Person Page - 337

     George A. Hughes married Julia (Meyer) Hughes. George A. Hughes was born circa 1876. He died in 1933 at Alameda Co., CA.

     Jack Herbert Philleo was born circa 1932 at Artesia, CA.¹ He married Gail (Gillespie) Philleo on 11 May 1956 at Belflower, CA.² Jack Herbert Philleo died on 19 June 2018 at Groveland, Tuolumne Co., CA.¹
     He served in the US Coast Guard, Korean Conflict circa 1954.² He was Electrition before 1982 at Riverside Co., CA.² He lived between 1996 and 2018 at Groveland, Tuolumne Co., CA.²

     Gail (Gillespie) Philleo married Jack Herbert Philleo on 11 May 1956 at Belflower, CA.¹ Gail (Gillespie) Philleo died on 9 January 2001 at Groveland, Tuolumne Co., CA; pr/Geni.com

Gail Dolores Philleo (Gillespie)
Birthdate:     December 10, 1930 (70)
Birthplace:     Waynoka, Woods County, Oklahoma, United States
Death:     January 09, 2001 (70)
Groveland, Tuolumne County, California, United States
Place of Burial:     Monrovia, Los Angeles County, California, United States
Immediate Family:     
Daughter of Clarence Vernon William Gillespie and Florence Creekmore
Wife of Martin Uranga and Jack Herbert Philleo
Sister of Richard Vernon Gillespie; LaVerne Pearl Curlee; Patricia Ann Gillespie and Robert Charles Gillespie.
     Gail (Gillespie) Philleo was also known as Gail D. Gillespie.¹

     Luke Edward Covey was born circa 1981.¹ He died on 9 June 2018 at Groveland, Tuolune Co., CA.¹

     Carl Henry Croci was born circa 1938.¹ He died in June 2018 at Sonora, Tuolumne Co., CA.¹

     Lindsey Guy Hammon was born circa 1928.¹ He died on 4 May 2018 at Groveland, Tuolumne Co., CA.¹

     Gary Dean Baptiste was born circa 1939.¹ He died in 2018 at Groveland, Tuolumne Co., CA.¹

     Marilyn (Wright) Orloff was born on 13 November 1948 at Cumberland, MD.¹ She died on 16 December 2018 at Angels Camp, CA, at age 70.¹
     She was Pilot w/United Airlines.¹

     Irene Louise Mills was born on 4 February 1893 at CA.¹ She was the daughter of Emma (Jansen) Mills Gifford.¹ Irene Louise Mills died on 3 June 1992 at Alameda Co., CA, at age 99.¹

     Lee N. Dunlap was born circa 1921 at King Co., TX.^1,2 He was the son of Oscar Dunlap and Mrs. Maud Dunlap. Lee N. Dunlap died on 8 April 2018 at Merced Co., CA.¹ He was buried at Divide Cemetery, Groveland, Tuolumne Co., CA.¹
     He Brief Bio:

Union Democrat
Published Dec. 10, 2010 at 01:14PM / Updated August 23, 2015 at 08:33PM

WWII?hero still active at age 89

Lee Dunlap has been a war hero, logger, sawmill worker, heavy equipment operator, beer can collector, antique dealer and most recently, a loving great-great-grandfather.

He calls himself a lucky man.

Those words and more describe the mild-mannered, nearly 90-year-old man who lives in a small house in Big Oak Flat, next door to his son, Ron.

His eyes crinkle as he recalls every detail of memorable events in his life, including dates, names, locations and even how to spell them.

What he does, he does well.

He earned the Bronze Star for bravery when he served in the U.S. Army during World War II.

As a Coulterville antique dealer, he became so well known for his

thousands of beer cans that he was featured in the Los Angeles Times,

mentioned on television and radio stations and had customers from as

far away as Italy.

During his years as a logger and sawmill worker, Dunlap worked

throughout Central California, including Coulterville in Mariposa

County, Chinese Camp in Tuolumne County and Wallace and the Skull Ranch

area in Calaveras County.

Eventually, he worked for Snyder Lumber Co., based in Turlock,

building roads and doing other backhoe work throughout Central

California.

He helped build the logging road into Cherry Valley from Highway

120 in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and his son, Ron, helped build

the road to Cherry Valley from Tuolumne some 20 years later.

Between them, they helped create a road that goes from Highway 120

to Tuolumne via a circuitous route through the Stanislaus National

Forest.

Born in Dumont, Texas, Dunlap lived in Coolidge, Ariz., where he

was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1942. He was based at Camp Adair near

Portland, Ore., when he and another soldier, Elmer Westray, were

transferred from K Company into Headquarters Company to be part of the

regimental reconnaissance team.

They were together for the rest of their service, and still keep in

touch. The reconnaissance team had two squads of nine men each.

"We were the eyes and ears of the regiment," Dunlap said.

They were a couple of miles away when 60 percent of the men in K Company died at the Battle of the Bulge.

"If I hadn't been transferred to Headquarters Company, I would have

had a 60 percent chance of being killed," he said. "I am a lucky man."

They were part of the 104th Infantry Division, called the

Timberwolves, which was the first division to land in Normandy directly

from the United States. He took part in at least five battles,

including the longest battle of the war, the Battle for Germany,

spending five months on the ground in man-to-man warfare with the

Germans.

