By Krista Finstad Hanson
For the Times
During World War II, Alaska was a territory of the United States. According the National Park Service’s website, “World War II in Alaska,” there had been hostilities between China and Japan about which the United States was concerned about. In 1939, Congress enacted the Panama-Hawaii-Alaska defense triangle. The U.S. began construction of naval bases, roads, and an Army Air Force landing strip near Yakutat. This was an area where Tlingit indigenous people lived as well as Russian and mixed-race people. The Alaska National Guard was activated in September of 1941.
Six months after Pearl Harbor, in June of 1942, the Japanese bombed the naval base at Dutch Harbor and Fort Mears near Unalaska, Alaska. The Japanese occupied Attu and Kiska, two Aleutian Islands. The U.S. military then evacuated the Aleutian Islanders to mainland of Alaska. The military also began locating any Japanese nationals and removed them to concentration camps in the United States.
The U.S. fought the Japanese at the island of Attu beginning on May 11, 1943. The U.S. retook the island after three months of fighting. U.S. troops arrived in Kiska in August of 1943 to find the Japanese had already evacuated the island. No further combat occurred. However, this was the only WWII combat that occurred on U.S. soil. Alaska became the 49th state of the union on Jan. 3, 1959.
Iowa County soldier Raymond S. Metz served with the U.S. Army in Alaska during World War II.
Raymond Sullivan Metz was born July 30, 1912 in Mineral Point, Iowa County, Wisconsin to Alexander and Jessie (Sullivan) Metz.
From the 1920 U.S. Census, the Metz family lived in Mineral Point in Iowa County. The household included father Alexander, mother Jessie A., and children Raymond (7) and Bernard (3). Father Alexander was born in Germany, immigrated in 1884 and became a naturalized citizen in 1896. Alexander was a druggist working in a drugstore.
Raymond’s mother, Jessie A. Sullivan Metz, died on Oct. 29, 1925 in Mineral Point. She was from Monroe and was buried in Monroe.
From the 1930 U.S. Census, the Metz family remained in Mineral Point. The household included father Alex and three sons: Raymond, Bernard, and John (6). Father Alex was a pharmacist in a drugstore. Son Raymond worked as a salesman in a drugstore.
Raymond was a 1929 graduate of Mineral Point High School and a 1934 graduate of the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
On Oct. 16, 1940, Raymond Metz registered for the WWII Draft. He lived in Madison and worked for the Wisconsin Public Service Commission. His father in Mineral Point was his next of kin.
On Oct. 16, 1942, Raymond Metz enlisted for service in WWII in Milwaukee. He was single and had four years of college. He worked as an insurance salesman.
According to a notice in the Feb. 15, 1943 Wisconsin State Journal, Pvt. Raymond Metz was stationed at Ft. Riley, Kansas. From a Friday, June 11, 1943 Wisconsin State Journal notice, he had been commissioned a Second Lieutenant and was training at the “adjutant general’s school” in Ft. Washington, Maryland.
From a Sunday, April 23, 1944 The Capital Times article titled “Mineral Pt. Service Men,” there is information that all three Metz brothers were in service. According to the article, “Lieut. Raymond Metz is on the Aleutian islands, Lieut. Bernard is at the Pinellas army air base, St. Petersburg, Fla., and Pvt. John is with the signal corps at Camp Crowder, Miss.”
From the Friday, Jan. 5, 1945 Wisconsin State Journal notice titled “Metz, Mineral Point, Killed in Plane Crash,” the notice stated “Alex Metz, Mineral Point, received work on Wednesday that his son, Lieut. Raymond S. Metz, was killed in a plane crash. No further details were given but it was believed that the crash happened somewhere in the United States, as Lieut. Metz was to leave the Aleutian islands, where he was stationed, about Dec. 26, and was coming to spend a furlough at his home in Mineral Point.”
More information was found in a Jan. 5, 1945 Evening Star (Washington, D.C.) article titled “13 Die in Crash of Plane Returning From Aleutians.” The news from Adak, Aleutians was “Thirteen servicemen and civilians, most of the homeward bound after long service in the Aleutians, were killed before dawn December 29 when their Air Transport Command C-47 plane carrying them crashed into a hillside and burned.
An 11th Air Force spokesman said the plane was operated by civilian personnel and no air force men were killed…”
There is more information from the Friday, Jan. 5, 1945 Monroe Evening Times, “Aleutians Vets Die on Homecoming Plane”. The article stated “Only Wisconsin casualty of the 13 lives lost was 1st Lt. Raymond S. Metz, Mineral Point, a nephew of Mrs. Ed Clark of Monroe. Lieutenant Metz had been an accountant in Madison until he enlisted in the army, and was returning for his first furlough, a 20 day leave to be spent at Mineral Point, after two and one-half years in Alaska as an army censor.
“Lieut. Metz’s mother, sister of Mrs. Clark, is dead. The father, Alex Metz, formerly lived in Monroe and was a druggist here. Lieut. Metz leaves two brothers, also in the army.”
From the Thursday, Oct. 14, 1948 The Capital Times article titled “Lt. Metz’s Rites At Point Saturday,” it states “The body of Second Lt. Raymond Metz, 32, who was killed in an airplane crash while en route from the Aleutian islands, will arrive here Friday for reburial services...
“Military services will be held … at the Borgen funeral home…and at St. Mary’s Church...”
2nd Lieutenant Raymond Metz is listed on the Gold Star Honor Roll as being from Iowa County, Wisconsin. His death status was DNB (Died Non-Battle).
2nd Lieutenant Metz was reburied in Old Calvary Cemetery in Monroe in Green County.
Thank you, 2nd Lieutenant Raymond Sullivan Metz, for your service to and sacrifice for this country. We honor you and remember you.
