 1918 - 2011 (93 years)
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| Name |
William H. Lange [2, 3] |
 |
Lange, William
World War II Photo |
| Nickname |
Bill |
| Birth |
2 Jan 1918 |
Wisconsin  [4] |
| Gender |
Male |
| Census |
1920 |
Cleveland Township, Jackson County, Wisconsin [5] |
| Census |
1930 |
Cleveland Township, Jackson County, Wisconsin [6] |
| Article |
12 Apr 2010 |
Eau Claire, Eau Claire County, Wisconsin [2] |
| Appeared in the newspaper, Leader-Telegram |
| Age: 92 |
| Military Service |
World War II |
United States Army Air Force - Attained the rank of Sergeant [7] |
| Death |
18 Mar 2011 |
Eau Claire, Eau Claire County, Wisconsin [3] |
| Burial |
23 Mar 2011 |
Rest Haven Cemetery, Eau Claire, Eau Claire County, Wisconsin [3] |
| Person ID |
I299 |
Lange Pierce |
| Last Modified |
17 Aug 2011 |
| Father |
Robert Herman Lange, b. 5 Jan 1887, Fairchild, Wisconsin d. 21 Jan 1970, Augusta, Wisconsin (Age 83 years) |
| Mother |
Alma August Bramer, b. 8 May 1891, Probably, Fairchild, Jackson County, Wisconsin d. 12 Nov 1980, Osseo Nursing Home, Osseo, Wisconsin (Age 89 years) |
| Marriage |
Apr 1917 |
St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Fairchild, Wisconsin |
| Family ID |
F73 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
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| Notes |
- In the 1920 U. S. Federal Census, William H. Lange is a 1.5 year old, white, single male. He was born in Wisconsin of parents who were both born in Wisconsin. He lives with his parents, Alma and Robert H., and one sibling, Eveline, in Cleveland Township, Jackson County, Wisconsin. [RHL 01.]
In the 1930 U. s. Federal Census, William H. Lange is a 12 year old, white, single male. He was born in Wisconsin of parents that were both born in Wisconsin. He is attending school and is able to speak English. He lives with his parents, Robert and Alma, and five siblings (Evelyn, Goldine, Maxine, Ester, Margaret) in Cleveland Township, Jackson County, Wisconsin. [RHL 02.]
The following are newspaper clippings on William H. Lange that I found on an Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Public Schools web site:
WILLIAM H. LANGE
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GUNNER
Private William H. Lange, son of Mrs. Robert Lange who resides at Rural Route 2, Augusta, is completing his training as a heavy bomber combat crewman at Biggs Field, TX, a training station of the Second Air Force on the Mexican border. He is a gunner.
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CPL. WILLIAM H. LANGE
Word has been received that Corporal William H. Lange, son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Lange of Augusta has arrived in England.
He entered the service on February 9 1944 and was sent overseas the last part of November 1944.
He received his training at Miami Beach, FL; Kingman Army Air Field, Kingman, AZ, where he received his wings in flexible gunnery; Lincoln, NE; and Biggs Field, TX.
He is a gunner on a B-17 Flying Fortress with the Eighth Air Force in England.
His wife resides on Germania Street.
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PROMOTION
The promotion of William H. Lange, 26 from the grade of Corporal to Sergeant has been announced at this Eighth Airforce B-17 Flying Fortress base by his group commander, Lieutenant Colonel William J. Wrigglesworth of Eau Claire. Prior to entering the Army Air Force in January 1944, Sergeant Lange was employed as a garage attendant in Eau Claire, WI. He received his gunner's wings in June 1944 at Kingman, AZ. His wife, Mrs. William H. Lange, lives at 518 Germania Street.
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AIR MEDAL
Sergeant William H. Lange, 26, whose wife resides at 518 Germania Street, has been awarded the Air Medal as waist gunner of a B-17 Flying Fortress for meritorious achievement during the Eighth Air Force Bombings of German targets and military installations. He entered the service in January 1944.
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Oak Leaf Cluster awarded to Local B-17 Waist Gunner
AN 8TH AIR FORCE BOMBER STATION, England.
Sergeant William H. Lange, 26-year old B-17 Flying Fortress waist gunner from Eau Claire, WI, has recently been awarded an Oak Leaf Cluster to the Air Medal for "meritorious achievement," while participating in Eighth Air Force attacks on vital industrial targets and enemy-held installations in Germany, which helped cause the collapse of the German war machine.
The official citation accompanying the award commented on the "courage, coolness, and skill displayed by Sergeant Lange on all occasions," as reflecting great credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of the United States." The presentation was made by his group commander, Lieutenant Colonel Louis G. Thorup of Salt Lake City, Utah.
Sergeant Lange is a member of the 447th Bomb Group, which is a unite of the Third Air Division, the division that holds the Distinguished Unite Citation for its now historic England-Africa shuttle-bombing attack on the Messerschmitt factories in Regensburg, Germany.
The husband of Mrs. William H. Lange of 518 Germania Street, Eau Claire, Sergeant Lange, before entering the Army Air Force in January 1944, was employed as a garage attendant. He received his gunner's wings in June 1944 at Kingman, AZ.
