Obituaries (1 Viewer)

TO

Airmen Missing in Action from Korean War are Identified

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced today that the remains of two U.S. servicemen, missing in action from the Korean War, have been identified and are being returned to their families for burial with full military honors.
They are Col. Douglas H. Hatfield, of Shenandoah, Va., and Capt. Richard H. Simpson, of Fairhaven, Mich., both U.S. Air Force. Funeral dates have not been set by the families.
On April 12, 1951, Hatfield and Simpson were two of eleven crewmembers on a B-29 Superfortress that left Kadena Air Base, Japan, to bomb targets in the area of Sinuiju, North Korea. Enemy MiG-15 fighters attacked the B-29, but before it crashed, three crewmembers were able to bail out. They were captured and two of them were later released in 1954 to U.S. military control during Operation "Big Switch." The third crewmember died in captivity. He and the eight remaining crewmembers were not recovered.
In 1993, the North Korean government turned over to the United Nations Command 31 boxes containing the remains of U.S. servicemen listed as unaccounted-for from the Korean War. Four sets of remains from this group were subsequently identified as crewmembers from the
B-29.
In 2000, a joint U.S./Democratic People's Republic of Korea (D.P.R.K.) team, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) excavated an infantry fighting position in Kujang County where they recovered remains which included those of Hatfield and Simpson.
Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA and dental comparisons in the identification of the remains recovered in 2000.

TO

Can I mention my Father in Law. An ordinary Private as many millions of other men of differing nations, doing what they could for their country.
He died earlier this year and when we were going through his things we found a number of letters that he wrote to his girlfriend/wife they married in 1942. To follow this up we obtained a copy of his war records from the Ministry of Defence. Put the two together and you have quite a record.

He was in the Territorial Army before the war and was called up when war broke out. After training he was sent with his unit to France after the collapse started to act as a rearguard. He was in an anti tank battery and was injured in one of the early combats and hospitalised back to England.
As it turned out this was his lucky break as he avoided Dunkirk and recovered. In the letters was one from a friend of his who survived the battle and described the evacuation in some detail.
You had to admire his calmness as he described the evacuation as 'that picnic on the French Coast'. He also listed the men George knew who didn't make it back and the list was a long one. Two thirds of the men in his battery were lost or captured and the A/T units were quickly known as the Forlorn Hope or suicide squads. He complained about the lack of co-ordination between different arms and lack of understanding. One example being how AT guns should be used. In the AT Artillery units the gun commander normally a sergeant, decided when to fire and in detail where the gun was to be sited. In the confusion of the retreat the AT guns were assigned to infantry units to support them, but the infantry officers insisted on siting the guns resulting in them being exposed and decreasing their effectiveness.

After George came out of Hospital he was assigned to a HAA unit with 3.7in guns and spent time in and around major targets until 1941. He was then posted to the Middle East where he worked in a number of different roles spending time with Medium Artillery and Field Artillery units and working in what we would now know as the motor pool. One claim to fame for a short time was driving Montgomery's Rolls Royce from place to place where it was needed, but the official driver took over when the man himself was on board.

When the fighting moved to Italy the losses in the infantry were such that A1 men who were not in vital jobs were transferred to the infantry. This happened to George and he was clearly in the thick of it for a while. It was something he never talked about but he had a bayonet scar on his left side. As you would imagine being an old hand he picked up a number of souvenirs along the way.
One of these is a clock from a Me109 that crash-landed close to his battery in the desert. It now belongs to is son who has mounted it on the dashboard of his messerschmitt car.
He continued to serve in the infantry until the end of the war.

During the war he was twice made acting Corporal and once acting Sergeant but on two of these occasions he requested than he be made back to a private as he didn't like being in command of his friends. The third time it was a little different. A new officer straight from school gave an order during an artillery barrage that was suicide and would have had no benefit. The officer was knocked out by a shell blast, luckily as George put it in his letter and soon after he was back to being a private. Nothing is on his official record but read into that what you want.
His favourite story was just after peace was declared. On one side of the river were the British and on the other side of the river were the Russians. George was on guard duty on a bridge crossing the river and so was a Russian soldier. The pair of them had 'found' some drink and were soon doing some serious damage to the alcohol when a Russian officer arrived and finding them the worse for wear started yelling at the Russian soldier.
When the officer had gone the Russian went back to the river bank and started shouting at George who started shouting back. Things escalated and they were soon screaming insults at each other and then the Russian took a few pot shots at George, who started firing back.
Officers soon turned up thinking some form of attack was going on and they dragged George away. Luckily no one had been hurt but in the morning the CO was catatonic, shouting that wasn't one war enough for him, did he want to start another one to stop getting bored, what the hell was he playing at and so on.

