stuff from these gentlemen. Some of them haven’t talked about this since the 1940s,” Wasler said during a break in recording that was being conducted in the Fayette Building last week. “I think we’re getting some compelling stories out of this.”

Wasler said one veteran brought his wife and daughter to his interview. His stories, which they were hearing for the first time, brought them to tears.

He and his crew interviewed veterans living in nursing homes two weeks ago. He said he sensed that talking about their roles in the war made them feel that they have not been forgotten.

Six veterans he intended to interview died since planning started in January. He said the fact that so many of the World War II veterans are dying reinforces the value of recording personal accounts of the war.

“It’s not like these stories are going to be around for another 20 years,” Wasler said.

Plava’s story started when he left his base in India to deliver ammunition to China to assist in its battle with Japan.

He was a second lieutenant and pilot of a C-46, which the military converted from a 30-seat commercial airliner.

Plava and the other crew members who survived being shot down spent 28 days in the Himalayas being passed between native Burmese villages, in a network established by the British and American governments, until they were reunited with allied troops.

After the war, he returned home to his teaching job in what was the German Township School District. He worked a total of 43 years there and in the Albert Gallatin Area School District before retiring as superintendent in 1979. Afterward, he served on the school board for 12 years.

An elementary school that bears his name stands as a tribute to his years of service.

After five years of active duty, he remained in the Reserve with the 9551st Air Reserve Unit in Uniontown when he got home and was in the military a total of 35 years before retiring as a colonel in 1977.

John William Petro, 80, of Hopwood was inducted into the Air Corps 12 days after he graduated high school in 1943.

After training as a gunner and a mechanic, he was assigned to mechanic duty.

He worked on planes for 19 months at a number of bases in the South Pacific and was stationed in Guam when the war ended. “They really celebrated,” he said.

Petro said he had one close call when a shell landed and exploded near his tent, but he had it easier than front-line soldiers.

“I don’t consider myself a hero,” he said.

Another veteran talked about some difficulty he had volunteering to fight.

Wasler said the man didn’t understand why his buddies got draft notices and he didn’t, because they were all the same age.

The man contacted the draft board and learned that the coal mine where he worked obtained deferments for all its workers, so he quit.

After a while he still didn’t receive a draft notice and his buddies were scheduled to ship out at the end of the week. He convinced the mine to write letter saying he no longer worked there, took the letter to the draft board just in time to ship out with his friends.

A county woman who worked in a factory after the men left for overseas and a local Navy nurse who treated Marines in Guadalcanal also were interviewed, Wasler said.