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| Photos provided by Margaret Ann Wepner. |
Lenord Elliot Hulet never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on June 30, 1919 in Parowan, Utah. His parents Rupert and Sarah were also both born in Utah. His father worked as a dairy farmer. Elliot had two older sisters, two older brothers, two younger sister, and two younger brothers. By 1940 Elliot had completed two years of college and was helping out on the family farm and also found work as a carpenter. He attended one further year of college before joining the service.
Five of the Hulet brothers served in the military during World War 2.
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| Photos from newspaper provided by Margaret Ann Wepner. |
Elliot enlisted in the army on October 22, 1941 and volunteered for the Army Air Forces. He became a first lieutenant and completed glider pilot training by the end of 1942. He was assigned to the 99th Troop Carrier Squadron, 441st Troop Carrier Group and was sent to England in March 1944.
Lt. Hulet flew glider missions in all of the airborne operations of 1944 and 1945. First it was a glider landing in Normandy on the evening of D-Day near St. Mere Eglise. The slow moving American gliders suffered more than 20 percent casualties from German ground fire, but Lt. Hulet managed to land safely. Next he participated in a South France landing for Operation Dragoon in August 1944. That was an easy flight compared to the one next month in Holland for Operation Market Garden, but again he landed this glider successfully. In November he was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant.
The Allied High Command planned one more airdrop with glider participation called Operation Varsity - two airborne divisions would land on the east side of the Rhine to help support the British and Canadian river crossing. Lt. Hulet was told he would be staying put for this mission. Nevertheless, in the weeks leading up to Operaton Varsity, Lt. Hulet had shared a concern that he would not make it home alive.
The night before the mission, one of the assigned glider pilots begged off. A volunteer was needed to take his place and Lt. Hulet took over for his glider. The next afternoon, March 24, 1945, Lt. Hulet was mortally wounded by flak and small arms fire while piloting his glider. The planners assigned two gliders per tow plane, slowing them down even more than normal. The Germans had an easy time firing at the slow moving gliders in broad daylight. Nearly 80% of the 416 gliders that landed were hit. Between 20-30% of the glider pilots became casualties. Despite his grievous wounds, Lt. Hulet successfully landed his glider 4 1/2 miles northwest of Wiesel, Germany, before expiring. Everyone else onboard landed without injury.
Lt. Hulet was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, two Air Medals, two Oak Leaf Clusters, and, of course, the Purple Heart.
His grave is at Parowan City Cemetery in Parowan, Utah.
Lt. Hulet's story is also told at https://www.fold3.com/page/91163312-lenord-e-hulet/stories. It is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project, Utah pilot.
The information for this profile was provided by Margaret Ann Weppner. Margaret's mother Margaret Stephensen was engaged to Elliot Hulet and was a friend of his sisters and mother. She shared her recollections of Elliot with her children on the anniversary of Elliot's death. A big thanks to Margaret Ann for making this hero's story available for more people to see.
Last year on this date I profiled John Untersherer, 741st Tank Battalion, who fought in the Battle of the Bulge. You can read about John here.
ED YOST
Another American who served his country in WW2 was also born on June 30, 1919. Ed Yost was born in Iowa. After graduating form the Boeing School of Aeronautics the US Army assigned him to its Balloon Technology Division. He worked on a project to drop propaganda leaflets from high altitudes.
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| http://www.sdpb.org/blogs/images-of-the-past/sioux-falls-and-the-birth-of-the-modern-hot-air-balloon/ |
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
thanks for your story... of Lt. Hulet, my Uncle.
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