A former Armco plant manager wants to reunite 77 veterans or their survivors with photos taken at the plant of the brave employees who served during World War II.

Jerry Puff, who ran the plant from 1985 to 1991, came into possession of a small, rectangular cardboard box containing what he considers to be precious photographic evidence of Armco employees' sacrifices during the war.

Puff explained that each faded 4-by-5-inch envelope in the box contains from one to four photos of an Armco employee dressed in his or her military uniform.

He said the mill employed a full-time staff photographer at the time, and employees home on leave, preparing to ship out to boot camp or returning from their tour of duty were invited to have their picture taken at the mill.

Many soldiers, sailors, WACs or WAVEs are pictured smiling with one or more of their proud family members as well.

A large, sturdy negative accompanies each of the photos, which are in pristine condition given their age of 70-plus years.

The name of the employee pictured is neatly typed on the front of each envelope, along with the employee's pictured family members, branch of service and presumably the date he or she left for service and the month and year the photo was taken.

Some envelopes include a neatly handwritten note of “discharged” as well.

When Puff studied the eager and bright young faces looking back at him through the fog of time and war, he saw much more than an old-time picture of a grinning soldier or sailor.

“Nobody knows what these people went through,” Puff said. “Imagine yourself in temperatures of 10 below zero in the Ardennes Forest of Belgium and the Germans just broke through the lines.”

Puff, 76, said now is the time to put on a blitz to find the aged vets or their families.

“This is something that somebody is going to throw away,” he said.

Puff came into possession of the box of photos after a member at Butler American Legion Post 117 found them on a shelf and knew Puff would be the person to repatriate them.

The photos were handed over by veteran John Moore, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Puff was likely chosen as the box's recipient because he spearheaded an effort a few years ago to find the descendants of 38 sets of World War II veteran cremains found in funeral homes and other places across Butler County.

Puff found the families of each and every set of cremains.

“You never know what acts of bravery these guys were involved in during the war,” Puff said of the cremains and the Armco photos.

He said the photos were nearly lost when the company was taken over by AK Steel, which currently owns the plant.

Puff is determined that the photos shouldn't be lost to history and must be returned to the vets or their descendants.

“I'm an Armco guy born and raised in Butler,” Puff said. “The guys at Armco were good to me and I was good to them, I think. I want each picture to find a home with the veteran or their relatives.”

When Puff approached the Butler Eagle with the idea of printing an article about the photographs, management at the newspaper decided to go a step further and have the photos placed on the Eagle's website, www.butlereagle.com.

“We found Mr. Puff's efforts to find the rightful owners of these photos to be very noble,” said Ron Vodenichar, the Eagle's publisher and general manager, “and we are proud to be able to support his efforts.”

One of the veterans pictured alone and with his siblings and father was John Bobby, the late father-in-law of Eagle employee Donna Bobby.

Her husband, Mike, received the photos of his father from Puff on Friday.

“I really appreciate you giving me these pictures,” Bobby told Puff. “My whole family is very eager to see them.”

A humbled Puff was equally thrilled to be rehoming one of the Armco veterans, and hopes to have many more such encounters.

“I'm glad somebody gave them to me so I could do this, because I felt I owed it to the individuals in the pictures,” Puff said.

Bobby said his father served in the Army's 359th Infantry Regiment of the 90th Infantry Division and was on board the USS Sarah B. Anthony troop carrier when it was sunk just shy of the beach on D-Day at Normandy.

The Anthony was the only ship to be sunk during the D-Day Invasion.

“They were told to abandon ship and get your gear off the dead guys when you hit the beach,” Bobby said. “They got the whole division off the ship in 45 minutes.”

He said his father was wounded twice, receiving two Purple Hearts, and carried a rifle known as the “B.A.R.”“It was an automatic rifle,” Bobby said. “Basically it was the first American assault rifle.”He said because his father was a first generation American by parents from the Poland and Czechoslovakia area, he can picture the 359th's commander using the bilingual soldier from Butler to communicate with locals as the infantry passed through Eastern Europe.Bobby said his father, who died in 1978 at age 52, didn't talk about the war. His sons figure it was because of the actions he had to take against Axis fighters during wartime.Bobby was shocked to see his father's young face in Puff's picture, as he appeared so cheerful and carefree before being sent overseas and into the combat that would change him forever.“He was not the same when he came back,” he said. “You can see the innocence in this picture. That innocence was gone when I knew my Dad.”Bobby still misses his father although he's been gone for 40 years.“He loved his family,” Bobby recalled. “He was quiet. He could be humorous. I guess you could say I'm a lot like him.”Puff's photos can be viewed in alphabetical order at www.butlereagle.com.Those who recognize themselves or a relative can call Puff at 724-586-2441.

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