| Name | Raynold Thomas Schwetz |
| Birth | Sep 3, 1921, Dunlap, Iowa |
| Death | Jun 14, 1984, Great Lakes Naval Hospital |
| Occupation | U.S. Naval Reserves Ret. and extermination |
| Father | Carl Louis Schwetz |
| Mother | Elsie Auretta Mossberger |
| 1 | Alta Mae Holmes |
| Birth | Jul 9, 1926, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma |
| Father | Elmer Andrew Holmes (1901-1983) |
| Mother | Mary Edith Byford (1907-1999) |
| Marriage | Apr 25, 1943, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma |
| Children: | Judith Ann (1946-) |
| Priscilla Kaye (1951-) | |
| Susan Lynette (1946-) |
Howard Schwarts of 1st An Vol Deck Germany and Wilhelma Kathleen of 1st An Vol Deck Germany, parents of John Jacob Schwarts who changed his name to Schwetz when he came to the U.S. John Jacob Schewetz married Carrie Christina parents of Karl Louie Schwetz (b. 3/17/1898) in Iowa. He married Elsie Auretta Mossberger. They adopted Charles Ray Ettleman and renamed him.
Grandparents of Elsie Mossberger Samuel Thomas Mossberger of Indiana married Mercy and had one son Samuel Thomas Mossberger Jr. (b. 2/7/1853) in Indiana. He died 9/29/1923. Samuel married Sarah Kathern (b. 11/30/1855 d. 9/19/1918) parents of Elsie Auretta Mossberger. Sarah's parents were Daniel Barker and Elizabeth Jane.
Natural parents of Raynold Thomas Schwetz are Elmer Warren Ettleman and Bessie Almeda Butler.
Ray grew up in Nebraska.
He enlisted in the Naval Reserve on Oct 28, 1942 as an apprentice seaman at Navy Recruiting station, Omaha, Neb. Took his basic training at Great Lakes Naval Training station at Great Lakes, Ill. Completed aviation mechinists mate school on May 22, 1943 at Naval Air Technical Training Center in Norman, Oklahoma.
The following is taken from the diary of Ray as obtained from my sister Alta.
April 25, 1943 Got hitched today
May 22 Graduated from Mech school at Norman, Okla.
May 25 Arrived at Purcell, Oklahoma
July 25 Went aboard ship (an L.S.T.)
July 26 Left the United States
July 27 Seasick
July 29 Still Seasick
July 31 Feel tops
Aug 8 No land, went to church service aboard shilp
Aug 9 No land, saw two sea gulls, weather very rough
Aug 10 No land, storm very bad, Got sick right after dinner.
Aug 11 No land, sea stormy, Still sick (lead poisoning)
Aug 13 Passed through Straits of Gibralter last night. Now in the
Mediterranean Sea. Moving slow because of mines.
Aug 14 Arrived in Oran, Africa. Went to camp in an almond orchard.
Aug 15 Left Oran Sunday by train.
Aug 16 Rode in cattle cars. Train stopped and we swiped grapes. Got
cold and could hardly sleep.
Aug 17 Rode all day on cattle car. boy was it hot! Dysentary from
grapes. (everybody sick)
Aug 18 Arrived at Port Lauty and assigned to tents. Saw two fighter
planes run into each other, two killed. Put on permanent guard
duty, 4 hours on, 8 hours off.
Apr 9 1944 Still in Agadir
May 31 Gibralter
Jun 26 North Africa. One year overseas today
Jun 29 Left Gibralter at 9:00 at night
Jun 30 Landed in England at 7:00 in the Morning. Sweated out landing
in the fog.
Sept 11 Liberty at London
Sept 17 Liberty at Bristol, England
Sept 21 Liberty at Weston Supre Mare
Oct 17 Went to Wales to spend the day
Oct 27 England, Liberty at Exeter
Dec 27 Liberty at Chard, on the motorcycle
Dec 30 I took a rough spill on my motorcycle. Liberty at Illminister,
England.
Feb 22 1945 Azores, I watched a mosquito bomber try to take off, three
men killed.
As told to me by Ray, he was also used as a tail gunner during the war. During one parachute jump he caught his wedding band on a door hook and was wind whipped until freed. He said that he almost lost is finger.
On June 15, 1949, Ray was in the crash of a P2V on take off from Dallas Naval Air Station. No one was seriously hurt.
Last stationed at Loveland Field near Dallas, Texas. Ran an extermination business on the side while in the Naval Reserve. Started his own extermination business near Chicago, Ill. Retired in October of 1966.
