January 18, 2025 • 16 mins
T/Sgt Beedle served in the 560th and 562nd Signal Air Warning Corp in the European Theatre. He was also a radio technician that worked on the Bell-X1 aircraft, which Capt. Chuck Yeager flew to break the sound barrier in 1947!
During WW2 women were deployed throughout Europe and the Pacific and their only means to communicate home was through letters, handwritten notes to assure those at home they were alright and waiting for letters from their loved ones to provide semblance of support and normalcy. Over the years I have collected letters with the intention of returning to family - but first I’d like to share who these men were, where were they from and the context of where the soldiers were and what role they played in the War.
Please sit back and get to know these members of the greatest generation. Please visit me on Facebook, or email me at warandfamily@outlook.com and help me get the letters home
Thank you for listening!
During WW2 women were deployed throughout Europe and the Pacific and their only means to communicate home was through letters, handwritten notes to assure those at home they were alright and waiting for letters from their loved ones to provide semblance of support and normalcy. Over the years I have collected letters with the intention of returning to family - but first I’d like to share who these men were, where were they from and the context of where the soldiers were and what role they played in the War.
Please sit back and get to know these members of the greatest generation. Please visit me on Facebook, or email me at warandfamily@outlook.com and help me get the letters home
Thank you for listening!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Welcome back to Warren Family Letters Home. I'm your podcast
host Lauren Muse. This podcast we talk about letters written
home by US servicemen and women in World War Two.
My mission is to return World War II history to families,
one letter and one story at a time. It's my
(00:45):
hope that someone hears the podcasts and recognize family connections
and contact me. These letters home Belong Home. I found
today's letter at auction, and I am so very happy
to tell you that while researching, I was able to
connect with his grandson. Join me for this story and
(01:07):
hear his letter home. The letters for this week's podcast
were written by Tech Sergeant William C. Beatle, US Army
Air Corps. William Clyde Beadle was born July fifth, nineteen
(01:35):
twenty one, in Iowa. He was the oldest of three
sons born to William and Ethel Beetle. The family was
recorded in Monroe, Iowa, on the nineteen twenty five census
and on the nineteen thirty census. We find Ethel Beadle
and her three sons are now living in Orange, California,
living with her father, Charles Lane. At this time, William
(02:00):
is eight years old and Charles Lane. His grandfather is
a clerk at a vegetable store, and William's mom, Ethel,
is employed as a bookkeeper for a furniture store. In
nineteen thirty six, William's mom passed away. The Register reported
the sad news on August twenty fifth, nineteen thirty six.
(02:23):
Edith Beadle, forty four, passed away last night following a
brief illness. She moved to Anaheim seven years ago from Iowa.
On the nineteen forty census, William and his two brothers
are recorded as living with their dad in Los Angeles.
Their dad is married again and he's working as a
(02:45):
nursery man for a retail nursery. William is now eighteen
years old and working as a carpenter for the Civilian
Conservation Corps doing bridge construction. His brother, Robert, is seventeen
and he's also working for the Civilian Conservation Corps as
a forester. The Civilian Conservation Corps was part of President
(03:09):
Roosevelt's New Deal program that employed young men to work
on natural resource projects in national, state and state parks.
I believe that William joined the service shortly after the
nineteen forty census. There is no draft registration card that
I can find, But as we've talked about before, there's
(03:31):
some things you can find out from his military serial number,
which is noted on all military return addresses. William's number
was one nine zero sixty six zero three five, and
the one denotes that he enlisted voluntarily, and the second number,
which is nine, denotes that he enlisted in California. The
(03:55):
next clue, of course, is also from the return address,
which always give gives me his unit, which gives me
his military branch. From all of this, I found that
Tech Sergeant William C. Beetle in the five hundred and
sixtieth Signal Aircraft Warning Corps. To be qualified for this work,
(04:17):
soldiers would undergo intensive training in radar operation, plotting, communications,
and aircraft recognition. Training centers were dedicated Signal Core training centers.
They offered practical experience so that the trainees could apply
their new skills in real life scenarios. Being a radar operator,
(04:41):
in general, was a dangerous job. Communications, well, that's a
prime target in war because without it there's no way
to communicate to the troops in the battlefield or pilots
in the sky, and also no mechanisms for warnings of
incoming attack. The five hundred and sixtieth Signal Air Warning
(05:03):
Cord arrived in Algeria in November of nineteen forty two.
