My Uncle Yelmer

On this special Memorial Day episode of The Story Ark, Captain Kenny Mears invites listeners on a poignant voyage into family history and wartime sacrifice. Guest storyteller Wayne Kartchner shares the remarkable and heartbreaking story of his Uncle Yelmer, a young Navy tail gunner during World War II.

At just 17, Yelmer and his brother Irvin joined the Navy following the attack on Pearl Harbor. While Irvin served as a cook on a battleship, Yelmer was assigned to patrol the West Coast in a PV-1 bomber. During a top-secret training mission in December 1943, Yelmer’s plane crashed in the remote forests of Vancouver Island. Stranded in the Canadian winter, Yelmer and his surviving crewmates fought for survival. Wayne recounts how Yelmer’s courage and compassion shone through as he cared for his fellow airmen, ultimately watching each succumb t ...