Remembering When
by
Jerry Person
Huntington Beach City Historian
Dedicated to the people of Huntington Beach
Remembering Loren Bernard Wiedman
It is said that war is hell and what we have been seeing on television of the fighting aroung the world it certainly is true. We sometimes forget that it can be more so for the loved ones back home.
During World War II many of our residents were terrified that at any time our oil rich city could come under enemy attack, but I think that the most frightening thing for a parent or spouse was not an enemy attack but a knock on the door and to be handed a small yellow envelope.
During this war a Western Union telegram often contained bad news and some people when handed one often sat down before reading the message. Most of the time it was from a relative saying they will be coming out on vacation and would stop by for a visit, but there were other telegrams that began, “We regret to inform you…”
This week we will be remembering the life of Loren Wiedman and at the anguish felt by his family upon receiving one of those missives.
Loren Bernard Wiedman was born in 1922 and as a youth attended Central Elementary school here in Huntington Beach. As a young man he joined our Boy Scouts and learned how to survive in the wild, something that would come in handy later on.
Loren graduated from Central Elementary in 1935 to become a student at Huntington High until his graduation day came in 1939 and f rom there he would attend Fullerton College before enlisting in the Army Air Corps to become a pilot.
With America’s entry into World War II pilots were needed for combat and for transporting men and needed supplies to both the European and Pacific fronts. Loren became a transport pilot and beginning in July 1943 this 21 year old would be piloting a C-46 transport plane on the dangerous India to China route that carried the plane over the peaked “hump” of the Himalayas bringing needed supplies to a war ravaged Chungking, China.
This was a dangerous flight over terrain that was extremely rugged and wild, but Loren felt that it was his duty to help in a small measure to win the war and in April of 1944 Loren was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant and continued to fly the India, Burma, China route.
Meanwhile back at his parent’s home at 406 10th Street in Huntington Beach there came a knock at the door on June 14, 1944 and when the door was opened there stood a Western Union messenger with a telegram from the war department in Washington.
A stunned feeling came over the reader as the yellow envelope was opened and with tears in the eyes and hands that trembled, the missive was read.
“First Lieutenant Loren B. Wiedman has been reported missing in flight since June 5th between India and China,” and it was signed Adjutant General Ulio, Washington, D.C.
A feeling of shock and disbelief came over the reader as it was read. He couldn’t be gone for they had just recently received a letter from their son dated June 4th and mailed the next day.
Grief followed until early Monday morning, June 26th when a knock at the door and standing there was another Western Union messenger with a telegram. Taking the envelope in hand it said that their son Loren has reported back for duty on June 19, 1944. A feeling of elation now filled the hearts of Loren’s parents as they read that he was alive and in good health.
Shortly they received a letter from Loren detailing what had happened.
It seems that he and his crew had taken off on June 5th on a routine transport mission and two hours into the flight the plane’s right engine failed.
Loren ordered his crew to put on their parachutes and to jettison the cargo to lighten the plane since the plane wasn’t designed to run on one engine. He ordered the crew to bail out and would later say that jumping by chute isn’t so bad in fact the ride down was really fun. They all landed safely and after two hours of searching for each other they were ready to find help.
It would take them eight days of walking before they reached one of our weather stations. The only thing wrong, he would later write to his parents, was the blisters- really big blisters on his feet and he also wrote that he wore out a pair of heavy G.I. boots.
“Boy, let me tell you that nothing but good honest praying did the job for all four of us,” he wrote and he ended his letter with “Please don’t worry about me, I am going along as strong as ever.”
But worry they did and for good reason for in late October, 1944 again there was a knock at the door and a messenger with a yellow envelope. Inside the envelope was the message that Loren was killed on October 16, 1944 while flying in the service of his country.
In November of 1944 his parents received a letter signed by General H.H. “Hap” Arnold and members of his staff expressing the high esteem they held for their son.
Loren had been flying the “hump” across the Himalaya Mountains and while landing his C-46 transport; it skidded on the ground and crashed into a tree.
In December of 1944 Loren was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross posthumously by Brig. Gen. William H. Tunner, commanding general of the India-China Division, Air Transport Command.
Loren knew the dangers involved in flying this route, but he was willing to do so for his country and the people he loved back home in Huntington Beach and in the end paid the ultimate price.
The yellow envelope is no more, but there is still a knock on the door in other countries who receive a notice of some kind that a love one has been killed in the line of duty. Those same feeling that Loren's parent felt so long ago is still being felt by loved ones in far off countries today.