One of the pieces of equipment they arrived with was
four SCR two seventies, which was a long distance early
warning radar system, which was the primary radar that was
used in all war theaters in World War Two. The
(05:25):
SCR two seventy was a mobile unit and was developed
and manufactured for the military by Westinghouse. It needed four
trucks to move it around, one carrying the radio, one
carrying the generator, another towing the large antenna, and the
fourth with other components needed for operation. The entire SCR
(05:49):
two seventy weighed about fifty tons and once set up,
the antenna was over thirty feet tall and had a
range of about one hundred and fifty miles. The five
hundred and sixtieth Signal Air Warning was in the area
of Italy in April of nineteen forty four. The first
(06:11):
letter I have was dated April of nineteen forty four
with an APO box of six five zero, which would
have put Tech Sergeant Beetle on the island of Corsica.
Corsica is located in the Mediterranean Sea, positioned to the
southeast of France and west of Italy, and it's one
of the most mountainous in the Mediterranean. It's also a
(06:35):
territory of France, and in nineteen forty when France fell
to the Germans, Corsica became a part of the Axis Power,
and in nineteen forty two Italy moved in and occupied
the island. Corsica was not giving up that easily, though,
and through nineteen forty two the French resistance was very
(06:56):
active against the Italians and the Germans. In September or
October of nineteen forty three, Corsica was liberated and by
nineteen forty four became an Allied air based island. On
April eighteenth, nineteen forty four, Tech Sergeant Beadle wrote home
(07:19):
to the sister of a friend in his unit, to
Miss Mellie Anderson Kenville, New Jersey. My dear Mellie, do
you mind me calling you Melly on such short notice?
Your brother speaks of you so often, I feel I
should know you. He bunks under me. You know your
(07:42):
letter came as quite a surprise. Why did you write?
I did have a girlfriend once, but you know how
it is. When the cat's away, the mice will play.
Do I approve of women smoking and drinking? Gosh, I
don't know, never gave it much thought. I always let
people do as they please, so long as they don't
(08:03):
harm me. I will say, a drunken woman isn't very nice.
I'm from the state of Oranges and movie actors. I
lived and worked in Sequoia, in Sequoia Forest National. It's
a wonderful place with high mountains and big trees. Your
brother is behaving very well. He claims to be taking
(08:26):
care of me. As you can see, I'm rather poor
at letter composition. If you would like any information of
any kind, just say the word and I'll do my best.
Andy said you like classical music? Is that? So? This
is the end. Now almost out of space. I'll be
expecting a reply soon. Don't fail me, will you? Sincerely? Bill.
(08:54):
The next time Tech Sergeant Beatle wrote to miss Anderson
was on November sixteenth, nineteen forty four. We find that
now he's moved to Company B of the five hundred
and sixty second Signal Air Warning, but he's still on Corsica.
My dear Mellie. The cookies were delicious. It was wonderful
(09:16):
of you to send them. When I say thank you
very much, I mean it from the bottom of my heart.
How have you been well and happy? I hope done
anything interesting lately. I guess your brother has told you
all about the little flood we had in camp, so
I won't try to. From the looks of things, I
(09:37):
would say our stove was about to go on a
rampage and explode. Your brother got another tin of cookies
in the mail tonight. Until I hear from you again,
Sincerely Bill. In September of nineteen forty five, there's another
short note, just letting Mellie know that he was returning home,
(10:00):
and he gave her his home address in California. In
nineteen forty seven, William Beadle married Sarah Isaacs of Ohio,
and on the nineteen fifty census I find them back
in California, where William is now employed as a civil
servant at Murich Air Force Base which is now known
(10:23):
as Edwards Air Force Base, and he's working as a
radar technician. And at this time we also find that
the couple now had a two year old son. Muick
Air Force Base was where Captain Chuck Yeager broke the
sound barrier in the belex Ie aircraft in October of
(10:44):
nineteen forty seven. Mister Beadle's grandson told me that his
grandfather worked on the telecommunications of the belex one. He
also shared that he worked for NACA, the National Advisory
Committee for Aeronautics otherwise known as NAKA, which was the
(11:04):
precursor to NASA. NACO was born was formed on March third,
nineteen fifteen, with a charter to supervise and direct the
scientific study of the problems of flight with a view
to their practical solution. The organization was on the cutting
edge of technology in the early decades of flight before
(11:29):
eventually being absorbed by NASA in nineteen fifty eight. In
nineteen sixty two, I find the family is now in
Los Gatos, California, where William was employed as a research engineer.
