All four soldiers enlisted in the Army and left Eau Claire (Wisconsin) in 1940 and served with Battery D, 126th Field Artillery Battalion in the Army. They completed basic training together at Camp Beauregard (Louisiana) before being deployed to different theaters of war. Ely (b.1921) served alternately in field artillery and infantry units in the Pacific Theater during World War II, participating in the Invasion of Okinawa in 1945 and the Occupation of Japan. Burce (1920-2008) left the 126th Field Artillery battalion in 1942 and joined the Army Air Corps, becoming an airplane mechanic. He was classed as "Essential" and spent the war as an airplane mechanics instructor and as a B-29 electrician. After the war, he became a car mechanic before spending thirty-eight years in the printing industry. McQuillan (b.1918) served in North Africa and Italy during World War II as a machine gunner in the Fifth Army with a heavy artillery unit. He experienced combat in Salerno, Bonefro, and Monte Cassino (Italy) and also marched through Naples, Rome, and Milan. After the war, McQuillan worked for the Eau Claire Fire Department for thirty-one years. Spallees (1922-2002) trained new soldiers in Oklahoma and Texas at the beginning of World War II. In 1944, he was shipped overseas to England through dangerous waters. Spallees landed on Utah Beach (Normandy) and made his way with his artillery battalion through France, Belgium, and Germany. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge and liberated Buchenwald. After the war, Spallees married and worked for the Post Office for thirty-four years.
From the description of Transcript of a Chippewa Valley Community Television Program Series, "Vets Remember" [videorecording] : "WWII" with Ralph W. Ely, Charles "Charlie" E. Burce, Paul F. Spallees, & Marshall "Mush" J. McQuillan, 2001. (Wisconsin Veterans Museum Research Center). WorldCat record id: 632308123
