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| Current Address: |
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4066 Blacksmith Road, New Tripoli, PA 18066
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| Email: |
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This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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| Family Information: |
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Parents: Walter and Elspeth; Wife: Grace; Children: Scott and Rebecca.
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| Hometown: |
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Allentown, PA
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| Date Entered Service: |
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January 15, 1941
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| Service Number: |
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33020311, A0-573976
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| Bomb Group: |
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462nd
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| Squadron: |
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768th
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| Location of Unit: |
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Gowen Field, Boise, ID (October, 1943)
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| Missions Flown: |
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9 missions as a passenger in my role as a Liaison Officer
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| Hump Missions Flown: |
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7 trips over the Hump to Kunming as a passenger in my role as a Liaison Officer
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| Targets: |
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| Awards/Decorations: |
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Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with 5 Battle Stars, Presidential Unit Citation
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| Service Schools Attended: |
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AAF Cadet School Oct 1942; OCS, Miami Beach Mar 1943; Combat Intelligence Apr 1943
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| Military Specialty(ies): |
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MOS 9301-Intelligence Staff Officer, Liaison Officer - XXBC to 14th AF
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| Rank Upon Discharge: |
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Captain
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| Crew Type: |
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Ground crew
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| Airplane Serial No.& Name: |
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| Were you a POW? |
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No
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| Were you interned? |
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No
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| Date Transferred from the 58th: |
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October, 1945
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| Date Discharged from the 58th: |
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December, 1945
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| Post-WWII Military Service: |
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Lt Col. (retired 10/77) - 9544th Air Force Reserve Unit, Allentown, PA
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| Post-WWII Civilian Occupation(s): |
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Returned to Pennsylvania Power & Light Co., Electrical Engineering, retired 11/82.
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| Thoughts on the 58th Bomb Wing: |
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Maybe you're interested in some history. I was in the original cadre for the 768th Sqdn. Of 462nd BG. As the l0th Antisub. Sqdn. Out of Galveston, TX was inactivated, we were all transferred to Gowen Field, Boise, ID. With assignment to 58th BW, we transferred to Walker AFB, Victoria, Kansas. We moved to Newport News, VA and boarded Liberty Ship S.S. Wm. B. McLellan and sailed in a 98-ship convoy to Oran, Algeria. By direction of President, the S.S. Champollion, a Peninsular & Orient liner, scheduled to take troops on board to Naples, was diverted to Oran. Those troops disembarked and we boarded her. We were supposed to head for India but someone forgot to tell the ship's Captain of the change in orders. We sailed into Naples and got bombed by German AF in harbor overnight. Sailed out next day through Suez Canal and Red Sea to Bombay and overland by railway to Calcutta. Finally settled at Sqdn. Base at Piardoba. 58th BW headquarters stationed at Kharagpur. When Marines neutralized Tinian Island in Marianas Group, we transferred there until the 509th Composite Group on Tinian dropped A-Bomb on Hiroshima.
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| Comments: |
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Mr. Bolestridge passed away January 30th 2007.
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