Mister Beadles's grandson told me that his grandfather was a
(11:50):
very reserved man and he didn't speak much about his
past except for brief stories here and there. He only
mentioned being in Europe and Italy briefly. In stories He
loved radios and tankering with them. His house used to
be a little station with a large antenna sticking out
from it, and his office was full of different types
(12:14):
of radios and tools. On March thirtieth, two thousand and six,
William Clyde Beadle passed away in Santa Clara, California. I
couldn't find his obituary, but I do know that he's
buried in San Jose, California. The introduction of radar in
(12:37):
World War II was critical to the Allied success. The
US Navy first began using it aboard ship in nineteen
forty and the US Army had its first LAMB based
radar system in nineteen forty one. The men that operated
and repaired this cutting edge equipment, while they were trailblazers
in military communications, Beadle was also part of a very
(13:02):
elite group back in those days, the visionaries. Today, we
have new technology entering our lives every day. The heck,
we walk around with a mini computer in our pocket now.
But back in nineteen forty seven, we hadn't been to
the moon yet, and it wasn't until nineteen fifty five
when the US could say that television was in fifty
(13:25):
percent of American homes. Mister Beadle and his contemporaries, they
were visionaries. They were imagining and doing and creating things
that at that time had only been seen in sci
fi movies, in a way of life that most people
thought could never possibly be. They were the greatest generation.
(13:56):
Thank you for joining me to hear the story of
William Clyde Beetle. The original letters written by mister Beadle
were obtained by me through an auction site, and I
am so happy that I was able to find his grandson, William,
and I'll be visiting a post office today to send
these letters off Tech Sergeant William Clyde Beadle. Thank you
(14:22):
for your service, sir, and your letters are going home
to your grandson. Warren Family Letters Home is self funded
and we will never ask a family for any compensation
to receive these letters home. If you would like to
(14:43):
contribute to my mission of returning history to families, please
contact me. You can find me on Facebook at Warren
Family Letters homepage, and I can be reached via email
at Warren Family at outlook dot com. All details in
(15:07):
this podcast were discovered by research done by me using
public military genealogy and newspaper search sites, and some wonderful
insight from mister Beetle's grandson. Please support our military, whether
active or veteran status. These men and women are sacrificing
(15:29):
every day to serve this great country, whether in war
or peacetime. Until next week, this is Lauren Muse and
you have been listening to Warren family letters home, the
(16:00):
PA told the GA
Welcome back to Warren Family Letters Home. I'm your podcast
host Lauren Muse. This podcast we talk about letters written
home by US servicemen and women in World War Two.
My mission is to return World War II history to families,
one letter and one story at a time. It's my
(00:45):
hope that someone hears the podcasts and recognize family connections
and contact me. These letters home Belong Home. I found
today's letter at auction, and I am so very happy
to tell you that while researching, I was able to
connect with his grandson. Join me for this story and
(01:07):
hear his letter home. The letters for this week's podcast
were written by Tech Sergeant William C. Beatle, US Army
Air Corps. William Clyde Beadle was born July fifth, nineteen
(01:35):
twenty one, in Iowa. He was the oldest of three
sons born to William and Ethel Beetle. The family was
recorded in Monroe, Iowa, on the nineteen twenty five census
and on the nineteen thirty census. We find Ethel Beadle
and her three sons are now living in Orange, California,
living with her father, Charles Lane. At this time, William
(02:00):
is eight years old and Charles Lane. His grandfather is
a clerk at a vegetable store, and William's mom, Ethel,
is employed as a bookkeeper for a furniture store. In
nineteen thirty six, William's mom passed away. The Register reported
the sad news on August twenty fifth, nineteen thirty six.
(02:23):
Edith Beadle, forty four, passed away last night following a
brief illness. She moved to Anaheim seven years ago from Iowa.
On the nineteen forty census, William and his two brothers
are recorded as living with their dad in Los Angeles.
