Alaska Highway, Company E.Veteran of WW2 and Korean War.
Born: 20 Feb 1916, Duluth, St. Louis, Minnesota. Died: 18 June 1964, St. Louis County, Minnesota. Buried: Lakeside Presbyterian Church Cemetery. Enlisted: 25 November 1942.
Education: In 1940 Census he is listed as completing 4 years of high school. On his 1940 WW2 draft card, he was employed as a fireman with the Duluth Fire Department.
David arrived on the Alaska Highway in December 1942. He was assigned with the 93rd Engineer Regiment. They had just completed the middle section of the Alaska Highway, 240 miles. In December they were loading up equipment and supplies for their next assignment in the Aleutians. From 3 January 1943 to 18 February 1943, the 93rd lived at Chilkoot Barracks in Haines, Alaska before shipping out to the Aleutians.
His father was Edward C. Mehling, born in Germany, and was chief of firehall #8 of Duluth, MN for 19 years. His mother was Kathryn Pederson Mehling, born in Denmark.
David married Janet Merlien Flewell (1918-2006) in King County, Washington on 10 July 1944. His witnesses were two officers – Howard E. Dieker, a physician from the 93rd Engineers and William H. Locklin also from the 93rd.
On June 18, 1964, twenty-seven firemen and seven rigs responded to a fire at a Duluth duplex. The victims of that fire was 3-month-old Regina Jackson and assistant fire chief, David Mehling. He died at 4:30 am in a hospital from smoke inhalation. Mehling was a WW2 and Korean War veteran, survived by his wife and a son and a daughter. He had been a fire fighter since 1937 and an assistant chief since 1962. [Reported in The Winona Daily News, Winona, Minnesota, June 18, 1964].
Serial #O-1106950
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