B-25 Pilot’s Uniform
Greetings,
I am sharing one of the most important pieces in my collection today. This is a partial grouping Attributes to a B-25 Pilot who I knew as my great grandfather. Enjoy, it’s not much but it’s interesting.
My great grandpa grew up just like every other American boy during the Great Depression, searching for something better. He was born in 1921 and the third of four kids. He had to take a job to provide for the family at 17 after his father died of a heart attack. When Pearl Harbor was attacked, he knew he was going to be sent overseas so he married my great grandma two days later. His enlistment Date did not come until September 1942 however. He joined the Air Corps and was sent to an airfield somewhere near San Antonio. The class of pilots werd later sent to an airfield in Southern California. I wish I would have asked more questions than I already had such as the airfields he had been at. He was never sent overseas and I have never understood how he wasn’t. Somehow he became a flight instructor after getting his wings and discharged having surpassed 500 hours at the yoke of the Mitchell. They were not far from the Grand Canyon in California, he said most flights he took would pass over the Canyon. Airmen that had been shot down in the Pacific and Europe that became POWs began to arrive at the airfield towards the end of the war. Most had never Seen the Grand Canyon being small town kids of that generation. He would offer them a trip to the Grand Canyon before they were discharged and sent home. He would offer those that were Pilots to fly the B-25 to the Canyon if they wanted to. Most were not interested in flying such a small bomber compared to their B-17s and B-24s. Some days he would fly the B-25 full of former POWs multiple times a day building a lot of flight time. It’s another thing I wish I remembered more about when he told me about it. The POWs were either being paid extra before discharged or something because of this extra flight. He passed on a few years ago not far from his centennial birthday. I was at Football practice when I found out he had passed, such a strange feeling.
As I previously said, this is just a partial grouping of his. I remember there was another visor and uniform at his funeral. Along with other photos of him, Someone in the Family has what I would call the other half. This half consists of his Ike jacket, crusher cap, Sterling Wings, and seven photographs. The Ike has a beautiful bullion patch and serge backed wings. I noticed the ghost of an insignia on the right cuff for the first time while photographing this, not sure what that is. The crusher is a private purchased example from Los Angeles that had the stiffener removed. Both have terrible mothing because they were stored in the garage for decades.
Ben
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