GRAND CANYON CHAPTER

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  Bob Akenhead and Ben Amodei       Carl Baker and Bill Bingaman       Al Burke and Tom Chukas 
Jim Duke and  Chuck Hilton
              Al Fenn and Bob Gerdon              Bob Kepler and Ken Neary     Marvin Puryear and Paul Weber 
Don O'Neill     Herb Levinson and  Jim Keller

July 1942
Parris Island

 Here is Ben with his wife, Alma, at a Grand Canyon Chapter
 luncheon.Originally from Philadelphia, Ben married, had 8
children, drove a semi for 25 years before becoming a AAA
 Insurance agent. He worked in New York, Wichita, KS,
 and back to Philadelphia, before he retired to Florida.
 Then he moved to Arizona in 2002 to settle down.
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 Bill is pictured here with his wife, Helen, whom he married in 1945
 upon discharge from the corps. He served as a Japanese interpreter
 and came back to finish college at the College of Wooster in Ohio
 and the McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago. He was a
 Presbyterian minister for 40 years before calling Arizona home in 1980


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Al Burke, shown here with his wife Maggie, is originally from Ohio
but came to Arizona in 1949 and was a real estate broker for many years.

and his wife, Betty, are originally from Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
 He was the Advertising Director for The Cedar Rapids Gazette
for 42 years before he and Betty moved to Arizona in 1988
after retirement.
Tom has a son in Nashville, TN and 2 grandchildren.

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Jim Duke is shown here with his wife, Helen. They came to Arizona in 1947 from Shenandoah, Iowa. He was in the electric sign business until retirement in 1978.        
 
 

             

  Chuck Hilton  Hq./2/23

Chuck is pictured here with his wife of 49 years, Diane.
Wounded on Iwo, he spent 10 months in hospitals. He was discharged in New York in 1946 at the ripe age of 17. (He enlisted when he was 15.) Went to Washington, D.C., then to Los Angeles where he worked for North American which morphed to Rockwell International and finally to Boeing Aircraft. He retired in 1984 and he and Diane settled in Wickenburg, AZ in 1994. 

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Al Fenn of the 3rd Division came in on Iwo Jima on the 3rd day and was attached to the 4th Division until the rest of the 3rd Division came ashore.  Here he is at a Chapter 33 luncheon displaying a Japanese flag he found on Iwo.
 

             

Bob and his wife, Marge spend their summers in Alaska where he
 used to own an auto parts store. Will be back this fall and we will
 update this bio sketch.       

Bob Kepler came to Arizona with his wife, Kathryn,
from Detroit, MI, in 1959.They are shown here on theier 58th
wedding anniversary. He was in the construction
business building commercial and custom homes for 60 years.
He has a home in Puerta Penasco,  (Rocky Point), Mexico.
The marine pic was made on LST 512 where he was
on duty after making all the 4th's operations. On a tour to Iwo
Jima in 2003, Bob found the pill box where he spent the night
of Feb. 19, 1945, after being hit during he landing.
 

Ken Neary is shown here with his wife, Betty. He served for 20 years with the NYC PD retiring as a 1st Grade detective. Following that he went to California and was an E.F.Hutton stockbroker for 13 years before coming home to Arizona.
 

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 Paul is shown here on his patio in Sun City, Arizona. He came to Arizona
 in 1985 after 36 years of fire fighting in Detroit, MI.
 

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Don was born in Denver, Co. and enlisted in the Marines at age 17.  His boot camp platoon included recruit Tyrone Power. After discharge in 1945 he went to the University of Portland, class of 1949.
He then became a fire truck dealer. First fire truck he sold was for $16,000.00. The last one was $750,000.00. That's inflation.

 

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Here Herb is pictured with his daughter and wife, Lisa and
Dorothy. Born in Chicago, he enlisted in 1943 and was with
4th Division through all 4 Pacific invasions. He and Dorothy
operated a Womens Fashion Store for 33 years and he then
went into auto leasing and sales. They moved to Sedona,
Arizona, in 1999.

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Jim is shown here with Ginnie. After entering the Marine Corps
in Oklahoma City, he worked in the newspaper business, switched
to life insurance for a while, then became a FHA-VA real estate
appraiser. These jobs took him from Oklahoma to Colorado to
Georgia before settling in Arizona in 1964. He enjoys traveling in
a 40 ft. diesel motor home.

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