Tom joined the Army at age 19 in 1940 and served in the 101st Airborne Division’s “Screaming Eagles.” Shortly after midnight on D-Day, June 6, 1944, Tom parachuted into Normandy from a C-47 that had been hit by anti-aircraft “flak,” as part of the largest military campaign ever undertaken. Tom, armed with a submachine gun, landed near Utah Beach and heavily armed German forces, fought in Normandy for over a month while sheltering in hunting holes, helped capture hundreds of German soldiers, and was wounded by shrapnel and a sniper bullet in his left knee. Tom also parachuted into Holland during Operation Market Garden and fought in the Battle of the Bulge where he was seriously wounded when sniper bullets tore a leg and the radial below an elbow. After one month, he re-joined his regiment in Austria. Tom’s military honors include a Purple Heart with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters, 2 Invasion Arrows, Combat Infantry Badge, Bronze Star with Cluster, Good Conduct Medal, French Fourragère, Belgium Fourragère and the Parachutist Badge (“Jump Wings”). In 2015, France honored Tom as a Knight in the National Order of the Legion of Honor, the highest award granted to foreign nationals for military service on French soil, in recognition of his heroic service during the Invasion of Normandy in the liberation of France. Tom is 98, lives in San Diego with his wife Brenda, and jumped in tandem last year during the 75th anniversary celebrations of D-Day and Market Garden.

Frank was drafted on his 21st birthday in 1942 and served in the U.S. Army 28th Infantry Division’s 110th Regimental Combat Team as first gunner of a light artillery crew during the fourth wave of the Normandy landings in July of 1944, just a few weeks after D-Day. From Normandy, the 28th Division engaged in difficult hedgerow to hedgerow fighting as they pushed across western France to join in the liberation of Paris and moved on the day following the liberation parade to fight some of the most important battles of World War II, including the Battle of the Bulge the last major German offensive campaign on the Western front and the largest and bloodiest single battle fought by American troops in the war. The fury of the 28th division’s assaults led the German Army to bestow its soldiers with the title “Bloody Bucket” Division. During the Battle of the Bulge, Frank was captured and spent from December 1944 to April 1945 as a prisoner of war in German prison camp Stalag IV B. He was honorably discharged in October of 1945. Frank revisited the battlefields of Normandy in 2018, and in 2019 was recognized by France as a Knight in the National Order of the French Legion of Honor, the highest award granted to foreign nationals for military service on French soil, for his actions during the Invasion of Normandy in liberating France. Frank is 98, and is the father of Frank Martell’s wife Donna.

Gordon served in the Navy from 1942-1946. During WW II he was assigned to Navy Air Group 19, including from June to December 1944 aboard the USS Lexington that led the Fast Carrier Task Force in the Pacific where Group 19 consisted of 36 fighters, 36 bombers and 18 torpedo planes, and Gordon was a yeoman to the group commander. From the Lexington, the group fought in many of the Pacific’s major naval battles, including the Battle of the Philippine Sea where over 300 enemy aircraft were destroyed and a carrier, a tanker and a destroyer were sunk, as American aviators nearly knocked Japanese naval aviation out of the war. Lexington’s aircraft also flew sorties over Guam, the Palau, Bonin, and Caroline Islands, and Mindanao and the Manila area in the Philippines followed by Okinawa and Formosa, and finally at the Battle of Leyte Gulf. During Leyte, the climatic American naval victory over Japan, the Lexington was under constant attack, yet her aircraft helped assisted sink a Japanese battleship, 3 aircraft carriers and a cruiser. As a result of a kamikaze attack, Gordon suffered burns to his hands attempting to put out a fire burning a seaman and his clothing. Gordon’s military honors include the World War II Victory Medal, Good Conduct Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Theater Ribbon, American Theater Ribbon, Philippine Liberation Ribbon and a Purple Heart. Gordon is 96 and resides in Lake Forest.

Upon graduating from UCSB in 1966, Scott entered the Army as a private for combat infantry training before being assigned to Ordnance Officers Candidate School, graduated as a 2nd lieutenant in 1968, reported to Company D of the 709th Maintenance Battalion in Vietnam in support of the Ninth Infantry Division as an Ordnance Specialist providing major maintenance and recovery support for armored personnel carriers, trucks, and electronic communication equipment and small arms bunker and perimeter support for ground troops. He is President of the Freedom Committee of Orange County, a volunteer organization of veterans who bring living history to Orange County schools by sharing personal stories from WWII, Korea, Vietnam and the Middle East, including Pearl Harbor, D-Day, the Battle of the Bulge, air battles in the South Pacific and over Fortress Europe, freeing inmates of German concentration camps, and watching an atom bomb drop on Japan. Scott is an invaluable resource to Military Appreciation Day by identifying veterans from Orange County to honor at the Hoag Classic. Scott’s military honors include a Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, Army Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, National Defense Ribbon, Vietnam Service Medal with 2 bronze stars, Vietnam Civil Action Ribbon, Vietnam Cross of Gallantry Medal with palm, and Vietnam Campaign Medal. Scott resides in Costa Mesa with his wife Linda. He received the City of Costa Mesa Mayor’s Award for service to his community.

Upon graduating from high school, following his brother’s lead, in October of 1944 Albert enlisted in the U.S. Navy at age 18. He served in World War II from 1944 to 1946 as a Radioman handling ship to shore confidential communications in Morse code on the USS Noble, an attack transport ship whose primary mission was to transport to combat area beaches in the Pacific Theater, including Okinawa in 1945, up to 5,000 infantrymen and some of the material necessary for an assault on enemy forces and positions. After discharging troops and equipment, the Noble and her crew evacuated Allied casualties and prisoners of war. After the war, the Noble also participated in Operation Magic Carpet, returning servicemen home from the Pacific. The GI Bill assisted Albert in attaining an electrical engineering degree from Georgia Tech University which qualified him for a career with Sperry Rand designing military systems including radar, gyroscopes and inertial navigation systems and later systems used on Apollo 11’s lunar lander. Albert is 93 years old, resides in Hicksville, New York, but receives his medical care at Hoag, as he spends part of the year with his daughter June Vinci and her family here in Orange County. Dr. Anthony Caffarelli has been his cardiac surgeon and Dr. Robert Gorab replaced both his knees.

Dick left the University of Colorado to serve as a Marine Corps aviator in the Korean War flying jet fighters on active duty from 1952-56 and in the reserves from 1956-61 when he was honorably discharged as a captain. Dick’s military awards include the Korean Defense Medal and the National Defense Ribbon. He holds a commercial pilot’s license with multi-engine, instrument, helicopter, jet, and glider ratings. In 1968, he took his company, Bertea Corporation, public as a leading aerospace supplier of hydraulic flight controls with major market penetration in commercial aircraft programs. Dick and his wife Hyla are long-time supporters of Hoag, numerous other Orange County charities, and several military charities including the Iwo Jima Monument West (goal – to build an Iwo Jima Flag Raising Memorial at Camp Pendleton) and the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation from whom he received the 2008 Globe and Anchor Award. Dick is currently a member of the MCSF West Coast Gala Campaign Committee leadership, was the founding President of the Orange County Young Presidents Organization (YPO) and the Orange County Sheriff’s Advisory Council, and has served on the board of the Los Angeles and Orange County Big Brothers. He has restored and flown two World War II “Warbirds,” a Chance-Vought F4U Corsair and a Douglas AD Skyraider. Dick is 90 and resides with Hyla in Corona del Mar.