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FRIENDS BOND OVER WAR STORIES: Man Visits Neighbor Daily to hear Tales of Bomber Crews in World War II Andrew Dowd Eau Clair Leader Telegram Staff
Jan. 3 has meant a lot of things to "William Lange in his 92 years.
For starters, it's the day after his birthday.
It also was the date he retired from Uniroyal after 30 years in the Eau Claire tire factory.
And the date marked his only injury during World War II when a B-17 made a rough landing on an English airstrip.
Remembrances such as these have helped forge a bond between Lange and his neighbor from a few doors down on Eddy Lane, Scott Olson, 59.
"He's got a lot of stories that are interesting," Olson said while visiting with his friend.
For the past year the men have shared a friendship cemented by daily visits when Lange shares the stories of his life with his neighbor.
BOMBER BOUND
Signing up for the Air Force in his mid-20s, Lange originally wanted to be a fighter pilot, as many other young men desired. But at that time there was a great demand to replace bomber crews, many of whom died in action before meeting their mission quota.
"They started the war at 50. Very few of the made 50 missions," Lange said.
Before going overseas, the Eau Claire native trained in Lincoln, Neb., and Miami.
It was during his three-month cadet training in Florida that he married his wife, Bernice, on March 27, 1944.
The ceremony was simple, attended only two sailors serving as witnesses. Lange had to be back on base by 9 p.m., which meant no wedding night.
Shortly thereafter, it was time for Sgt. Lange to ship out.
He recalls that the pilots put their hats into a box and a random drawing determined which crews would fly to Europe in shiny new B-17s and which ones would travel by ship.
Spending five days traversing the Atlantic on a dirty, rat-infested French-owned ship is not one of Lange's fonder memories of the war.
Stationed at an airbase about 100 miles from London, he flew in bombers with colorful names such as "Bit O'Lace," "Lucky Partner" and "Odd-Ball."
Lange, a sergeant in the 8th Airforce, 3rd Division 447th Bomber Group, flew 30 missions in a B-17 Flying Fortress during the final year of the war in Europe.
The average day started with a briefing and breakfast at about 3 a.m., followed by takeoff and getting a squadron into formation.
"You knew where you were going but not what to expect when you got there," he said.
After returning from missions, crews were debriefed and went to the Red Cross Club for cigarettes and a celebratory shot of scotch. Rough missions earned the airmen a couple of additional shots, Lange said.
"I never got scared till we landed," he said. "Then, at night, I would think about what could have happened."
Assigned to a 10-man crew of soldiers who hailed from all over the U.S., Lange manned the .50-caliber machine guns in a clear plastic bubble on the top of the plane, behind the cockpit.
One mission in particular brought his crew near the Germany-Switzerland border, where the Alps were visible in the background. And average B-17 flight took eight hours, but this one took 13. Each plane had to carry extra fuel barrels that were dropped mid-flight when they were empty. Flying at an altitude of 35,000 feet, Lange remembered that special precautions had to be taken to prevent equipment from freezing in temperatures that were about 64 degrees below zero.
"It was cold up there," he said.
One of his fellow crew members passed out when part of his oxygen mask froze, and Lange had to break apart the ice.
Eighteen planes were lost on the mission, he said, but they were able to hit their targets of a ball-bearing plant and fighter base.
Lange still has a collection of aerial photographs from the war that show bombing targets and photos of planes dropping bombs from the air.
On some missions, Lange's plane would come back in less-than-pristine condition because of shrapnel tearing into the plane from German anti-aircraft guns.
"When you see that red ball breaking apart, that's pretty close," he said of explosions from anti-aircraft guns.
At that stage of the war, the mobile guns were a bigger threat than the German air force, he said, because many of the German airfields and plan factories already had been bombed by the Allies.
When his plan landed on Jan. 3, 1945, it had about 30 holes in it and damaged landing gear, which caused it to spin down the length of the runway. Lange injured his left ankle, putting him in the hospital three weeks and off flying for nine weeks, according to his Air Force medical record.
Toward the very end of the war, Lange remembered dropping long strips of tinfoil out of the bottom of the plane, which was used to confuse radar that targeted American planes.
EUROPEAN CELEBRATION
His person photograph collection includes snapshots of the celebration in Piccadilly Square on May 8, 1945 -- the day Germany surrendered to the Allied Forces.
Lange and his buddies already were on a two-day pass in London but then got an extension because of the German surrender.
At that point, they already had exhausted their spending money, but Lange said an officer drew some advance pay and loaned it out to subordinates so they could enjoy the extra leave.
Londoners were relieved from the stress caused by German bombings, and Lange remembers seeing large bonfires from people burning blackout curtains used to hide interior lights from enemy bombers.
Because he never had to parachute out of his plane, Lange and his friends decided to take a fraction of the large "pep pill" included in their survival gear.
"We tried them on that V-E Day," he said. They didn't sleep that night.
Lange wasn't among the first airmen to return stateside. He didn't land in the U.S. until noon on July 4, 1945, in Bradley Field, N.J.
