Introduction - Larry from Edwardsville IL

After reading the newcomer information, I looked and sure enough the activation message was in the spam email. Never thought to look there!

I'm Larry and my user name isn't unique. Just first name, middle initial. I'm 63 and the son of a WWII Army Air Corp Veteran, MOS 911 Aircraft Armorer. I've been interested in WWII since I was little, I would buy the paperback books in school of American Aces, read Sgt Rock comic books, watched Vic Morrow on Combat on TV. I would always ask Dad what he did in the war and only got the comments that he loaded bombs on airplanes.

After graduation from High School, I enlisted in the Air Force and ultimately made a career out of it, retiring in 1989 in the grade of SMSgt (E-8). During my time in the AF, whenever I would visit home, I'd ask Dad a little more about his service time. I got more tidbits, but could never get the full story. He was attached to the 315th Bomb Wing in Guam. I couldn't find a lot of information about the wing on line, so started a web page for the unit. 315th Bomb Wing (VH) and Northwest Field, Guam, WWII The 315th flew the B-29B model with the only armament being the tail gun. All other gun turrets and the CFC was eliminated. The aircraft also used an APQ-7 (Eagle) bombing radar and APG-15 tail gun radar.

I'm originally from Michigan, but after AF retirement settled just outside of St Louis MO on the Illinois side of the river.

I'm continually interested in WWII, especially the B-29s, the Pacific Theater, the Aviation Engineers, and the Signal Corps. Not much is heard about the Aviation Engineers, but they build a lot of airfields and other construction projects. They built the airfields on Guam with help from the SeeBees and throughout the Southwest Pacific Areas. As I said, not much is known about them and in my waning days hope to correct that oversight. My time in the Air Force was in Communications, the Air Force Communications Service/Command (AFCS/AFCC). During WWII the Army Airways and Communications Service was a fore runner of the AFCS/AFCC units I was in.

I play guitar, for my own amazement, and like the blues and rock. I used to play Call of Duty, but my computer hardware hasn't kept up with the requirements for the game.

Thanks for the forum, I hope to find a lot of good information here. If anyone thinks I can help them, don't be afraid to ask.

Larry

 

G'day Larry!
In Australia, forward airbases were often constructed by the pilots themselves!... Money and batar would be used to try an enlist the locals to help, but were quite often afraid of the possible Japanese reprisals and rarely turned up for work! Bloody RAAF not looking after its members...B-29 is a very cool aircraft to specialise in...very advanced and a forerunner to everything BIG. In mind the modern big "Bs" all have the 29 as their mother. Glad to decided to hop aboard...enjoy yourself.

CAC

 

Good to meet you Larry, welcome aboard!

 

Hi Larry,

I'm 55 and live near you in Ballwin, across the river..... GO RAMS !!
You're at a great place to discuss WW2 events. Every person on here is top shelf !!

Steve

 

Welcome to the forum, Larry. Excellent intro. I look forward to reading your contributions to the forum. :waving:

 

Larry you had my dream job, welcome to the forum

 

Welcome, Larry. I also live in Illinois! Thank you for your service, I appreciate it.

 

Welcome to the Forums Larry and Thank You for your service!

 

Thanks everyone for the welcome messages. Looks like some of you are from my neck of the woods, not a bad neck either.

I checked my settings and it appears it is set to receive messages from everyone, so I'm confused. Not the first time that has happened!

See y'all around campus!

 

Welcome Larry, enjoy your stay with us.

 

Hi there Larry and welcome to the forum.

 

Larry Welcome aboard