Wheaton World War II vet takes Honor Flight for himself and his fallen brother

Ask Earle Courter of Wheaton about his military service during World War II, and he's quick to point out that his brother, Ed, made the ultimate sacrifice.

“The real hero in my family was my brother,” Courter said. “He was a second lieutenant in the Army Air Corps, and died as a result of a plane crash at Fort Riley, Kansas. He was a navigator. He had got out of the plane he had a broken leg — went back into the plane to save the pilot who was already dead. The plane caught on fire. He got burned over 90 percent of his body. He lived for a week.”

Ed Courter died Feb. 4, 1945. The next day, Earle's 18th birthday, Earle was drafted into the Army. He was allowed to finish high school before reporting for duty.

“I was being trained for jungle warfare in the South Pacific. During my infantry basic training, they dropped the atomic bomb on Japan and there was no longer a need for jungle warfare in the South Pacific.”

Courter was sent to Italy, where he learned an important lesson in how the Army operates.

“They very scientifically said, ‘A through H, you're in the medical corps,'” he recalled. “I had absolutely no basic training on being a medic, but I wound up at a replacement depot where I was giving shots to the returning veterans. You had to have your shots up to date before you could leave the country, and I've jokingly told people that I probably shot more people than a lot of infantry. But everybody I shot walked away and said ‘thank you.' There were times that people came through that insisted they didn't need the shots, but I would tell them they had to have them or they weren't going back to the States.”

Upon his return to the States, Courter got another surprise assignment.

“They put me in charge of a military police platoon,” he said. “I was teaching raw recruits how to be military policemen. I'd never had any training in it myself. I sort of stayed ahead of them by reading the book at night.

“I had to do some patrolling with the men and I was handed a .45 (pistol). I said, ‘How to you load it and how to you put the safety on?' The supply sergeant said, ‘Wait a minute, Sergeant, according to your records, you're an expert marksman with a .45.' Well, according to my records, I was made an expert marksman with an GI pencil. I had never seen a .45 in my life.”

Courter, a Wheaton resident for 40 years, is now 83. In October, he joined other service veterans most of them from World War II in visiting the National World War II Memorial as guests of Honor Flight Chicago. The all-volunteer organization's mission is to fly as many local veterans as possible to see the memorial built in their honor, at no charge to the veteran. Each veteran is accompanied by a “guardian” usually a family member who pays his or her own way.

“When I made that Honor Flight, I told several people I was making it for two people,” Courter said, “for my brother, and for me. I wish my brother could be there, too. There are a lot of boys who probably deserved to be there more than I did. It is a beautiful monument, and a lot of (men and women) my age are represented by those pillars.”

On the return flight to Chicago, Courter was presented with cards and letters with messages of support and gratitude from relatives and from people he doesn't even know. One letter, from his 7-year-old great-granddaughter, somehow escaped parental proofreading.

“It said, ‘Thank you for fighting our country.' Apparently, there was a word left out. I was really needled about it by the other men on the plane, saying, ‘Hey, weren't you on our side?' I broke out laughing,” Courter said.

Courter was impressed with the military precision of the trip.

“Honor Flight is so well-organized that it's hard to believe that they are all volunteers,” he said. “You walked in and from there on they took over and there was never any doubt about what you were doing or where you were supposed to be. They do a marvelous job.”

Courter admits that he “wiped away a few tears” during his trip. Now, nearly 65 years after his discharge from the Army, he is still using the powers of persuasion that worked so well for him dispensing shots back in Italy.

“I've told several people about the flight,” he said. “Talked at least one that I know of into going, tried to talk several more into going because it's well worth doing. I would highly recommend it to any veteran of World War II that had not taken it. That's the important thing, that there are still people who care.”

There is a waiting list of more than 1,500 Chicago-area veterans who have signed up, hoping to someday make the trip to Washington. Their average age is estimated to be 87 years old. Honor Flight Chicago is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. For information, visit honorflightchicago.org. Tax-deductible contributions can be made online or sent to Honor Flight Chicago, 938 W. Montana, Chicago, IL, 60614.