Werner K. Dahm- Huntsville has lost another one of the original team of German rocket scientists.

Werner K. Dahm, an internationally recognized rocket pioneer whose work in Germany and the United States made important contributions to the nation's ballistic missile programs and its manned and unmanned rocket programs, died late Thursday afternoon in Huntsville at an assisted living center.

He was 90 years old.

He was the aerodynamicist in the future projects group on the original team of German rocket scientists working at Peenemuende with Wernher von Braun during World War II, when supersonic and hypersonic aerodynamics were still in relative infancy.

He went on to make pioneering contributions in high-speed aerothermodynamics in the U.S. Army's ballistic missile development program, and in NASA's manned and unmanned space flight programs.


He was chief of the aerophysics division at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, and later chief aerodynamicist at Marshall.

When he finally retired in 2006, at the age of 89, he was the last of the original German rocket scientists at NASA.

Dahm was born on Feb. 16, 1917 in Lindenthal near Koeln, Germany, the son of Anton Dahm and Maria Morkramer.

As a result of his technical background, in late 1941 he was assigned to the German rocket development effort at Peenemuende, led by Wernher von Braun.

There, as the youngest member of the rocket team, he worked in the future projects division, a group composed mainly of physicists who needed a specialist in aerodynamics.

His work on the Hermes II continued after he moved in 1950 with much of the von Braun team to Huntsville as part of the Army's ballistic missile program.

After the Russian Sputnik launch, in July 1960, he moved with other von Braun rocket scientists from the Army Ballistic Missile Agency to the newly founded NASA.

Dahm married Kaethe Elizabeth Maxelon in 1955, who preceded him in death in 1976. He later married Nell Sheppard Carr in 1981, who also preceded him in death in 2000.

He is survived by his sister, Hilde Semmelroth of Bonn, Germany, by four sons, Stephan Dahm of Huntsville, Werner J.A. Dahm of Ann Arbor, Mich., Martin Dahm of Huntsville and Thomas Dahm of Plano, Tex., and by two grandsons, Johann Dahm and Werner K.S. Dahm, both of Ann Arbor, Mich.

TO

Cyril "Bam" Bamberger dead

RAF Squadron Leader Cyril "Bam" Bamberger passed away on 03.00 Sunday morning.
Bamberger was one of the surviving members of "The Few", having flown Spitfires with No. 610 Squadron in the Battle of Britain. He scored five victories during the Battle. In November 1940 he volunteered for Malta. He flew a Hurricane off HMS Argus to the island on 17th November, joining No. 261 Squadron. He shot down two Junkers Ju 87 in successive days over Grand Harbour in January 1941. He was afterwards posted to No. 185 Squadron and returned to England in May.

The following year he joined No. 93 Squadron in Tunisia where he scored further victories. He returned to Malta in 1943 and shot down another Ju 87 on 13 July over Sicily. In August, No. 243 Squadron moved to Sicily, and he received the DFC on 28 September 1943. On 16 October he claimed a Bf 109, another on 25 May 1944 and a Mc 202 damaged on 15 June.

In July 1944 Bamberger returned to the UK. In November that year he was awarded the bar to his DFC. Released from the RAF in 1946, he was recalled during the Korean crisis. Hi finally retired from the RAF in 1959.

In his retirement, Bam became known as a great friend to many and remained active in the aviation circles to the very last, most recently with the Bentley Priory Battle of Britain Trust (BPBBT). He was 88 years old.

Guy R. "Moose" Campo, 82, decorated Marine Corps unit commander | Philadelphia Inquirer | 03/03/2008

By Sally A. Downey

Inquirer Staff Writer

Guy R. "Moose" Campo, 82, of Wallingford, a retired facilities manager and decorated Marine Corps pilot, died of heart failure Wednesday at Crozer-Chester Medical Center.
During his more than 30-year military career, Mr. Campo flew with a Marine attack squadron in the Korean War; flew a Marine helicopter as a member of the White House Executive Flight Detachment for President Dwight D. Eisenhower; flew F-4 Phantoms in the 1960s; and was a squadron commander and flew more than 100 missions in the Vietnam War. He was stationed at bases in the United States and in Okinawa, Italy and Thailand. He retired from the Marine Corps as a colonel in 1976.

