John Kantjas was born in Deary, Idaho, on August 29, 1919, and was the son of Nicolas J. Kantjas, a Greek emigrant, and his wife Winnifred Grace Taylor. Nicolas's origin was probably from Mainalo, a small Greek village in Tripoli, in the Peloponesse area, and his original name was Nikolaos Kantzavelos. When he arrived in Ellis Island in 1905 at the age of 22 years old he shortened it to be easier to pronounce in English. Nicolas wasn't the only one from his family to immigrate. His brother Napoleon came also and lived in Chicago, Illinois according to John’s recollections. Unfortunately, Nicolas died when John was only 13 years old. Because he had a younger brother and a sister and because his sister was mentally ill, his mother sent him to live on a friend's ranch in Idaho. He loved that place - always talked about it. He was an avid outdoorsman - loved to hunt, fish, and camp. After high school he worked his way through college by working as a lumberjack and afterward he attended the University of Idaho, studying logistics, to become a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). According to his daughter Linda:

"I heard that while he was on the Lexington Carrier he used to study hard for the CPA exam instead of goofing around with the others."

Probably while at ...

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Samuel Soulis was born in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1922, the son of Steve Soulis from Kalambaka, Trikala, and Katherine Arseniou Soulis. Later his family moved to Albany, New York. He graduated from Albany High School in 1940 and attended the College of St. Rose and Russell Sage. On July 28, 1942, he enlisted the US Army and entered the Gulf Coast Training Command with classification and preflight training in San Antonio Texas while his primary flight training took place in Coleman, Texas flying PT-19s with the 304th AAFFT. He continued his basic flight training in Waco Texas and advanced flying training in Eagle Pass, Texas. He graduated with Class 43-J as a Flight Officer and before his transfer overseas he completed his Operational Flight Training in Harris Neck, Georgia. While there he was attached to the 500th Fighter Bomber Squadron flying with AT-6 Harvards, P-40N Warhawks, and A-36 Apaches. According to the AAIR website, Samuel S. Soulis had an accident (LACSSP 5) in P-40N 43-24109 at Harris Neck AAF in Newport, Georgia, on March 27, 1944. LACSSP means Landing Accident, Stall/Spin, and 5 is the most serious category, which means the aircraft was destroyed. In the summer of 1944, he was posted overseas for combat duty. In August 1944 he was attached to CBI A.F.T.C for operational training. He flew ...

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