Second Lt. Roland Paulson and S/Sgt. Rodney Paulson, twin brothers, are on the same B-17 bomber in Italy.  Both boys are graduates of Ames high school.  Lt. Roland is a bombardier and S/Sgt. Rodney recently received his promotion in the gunnery department.

PAULSON ONE OF FIRST OVER SOTHERN INVASION BEACH - With the 15th AAF in Italy - S/Sgt. Rodney A. Paulson, tail gunner from 615 11th St., Ames, is following the Allied offensive in Southern France with particular interest these days since his AAF B-17 Flying Fortress group was the first heavy bombardment unit over the invasion beach on the morning of Aug. 15.

Thirty minues after his group left the target area full of bomb craters, waves of ground troopers swarmed ashore.  The invasion was his unit's fourth participation in a combined landing operation, having previously softened up the beaches at Salerno, Sicily and Pantelleria...

Mr. and Mrs. John F. Pederson, 2822 Oakland ave., have three sons and three daughters.  The three sons and their only son-in-law are all in the service.  They include Homer Pederson S2c, who is serving on a destroyer.  A year ago in November he was in the Sicilian area at the time things were hot over there.

He says: "Better die as a free man than live as a slave.  The majority of folks believe that but there are some folks who don't realize that yet."

His brother, Pfc. Porter Pederson, has been in the Army infantry 3 years.  Homer was in New Guinea, but a neighbor at their former home, Radcliffe, says his son who is with the Navy Seabees wrote home about seeing Homer in the South Pacific not long ago, on a destroyer.

The third boy, Oswald, is in Denver taking special training in air corps radio and intelligence service.  He is a graduate of Iowa University and had a pilot's license when in school there...

[The daughter] Andrine's entry into the WAVES was given considerable publicity at the time because she was the 2001st WAVE to be recruited in the Iowa-Nebraska area.