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Ervin H. Joseph Sergeant, Left Waist Gunner 4/27/1922 - 6/30/2004
Ervin was born and raised on a farm near Swanville, Minnesota. He attended Little Falls High School after completing the 8th grade in a country school. He graduated from high school in 1941. About that time there were many ads by various technical schools promoting training for jobs in the aircraft factories on the west coast. Ervin enrolled in one and after passing the exams, he and two other buddies went to California to go to work. They got hired by Northrup working on the final assembly line building Corsairs. After two years, they were getting homesick for their friends and family in Minnesota so they headed back home. After a visit home Ervin came back to California working with North American on the assembly line. Then his draft number was called. He was inducted into the service at San Pedro, California. Basic training started at Fresno, CA then on to Boulder, CO, and finally Texas before being assigned to the 8th Air Force stationed in England. After his discharge from the service, he drove home from a base in Texas to Minnesota. It really felt great to see friends and relatives again. Even strangers were kind. Everyone really respected servicemen. He recalled a bar owner in his home town who gave every returning serviceman a free case of beer that came in wearing his uniform. Including him! After being liberated and enjoying civilian life again he enrolled into a technical school in Minneapolis under the G.I. bill taking a course in auto mechanics. After approximately 16 months at school, he was able to get a job at the Ford dealership in his hometown. He initially worked in the parts department but eventually worked his way into the shop to work on the cars. About this time, he started dating a local girl by the name of Margaret. She worked at a local hotel while they dated. They were married on October 7, 1947. Margaret got a job closer to Ervin’s after they were married at hotel dining room in Little Falls. For a short time they lived with her parents in the country while they waited for a new house to be completed for them. Minnesota had very cold winters. After ten years they decided to rent out their house and try living in California for the winter. They were not acquainted with many new people and were feeling a bit lost without their family and friends so they returned to Minnesota in the spring. Both were able to find jobs quickly. When winter came again they decided California was a good place to live after all and returned. By 1957 they sold their Minnesota home and made California their permanent home. Margaret worked at Thrifty Drug store (now Rite-Aid) for 40 years and Ervin worked as a Fleet Mechanic at a bakery in Santa Monica for 22 years. The couple moved to San Luis Obispo in 1984 upon semi retirement. They had no children so they were able to enjoy each others company and hobbies. Their favorite vacation spot was Kauai, Hawaii which they went to every year. Ervin later moved to a quiet community in Santa Ynez, California which quickly became noisy due to a new Indian Casino operating nearby. Unhappy with this situation he decided to move to Hawaii where he had friends. He began making plans to build a home for himself there. Ervin had been actively attending some of the 390th reunions and visited some of the air museums while on vacation in the US. He also had the opportunity through the crew information provided to all members to reunite with some of the men he had met 60 years ago. Lori met Ervin at his home in Santa Ynez. The last time was to bring him his quilt and new information for his binder. Lori made arrangements for a reporter to photograph him with his quilt and write a story for the local newspaper for a Veteran’s Day article. He was very surprised and seemed pleased. His plan was to move to one of the Hawaiian islands called Kauai which he and Margaret visited every summer. The construction was underway and the goal was to be moved in by early Spring of 2004. He traveled back and forth to see the progress of his home and spent the holidays there. Unfortunately in early February he became ill and died on June 30th. He is buried with his beloved wife Margaret at the Minnesota State Veterans Cemetery in Little Falls Minnesota. He is survived by his nephew Ron Schmidt of Minnesota. Ervin and Margaret were married on October 7, 1947 in Minnesota. They were married 51 years until her death. They enjoyed their frequent trips to Hawaii as seen in the photo above. |
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