Hundreds of local area veterans served our country during WWII. Here are some of their stories.

There have been hundreds of local area veterans who served our country during World War II. Profiled today are some, but not all, of those Helenans who answered the call of duty.

Robert Miller,

Steve Petek and

Jim Petek

On May 4, 1942, off the coast of New Guinea, for the first time in history, aircraft carriers of warring nations opposed each other in naval conflict, in the Battle of the Coral Sea. Although there was no clear winner in the action, the Japanese were considered to have gotten the best of it, having sunk the carrier U.S.S. Lexington.

There were at least two area men, Robert Miller and Steve Petek, aboard the Lexington during the battle. Miller, a first-class seaman and third-class torpedo man, was the brother of Mrs. Evelyn Nelson. The late Steve Petek (1923-1976), a fireman second class, was from East Helena. His surviving siblings include Garnet Dietrich, Marie Moore and Jim Petek, while sister Ellen East recently passed away.

Miller and Petek were back in Helena on leave the following month. In an interview with the Helena Daily Independent on June 18, 1942, Miller said he was in the torpedo workroom in the hangar deck while the battle was raging. "When the first Japanese torpedo hit, he said the force of the blow lifted him off the deck," the Independent reported. "After another torpedo and bombs struck the giant ship, flames broke out on the carrier."

The paper went on to say that when the order to abandon ship was given, Miller lowered himself halfway down to the water by rope, and then jumped the last 20-feet into the Pacific. "He said he swam for a while and then was picked up by a motor boat and taken to a destroyer. The Lexington soon blew up, but did not sink for about five hours."

Garnet Dietrich and Marie Moore said that their brother Steve was forced to leave behind his prized mandolin when he went overboard.

After his furlough in East Helena in June of 1942, Steve was assigned to the USS Monticello, on which he served out the remainder of the war in the Pacific. During the Korean War, he re-enlisted and served in combat with the Air Force.

Steve's brother, Jim Petek, also served in the Navy during WWII, on the USS Florence Nightingale (LCVP), an amphibious transport. Jim served in the European and Pacific Theaters, being involved with the invasions of both Southern France and Okinawa.

At war's end, Jim returned to Montana, where his employment consisted of working in the timber industry in Lincoln until 1954; for Clover Leaf Dairy from 1954-62; operating Frank's Place in East Helena from 1962-82; and then working for ASARCO until his retirement. Jim, 82, and the late Bessie Petek, parented two daughters, Linda and Sherry (both deceased), and a son, Dennis.

Ed Kitts

Sixty-five years ago next month, Admiral Chester Nimitz uttered his immortal words, "Scratch four flat-tops," after the American triumph at the Battle of Midway. The U.S. Navy had encountered the Japanese for four brutal days from June 4-7, 1942, near the Midway Atoll. The victory has been called the turning point of the war in the Pacific.

The Imperial Navy lost four large aircraft carriers, a heavy cruiser, and 200 naval aviators. The United States lost one carrier and a destroyer.

One of the carriers involved in the battle was the U.S.S. Enterprise. And one of the servicemen on board the flat-top was 19-year-old seaman Ed Kitts, from Montana. Kitts was born in Great Falls in 1923, and graduated from Polson High School. He enlisted in the service in June of 1941. After graduating aviation tech school in Seattle, he was stationed in San Diego. Four days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Kitts was transferred to the Enterprise in Hawaii. Kitts' job with air intelligence during operations at sea included sending signals to the planes telling where the "bogeys" were.

One of the Enterprise's first missions was escorting the Hornet on the Doolittle Raid. Kitts was injured in the Pacific Theater, when a Japanese bomb exploded through the flight deck, knocking him up against the bulkhead. The shrapnel literally shredded his pants leg. He was transported to a naval hospital in Hawaii, and then sent to an Oakland hospital, where he was later discharged.

The Enterprise went on to participate in 18 battles in the Pacific, downing 192 enemy planes and sinking 71 ships.

Kitts' post-war occupations included welding, working for the post office and selling real estate. After attending aeronautics school in Helena, he served with the Civil Air Patrol for 19 years. He was the commander of the composite squadron, working with the finance and personnel officers.

George Anderson

George Anderson, a carpenter's mate second class with the Seabees, was stationed on the Eastern Island of Midway from 1943-45. George arrived after the Battle of Midway, but his brother, Phillip Anderson, was there as a civilian carpenter during the battle.

The Midway Atoll is composed of two islands -- Sand Island and Eastern Island. Sand Island, the larger of the two, covers 1,200 acres. Eastern Island is but 350 acres, and only 10-feet above sea level. The islands are home to hundreds of thousands of sea birds.

The Midway Islands were the closest U.S. submarine base to Japan, located about one-third of the way between Honolulu and Tokyo. A Japanese victory there would have allowed the Imperial forces to expand their defensive operations. But the U.S. Navy prevailed, delivering a crippling blow to the enemy.

George Anderson was born and raised in Geyser. He graduated high school at Thompson Falls, although his diploma had to be mailed to Midway. Anderson enlisted in the Seabees and took his training at Fort Perry, Norfolk, Va. Part of his Ranger training program was in gunnery school, where he learned to man the 20mm guns. Anderson was assigned to the 531 maintenance outfit on Midway, attached to the 6th division of the Marine Corps.

On Midway, Anderson worked as a carpenter on the airplane hangars.

Anderson, 82, returned to Montana after the war, where he operated a ranch near Lincoln most of his life. He retired to the Masonic Home in the Helena Valley last year.

Curt Synness, a Navy veteran, can be contacted at 227-3382; or e-mail him at curt52s@hotmail.com.