After the couple were married, Margret became the civilian secretary to the Fairfield-Suisun Air Base's (in Travis, Calif.) executive officer, Maj. Markowitz Helman.

"I think he didn't want to lose her," Ivo, now 84, said, of his non-combat status from his home on Ford Lane.

Margret, also 84, swears the topic was never mentioned between herself and her boss.

Ivo was the 1938 valedictorian of the Etna Township High School senior class.

"With the school being small, we all had a really good chance of being in band, or on the basketball team, and in most other activities. Everybody knew everybody else and what they did," he said.

After high school, Ivo failed a military physical due to poor eyesight. He moved to South Bend and attended Business College. While living in St. Joseph County, he met Margret.

When his draft number came up, he was accepted into the Army Air Corps in February 1942. Basic training followed at Kessler Field in Biloxi, Miss., where the recruits slept in tents. At that time, Kessler was a testing ground for Air Force engines. From there he attended clerical school in Fort Logan, Denver, Colo.

His first station was with an Army Transport Company, or ATC, at Hamilton Field, north of San Francisco. He said ATC was jokingly referred to as "allergic to combat."

"While I was there, Margret decided to visit relatives in southern California and I got a weekend pass to go down and visit," he said.

The visits turned into a proposal and three months later, in January 1943, the couple were married.

Margret initially worked at the Oakland shipyards.

"I would take a train to Oakland and he would hitchhike to San Francisco and we would meet back at the apartment around 7 or 8 at night. Then we'd take a cable car to the international settlement. We would try out a new Chinese restaurant every night," Margret said.

At one point, Ivo had a secret destination stenciled on his barracks bags for some South Pacific Island. He expected to go overseas.

"Instead, I was picked up as acting first sergeant for the cadre of a new air base which was to become Fairfield-Suisun Army Air Base, now the Travis Air Base. The base became a major point of embarkation and debarkation to supply the army.

"The Air Force was growing so fast and had all these notches to fill," he said of the promotion, nine months out of basic training.

"I made out the daily morning reports and was a drill instructor. I was encouraged to go to officer's training school, but felt I had more respect as a non-com."

He also kept the roster, knowing where everyone was, and made sure everyone was at their duties.

Fairfield-Suisun Air Base served as a supply depot. Personnel were rotated every 18 months to two years, but not as a whole unit.

"We would send one to half a dozen people to fill slots in the South Pacific. But they never rotated me. I suspected they didn't want to lose her," he said of his spouse. "I never figured it out until a long time afterward."

"I went to work for the Air Force as a civilian. When he transferred to Travis, I transferred to Travis," Margret said.

"So our life," said Ivo, "instead of taking four years out of my business life, really wasn't a sacrifice. We lived off base, in town. Our life was not that rough."

After Pearl Harbor, the prejudice against Japanese-Americans reached a fever pitch. Caucasian business owners refused to do business with them. By February 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt had ordered the evacuation of all West Coast people of Japanese ancestry. Most of the more than 125,000 people sent to the internment camps under the War Relocation Authority were American citizens. The Japanese-Americans were sent further west and kept on fairgrounds or old carnival grounds for the duration of the war.

The Stutzmans lived in an apartment house that had been "vacated" by Japanese-Americans.

The San Francisco in the early 1940s was war-ready. All streetlights facing the ocean were painted black. Air raid sirens were regularly sounded. No neon lights were allowed. Citizens became air raid wardens and patrolled the streets at night. Midnight curfews were established. There were instructions issued regarding bombings and gas attacks. Black curtains hung in windows.

"We'd pretend the Japanese were coming in and hide out in the hills," Ivo said of the regular drills. It was the only time he ever handled a loaded gun.

The couple, like everyone in the United States then, made purchases of sugar, meat, gas and shoes with ration coupons.

Ivo had a 1931 Buick Roadster and could buy gas for 12 cents per gallon on the base.

"But you'd better not buy gas for someone else," he said.

Ivo attended purchasing school to become a buyer. Margret gave birth to the couple's first son in South Bend and then returned to California.

By December 1945, the war was over. Ivo had accumulated enough points to be discharged, and disappointed everyone by not joining the reserves.

'They told me I spoiled their record because everyone joined the reserves," he said. He worked in Buena Vista, Calif., for a while.

The Hoosiers wanted to be back home in Indiana though, selecting Warsaw at random. It was situated close to Margret's family in South Bend and his in Etna Green.

He worked at National Bank for almost five years and was a purchasing agent for 17 years at Playtime Products. He joined the Jaycees and Optimist clubs, serving as presidential terms for both organizations.

The Stutzmans had regular get-togethers with seven other couples for many years. They met all over the country. Now, just seven of the wives are still alive. Excepting Ivo, all the men are dead. [[In-content Ad]]