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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:
Paul Quirk

Col Bahr was one of the youngest bomber pilots in World War II, entering the service in October 1942 and retiring July 1, 1965 with 23 years of active service, flying B-52s at the end. He considered his legendary exploits as part of his job. One such occasion was after a bombing run over Leipzig, Germany through a sky filled with flak and hostile planes. His B-17 was shot full of holes. His intercom and radios were shot up and he had no idea of the condition of his crew (although he knew his co-pilot was dead).Roger, badly wounded, brought the damaged plane back only to find out that all of the other 9 crewmembers were dead. Real heroism from a real hero.

Col. Bahr's decorations include the Distinguished Flying Cross, 7 Air Medals, 2 Purple Hearts, as well as Presidential Citations and Commendations. Roger retired from aviation on June 1, 1986 after 44 years of Aviation experience, his last 13 years as Chief Pilot of Katy Industries, Elgin, IL. He logged an incredible 22,112 hours of flying. It's important for future generations to hold sacred the contributions and sacrifices made by Roger and his generation and this Wall is here just for that purpose. In conclusion, Roger put it best at his retirement party from Katy Industries....There is a saying, "Old soldiers never die-- they just fade away." In the case of pilots, they just lose their needle, ball, airspeed and, in my case, hearing.

Happy landings to Col Bahr and all who flew with him.