Ken Dressler For World War II glider pilot Ken Dressler, also a Korean and Vietnam War veteran, his service in World War II was most important to him, after his love of family. Mr. Dressler died at his home in Hawaii Saturday, August 14, 2010, at the age of 92. He had suffered a heart attack in June.

He was born and grew up in Akron, Ohio.

Mr. Dressler went to Cedarville to hunt and fish, beginning in the 1930s.

Impatient for the U.S. to enter the war, in February 1941 he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force. In 1942 he transferred to the U.S. Army Air Corps and left for the European theater in April 1944.

In 1945, in Cedarville, he met his future wife, Nancy Werner. They were married for 58 years. They were best man and matron of honor in Cedarville at the 1963 wedding of Wayne and Joanne Honnila, Mrs. Dressler’s niece. Over the years, Mr. Dressler and his family would visit Cedarville whenever they could.

Known to his military buddies as "Connie," Mr. Dressler retired from the U.S. Air Force in 1970 as a lieutenant colonel.

Beginning with the Normandy Invasion during World War II, he flew five combat glider missions, a high total for a glider pilot. He flew a C-47 during the Battle of the Bulge. Author Irwin Shaw even modeled a character after him in his war novel, "The Young Lions." His last flight occurred on the anniversary of VJ Day, the end of World War II.

After leaving the Air Force, he sold real estate in Ventura, California, where he and his wife built a home in 1954. They spent half the year in Hawaii, where they bought a second house in 1980.

He is survived by his wife, Nancy; four children and their families, Lee Ann and Chet Green, Terry and Janis Dressler, Todd and Mary Dressler, and Brian and Wendy Dressler; six grandchildren and their families, Melanie and Andres Rodriguez, Lehua and Kris Alvarez, Angelina and Jon Kissida, Nicholas Dressler, Terra Dressler, and Tyler Dressler; and three greatgrandchildren, Keein, Kris, and Kalei Alvarez.

Interment will be in November at Arlington National Cemetery.