Their dad is married again and he's working as a
(02:45):
nursery man for a retail nursery. William is now eighteen
years old and working as a carpenter for the Civilian
Conservation Corps doing bridge construction. His brother, Robert, is seventeen
and he's also working for the Civilian Conservation Corps as
a forester. The Civilian Conservation Corps was part of President
(03:09):
Roosevelt's New Deal program that employed young men to work
on natural resource projects in national, state and state parks.
I believe that William joined the service shortly after the
nineteen forty census. There is no draft registration card that
I can find, But as we've talked about before, there's
(03:31):
some things you can find out from his military serial number,
which is noted on all military return addresses. William's number
was one nine zero sixty six zero three five, and
the one denotes that he enlisted voluntarily, and the second number,
which is nine, denotes that he enlisted in California. The
(03:55):
next clue, of course, is also from the return address,
which always give gives me his unit, which gives me
his military branch. From all of this, I found that
Tech Sergeant William C. Beetle in the five hundred and
sixtieth Signal Aircraft Warning Corps. To be qualified for this work,
(04:17):
soldiers would undergo intensive training in radar operation, plotting, communications,
and aircraft recognition. Training centers were dedicated Signal Core training centers.
They offered practical experience so that the trainees could apply
their new skills in real life scenarios. Being a radar operator,
(04:41):
in general, was a dangerous job. Communications, well, that's a
prime target in war because without it there's no way
to communicate to the troops in the battlefield or pilots
in the sky, and also no mechanisms for warnings of
incoming attack. The five hundred and sixtieth Signal Air Warning
(05:03):
Cord arrived in Algeria in November of nineteen forty two.
One of the pieces of equipment they arrived with was
four SCR two seventies, which was a long distance early
warning radar system, which was the primary radar that was
used in all war theaters in World War Two. The
(05:25):
SCR two seventy was a mobile unit and was developed
and manufactured for the military by Westinghouse. It needed four
trucks to move it around, one carrying the radio, one
carrying the generator, another towing the large antenna, and the
fourth with other components needed for operation. The entire SCR
(05:49):
two seventy weighed about fifty tons and once set up,
the antenna was over thirty feet tall and had a
range of about one hundred and fifty miles. The five
hundred and sixtieth Signal Air Warning was in the area
of Italy in April of nineteen forty four. The first
(06:11):
letter I have was dated April of nineteen forty four
with an APO box of six five zero, which would
have put Tech Sergeant Beetle on the island of Corsica.
Corsica is located in the Mediterranean Sea, positioned to the
southeast of France and west of Italy, and it's one
of the most mountainous in the Mediterranean. It's also a
(06:35):
territory of France, and in nineteen forty when France fell
to the Germans, Corsica became a part of the Axis Power,
and in nineteen forty two Italy moved in and occupied
the island. Corsica was not giving up that easily, though,
and through nineteen forty two the French resistance was very
(06:56):
active against the Italians and the Germans. In September or
October of nineteen forty three, Corsica was liberated and by
nineteen forty four became an Allied air based island. On
April eighteenth, nineteen forty four, Tech Sergeant Beadle wrote home
(07:19):
to the sister of a friend in his unit, to
Miss Mellie Anderson Kenville, New Jersey. My dear Mellie, do
you mind me calling you Melly on such short notice?
Your brother speaks of you so often, I feel I
should know you. He bunks under me. You know your
(07:42):
letter came as quite a surprise. Why did you write?
I did have a girlfriend once, but you know how
it is. When the cat's away, the mice will play.
Do I approve of women smoking and drinking? Gosh, I
don't know, never gave it much thought. I always let
people do as they please, so long as they don't
(08:03):
harm me. I will say, a drunken woman isn't very nice.
I'm from the state of Oranges and movie actors. I
lived and worked in Sequoia, in Sequoia Forest National. It's
a wonderful place with high mountains and big trees. Your
brother is behaving very well. He claims to be taking
(08:26):
care of me. As you can see, I'm rather poor
at letter composition. If you would like any information of
any kind, just say the word and I'll do my best.
Andy said you like classical music? Is that? So? This
is the end. Now almost out of space. I'll be
expecting a reply soon. Don't fail me, will you? Sincerely? Bill.
