Verlan writes: "I attended schools in St. Anthony and Heman, Idaho, where I excelled in spelling and track, and began high school at Rexburg when I was thirteen years old. In 1944 I was inducted into the service of the United States Army. I left for Camp Roberts in February, 1944, where I received training in the heavy artillery. I was sent to Camp Van Darn, Mississippi, where I was assigned to the 101 Airborne, a replacement unit, and sent to Fort Sill for further training. I sailed from New York January 4, 1945, landed at LaHavre, France, January 14. Parachuted to the front lines in the "Battle of the Bulge" on January 14th under the command of General Alexandra Patch of the Seventh Armored Division. The Seventh Army wiped up berammergau, "shrine" of the famous Passion Play, smashed into the heart of Munich, the birth place of pagan Nazism. We were in many fierce battles. I was in the hospital 45 days suffering from a shrapnel wound. We were at Berchlisgaden, Austria, when VE Day arrived. After VE Day, I was chauffeur for Colonel Turner Monroe until I returned home. I was discharged at Camp Sheridan August 30, 1946. After my marriage to Amy Valerie Sewell, I leased and operated a new Texaco service station in St. Anthony, Idaho. I sold this station and moved back to Rexburg and went into the trucking business. I am now dispatcher and own partnership in two large transport trucks. I have traveled continually for the last nine and a half years. I enjoy snow skiing and water skiing. I am also fond of good reading."