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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:
Ms. Kathleen Machowski

When I enlisted in the Army Air Force in April, 1943, during World War II, I requested, and was granted, assignment to the Aviation Cadet (Air Crew) program. This program involved five weeks of training as an Army Private at the Basic Training Center No. 10 in Greensboro, NC; fourteen weeks as an Aviation Student at Mount Union College in Alliance, OH; five weeks at the Army Air Forces Classification Center in San Antonio, TX (where I was found to be qualified for aerial navigation training); eight weeks as an Aviation Cadet at the Navigator Preflight School at Ellington Field, TX; and eighteen weeks as an Aviation Cadet at the Advanced Navigation School at Ellington Field, TX.
After my graduation as an Aerial Navigator and commissioning as a 2nd Lt., I was sent to Westover Field, MA for assignment to a Heavy Bomber crew and eleven weeks of training for overseas duty in B-24 Liberator Bombers. Our crew was then sent to Italy and assigned to the 449th Bomb Group of the Fifteenth Air Force. During the twenty four weeks that I was on active duty with the 449* Bomb Group I was called up to fly on a Bombing mission forty seven times, but because of bad weather or other problems, I flew on only thirty completed missions. Therefore, my military record shows that I received only thirty mission credits.
My service in Italy qualified me to wear the European African Middle Eastern Campaign ribbon with four Battle Stars and the World War II Victory medal. I was also promoted to the rank of !st Lt. and awarded the Air Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters.
When peace was declared in Europe on 8 May 1945 the 449th Bomb Group was deactivated, and 1 was finally discharged from military duty on 15 Oct, 1945.