Military service

Uncle Jim: James C. Norman, Donald's older brother

James C. Norman, "Uncle Jim", was the son of Robert Charles Norman 1923–2016 and Joyce Oleana Hartman 1927–1986, and Donald's older brother. He was born in Michigan about 1946. At Plymouth High School (class of 1964) he swam and dove for the school team, as Donald did too.

newspaper On 20 November 1971 the Plymouth Mail reported that Navy Petty Officer Third Class James C. Norman, son of Mr. and Mrs. Robert C. Norman of Plymouth, was serving aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Sampson (DDG-10). That year the ship had won Destroyer Squadron 32's Battle Efficiency "E" award for the second year running. Sampson was based at Charleston, South Carolina, and her deployments in those years were to the Mediterranean with the Sixth Fleet, not to Vietnam. So Jim served during the Vietnam War era.

The family believes Jim died in Ann Arbor, Michigan, about two years before Donald. The exact date hasn't been confirmed yet. Still to find: his enlistment and discharge dates and his rating (his Navy job). His discharge papers (DD-214) or a request to the National Personnel Records Center would give them. Sources: Plymouth Mail, 20 Nov 1971 (Plymouth District Library archive); Wikipedia, "USS Sampson (DDG-10)".

Donald Eugene Norman 1947–2026

newspaper Donald served in the U.S. Coast Guard at Harbor Beach, Michigan, on Lake Huron in the Thumb. The family remembers it as a short spell of service; the records below place him at the station from at least February 1966 to October 1967.

He enlisted in August 1965 at the Coast Guard recruiting station in Detroit, straight out of Plymouth High School, and went to the Coast Guard Recruit Training Center at Cape May, New Jersey, for 12 weeks of basic training (Plymouth Mail, 4 August 1965, p. 6). Local papers then place him at the Harbor Beach station from early 1966 to late 1967:

• February 1966: "Coast Guards give blood". Donald was one of eight men from the station, led by their chief boatswain's mate, who gave blood at the Harbor Beach Community Hospital drawing on 8 February 1966. The drawing collected 47 pints (Harbor Beach Times, 17 February 1966, p. 2).
• March 1966: a farewell party at the station for a man retiring after 20 years in the Coast Guard. The report lists the station staff, including Donald Norman, and notes that the station "remained open all winter" (Port Huron Times Herald, 7 March 1966, p. 7, "Coast Guardsmen Bid Farewell…").

The rescue on Lake Huron, October 1967

On the morning of Tuesday, 24 October 1967, at about 10:43, a sailor aboard the lake steamer Reserve was stricken with chest pains. The ship was upbound about 18 miles north of Harbor Beach. The Coast Guard was notified, and a three-man boat crew went out. Among them was Seaman (SN) Donald Norman, who, in the paper's words, "answered the call". A helicopter from Selfridge Field arrived at noon and took the sick man off the ship for medical care.

Source: "Sailor Removed From Steamer", Harbor Beach Times, Thursday 26 October 1967, p. 1 (found on Newspapers.com). The other crewmen and the sailor are named in the article but not here, as they may still be living.

Coast Guard Station Harbor Beach traced its roots to a lifesaving station of the 1880s. It guarded one of the largest man-made freshwater harbors in the world, and it operated until 1987.

Station history: Thumbwind, "The Pier Based Coast Guard Station Harbor Beach". Still to find: his exact dates of service. A request for his service record to the National Personnel Records Center would give them.

Robert Charles Norman 1923–2016: from building bombers to learning to fly them

records Donald's father, Robert Charles Norman, was born on 8 March 1923 at Newburg, a village in Livonia Township, Michigan. When he registered for the WWII draft he was living in Plymouth, Michigan, and working at the Willow Run Bomber Plant near Ypsilanti. Ford built that plant in 1941 to mass-produce the B-24 Liberator heavy bomber. It was one of the largest factories in the world, and at its peak in 1944 it turned out about 650 B-24s a month.

At Plymouth High School, "Bob Norman" was a star athlete from 1937 to 1941. He played football as quarterback and receiver, played basketball (he was team captain in 1940), and was on the tennis team. His obituary says he went to Michigan State on a tennis scholarship, and he kept playing tennis into his late eighties.

He enlisted in the U.S. Army on 15 January 1943 and was discharged on 13 March 1946. In March 1946 the Plymouth Mail reported that "after serving more than three years in service, T/5 Robert C. Norman" had arrived home at his parents'. T/5 (Technician Fifth Grade) was an enlisted Army technician's rank.

family story He trained as a pilot and was close to earning his wings when a football knee injury he'd been hiding gave out. That kept him out of combat flying. A family photo shows him in full bomber-crew cold-weather flight gear at what looks like a training base, which fits the story. Aviation cadets who earned their wings were normally made officers, so his T/5 rank in 1946 fits a man who left flight training. Only his service file can show what actually happened.

Sources: his WWII draft registration card (National Archives at St. Louis) and U.S. veterans' records of his enlistment and discharge dates (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS death file), both found in Robert's Ancestry research; Plymouth Mail 18 Jun 1943 p. 13 and 22 Mar 1946 p. 7, and 1937–41 sports pages (Plymouth District Library archive); obituary (Kalkaska Funeral Home, 2016, on Find a Grave). Willow Run: Detroit Historical Society and The Henry Ford.

Still missing: his Army serial number, unit and training bases. His personnel file may have been lost in the 1973 fire at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, which destroyed about 80% of the files for Army soldiers discharged between 1912 and 1960. Next steps: Fold3; FamilySearch; WWII hospital admission records (which might show the knee injury); and a records request to the National Archives. Even a burned file can often be partly rebuilt from other records.

Thomas R. Comer 1720–1794 proven Patriot

Thomas Comer of Halifax County, Virginia, is recognised by the Daughters of the American Revolution as a Patriot (DAR ancestor no. A024709), for furnishing supplies to the Revolutionary cause. He was in his fifties when the war began. Donald's line comes down through his son Archibald "Archer" Comer.

The family tree also says he served in the 7th Virginia Regiment. A Thomas Comer does appear on that regiment's rolls, but DAR credits our Thomas only with supplies, so the soldier was probably a younger man of the same name. Source: DAR record as quoted on WikiTree (Comer-272). soldier claim unproven