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| Robert Bushouse, WWII |
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| Current Address: |
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4652 Foxfire Trail, Portage, MI 49024 |
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| Email: |
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| Family Information: |
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1st Wife: Florence; Children: Stanley, Ann, Gary; 2nd Wife Barbara |
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| Hometown: |
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Kalamazoo, MI |
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| Date Entered Service: |
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April 19, 1944 |
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| Service Number: |
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36970781 |
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| Bomb Group: |
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468th |
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| Squadron: |
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794th |
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| Location of Unit: |
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Tinian |
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| Missions Flown: |
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| Hump Missions Flown: |
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| Targets: |
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Chiba, Sendai, Namazu, Fukui, Osaka, Saga |
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| Awards/Decorations: |
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Air Medal, Good Conduct Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, WWII Victory Medal
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| Service Schools Attended: |
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Basic Training-Shepard Field, TX ; Gunnery School-Ft. Myers, FL ; Central Fire Control School-Lowry Field, CO |
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| Military Specialty(ies): |
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MOS 580-Remote Control Turret Gunner (CFC) |
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| Rank Upon Discharge: |
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Sgt |
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| Crew Type: |
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Flight crew |
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| Airplane Serial No.& Name: |
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| Were you a POW? |
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No |
| If so, where? |
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| Were you interned? |
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No |
| If so, where? |
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| Date Transferred from the 58th: |
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| Date Discharged from the 58th: |
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Spring, 1946 |
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| Post-WWII Military Service: |
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None, but Bob did earn single engine land and single engine seaplane pilot licenses. Taught school at Clovis, NM from August of 1945 until spring of 1946. |
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| Post-WWII Civilian Occupation(s): |
| Wholesale Food Salesman; Kalamazoo City Inspector for Weights and Measures; Metro Transit Supervisor and Building Inspector for Kalamazoo City, MI.
His avocation was being a referee or umpire. He has a Thirty Year Award from the Michigan High School Athletic Assoc. He was Santa for eleven years at a local department store, and one of the clerks told me he was the best Santa they ever had.
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| Thoughts on the 58th Bomb Wing: |
| One day, while on a training flight over the ocean, the pins in the bombs had been removed but the bomb bay doors would not open completely so the bombs could not be dropped. George Harbinson held Bob by the ankles so Bob could reinsert the pins. The bomb bay doors would not close so Captain Ray gave the men the choice of jumping or staying. All the men stayed and Captain Ray landed the plane perfectly, with only inches between the doors and the runway. The men knew that any friction on the runway would have exploded the bombs. |
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| Comments: |
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| Crew of the Sentimental Journey: Captain Robert J. Ray - Pilot, who stayed in the service and retired as a Colonel; 2nd Lt. Jason O. Riley, Co-Pilot; 2nd Lt. George Harbinson - Bombardier; Tom Lamb - Flight Officer and Navigator; 2nd Lt. Emil Kott - Radar, who stayed in and retired as a Major; Sgt. Robert Bushouse - Central Fire Control; Sgt. George Wallace - Flight Engineer, later governor of Alabama; Sgt. Richard Zind - Radio Operator; Cpl. John Petroff - Right Gunner; Cpl. Arthur Feiner - Left Gunner; Cpl. George Leahy - Tail Gunner. |
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| Bob Bushouse, 1995 |
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