HOW I MET BEN MULLER
By Kelly McNichols
Here is a photo of Ben Muller taken in 2005 when he visited me in Kansas.
I met Ben Muller in April 2005 when he came with Lynn Daker to the
memorial service I was having for Finley C. Smith, Jr. and the crew of
Seabiscuit. I’m not entirely sure when I talked to him the first time.
Ben lived in Houston, TX and I was living in Kansas. I talked with him
several times on the phone and invited him to come to the service. Ben
told me that he had prostate cancer and other
medical problems which made travel difficult. I encouraged him to come anyway.
As the date for the service approached, Ben told me that he would try
and come. He said that he would drive to Boulder, CO and ride to Kansas
with 500th Bomb Squadron Association President, Lynn Daker. It occurred
to me that the trip would not be short for Ben. Traveling from Houston
to Boulder, then to Kansas seemed rather circuitous to me. I thought
that being in strange surroundings
might by uncomfortable for him.
I made accommodations for all the 500th BS members planning to attend.
Rex Reheis and wife, Maxine as well as Ralph and Thelma Norman,
original crewmates of Smith, stayed at my house. Ben and Lynn stayed
with a first cousin of Finley. Two other members attending found their
own lodgings.
My thought that Ben might be intimidated with new surroundings was
completely unfounded. I later found that Ben thrived on the
unconventional. During the stay in my hometown, Ben would walk around
and just talk to people on the street. There was nothing shy about this
eighty plus year old man. He went to the local bank; he went to the
Café; he just walked around and met people.
Ben spoke about his WWII experiences at a talk prior to the memorial
service at a local high school. All of the vets had an opportunity to
speak. Ben shared that he had been a Japanese prisoner and answered
questions from the students. I remember asking if he had been beaten by
his captors. He said that he had been, but he chose not to think about
that too much.
Later that summer, Ben rode his bike to a BMW motorcycle rally in Ohio.
He stopped by my place and stayed for a couple of days. I remember his
wife, Ruby, telling me once that Ben was an 18 year old in and 80 year
old man’s body. That statement described Ben
Muller very well. While at my house, Ben got a call on his cell phone.
It was some motorcyclists he had met at the rally. While on the phone
talking to them, Ben handed me his phone and wanted me to talk to two
Polish motorcyclists he had just met. I talked to them for a short
time. After that discussion, a thought struck me then which had been
forming for a time. If you are a friend of Ben, all of Ben’s friends
will become your friends. Shortly after that, Ben was sharing with me
of his cousin, Claude, who lived in France. Ben picked up his cell
phone, called Claude and handed me the phone. I spoke to Claude for a
short time. That call reinforced my thought about Ben’s friends.
Over Labor Day that year, 2005, the 500th BS had its biannual reunion
in Washington, DC. My family was invited to attend. Our flight took us
through Houston, so we called Ben while we were at the airport. Ben and
Ruby arrived in DC a short time after us. When I saw him, one of the
first things Ben said to me was that he had met several Chinese
students at the airport in Houston and they happened to be on his
plane. A few days later, while the reunion attendees were at the
Lincoln and Korean War Memorials, Ben ran into these
same students and talked with them again. What are the odds of that?
With Ben Muller and his ability to talk, it was a common occurrence.
Ben was shot down April 3, 1945 and spent the remainder of the war as a
prisoner on Hainan Island. Ben weighed less than ninety pounds when he
was rescued by OSS officer John K. Singlaub in Operation Pigeon. This
incident is documented in Singlaub’s book, Hazardous Duty. Airmen were
being executed late in the war so they would be unable to speak of the
war crimes witnessed and what they had endured. Ben’s family thought he
had been killed in the plane crash but found later he had survived. A
photo of Ben in
front of the memorial in El Paso, TX listing his name as killed during
the war is: http://500thbsq-b25s.com/ photosnow/ben2.html. Ben told me
that it was rather strange to see your name as being killed on a
memorial stone.
For all those in the 500th BS Association knew, Ben had been killed in
1945. It happened that three men thought to be killed in the war, Ben
Muller, Merritt Lawlis and James McGuire, attended the same reunion in
Washington, DC in 1983. They had survived. I understand their
appearance caused quite a stir. It so happened that the Banquet speaker
for the 2005 reunion, Don Lopez, was the same speaker for the ’83
banquet. In his remarks in ’05, Lopez mentioned after these three men
thought dead appeared, his scheduled
talk seemed irrelevant.
I recently discovered that Merritt Lawlis published a book in 2008
about his time as a prisoner entitled Winking at Death. I haven’t read
it yet, but plan on doing so soon.
Ben was diagnosed with dementia several years ago. I tried to call him
periodically for two reasons. First, I truly enjoyed talking with him.
Secondly, I tried to talk about things which I thought he could
remember. I hope he benefited as much as I did.
Ben passed away January 2, 2010. To say that I miss him is an
understatement. As I reflect on the men I have been privileged to know,
Ben Muller, Rex Reheis, Ralph Norman and Lynn Daker; all gone now, our
actual time together was brief. What transpired among us is monumental
and I thank the Lord that I was fortunate to have crossed paths with
each them.