A CHANCE MEETING
After returning from the war, Lange worked for Pope Implement an American Harvester dealer, before starting a 30-year career with Uniroyal-Goodrich Tire Co.
The lifelong Eau Claire man still lives in his own home -- one he started building in 1947 on Eddy Lane.
He uses a walker and a motorized chair after a bad fall, but is mobile enough to clean the house and cook meals.
He wears an oxygen tube under his nose from lung damage caused by breathing in asbestos particles -- an unfortunate souvenir of working at the tire factory.
His wife, Bernice, died in August 2007, and Lange now shares his home with Katie, his beloved dachshund.
It's that "wiener dog" that brought Olson to Lange.
One day, about a year ago, Olson saw Lange's sister, Esther Newton, walking the dog for her brother.
The two stopped to chat, and Olson became interested in meeting Lange, who lived just a block away.
From there, the two men became immediate friends; they now see each other almost every day.
Olson walks Katie on weekday afternoons and enjoys daily visits with Lange for conversation and a drink.
It's a chance for the younger man to learn about a war before his time as the number of World War II veterans continue to decline.
"They're few and far between," Olson said. [WHL 03.]
WILLIAM LANGE: OBITUARY, Posted: Tuesday, March 22, 2011
William "Bill" H. Lange, age 93, of Eau Claire died on Friday, March 18, 2011 at his home.
Bill was born on January 2, 1918 to the late Robert and Alma (Bramer) Lange at home in Fairchild, Wisconsin. On March 27, 1944 he married Bernice C. Taluc in Miami Beach, Florida just prior to his being transferred overseas to the war in Europe. Bill proudly served in the U. S. Army Air Corps as a mechanic/gunner on B17s with many missions into Germany.
Bill worked for International Harvester for four years following the war and then for Uniroyal until his retirement. He was a life member of VFW Post 305 and a member of Hope Lutheran Church. Bill had a love of the outdoors which he demonstrated by hunting, fishing, gardening, and spending weekends and vacations on numerous lakes in Northern Wisconsin with his family.
Bill will be remembered by all who knew and loved him for his willingness to always lend a helping hand, his patience, and for his timeless stories.
He is survived by his children, Diane Keiser of Lincoln City, OR, Duane Lange of Chippewa Falls, David Lange of San Diego, CA; grandchildren, Heather, Emily, and Melissa; great grandchildren Morgan, Daniel, and Collin; sisters, Goldine Schiefelbein, Ester newton, Margaret Giguere, Betty Lighthizer, Bernice Kawell, Geraldine Ekern, Irene Grimm; many nieces; nephews; other relatives; his best friend and neighbor, Scott Olson; and his beloved dachshund, Katie.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Bernice; granddaughter, Heide; sisters, Maxine Reetz, Evelyn Brummond, and infant sister, Rosella.
A funeral service will be held 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, March 23, 2011 at Hope Lutheran Church (corner of Starr Avenue and Eddy Lane) with the Reverend Randy Olson officiating.
Visitation will be on Tuesday from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at Evergreen Funeral Home (on Golf Road 1 block East of Hwy 93) and also 1 hour prior to the service at church.
Interment will be in Rest Haven Cemetery with military honors provided by V.F.W. Post 305.
Evergreen Funeral Home is serving the family.
In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to Hop Lutheran Church.
To send your condolence to the family, please visit our obituaries at www.evergreenfuneralhome.com. [WHL 04.]
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| Sources |
- [S1015] Herman Lange, "Information on Herman Lange Family to Dale L. Lange, February 07, 2003. [HFL 02.].
- [S8254] William H. Lange, "Friends Bond Over War Stories," Leader-Telegram, Eau Claire, Wisconsin, 12 April 2010, pp. 1,10, Andrew Dowd, author. [WHL 03.].
- [S8293] William H. Lange, obituary, Eau Claire Leader Telegram, Eau Claire, Eau Claire County, Wisconsin, 22 March 2011,www.leadertelegram.com/people/obituaries/article_8c059749-f2df-50b6. [WHL 04.].
- [S1016] Robert H. Lange housenold, 1920 U. S. Census, Jackson County, Wisconsin, Cleveland Township, ED 48, SD 06, sheet 5B, dwelling 92, family 92; National Archives micropublication T625, roll 1990, image 166. [RHL 01.].
- [S1017] Robert H. Lange housenold, 1920 U. S. Census, Jackson County, Wisconsin, Cleveland Township, ED 48, SD 06, sheet 5B, dwelling 92, family 92; National Archives micropublication T625, roll 1990, image 166. [RHL 01.].
- [S1018] Robert H. Lange household, 1930 U. S. Census, Jackson County, Wisconsin, Cleveland Township, ED 10, SD 07, sheet 1B, dwelling 15, family 15; National Archives micropublication T626, roll, 2575, image 905.0. [RHL 02.].
- [S7699] "William H. Lange," text and picture, Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Public Schools, website<http://www.memorial.ecasd.k12.wi.us/departments/socistud/dizold/ veterans/>, July 15, 2004. [WHL 01.].
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