ST. LOUIS – When the family of Mel “Sandy” Masters came to donate memorabilia to the Jefferson Barracks POW-MIA Museum, they discovered a small group of workers doing what they could to honor those like Masters.  Four members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 1 were volunteering to provide electrical upgrades donated by the IBEW/NECA Electrical Connection partnership.

Left to right, Bobbie Schicker, daughter of Mel “Sandy” Masters; her husband, Steve; IBEW Local 1 volunteers Dale Fluegge, Rick Dinnella, Mike Callahan and Austin Renshaw.

The four volunteers were part of the IBEW Local 1 Veterans Committee and were installing electrical infrastructure for a heating upgrade at the museum.  They included Dale Fluegge, Rick Dinnella, Mike Callahan and Austin Renshaw. Dinnella and Callahan are both U.S. Army veterans. Later this year, the volunteers will wire the new heaters providing greater comfort for museum visitors during the winter months.

Masters was with the 589^th, 106^th infantry Division when he was captured Dec. 16, 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge.  He was sent to Stalag 9B as a prisoner of war.   When Masters’ daughter Bobbie Schicker and her husband Steve encountered the IBEW volunteers, they ask them to join them in a photo with the memorabilia being donated. 

The Electrical Connection IBEW/NECA partnership represents more than 5,000 highly skilled and safe IBEW Local 1 electricians and the more than 130 electrical contractors who employ them.  For more than 80 years, the partnership has trained more electricians/communication technicians than any education program in Missouri. Its award-winning work provides safe and reliable electrical construction, maintenance, repair and replacement services across Missouri, the nation and the world. Learn more at www.electricalconnection.org.