2013 Veteran Honorees:  John "Blackie" Porter, Harold Neibler

John “Blackie” Porter had the honor of being one of the two Voices from the Stone Honorees in 2013. Blackie was born on February 27th, 1916. He attended Marysville schools, graduating in 1934. By 1940, he was working for a publishing company in Dayton when he decided to enlist in the Army Air Corps. Blackie, who had at some point learned to fly, graduated from pilot school quickly and was commissioned as a second lieutenant on July 11th, 1941. Blackie married his sweetheart on December 10th, 1941. Prior to 1943, Blackie accrued many hours of flight time and experience. In March, 1943, Blackie’s brother was killed in North Africa, and Blackie began to look for a way to get into combat. In June, 1943, Blackie was assigned to Jorhat, India to fly cargo planes. He decided to begin a search and rescue team, and managed to convince his superiors to make the unit official in October, 1943. He and his crew made history on November 6th, 1943, when they managed to down a fighter plane from an unarmed transport. On December 10th, 1943, Blackie’s second anniversary, the team heard a distress signal from a transport. Upon arriving at the location of the downed transport, the team’s plane was ambushed by Japanese fighter planes. The team’s plane’s left engine was destroyed, and Blackie gave the order to bail. Due to the close proximity of the mountains and the plane’s low altitude, only the co-pilot was able to bail before the plane crashed. No one still on the plane survived. Blackie’s body was never recovered. His name is list on the Tablets of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery, Manila, Philippines.

Harold Neibler had the honor of being one of the two Voices from the Stone Honorees in 2013.  Harold was born on May 22nd, 1917. He grew up in Paris Township, and graduated from Marysville High School in 1936. By 1942, Harold was working as an aeronautical engineer for the Curtiss-Wright Airplane Corporation in Columbus. Because his job was considered an essential wartime job, Harold was deferred from the draft, although he chose to enlist in the Army Air Corps anyway. Harold worked as a crew chief in New York, Kentucky, and Florida, before being assigned to the China-Burma-India Theater in the August of 1943. Initially Harold worked on a ground crew, but was transferred to Captain John “Blackie” Porter’s Search and Rescue team in the October of 1943. Captain Porter was the other Voices from the Stone Honoree in 2013. On December 10th, 1943, the team heard a distress signal from a transport and went to investigate. Upon arriving at the location of the downed transport, the team’s plane was ambushed by Japanese fighter planes. The team’s plane’s left engine was destroyed, and Captain Porter gave the order to bail. Due to the plane’s loss in altitude and the proximity of the mountains, only one of the crew members was able to bail before the plane crashed. Sadly, Harold was among the dead. His body was never recovered. Harold’s name is listed on the Tablets of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery, Manila, Philippines.