On 7-DEC 1941 in the early afternoon in Chicago, Paul and his friends were sitting in a drugstore when news of Pearl Harbor broke in the programming on the radio. Though, they were 16, like nearly every red-blooded American, they wanted to join the military immediately. Lines immediately began forming at the local recruiting office. Little did they know, there was plenty of war left and they got their wish two years later.
Bud joined the Army Air Corps. On their first mission they got a baptism by fire on their bombing mission to Hamm, Germany on 16-FEB 1945. Bud and his crew crash landed on mission number 1. He went on to fly 23 missions.
For the rest of Bud’s story, click on the pdf below.