|
| Date or Year of Birth:
Mar 5, 1920
| Date of Death:
Jan 11, 2019
|
Last Known Hometown:
Newton, MA
|
TRAINING| Graduation date:
Feb 17, 1943
|
Victorville Army Air Field
Victorville, CA
| class No.: 43 03
| Graduation Rank:
1st Lieutenant
(in grade)
O419868
|
|
TIMELINE
| Date | Record | Squadron | Source |
|---|
| Date | Record | Squadron | Source |
|---|
| -000-11-30 | Assigned to: 90 / 438
| 90/438 | C5019 204 | | 1943-02-17 | graduation Rank:1st Lieutenant
(in grade) , Base: Victorville Army Air Field, Location: Victorville,CA | NA | See Training | | 1944-07-05 | AIR MEDAL Awarded GO number 33. | NA | See Awards section | | 1945-06-21 | HEADQUARTERS 434TH TROOP CARRIER GROUP, APO 133, U.S. ARMY
Special Orders Number 124. 1. the fol named O and Flt O, orgn indic, are reld fr asgmt present orgn reasgd, to 70th Reinforcement Depot and are atched to 128th Reinforcement Battalion, Sta# 385 to await transportation to the Zone of the Interior. PCS. EDCMR; 21 June 1945. TDN by Mt, mil acft or rail. Auth:TWX U0158 C, Hq, 53d Trp Carr Wg, dtd 20 June 1945, and VOCG, IX Trp Carr Comd 20 June 1945. [Being transfered back to the U. S. Zone of the Interior is what the Army called the United States.] | 73/434 | 434thTCG-21June1945-roster.pdf Probably from A0989 | | 1982-04-20 | Netherland awarded Orange Lanyard to glider pilots. See Awards section. | NA | NWWIIGPA | |
AWARDS Issue Date:
1944-07-05 |
Mission:
NORMANDY |
Ribbon:
 | Isssueing Agent & GO:
HQ, IX Troop Carrier Command
GENERAL ORDER No. 33 |
Award Title:
Air Medal, AM |
Source:
C5019 186, 53rd Wing |
Last Updated:
Apr 19, 2024 | 1. By direction of the President, under the provisions of Executive Order No 9158 (Bull 25, D, 1942), as amended by Executive Order No. 9242—A (Bull 49, D, 1942), and in accordance with authority delegated by the War Department, and pursuant to authority contained in paragraph 1, letter, file AG 200.6, Headquarters, Ninth air force, Subject “Award of the Air Medal”, addressed to the commanding general, IX Troop Carrier Command, dated 26 June 1944, the following named officers of the organizations indicated are awarded the air Medal, in recognition of meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flights in the European Theater of Operations during the period 16 October 1943 to 7 June 1944.
As Troop Carrier glider pilots, these officers meritoriously climaxed a most successful program of intensive, specialized training and joint maneuvers with airborne units in aerial flights by their superb performance in the initial troop Carrier phases of the invasion of the European continent.
The magnificent spirit and enthusiasm displayed by these officers, combined with skill, courage and devotion to duty is reflected in their brilliant operation of unarmed gliders of light construction at minimum altitudes and air speeds, in unfavorable weather conditions, over water, and into the face of vigorous enemy opposition, with no possibility of employing evasive action, and in their successful negotiation of hazardous landings in hostile territory, to spearhead the Allied invasion of the continent. Their respective duty assignments were performed in such an admirable manor as to produce exceptional results in the greatest and most successful airborne operation in the history of world aviation.
Hails from Nashua, NH | Issue Date:
1982-04-20 |
Mission:
HOLLAND |
Ribbon:
 | Isssueing Agent & GO:
Directorate - General of Personnel Honors and Wards Section
No.:P. O. 82/010/1662 |
Award Title:
the Order of William (Degree of the Knight)., OL |
Source:
NWWIIGPA::Hans den Brok research |
Last Updated:
Aug 5, 2019 | THE MINISTER OF DEFENCE HAVING REGARD TO:
The orders of the then Minister of War dated 8 October 1945 (Sec. x 25) and 20 September 1946 (Sec. P 203), by which permission was granted to the personnel of the American 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions respectively to wear the Orange Lanyard;
CONSIDERING:
That it is also desirable that the glider pilots who took part in the airborne operations in the central and southern parts of the Netherlands should have a lasting memento of that glorious battle;
DECREES:
- That the Glider Pilots of the IXth Army Air Force Troop Carrier Command who took part in the airborne operations and in the subsequent combat actions of the American 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions in the central and southern parts of the Netherlands in the period from 17 September to 28 November 1944, be permitted to wear the Orange Lanyard.
