Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Aces High General Discussion => Topic started by: SkyRock on July 07, 2007, 08:58:21 PM
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Girlfriends late Grandfather was a WWII gunner in a B-29, PTO. How do I find information on his service?
Thanks,
Mark
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http://www.ancestry.com
That is a good place to look to get idea anyway. My mom is really into that and she learned more about my relatives who were pilots/gunners in fighters and bombers during WWII
(yes, had one in a pony squad)
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Try this site, http://www.archives.gov
You might need some basic information, such as branch of service, time of service, and the usual personal info. What your basically looking for is called a DD-214. The 214 are military discharge records. Try and google "DD-214" as well. There are several organizations that help track down veteran's records.
Good luck, it's going to take a while to get some results back.
Obie:aok
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any luck so far skyrock?
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He was in the 500th bomber squadron and was a right gunner on a b-29. He flew 23 missions and his obituary said he recieved two flying cross medals but a search of recipients turned up nothing. His name was Howard Clyde Halstead. Any information would be helpful.
Thanks,
Mark
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Here ya go skyrock
20th Air Force
21st Bomber Command
73rd Bombardment Wing
500th Bombardment Group
883rd Squadron
Z SQUARE 43 "BEN'S RAIDERS" SER. #44-69725
CREW MISSIONS 30 PLUS 1 POW.
AIRCRAFT MISSIONS 38
PILOT AC 1/LT. BEN B. WHITE
COPILOT 1/LT. JAMES H. BENSON
BOMBARDIER 1/LT. JAMES BRYAN
FLT. ENG. 1/LT. ANTHONY F. SLIVINSKY
NAVIGATOR 1/LT. PATRICK F. VACCARO
RADIO SGT. ADDISON H. MERRICK
L. GUN. SGT. HOWARD C. HALSTEAD
R. GUN. SGT. JOSEPH J. THOMAS
RING GUN. SGT. EVERETT D. MARSHALL
RADAR SGT. EARL F. BURNETT
TAIL GUN. SGT. ALEX J. ZEMONT
CREW CHIEF M/SGT. FRED A. DEHABERMANN
NOTES: THIS CREW ALTERNATED BETWEEN AIRCRAFT 42, 43, AND 47.
LT. WHITE WAS TRANSFERRED TO WING AND REPLACED BY CAPT.
KENNETH B. SMITH. LT. BRYAN LEFT THE CREW AND ACCORDING
TO LT. VACCARO, LT. CHARLES SMADER FLEW AS THEIR
BOMBARDIER FOR THEIR LAST EIGHT MISSIONS.
http://www.powmiaff.org/20thAAF/index.html
http://www.powmiaff.org/20thAAF/500thBG/883rdSq/SquadronLists/883sq.html
edit: found a forum for this wing, you can prolly find more info there http://www.armyairforces.com/forum/m_74841/tm.htm
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hey skyrock bro i dont know if you been to the website yet or not but check this out. you might be able to meet some of them at one of their reunions and get first hand from someone that was there with Howard.
heres some things about them that i liked
The 500th Bomb Squadron ("Rough Raiders") -- one of four squadrons of the 345th Bomb Group (M) -- was activated at Columbia Army Air Base, South Carolina on 11 November, 1942. After training in the United States and Australia, combat operations of the 500th Bomb Squadron began in New Guinea in June 1943. Shortly after flying a few combat missions against the Japanese at medium altitudes, the squadron's B-25 "Mitchell" bombers were converted to strafers and, for the remainder of its existence, the squadron flew low-level strafer-bombing missions. From New Guinea, the squadron continued its combat operations "island hopping" northward, winding up against the Japanese homeland itself in early August 1945.
The 500th Squadron used the following major bases (not including staging bases) in its move northward: Port Moresby, New Guinea; Dobodura, New Guinea; Nadzab, New Guinea; Biak, N.E.I.; Tacloban, Leyte. P.I.; San Marcelino, Luzon, P.I.; Clark Field, Luzon, P.I.; Ie Shima, Ryukyus Islands. The 500th was deactivated at Ie Shima on 11 November, 1945.
During the three years of its existence in World War II, the 500th contributed well to the following overall combat record of the 345th Bomb Group:
10,609 Sorties
58,562 Combat flying hours
6,340 Tons of bombs dropped
12,586,000 Rounds of ammunition expended
177 Planes lost
588 Personnel lost on flights
260 Japanese vessels destroyed
275 Japanese vessels damaged
260 Japanese planes destroyed on the ground
107 Japanese planes destroyed in the air
POST WAR NOTE: The 500th Bomb Squadron was reactivated on 19 July, 1954 at Langley AF Base, Virginia. Reactivation was as the 500th Bomb Squadron (Tactical) of the 345th Bomb Group (Tactical). Types of aircraft flown by the reactivated 500th were: B-26 (Douglas) from 1954-1955 and B-57 (Canberra) flown from 1955-1959. The post-war 500th was deactivated on 25 June, 1959 at Langley AFB, Virginia.
COMMANDERS OF THE
500TH BOMB SQUADRON
Charles M. Hagest 11 Nov 1942 to 29 Mar 1944
Keith E. Dougherty 29 Mar 1944 to 28 Aug 1944
Max H. Mortensen 28 Aug 1944 to 21 Feb 1945
Thomas R. Bazzel 21 Feb 1945 to 5 May 1945
Robert B. Canning 5 May 1945 to 11 Jul 1945
Robert F. Todd 11 Jul 1945 to 25 Oct 1945
William G. Paukovich 25 Oct 1945 to 11 Nov 1945
here is the link for the website
Click Here (http://500thbsq-b25s.com/)
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the 500th bomb squadron flew b 25s, think skyrock had some bad info there,
that was the first place I looked.
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Originally posted by McDeath
the 500th bomb squadron flew b 25s, think skyrock had some bad info there,
that was the first place I looked.
"Ben's Raiders" was the B-29 he gunned for, but it was left gunner though! Thanks a bunch for the info!
Mark
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ya B-29s where not in the 500th bomber squadron.
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ok found it if you want to know more bro you might look here and see if you can find some of his fellow squadron members
here is the link Click Here (http://www.20thaf.org/)
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He was in 73rd Bomber wing, 500th bomber group, 883 bomber squadron and he gunned left gunner on "Ben's Raiders" a B-29. I appreciate the help guys, now how do I find their missions? Word was that his crew helped rescue another crew, but I find this hard to believe because I don't think a B-29 landed somewhere to pik up folks.
Mark
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Cool Kilz I didnt see that site. Very interesting[insert] Sgt. Schultz pic here[/insert]
Sadly Bombers.com is no longer around, it was the best source of info and research links.
Theres another b-29 site has some info on 73rd bombardment wing, it was late last night and I did not link to it.
If skyrock wants more info than the web has, he needs to write to or call the 73 BW Assoc. Historian, all the contact info is on one of their reunion fliers which are easy to find on the net. The last one was a month or so ago. Some of the people in the group have email addys listed but not the historian. Thats the guy you need to know.
I recently did all this stuff looking for info on my uncle, who was a WG on a B-17 in the 8th AF.
Thats how I knew where to look, it did take hours of reading crew records to find his name.
It was well worth it to be of help...
SGT. Halstead
edit: oops forgot the link to the other site- http://b-29.org/
edit 2: There's a good amount of info on the 73rd, including the .pdf flier with the wing assoc. info.