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Local veteran exemplifies 'Service before Self' Core Value with A Kind Heart

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Bryan Ripple
  • 910th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
Many people can say they have someone in their life who is a truly great friend. Some Reservists assigned to the 910th Airlift Wing may not know it, but they have such a friend in a gentleman named Fred Kubli Jr. 

Fred is not a person who seeks the limelight or recognition. As a matter of fact, since the early 1980's when he became involved with supporting the 910th through our Base-Community Council, Fred has worked very hard to support and recognize the many accomplishments of others at Youngstown Air Reserve Station. Always comfortable being in a background role supporting important events here, Fred has been a major contributor to the strengthening of unit morale and community support the 910th enjoys today. 

Mr. Kubli is a U.S. Army veteran, a loving husband and father with a strong Christian faith, a metallurgist, and one of the most outstanding supporters Youngstown Air Reserve Station has ever seen. 

Fred's story began Sept. 15, 1919 when he was born in Turtle Creek, Pa., a town of about 30,000 in Northwestern Pa. His father was a tool and die maker for Westinghouse, where he made huge generator's like the ones used at Hoover Dam. His mother was a homemaker. He had three brothers and three sisters growing up and he was the oldest. 

"My mother put me in charge when my parents went someplace and the kids resented that," said Fred with his raspy, but friendly voice as he remembered his childhood with a smile and a glimmer in his shining blue eyes. 

Fred's family eventually moved to Chalfant Borough, up a hill from Turtle Creek when he was about three years old. He went on to graduate from Turtle Creek High School in 1938 and got a job at a firm called the The Calorizing Company in Wilkinsburg, Pa. -- a company that made huge stainless steel castings and electric furnace melding. 

Fred worked there for a number of years as an assistant to the chief metallurgist. His job was to figure out which alloys to use for melting in acid electric furnaces, and he also worked in the lab doing chemical analysis. Eventually he worked his way up to the plant manager position. While working there he went to school at the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Institute of Technology. He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in Metallurgy and the Carnegie Institute of Technology with a degree in Management in 1944. 

World War II had been raging on throughout Europe, Africa, and the Pacific at this time and many of Fred's friends had already been drafted into the military. 

"I got deferred twice from being drafted because I was working on a Defense Department contract. It was so secret that Army trucks picked up the castings and nobody at the plant knew where they were heading," he said. 

In 1943, Fred met the woman who would become the love of his life and his wife of 64 years now, Mrs. LaVerne Kubli. 

"I was working in the lab and a woman named Ann Vitaro who worked in our front office came over and asked me out on a date," Fred said as he remembered those days as a young man. "I said I'm busy tonight, but she coaxed me and coaxed me and I said alright," he related with a grin. The event was to be a double date. The other lady's name was LaVerne. She lived in Anne's house with LaVerne's mom in an apartment. 

"I didn't want to go out with this other gentleman unless someone else went along," LaVerne said. "We were in Pittsburgh and we walked to a restaurant for dinner and then we took a walk. I went up to Fred and said "Don't you know how to hold hands?" and then I took his hand. We rode a street car back to my apartment and we were sitting on a glider on the porch. The others were teasing us about holding hands. I leaned over and whispered to Freddy "Let's give them something to talk about," and I gave him a big kiss. This was in August. Two weeks later, Fred's trying to put a ring on my finger," she said with a laugh. 

Wanting to slow the process down just a bit, she said "Let's wait at least two months. So, in October, we went to see a movie. He had a package and gave it to me to put in my purse. He said it was something he had to deliver later. When we went home, he took my school ring off and told me to open the package. It was our engagement ring." 

Fred and LaVerne Kubli were married November 25, 1943 in Brushton, Pa. 

Seven months after becoming man and wife, Fred was drafted into the Army July 3, 1944. 

"My company tried to get me another deferment, but the paperwork didn't process fast enough this time so I was off to basic training at Camp Shelby, Miss.," Fred said. In September LaVerne joined Fred in Mississippi and got a civil service job at a hospital typing up orders for GI glasses. Only a few months later, Fred and the other members of his unit headed for Europe in February 1945 by boat. Their destination was Laharbor, France. 

"We were getting training to eventually go to Japan," Fred said while remembering his early days in the Army. "I was training to be a personnel specialist, but I also took some hospital training because we figured we'd need that as well." 

His unit was the 139th Evacuation Hospital (Semi-Mobile.) There were 40 nurses and 40 doctors, two Red Cross people, two chaplains, and 276 enlisted men. Most of the officers were doctors, including the commander who was a surgeon. 