- This Decree shall take effect on the date of the signature
The Hague, 20 April 1982
(signed) H. van Mierlo
On May 9, 1982, the first presentation of the Orange Lanyard was made to nine glider pilots who were touring through Holland at that time.
When the Airborne units were honored by the Dutch Government, the Dutch assumed the glider pilots were part of he 82nd Airborne Division. The Dutch furnished the lanyards. Around 1981 someone discovered the Glider Pilots were not part of the Airborne Divisions. At the 1982 National World War II Glider Pilot Association reunion, Colonel Herman Tummers of the Royal Netherlands Embassy, Washington, D.C. presented the Order of William, Orange Lanyard to all pilots present who had flown the Market missions. A sufficient quantity of lanyards and certificates were then given to the NWW2GPA Secretary by the Colonel. All Market glider pilots who were not in attendance at that reunion and who could be located have since been presented. There are still a few who have never been located and who have not received the Orange Lanyard.
 | Isssueing Agent & GO:
needs research |
Award Title:
1st Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster |
Source:
|
Last Updated:
Apr 13, 2019 | Citation:
Not yet located
|
MISSIONS
Normandy
took off from Aldermaston, England at about 1:30
a.m. On June 6 (D-Day) and landed in our assigned landing zone in Hiesville,
France at 4:00 a.m.
...
Carried an anti-tank gun and its crew of three.
For further details see profile statement.
Needs Research
Holland
Needs Research
DOCUMENTS:
Interrogation Check Sheets (ICS) were located by our researcher Hans den Brok, from the NL
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ADDITONAL INFORMATIONNORMANDY
I flew in the Normandy and Market Garden missions.
On both missions, the pilot was John P. Otte, Jr., and I was co-pilot. We
were both first lieutenants.
On the Normandy mission we took off from Aldermaston, England at about 1:30
a.m. On June 6 (D-Day) and landed in our assigned landing zone in Hiesville,
France at 4:00 a.m. As you know, the weather was fairly clear. The field we
landed in was owned by the Bouffard family. It was the field in which the
first American glider landed. That glider was piloted by Lt. Col. Mike
Murphy, who unfortunately hit the trees at the end of the field, as a result
of which his co-pilot and the assistant division commander of the 101st
Airborne, General Pratt, were killed. Upon landing we rolled to the end of
the field to make room for any following gliders and thus hit the tail of
the second glider to land in that field. Our glider number was 25.
We carried an anti-tank gun and its crew of three. I do not know who the
tow pilot was. In as much as we landed on a farm field, the landing was
very bumpy, but without damage until we hit the other glider, as a result of
which we caused some damage to its tail, and we had to pull our glider back
in order to raise the nose in order to get the gun out.
We spent the next two days on the grounds of the Chateau de la Colombiere,
where the first American field hospital was established,leaving on the 8th
for Utah Beach, which I think was about 15 kilometers away. There we were
loaded onto a Duck and taken to an LST for our trip back the England. While
at the Chateau we guarded the hospital and went on a burial detail of some
12 or 15 or so American soldiers.
HOLLAND
We flew to Holland on September 19. The weather was so bad that the fighter
cover which was supposed to accompany us was told that our flight would not
be made. We came to land at Ostend, Belgium, I believe, and landed at the
town of Son at about 1:30 p.m.
Fa
ther Gerard Thuring, who in 1983 lived in Groesbeek, had an extremely
detailed record of the gliders, tow pilots, and other details of the
Holland airborne invasion. Our tow pilot was Col.Whitacre. Father Thuring
told me his co-pilot was Lt. Col. Parkinson. He also wrote me that we
carried Lt. Col. Cox, 1 Lt. McCormack, Tech Sgt. Klintwoth and Pvt. Heston.
I did not not know who they were. We also carried a Jeep. He also informed
me that our chalk number was 1 B.
We were at Son for about three days, and somehow got to Brussels for a
flight back to Aldermaston.
My training was at a number of bases, starting at Big Spring, Texas, in
September, 1942 and ending at Victorville, California in February, 1943.
We were at several bases after that until we shipped to England in late
March or early April, 1944. We at first flew small 65. h.p. aircraft, first
flying gliders at 29 Palms, California, and then flying the CG-4A's at
Victorville.
When we were stationed at Grenada Air Force Base in Mississippi, one of our
pilots , David Ihrig, was killed in a crash while being towed for a
demonstration in Texas.
I will be turning 90 years old next week, but I think what I have told you
is quite accurate, and hope it will be of some help to you.
Regards,
S. Robert Winer |
| No stories have been added as yet.
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From A Breathtaking Spectacle research by Hans den Brok |
