Posted by Ted Rundall If any of you who remember Hueppi can add anything else about him, please send it to me
on 4/12/2004, 3:11 pm
205.188.116.133
Sgt. August Hueppi
I received an interesting letter from pilot Ken Meyer, telling a little about Hueppi who was a
replacement turret gunner on his crew for a while. He said Sgt. A.A.Hueppi is listed(in the
March Seahorse News) as the turret gunner on Rigdons crew. I was with that replacement crew
for a little while, not long enough to know all the names well, but I remember some of their
antics. This replacement gunner (Hueppi) was a fabulous gunner on the turret. He broke all
records of hits on the sleeve with three different pilots. This gunner could swim like a fish. He
won all of our swimming events at the squadron parties and I had to go to Col. Anderson to keep
him with the crew. As for obedience, that was another thing. We were laying over at Peleliu
Island and I gave specific instructions for the crew to stay with the plane. In an hour or so he
came back to the plane. He carried a nicely made wooden box. I also noticed a gold wire and a
couple of gold chunks and where they came from you can only guess.
I asked where he had been and replied, Bloody Nose Ridge. I said there were snipers still there.
A 2nd Lt. had been killed in the mess line because he had forgotten to take off his collar bars that
day. Whats in the box? I asked. Japanese mortar fuses, he answered. You can bet I read him
the riot act even though he tried to assure me that he had defused each while in the tunnels of the
ridge. I never learned if he snuck the fuses aboard or not.
for the June issue of Seahorse News. Thanks - Ted Rundall
P.S.
Hueppi's daughter wrote us in 2002 and said that her Dad died in February, 1999. She said "(My
father) was very active with the Association for Retarded Children as a volunteer. He himself
was the father of a son who had Down Syndrome and another with birth defects. ... I pray each
day that every one of your squadron members know the debt of gratitude with which we honor
you for your efforts on our behalf."
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