Paul A. Scheetz, Pvt., U. S. Army Quartermaster Corps - 37540388
Paul Albert Scheetz was born on April 3, 1925 in Hanover, a small farming community in north central Kansas. He was the firstborn to Aloysius B. and Cecilia A. Scheetz, who like most citizens of this rural community, were of German descent. They were to become parents of five more children: JoAnne, Charlene, Charles, James, and Thomas.
Paul attended Hanover Rural High School with an aptitude for auto mechanics and carpentry. While in high school Paul worked summers and weekends as a mechanic at the Bohning Garage in Hanover.
On his 18th birthday, April 3, 1925, Paul registered for the draft. He graduated from high school a month later in May, and in September, Paul was inducted into the army at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. While at Leavenworth, Paul was designated a mechanic with a ground crew for the Army Air Corps. He soon got orders to report to Camp Barkeley (near present day Dyess Air Force Base) in Texas for six weeks of basic training and eight weeks of mechanics school. He was assigned to Company B, 51st Medical Training Battalion.
In April of 1944 Paul was transferred overseas to India to serve in the Quartermaster Corps and assigned to aiding in flying supplies to the front line troops in the Himalayan Mountains of Burma. Crews termed it "Flying the Hump," a particularly hazardous mission flying food, clothing, mail, medical supplies and war material which was dropped by parachute to forward elements of the U. S., Indian, British, and Chinese armies fighting the Japanese for control of Southeast Asia.
Paul had flown 40 missions as a "dropper" over Burma when on August 29, 1944 he wrote to his parents that he and his crewmates had finished loading their plane and were ready to take off for another trip to Burma. That was the last letter his parents received from him.
On September 18th Aloysius Scheetz received a Western Union telegram:
The Secretary of War desires us to express his deep regret that your son Private, Paul A. Scheetz, has been reported missing in action since September 1, in Burma. If further details or other information are received, you will be promptly notified. (signed by) J. A. Ulio, The. Adjutant-General.
The telegram was followed by a letter from Major General Ulio dated September 18, confirming the information in the telegram.
The mission was initially reported as "successful," but subsequent reports indicated all communication was lost 30 minutes out at 1248. Weather conditions were reported as "poor". Personnel had no guns, and no escape equipment with them whatsoever.
The Missing Air Crew Report dated April 10, 1946 listed the C-47 Skytrain #5802, with Pvt. Paul A. Scheetz, 37540388, as having departed Dinjan, Assam, India on September 1, 1944 with a crew of five and a cargo of rice, salt, sugar, tea, milk, cigarettes, bread, steak, and mail, etc. The aircraft was known as the "Monsoon Marauder".
Many searches were made for the "Monsoon Marauder" to no avail until the Scheetz family received a letter dated 7 November 1946 from the Office of the Quartermaster General in Washington, D.C., Major General T. B. Larkin. Maj. Gen. Larkin stated that the aircraft had been found and that "…The remains of this crew were interred as a group in the American Military Cemetery Barrackpore, India, located one hundred sixteen miles from Calcutta. …"
The Barrackpore cemetery was closed in 1948 and the group remains were taken to the Central Identification Laboratory in Oahu, Hawaii where individual remains were sorted and identified by trained anthropologists. Once identified, the individual remains were placed in a steel casket with a bronze finish and hermetically sealed and properly buried in accordance with the wishes of the veteran’s family.
Pvt. Paul Albert Scheetz was buried on December 1, 1949 at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Honolulu, Hawaii, Section P Site 749. He will be forever remembered by a loving family.
Paul was awarded the Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster and the Purple Heart.
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This story was written by Jim Scheetz of Manhattan, KS to honor and remember this WWII fallen service member.

The story is part of a collection of Stories Behind the Stars project, an ambitious national effort of volunteers to write and post on www.fold3.com the stories of all 400,000+ U.S. WWII fallen. A smart phone app is under development that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan a fallen's name and read his/her story.

Can you help? For more information about volunteer opportunities, please visit www.storiesbehindthestars.org.
SBTSProject/Kansas/Washington

Scheetz, Paul Albert, PVT