Published February 14, 2026
By Phil Reyburn
It’s not often that a general writes a parent about a son, but that is what happened. Lena Wolverton received a letter from Lt. General George C. Kenney, commander of the Fifth Air Force, which she shared with the Herald Whig.
“Dear Mrs. Wolverton,
Recently your son, Staff Sgt. Marvin B. Wolverton, was decorated with the air medal. It was an award made in recognition of courageous service to his combat organization, his fellow American airmen, his country, his home and to you. He was cited for meritorious achievement while participating in an aerial flight over the Dampier Straits near the coast of New Guinea. He was a member of a B-17 type aircraft in a formation engaged in an attack on an enemy convoy headed for Lae. In the face of heavy anti-aircraft fire and numerous attacks by enemy fighters, this crew made a bombing run on a cargo ship. Two direct hits and two near misses were scored. The enemy vessel was later reported sinking.
Almost every hour of every day, your son and the sons of other American mothers, are doing just such things as that here in the Southwest Pacific. Theirs is a very real and very tangible contribution to victory and peace. I would like to tell you how genuinely proud I am to have had men such as your son in my command, and how gratified I am to know that young Americans with such courage and resourcefulness are fighting our country’s battle against the aggressor nations.
You, Mrs. Wolverton, have every reason to share that pride and gratification.
Very sincerely,
George C. Kenney, Lieutenant General Commanding”
On returning to the United States S/Sgt Wolverton was assigned as a gunnery instructor where he could have finished the war; but for reasons known only to him, he chose to return to combat in the air war over Europe.
He arrived in England on May 2, 1944, and saw action soon after his arrival. No more belly turret where it was difficult to exit. This time he was one of the waist gunners. It would be easier to bail out if need be.
Mrs. Lena Wolverton notified the August 10, 1944 Herald Whig that Staff Sergeant Marvin B. Wolverton had “been awarded a second Oak Leaf cluster to his Air Medal for courage, coolness and skill displayed while participating in several bombing attacks upon German military and industrial targets in support of the invasion.”
By October 1944, Marvin had finished 34 of the required 35 missions needed to complete his tour of duty and be home for Christmas. A man with S/Sgt Wolverton’s experience could have asked and more-than-likely received a low risk or a “milk run” for his final mission. S/Sgt Wolverton and LT. Roy Slaper (bombardier), a crewmate from the War Horse, however, volunteered for an October 6, 1944, mission, which turned out to be “the Spandau tank factory in Berlin.” They filled in for two of the Texas Bluebonnet’s crew who were not flying that day.
“About 30 miles west of the Nazi capital, the formation was attacked by [Luftwaffe] fighters and . . .” the Texas Bluebonnet “was hit and went into a spin. Shortly afterward it was seen to blow up….” The only survivor was S/Sgt Wolverton, who either jumped before the explosion or was blown from the plane.
On speaking with Wolverton after his return home, the June 28, 1945 Herald Whig wrote that T/Sgt Wolverton had been hit in the face, leg, and foot by shell fragments from Luftwaffe fighters firing on his parachute as he floated down. A shell fragment was taken from his foot in a British military hospital following his liberation.
The Herald Whig reported on October 26, 1944, that according to word received by his mother, “Staff Sgt. Marvin (Pee Wee) Wolverton . . . is reported as missing in action over Germany since October 6….” The reporter added that S/Sgt Wolverton was “sent to the European theater of war last spring, arriving in England on May 2.” The War Department notified Lena Wolverton on January 4, 1945, that “information was secured through the International Red Cross” that S/Sgt Wolverton was “prisoner of the German government.”
On February 8, 1945, Mrs. Wolverton notified the Herald Whig that she had received a letter from her so, Marvin, dated October 21, 1944, saying that he was well and in Stalag Luft No. 3.
S/Sgt Wolverton’s fighting part of the war was over. The ordeal of survival was beginning. “He described his treatment by the Germans,” to the Herald Whig, “as anything but pleasant.”
He explained that “’with other allied prisoners he was marched and counter marched around northern Germany in winter weather as the Russians closed in.’” English soldiers liberated his prison camp on May 2, 1945, and he was hospitalized in Brussels, Belgium for several weeks. On June 26, 1945, S/Sgt Wolverton was back in Quincy, and home with family and friends.
After the war, Marvin married Margaret Agnes Simons on October 25, 1946, in Kansas City. The couple had five children. He and his brother, Elvin, opened the Wolverton Texaco at Fourth and Jersey and operated it until 1979. For 10 years he worked for the Illinois Veterans Home retiring in 1989. Marvin passed away on October 9, 1998, at age 81.
Phil Reyburn is a retired field representative for the Social Security Administration. He authored Clear the Track: A History of the Eighty-ninth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, The Railroad Regiment; and co-edited “Jottings from Dixie:” The Civil War Dispatches of Sergeant Major Stephen F. Fleharty, U.S.A”.
SOURCES:
Army of the United States Honorable Discharge filed October 15, 1945, at the Adams County, Illinois Recorder’s Office, Book 15, Page 109.
“Boys In The Service.” Quincy Herald Whig, August 10, 1944, 2.
Find a Grave. Marvin Bernard “Pee Wee” Wolverton.
Glines, C. V. “Victory in the Bismarck.” Air Force Magazine, August 1996, 88-93.
“Marvin ‘PeeWee Wolverton.” Quincy Herald Whig, October 9, 1998, p. 23.
“Our Men In Service.” Quincy Herald Whig, May 24, 1943, 10.
“Our Men In Service.” Quincy Herald Whig July 28, 1943, 4.
“Our Men In Service.” Quincy Herald Whig, February 8, 1945, 16.
“Quincyan Liberated.” Quincy Herald Whig, May 24, 1945, 17.
“Sgt. Wolverton, Bombardier Is Awarded Medal.” Quincy Herald Whig. May 18, 1943, 4.
“Sgt. Wolverton is a prisoner of war of the Germans.” Quincy Herald Whig, January 5, 1945, 10.
“Sgt. Wolverton Is Reported Missing In Action Since Oct. 6.” Quincy Herald Whig, October 26, 1944, 16.
“Sgt. Wolverton Tells of Battle for Bismark Sea. Quincy Herald Whig, May 30, 1943, 2.
“Two Quincyans, Free Prisoners of War.” Quincy Herald Whig, June 28, 1945, 16.
