A. Allen Stanger, Robert Hershey, and Herman Zeller

“Allen Stanger was my great-great-uncle, and my father, Scott Zeller, remembers that he had the most amazing bonsai tree collection in their apartment.

Robert Hershey was my great-grandfather’s sister’s son, and he loved playing tricks on my dad at family gatherings.

Herman Zeller was my great-grandfather’s brother, and he was a good storyteller.”

– Aaron B. Zeller, student

Stanger, Hershey and Zeller, remembered by Aaron Zeller

One family’s war heroes included a paratrooper, a naval logistician, and an airstrip builder.

A. Allen Stanger served in the European Theater as a member of the 82nd Airborne Division. He made many parachute jumps behind the enemy lines into occupied territory and helped Resistance Forces provide necessary information for ground troops under the command of General George Patton.

Robert Hershey was stationed at the Great Lakes Naval Station, in North Chicago, Illinois, where he was an instructor in naval logistics. Today, he lives in Brentwood, California.

Herman Zeller served in the Pacific Theater, where he cleared land and built airstrips on captured islands for use by advancing infantry and air force personnel. He was stationed in the Mariana Islands, on Saipan and then Tinian. His outfit eventually reached the Ryukyu Islands, where the airstrips built enabled larger bombers to launch the first raids on the Japanese mainland in 1945.