‘Solid as a rock’ - World War II veteran Alvin Weber established produce business in Russellville

Alvin Weber was inducted into the U.S. Army Air Forces in World War II and served as an aircraft armorer on Guam. He became a respected businessman in Russellville, also serving on the town council and helping establish the local Lion’s Club. Courtesy of Mark Weber.

Alvin Weber was born on a small farm south of Russellville in 1911, where he and his three brothers were instilled with a rural work ethic at a very early age. As the years passed and the Great Depression began to carve away the country’s economic comforts, Alvin found the means to scratch out a living until his efforts were interrupted by the country’s call to arms.
 
“My dad had a twin brother, Alfred, and they both attended the nearby one-room Enterprise School,” said Mark Weber. “He graduated the eighth grade and later moved to Lohman to open a produce business,” he added.
 
The young man started to purchase cream, eggs, milk and other produce from local farmers, selling them at a marginal profit locally while also making shipments to packaging houses via the Bagnell Branch of the Missouri Pacific Railroad.
 
In 1936, Weber married the former Neva Eberhart from the Russellville area. The couple moved to Sedalia in 1939, where Alvin was employed to drive a truck for Swift & Company, a business that purchased and sold produce on an expanded scale.
 
“My parents decided to come back to Russellville in 1941 and opened Weber Produce,” said Mark Weber. “He ran the business until February 1943, when he received notice that he was being inducted into the military for World War II.”
 
As Mark Weber explained, his father had registered for the military draft in Pettis County a couple of years earlier while still living in Sedalia. The February 26, 1943 edition of the Sedalia Weekly Democrat noted that Alvin Weber was among 75 local men “called into the Armed Forces” and “(o)rdered by the board to report on March 5 (1943).”
 
Less than two years into his new business endeavors, he shuttered Weber Produce in preparation for his departure for military service. He was inducted into the U.S. Army at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, on March 6, 1943, and assigned to the Army Air Forces.
 
Intially, he was sent to Florida to complete his basic training at the Miami Beach Training Center. From there, he traveled to Aberdeen, Maryland, for six weeks of advanced training to learn the maintenance of small weapons.
 
“He did a lot of training stateside that included gunnery training in the Mojave Desert,” said Mark Weber. “Later, he also trained at Ardmore, Oklahoma; Dalhart Army Air Base, Texas; and in Russell, Kansas.”
 
The instruction and training helped prepare Weber for performance as an armorer for the Boeing B-29 Superfortress—a four-engine heavy bomber. His military records indicate that he supervised five personnel, all of whom were trained to work on the flight line inspecting the guns on the aircraft and making any necessary repairs to keep the weapons in a peak operational condition.
 
Assigned to the 458th Bomb Squadron of the 330th Bomb Group, Weber deployed to North Field on Guam in January 1945. For the next several months, Weber and his crew not only maintained the small guns on the aircraft but loaded and prepared the bombs for their assorted strategic bombing missions against Japanese targets.
 
Although his primary duty was on the flight line at Guam, Weber also performed duty on the islands of Saipan and Tinian. On one occasion, he had the opportunity to locate and visit his younger brother Tony, who was serving with the Army on Saipan.
 
Mark Weber explained, “After the war came to an end, the 458th participated in a show of force during the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945. On that day, my father flew on a B-29 loaded with bombs because the U.S. did not entirely trust the Japanese.”
 
He added, “After the Japanese officially surrendered, my dad’s bomber dropped its bombs in the ocean during the return flight.”
 
 The 34-year-old staff sergeant returned to the United States on February 6, 1946, receiving his honorable discharge at Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis a week later. Reuniting with his wife in Russellville, he soon reopened Weber Produce and began the process of reintegrating into his community.
 
In the years after the war, he and his wife raised two sons, John and Mark. In 1954, Weber erected a new building and expanded his offerings to include products such as feed, grains, seeds, veterinary supplies in addition to performing custom grinding and mixing.
 
His spirit of public service included involvement in many worthwhile projects. In later years, he served on the local school board, helped establish the Lion’s Club in Russellville and was a long-time member of the town council. Additionally, he helped form the Russellville Rural Fire Association and was a volunteer firefighter for many years.
 
“In 1973, the business was sold to Neal and Mary Crawford, who changed the name to Crawford Feed and Farm Supply,” noted Russellville’s sesquicentennial book of the former Weber Produce.
 
A member of Trinity Lutheran Church in Russellville, Weber was 94 years old when he passed away in 2006. He and his wife are interred in Enloe Cemetery west of Russellville.
 
When pondering his father’s participation in World War II, Mark Weber noted that little was ever spoken about his experiences in the Western Pacific, but he demonstrated several commendable traits that made him an individual worthy of admiration.
 
“Dad always struck me as someone that was solid as a rock,” he said. “Although I am sure he had things that he worried about, if and when he did worry, he never revealed it around us.”  
 
He added, “He was also a man of great faith, and I always looked up to him because I was proud of everything he represented and accomplished.”  
 
  Jeremy P. Ämick is author of the historical compilations “Hidden History of Cole County,” “Moments on the Moreau,” and “Beyond the Moreau.”    

After returning from World War II, Weber re-opened Weber Produce, which he operated until his retirement in 1973. Courtesy of Mark Weber