They served under Gen. Terry Allen, who Dunlap said was the

greatest general in the war. He was relieved of duty toward the end of

the war, reportedly for hitting Gen. George Patton.

They were also among those taking Holland back from the Germans. He

earned his Bronze Star during a battle on the border of Belgium and

Holland when a caravan of U.S. Jeeps came upon Germans dug in and

waiting for them.

One of the Jeeps had backed into a ditch. "I hooked a rope onto it,

but the rope broke, and I stayed there until I got the Jeep out with

the Germans firing at me and our guys firing at the Germans," he said.

"I was lucky to make it. I never got a scratch."

At the end of that battle, he saw two Germans jump out of a foxhole next to him and run away.

"I could have shot them, but it would have been in the back," he

said. "I'm glad I didn't. I've thought quite a bit about what it would

have felt like to live with shooting them in the back."

Although he had to kill during the war, it was always "kill or be killed," he said.

At one point, he and Westray were assigned to the First Canadian Army on the front lines.

"There was tea and no coffee," he said. "We were with the English,

Australians and Canadians. They all spoke English, but we couldn't

understand a thing they said."

Back with their own regiment, they fought their way into Cologne,

Germany's third largest city, and across seven or eight bridges.

It was on the Cologne Plain that Dunlap had one of his scariest moments.

They were crossing the plain when they saw an American half-track

with four 50-caliber machine guns parked under camouflage. They had

just passed it when they thought it was accidently shooting at them.

Instead, it had hit a German fighter plane that was zeroing in on them.

"If it hadn't been for that half-track, we would have been hamburger," he said. "I was lucky, again."

One of his most difficult duties was pulling into the Nordhausen

concentration camp in the winter of 1943-44, the coldest winter on

record.

"We had no idea what we were getting into," he said. "It was

freezing cold. There were 2,000 to 3,000 prisoners there, and about a

dozen German soldiers guarding them. I don't know how they survived. A

lot didn't. Dead bodies were stacked everywhere like cordwood."

He said he had a stash of food in his Jeep, including candy, peanut

butter, marmalade and biscuits, and the prisoners immediately ate it

all. They also grabbed all the cigarettes he had.

"I didn't smoke. I just kept cigarettes I got in the Jeep in case somebody needed them," he said.

American forces came in to rescue the prisoners, and Dunlap's group

moved on. It was toward the end of the war, and they kept meeting

Germans who wanted to surrender. At one point, they met 200 German

soldiers who said they wanted to get away from the Russians.

"We took their pistols and told them where to go," he said. "They really didn't want to get caught by the Russians."

The Russians took captured Germans to rebuild Russia and kept them as prisoners for years.

After the war, Dunlap eventually went to Greeley Hill to work with

his father in the logging business. He started his career in logging

driving a log wagon with four horses.

Dunlap was married three times. His first wife is still living in

Big Oak Flat. They have four children, nine grandchildren, 16

great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.

Sierra Views is a weekly feature profiling various people and

places of the Sierra foothills; every one and every place has a story.

Have a profile suggestion? Call the editor at 588-4534. He served in the WWII US Army-Normandy Beach circa 1945.¹ He was own/oper Beer Can Store in 1981 at Coulterville, Mariposa Co., CA.³

     Oscar Dunlap was born in 1885 at Jack Co., TX.² He married Mrs. Maud Dunlap in 1906 at Chalk, TX.^1,2 Oscar Dunlap died in 1949 at Placer Co., CA.²
     He lived circa 1945 at Greely Hill, Mariposa Co., CA.³

     Mrs. Maud Dunlap was born in 1889 at TX.^2,3 She married Oscar Dunlap in 1906 at Chalk, TX.^1,2 Mrs. Maud Dunlap died in 1970 at Fresno Co., CA.^2,3

     Florence Dunlap was born in 1907.¹ She was the daughter of Oscar Dunlap and Mrs. Maud Dunlap.¹ Florence Dunlap died in 2005.¹

     Thomas Dunlap was born in 1910.¹ He was the son of Oscar Dunlap and Mrs. Maud Dunlap.¹ Thomas Dunlap died in 1972.¹

     Colie Dunlap was born in 1912.¹ He was the son of Oscar Dunlap and Mrs. Maud Dunlap.¹ Colie Dunlap died in 1992.¹

     Willis Dunlap was born in 1914.¹ He was the son of Oscar Dunlap and Mrs. Maud Dunlap.¹ Willis Dunlap died in 2011.¹

     Wallace Dunlap was born in 1914.² He was the son of Oscar Dunlap and Mrs. Maud Dunlap.¹ Wallace Dunlap died in 1980.²

     Elva Dunlap was born in 1916.¹ She was the daughter of Oscar Dunlap and Mrs. Maud Dunlap.¹ Elva Dunlap died in 1997.¹

     Lothard Dunlap was born in 1919.¹ He was the son of Oscar Dunlap and Mrs. Maud Dunlap.¹ Lothard Dunlap died in 2004.¹

     Coy Dunlap was born in 1925.¹ He was the son of Oscar Dunlap and Mrs. Maud Dunlap.¹ Coy Dunlap died in 1994.¹

     Millard L. Mitchell was born in 1930.¹ He was the son of Walter Heatherington Mitchell and Bessie (Gray) Mitchell.¹ Millard L. Mitchell died in 1937 at San Francisco Co, CA.¹ He was buried at Mountain Shadow Cemetery, Tuolumne co., CA.¹