May 2023

Jack Andy Unruh was born March 7th, 1924 in Newton, Kansas. He was the fourth child of Harvey and Ruth Unruh and the only son. His older sisters were Helen, Dorris, and Maurine. They lived in Newton where Harve had a hardware store and later worked for the county. When Jack was a month old, he had whooping cough. There was nothing the doctor could do and sent him home to die. Ruth nursed him back to health and he later attended 12 years of school without missing a singe day. This must be where the Unruhs got their strong constitution. Jack had an adventurous childhood and often told of going down to the railroad tracks and eating with the bums. The bums would catch fish in Sand Creek and cook them in a coffee can. In later years, although Jack was an avid fisherman, he hated eating fish and refused to do so until the day he died. Jack was inducted into the Army in 1943, just 4 days shy of his 20th birthday. He trained at Camp Atterbury in Indiana. He was a member of the 106th Infantry Division at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. He received advanced airborne training and was a test jumper with the 542nd Parachute Infantry Battalion at Camp McCall, North Carolina. This was a lot of traveling for someone who had never been out of Newton, Kansas, or even been in an airplane! A prime example of Jack’s sense of humor can be seen in a photo he had hanging in the basement. The sky is filled with parachutes. Jack wrote the caption, “My 10th jump. I’m the one with the smile”. He was involved in securing Luzon in the Philippines. The 11th Airborne Division was then airlifted to Okinawa. For weeks they stood ready to invade or occupy the enemy’s homeland. This 21 year old paratrooper sergeant was one of the first Americans to set foot in Japan after they surrendered. He said one of the scariest days of his life was when he and his buddy had to march down the hill into a village of Japanese and not know if they were aware the war was over and how they would be received.