"Everyone was drafted," he said. "When we got to France we organized as a hospital unit and worked our way through Europe. We were getting more and more training while working on the battlefields. I worked with payroll and personnel records, and once the hospital got going I took care of the patient records too. We would leapfrog with our 400 bed hospital. When one third of the patients were transferred to a general station hospital, part of our staff would move on. It was like a field hospital. We ended up in Austria," he said, remembering the grim images of what he and his fellow soldiers experienced there. 

Fred and his fellow soldiers witnessed first-hand the horrors of war as they entered concentration camps and treated Austrian-Jewish citizens, Polish citizens, and others who were hanging on to life by a thread at the hands of genocidal Nazi Germans. 

"When we were just a few miles from the concentration camps we could smell burning flesh. We had even been hearing stories of people being put into cremation chambers while still alive. It was terrible to see what had been done to these people. It's hard to believe that human beings could behave this way," he said. 

As his unit made their way through the concentration camp, their supplies didn't catch up right away and they were forced to hunt to feed themselves and the patients until the supplies got there Mr. Kubli said. 

"When we were in Austria we stayed in different people's homes. People were amazed we could go hunt deer. Only their wealthy people were allowed to hunt. They made jewelry from the antlers and clothing from the skin. I would trade cigarettes and cigars for things the Austrians could make since I didn't smoke." 

In August 1945 Fred's unit was sent to Marseille, France. "There, we got on eight big ships, all hospital units with our equipment. We were headed for Japan and anticipating heavy casualties. When we made it to the Strait of Gibraltar, the war ended in Japan when we dropped the (atomic) bomb." 

The ship carrying Fred's unit turned around and headed to Boston. 

"We were all very happy. We didn't know what to think if we invaded Japan. They shot off fireworks from the ship and everyone hooted and hollered. When we got to Boston they took us to an Army station and gave us a steak meal and fruit. It was the best meal we'd had in a while." 

At 24 years old when he went overseas, Fred was in Europe for about six months. After he got back home to the United States, he received an assignment to a headquarters company working in a Public Affairs position at Fort Jackson, S.C. 

"The Calorizing Company was still trying to get me back, but my commander wanted me to go to New England with the 3rd Army. He said if I would stay, he would see that I got to go to school to become a Warrant Officer." 

Fred finally received what was called a "Convenience to the Government Discharge," and got to go home in December 1945. His military decorations from his time in the Army include the Army Good Conduct Medal, American Theatre Campaign Medal, European African Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with 1 Bronze Star, World War II Victory Medal, and the Expert Marksman Ribbon. 

"The minute I got home, I went right back to work. We were still doing some classified work for the Defense Department on weapons systems," said Mr. Kubli. 

After leaving The Calorizing Company, Fred took jobs as the Chief Metallurgist at McConway Torley, a company that made railroad couplers and castings for ships, and the Pittsburgh Gear Company. 

He eventually began working for the company that would spark his interest in the Air Force, RMI Titanium of Niles, Ohio in December 1960. 

"My first job at RMI was as a staff metallurgist and my job was to review specifications for contracts and see how RMI could comply with them. Then they promoted me to manager of certifications, specifications, and testing. I was in charge of the test lab, specifications, and certifying our product. When I retired from RMI in 1991 I was manager of customer technical services. I dealt with our customers and took care of source inspectors that were checking our quality. I was also manager of quality assurance." 

"In 1983 my boss came into my office at RMI. He said he wanted me to join the Air Force Association since we made titanium for airplanes and worked with the Defense Department as part of our business. We were the sole supplier of titanium for the SR-71 (Blackbird) project," he said proudly. 

Fred was eventually contacted by Mr. Chet DelSignore, who was Chief of Public Affairs for the 910th Tactical Airlift Group at the time, to help organize a base community council here. At first Mr. Kubli was a regular member of the brand new council, then he was appointed Treasurer, a position he has held with the organization since it began. 

Over the years, Fred Kubli Jr. has been the most active member of the Base-Community Council working with base officials nearly on a daily basis to promote the well-being and community support of the base and the mission of the 910th Airlift Wing. 

"I've always felt it's been great to be affiliated with the air base," he said.
"It's always made me happy and proud to meet people at the base and I've been honored to meet the commanders and work with them over the years. I've always told people how important our Air Force Reserve Base is to the community and the area," he said. 

Mr. and Mrs. Fred Kubli Jr. have dedicated their lives to serving others in many different ways. They are true friends to the 910th Airlift Wing and the unit is a stronger organization with them in its circle of support.