46 On the Air from Germany: The Wartime Story of Ralph David Wallis, Sr.

 Ralph David Wallis, Sr. — My Father

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 46 – November 11, 2025

Prompt: Wartime

My father, Ralph David Wallis, enlisted in the Army of the United States on August 2, 1944, in the midst of WWII and just five days short of his 18th birthday — which means he was still 17 years old when he enlisted, probably to avoid being drafted. His date of entry into active service was delayed until February 2, 1945. In the interim he married my mother, Margaret Ella (Peggy) Nolen, on January 21, 1945, in Sand Springs, Oklahoma.

Ralph and Peggy married under the clock at the Sand Springs Home just as her parents had.

 

Before his enlistment, he and my mother were students at John Brown University in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, where Dad was studying to be a radio announcer. He and Mom both worked at the school’s radio station, KJBU. She wrote scripts while he was live on the air. They even did a few skit-type programs together, and he proposed to her on air.

Young lovers at John Brown University. He must have really loved her to wear the shirt she made him. 

Once engaged, and knowing he was entering military service they both quit school. He worked as a radio announcer at KWON in Bartlesville and she worked for another station in Tulsa, writing scripts. 

Since he enlisted rather than be drafted, he was able to have the military occupational specialty of Radio Operator and Mechanic.

18 year old Ralph boarded a bus in Tulsa for Camp Chaffee, Arkansas, on February 2 for his initial indoctrination, after 12 days of marriage. His initial medical review even mentioned the acne. 

Peggy, of course, had to stay behind at her parents’ home on the Sand Springs Line between Sand Springs and Tulsa.

Ralph had numerous duty locations before he was shipped overseas to Germany, including Amarillo AAF, Sioux Falls AAF, Truax Field in Madison, Wisconsin, and Scott AAF in Belleville, Illinois. Peggy worked as a civilian clerk at his duty locations and always knew where he was going next because she typed up the orders. Peggy would make arrangements for their housing and her own transfer before Ralph even knew where they were headed. 

All of their household items fit in a footlocker and included two Blue Willow plates and one bowl, which were probably wedding gifts.

They were either at Truax Field or Scott AAF when the war ended on September 2, 1945. Ralph continued training at Scott AAF through the end of 1945. In early 1946, he began processing for travel to Germany. This involved duty without Peggy at Greensboro, North Carolina, and Camp Kilmer, New Jersey.

Peggy and Ralph before he left for Germany. 

On March 8, he wrote Peggy saying that he was finally on board ship. On March 14, he wrote:

“Well we finally made it. We’re now stationed at the ‘Randolph Field’ of Germany.”

He goes on to say that it was where the German cadets were trained.

Then, on March 22, from Wiesbaden, Germany, he wrote:

“Well, I put in my first day’s work yesterday. I work for Special Services out of Col. Hubbard’s office at Headquarters. He is Chief of Special Services for the entire European Theater. Most of my work is done at the opera house here in Wiesbaden. My exact title is Radio Publicity man, a liaison man between the radio stations in Europe and the Special Services here. They put stage plays on at the opera house with soldiers as actors and civilian women of the stage in America for the actresses. ‘Amen’ closed Wednesday nite. I furnish spots and stories to all the radio stations here in Wiesbaden. W.A.F.S. A.F.N., American Forces Network in Frankfort, Munich, Stuttgart, Nuremberg, and Berlin. I have a phone that I can call anyone of these stations anytime. The Lt. I work under says he wants me to act in some radio plays over the local station, W.A.F.S. They have a civilian running the station here, Joe Cochran, formerly with N.B.C. and he sure is swell. He wants me to do some announcing for the station. Also says he needs an engineer - Boy is this going to be swell. While everyone else in the squadron goes to work at 8:30 in HQ, I don’t have to go until 10:00. Of course while a show is playing I may have to be at the opera house till 11:00 at nite.

Yesterday afternoon they asked me if I had a G.I. driver’s license. Naturally I didn’t. So they sent me to get a license. I got one easy as heck. Then issued me a vehicle. Its a old ambulance. We’re going to make a sound truck out of it. Going to put loud speakers on top and drive up and down the street advertising stuff at the opera house.”

Ralph and Peggy’s first child, Ralph David Wallis, Jr., was born June 25, while Ralph was in Germany. Ralph sent a telegram on June 27.

It was the first time he used “Sr.” after his name. Davy was six months old when Ralph returned to the States and was discharged from his military duty — that is, until he was recalled during the Korean War in 1950.

But that’s a story for another time.

Closing Reflection

My father enlisted in the Army as a 17-year-old with a strong voice, a hopeful heart, and a gift for communication.

Wartime didn’t silence him — it amplified him.

His letters reveal a young man discovering the world, missing his wife, and finding purpose in the power of radio.

His voice carried across Europe then.

His story carries across generations now.