(08:54):
The next time Tech Sergeant Beatle wrote to miss Anderson
was on November sixteenth, nineteen forty four. We find that
now he's moved to Company B of the five hundred
and sixty second Signal Air Warning, but he's still on Corsica.
My dear Mellie. The cookies were delicious. It was wonderful
(09:16):
of you to send them. When I say thank you
very much, I mean it from the bottom of my heart.
How have you been well and happy? I hope done
anything interesting lately. I guess your brother has told you
all about the little flood we had in camp, so
I won't try to. From the looks of things, I
(09:37):
would say our stove was about to go on a
rampage and explode. Your brother got another tin of cookies
in the mail tonight. Until I hear from you again,
Sincerely Bill. In September of nineteen forty five, there's another
short note, just letting Mellie know that he was returning home,
(10:00):
and he gave her his home address in California. In
nineteen forty seven, William Beadle married Sarah Isaacs of Ohio,
and on the nineteen fifty census I find them back
in California, where William is now employed as a civil
servant at Murich Air Force Base which is now known
(10:23):
as Edwards Air Force Base, and he's working as a
radar technician. And at this time we also find that
the couple now had a two year old son. Muick
Air Force Base was where Captain Chuck Yeager broke the
sound barrier in the belex Ie aircraft in October of
(10:44):
nineteen forty seven. Mister Beadle's grandson told me that his
grandfather worked on the telecommunications of the belex one. He
also shared that he worked for NACA, the National Advisory
Committee for Aeronautics otherwise known as NAKA, which was the
(11:04):
precursor to NASA. NACO was born was formed on March third,
nineteen fifteen, with a charter to supervise and direct the
scientific study of the problems of flight with a view
to their practical solution. The organization was on the cutting
edge of technology in the early decades of flight before
(11:29):
eventually being absorbed by NASA in nineteen fifty eight. In
nineteen sixty two, I find the family is now in
Los Gatos, California, where William was employed as a research engineer.
Mister Beadles's grandson told me that his grandfather was a
(11:50):
very reserved man and he didn't speak much about his
past except for brief stories here and there. He only
mentioned being in Europe and Italy briefly. In stories He
loved radios and tankering with them. His house used to
be a little station with a large antenna sticking out
from it, and his office was full of different types
(12:14):
of radios and tools. On March thirtieth, two thousand and six,
William Clyde Beadle passed away in Santa Clara, California. I
couldn't find his obituary, but I do know that he's
buried in San Jose, California. The introduction of radar in
(12:37):
World War II was critical to the Allied success. The
US Navy first began using it aboard ship in nineteen
forty and the US Army had its first LAMB based
radar system in nineteen forty one. The men that operated
and repaired this cutting edge equipment, while they were trailblazers
in military communications, Beadle was also part of a very
(13:02):
elite group back in those days, the visionaries. Today, we
have new technology entering our lives every day. The heck,
we walk around with a mini computer in our pocket now.
But back in nineteen forty seven, we hadn't been to
the moon yet, and it wasn't until nineteen fifty five
when the US could say that television was in fifty
(13:25):
percent of American homes. Mister Beadle and his contemporaries, they
were visionaries. They were imagining and doing and creating things
that at that time had only been seen in sci
fi movies, in a way of life that most people
thought could never possibly be. They were the greatest generation.
(13:56):
Thank you for joining me to hear the story of
William Clyde Beetle. The original letters written by mister Beadle
were obtained by me through an auction site, and I
am so happy that I was able to find his grandson, William,
and I'll be visiting a post office today to send
these letters off Tech Sergeant William Clyde Beadle. Thank you
(14:22):
for your service, sir, and your letters are going home
to your grandson. Warren Family Letters Home is self funded
and we will never ask a family for any compensation
to receive these letters home. If you would like to
(14:43):
contribute to my mission of returning history to families, please
contact me. You can find me on Facebook at Warren
Family Letters homepage, and I can be reached via email
at Warren Family at outlook dot com. All details in
(15:07):
this podcast were discovered by research done by me using
public military genealogy and newspaper search sites, and some wonderful
insight from mister Beetle's grandson. Please support our military, whether
active or veteran status. These men and women are sacrificing
(15:29):
every day to serve this great country, whether in war
or peacetime. Until next week, this is Lauren Muse and
you have been listening to Warren family letters home, the
(16:00):
PA told the GA
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