Bill Shek wrote the following reply to Andrew Lievense's Mail Call article in the last newsletter. I thought it worth including here in case anyone else has questions about Medals and Award Citations.

13 June 2012

Hello Andrew,

My name is Bill Shek. I am an associate member of the 380th Bomb Group Association and just read your letter in the 380th BG Newsletter. My father was a B-24 pilot in the 380th BG, 528th Squadron the same time your grandfather was stationed there with the 531st.

It looks as if your grandfather was assigned to the Supply section of the squadron, at least for part of his tour. "Ground Staff" means he was not an aircrew member, but worked in support of the aircraft. "Engineering" and "Technical Supply" would mean he probably had something to do with structural or possibly electrical parts for the B-24s. "Quartermaster Supply Technician" meant he worked for the head of the Supply section, who was called the "Quartermaster." "Administrative NCO" means he was also assigned to the Administrative section (probably of the Supply section or the Squadron), in charge of the recordkeeping, filing, correspondence, etc.

As for the battle stars: Being in the Pacific Theater during WW2, he would have received a medal called the "Asia-Pacific Campaign Medal." I've attached a photo of it and its associated ribbon (the ribbon would have been worn on the dress uniform in place of the actual medal). On that ribbon would be placed a small bronze star, called a "battle" or "campaign" star, which represented a single battle campaign he was involved in. Up to 4 of these bronze battle stars (one for each separate campaign) would be put on the ribbon. When the 5th campaign was reached, the bronze stars were replaced by a single silver battle star (which represented 5 campaigns). So, if he had 2 bronze and one silver, that means he was in 7 campaigns.

Don't confuse these bronze/silver "battle stars" with the Bronze Star and Silver Star Medals--those were separate full medals awarded for bravery in battle. So, the battle stars you are referring to that your grandfather was awarded were the small stars that went on the ribbon. Without his records it will be difficult to pin down the exact campaigns or why he received other awards.

I'm going to recommend that you visit this website: http://www.archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records/

I'd recommend that your mother submit the request, or you submit it in her name, since she is his daughter and direct next of kin. For his awards, request copies of his Award Citations (I did this for my father's awards and received the info I wanted). The citation records will have information about the awards and why they were given to him. You will need to supply certain info about him, which is listed on the website. There was a huge fire in the records archives in St. Louis in the 70s and many WW2 vet records were destroyed. However, since then progress has been made on restoring some of them. So, if you get a reply that his records aren't available because of the fire, don't give up. Keep submitting the request--sometimes you may get a clerk who is too lazy to look very far for the records, then later someone else finds them for you in another request.

I hope this information helps a little. I know how frustrating it is to try and piece together a relative's WW2 history after he is gone. Good luck with your searches.

Best Regards,
Bill Shek (Jr)

 

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July 12, 2012 Hello, I came across these photos and I thought you might be able to put them to use. I think I bought these at a flea market or antique store when I was a kid, a young WWII aviation buff. I've held onto them for 20 or so years, and just came across them as I was going through some old files. I'd be curious if the man can be identified. Let me know. Best, Brian Meacham Los Angeles

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June 14, 2012

Milt Markowitz sent in this photo of the Breece Crew. Taken at Combat Crew Training in December 1944 at Tonopah, Nevada, prior to deploying in a B-24 across the Pacific to join the 528th BS. 380th BG.

TOP ROW: AC 2ND Lt. Bill Breece, CP F/O Milt Markowitz, Nav. F/O Del DiNapoli, Bomb. F/O Bill Rosenberg, FE Sgt. Leonard Hurley, BOTTOM ROW: Cpl. Robert Krater, Cpl. Robert Bowers, RO Sgt. Ernest Bowie, Cpl Robert Clark, Cpl Bruno Sirus.

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July 11, 2012

Hi, my name is Evan Agresti. My grandfather, Thomas E Cooper, was in Locke's crew in the 380th bg. He was the belly turret gunner. Unfortunately he passed away in 2005 before I knew there was information on his squadron, otherwise he could have named them all. I have two pictures of his group one of them taken at 20,000 feet of a man in the flight suit looking out with his mask on. The one with the single man on the airplane I am not sure who he is. My grandpa is the smallest guy with the ripped pants in all the photos. On the reverse of the picture the guys are labeled. the back of the photo says:

Atkin-Pennington-Mickey
jacek-Locke
-Tom-Harrow-

Evan Agresti

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