Foil: 9 Panel: 4 Column: 2 Line: 65

Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:

WWII – B-24 pilot and instructor and Standardization Board pilot instructor; Captain, U.S. Army Air Corps
Born January 20, 1921 in Arcola, Illinois, the 10th of 13 children. Graduated from high school in top 10% of his class in June 1940. Attended University of Illinois for a year and a half, participating in ROTC.
Enlisted January 23, 1942, taking the test to qualify to be trained as an aviation cadet. Trained in Oklahoma and Texas. Graduated advanced training and became an active duty “aeroplane pilot” in the Army Air Corps on October 9, 1942. Was made an instructor and taught crews in various locations including Pueblo, CO. In Pueblo he met another pilot, WASP Frances May Buford, whom he eventually married.
Left for Italy via Liberty ship on February 16, 1945 and arrived February 25, 1945; from Foggia, Italy, he flew 7 bombing missions (2 over northern Italy, 4 over Austria, and 1 over Germany) for which he received the Air Medal; sailed back to the U.S. June 4, 1945.
Final assignment was on June 27, 1946 at Goose Bay, Labrador with 1383rd AAF Base Unit, Labrador Base Command, as “Finance Officer Disbursing”. Returned to the U.S. on June 6, 1947. Honorably discharged July 30, 1947; credited with 1 year, 3 months, 9 days of foreign service and 3 years, 6 months, and 13 days of “continental” service. Official battles and campaigns were “Germany Po Valley – Apennines – Central Europe”; he received the “European African Middle Eastern Theater Medal with 4 Battle Stars,” the “American Theater Medal,” the “WWII Victory Medal,” and the “Air Medal”.
On September 12, 1946 he married Frances Buford. After he was discharged in 1947, they purchased a home in Sacramento, CA, and had four children, whom they took to the airport on Sundays to watch the planes take off and land.