Alum John Dorfler served his country in WWII

• The following is part of an ongoing series of articles in celebration of Libertyville High School's 100th anniversary.

John Dorfler was a lifelong Mundelein resident and a 1935 Libertyville Township High School graduate. Like many LTHS grads from the 1930s and early 1940s, he played a key role in defending our country in World War II.

While at LTHS, John was a member of Coach Jack Martin's basketball team. The team won the 1934 Conference title in his junior year and finished second during his senior year. John was also a Spanish club member.

Following high school graduation, with money very tight during the Great Depression, John took a job at Bill Fredrick's gas station at Route 60 and 83 in Ivanhoe. He was in his sixth year at the station when he was drafted into the army in 1941, at first as a private in the engineers.

Although John didn't have any particular ambitions of flying, he found out from an army friend that if he became a pilot, he could increase his monthly pay by $6. So he took and passed the Flight Training Test (his friend failed). He received his pilot wings and was commissioned at the Lubbock, Texas, air base on June 26, 1943.

John became a pilot in a B-24 Liberator Bomber of the 22nd bomb group in the South Pacific, participating in the first daylight bombings on Japanese targets in the Philippines.

According to his younger brother Jim, who was instrumental in this story, John did his part by participating in 40 bombing missions in Japanese Territory during World War II, as well as 12 other missions transporting personnel.

By the time his military service was done, John received many honors, including an Air Medal, The American Defense Ribbon, The Good Conduct Ribbon, the Asiatic-Pacific Theatre of Operations ribbon, and one star for the New Guinea campaign.

Upon leaving the military in 1945, John used the G.I. Bill to attend trade school with plans of becoming a carpenter. Once out of trade school John began a lifelong career as a construction contractor, building many homes in Mundelein and throughout Lake County. He passed away in 2006 at the age of 88.