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On Memorial Day, members of the Herrala family will honor their father, Calvin S. Herrala, who served on Iwo Jima during World War II. Calvin passed away at the age of 99 while living at the Carefree Living facility in Ely in June, 2004.
Calvin Herrala was born in Ely on November 6, 2024. He attended Lincoln Elementary School and graduated from Memorial High School with the class of 1942. He was known as an excellent student and went on to complete the fall semester at the Ely Junior College. His studies and life in Ely was interrupted, when in the spring of 1943, Calvin received his notice to report to Fort Snelling, Minnesota to be inducted into the U. S. Army. Following his induction, he was sent to an army base in Ontario, Canada for training.
After completing training in radar maintenance in Canada, the U.S. Army scheduled more training for Calvin, enrolling him in a 12 month course at the University of Oregon, in Eugene, Oregon. While there, he was trained in meteorology and physics. His training completed, he was told he would be sent to Iwo Jima.
The invasion of Iwo Jima by the Marines Corps began on February 17, 1945. Most of the heaviest fighting had ended by the end of March. The invasion of Iwo Jima resulted in 6,700 Marine Corps deaths and the death of 20,000 Japanese soldiers.
The reason for the occupation of Iwo Jima was to provide an air strip for emergency landings for the Army’s B-29 bombers that were making bombing runs on Japan from bases on Guam, Saipan and Tinian.
Calvin’s assignment on Iwo Jima began in April or May, 1945, after the heaviest fighting was over. He spent his time on Iwo Jima doing radar maintenance since radar was being used in taking daily meteorological readings. The weather data was used to calculate the optimum loads of fuel for the B-29’s making their bombing runs on Japan.
Sometimes Calvin’s work was slow and he volunteered to fly with U. S. Navy Combat Air Search units. These units flew ahead of the B-29s when they set off on their bombing runs and to follow the bombers on their return from Japan to their bases on Guam, Saipan and Tinian. If a B-29 was damaged by flak and the crew had to ditch their plane in the water, the Navy Combat Air Search units could assist in the rescue of the crew from the water to spare them from capture or death. Calvin volunteered a number of times for such assignments, once flying to Nagoya and Yokohama, Japan and back.
In September, 1945 Calvin received his discharge papers from the Army and came back home to Ely. He enrolled at Harvard under the GI bill in 1946. One day after his classes he picked up his mail on his way to the dorm. In his mail he had received a large envelope from the War Department awarding him a U. S. Navy battle star for his part in the air war against Japan. He wondered why a battle star from the Navy would be sent to him. His physics studies at the time were about nuclear fission and nuclear fusion. The date cited in the award was August 9, 1945. It was only then that he realized that he had unknowingly volunteered for the Navy search and rescue unit supporting the delivery of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945.
Calvin graduated in June, 1949 with a major in physics. On the day he graduated, he married Nancy Brownell of Ely. His first job as a civilian was with GMAC. In 1951 he went to work for Honeywell in Fort Worth, Texas. During his long career with Honeywell, Calvin was later based in Florida, Minneapolis, New Jersey, Boston and finally in Syracuse, New York. Two children were born of that marriage – Jennifer Herrala Webb and her brother Matthew Herrala – both of whom will be with us in Ely on Memorial Day.
Calvin retired from Honeywell in 1989. With his wife’s death in 2005, he returned to Ely and lived in a home at 128 West Sheridan. In 2017, he moved to the Lincoln Apartments and later to Carefree Living.
Elyite, Calvin S. Herrala, a member of the Greatest Generation, passed away on June 16, 2024, from the effects of Covid. He will be honored for his service to our country on Memorial Day.