Mr. Campo grew up in South Philadelphia. At 17, he dropped out of South Philadelphia High School to join the Navy during World War II. He was a gunner and mechanic aboard Navy bombers in the South Pacific.

After the war he earned his high school diploma, attended West Chester University, and served in the Naval Reserve.

In November 1951, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps and received his pilot's wings. The next month he married Philomena Capozzoli, whom he had met at an ice cream counter in a drugstore in South Philadelphia. While in the military, Mr. Campo earned a bachelor's degree from Oklahoma State University.

In 1973 he assumed command, his last, of the Marine Corps Air Station in Quantico, Va. His list of military decorations includes a Distinguished Flying Cross; a Bronze Star Medal for Valor; and 13 Air Medals.

After retiring from the Marines, he was director of facilities for the Wallingford-Swarthmore School District for 15 years.

Wherever he was stationed in the Marines, he always considered Philadelphia home, his son Ralph said, and he often vacationed with family in Ocean City, N.J. In recent years he enjoyed winters in Pompano Beach, Fla.

In addition to his wife and son, Mr. Campo is survived by sons Guy Jr. and John; a daughter, Mindy Thomas; a sister; and nine grandchildren.

A Funeral Mass will be said at 10 a.m. today at St. John Chrysostom Church, 617 S. Providence Rd., Wallingford. Friends may call from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. today at Carr Funeral Home, 935 S. Providence Rd., Wallingford. Burial will be in SS. Peter and Paul Cemetery, Marple Township.

Contact staff writer Sally A. Downey at 215-854-2913 or sdowney@phillynews.com

Metro Ostash | Advocate for vets, 84 | Philadelphia Inquirer | 03/03/2008

Metro Ostash | Advocate for vets, 84

Metro Ostash, 84, of Rydal, a retired press operator and advocate for disabled veterans, died of cancer Tuesday at home.
Mr. Ostash, the son of Ukrainian immigrants, grew up with 11 siblings in Centralia, Pa. At 17, he enlisted in the Marine Corps and served in the Pacific during World War II. In July 1944 he was wounded during the invasion of Tinian and was hospitalized for 16 months. He earned a Purple Heart.

Though he had limited mobility in his left arm, he was a press operator for 35 years at Hews Manufacturing Co., said his wife, Anne Chemerys Ostash. He retired in the early 1980s to devote his time to veterans activities.

He met his future wife at a church dance, and they were married in 1946. He joined the Disabled Veterans of America as soon as he was discharged from the Marines, she said, and for more than 60 years he was an officer in state and local chapters, including serving as past state commander. He was former chairman of the organization's committee on national legislation and served on its national finance committee. He was a member of the Ukrainian-American Veterans Post 1 and was past commander of the United Veterans Council of Philadelphia.

In 1978, Mr. Ostash received a Liberty Bell Award from Mayor Frank Rizzo for his service to Philadelphia veterans and in 1992 he was named veteran leader of the year by the Philadelphia Veterans Multi-Service Center.

He and his wife traveled to Hawaii for a Disabled Veterans of America convention but never took vacation trips, she said, because his time was always committed to veterans organizations.

In addition to his wife, Mr. Ostash is survived by a daughter, Dorothy Eastlack; two granddaughters; two great-granddaughters; a brother; and four sisters.

The viewing is from 9 to 10:30 a.m. tomorrow at Fletcher-Nasevich Funeral Home, 9529 Bustleton Ave., Philadelphia. A Requiem Liturgy will be said at 11 a.m. tomorrow at Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Ukrainian Catholic Church, Old York and Valley Roads, Melrose Park. Burial will be in Lawnview Cemetery, Rockledge.

DOOLITTLE RAIDER DIES

Former Army Air Forces SSgt. Jacob DeShazer, one of the legendary Doolittle Raiders who staged a daring bombing raid on Tokyo in April 1942, died March 15 at age 95. DeShazer, then a corporal, was bombardier on the Bat out of Hell, the 16th and final B-25 bomber to take off from the USS Hornet April 18, 1942. After completing their bombing run, the crew of Bat out of Hell bailed out over
Japanese-held territory in China. DeShazer, like the rest of the crew, was captured by the Japanese. He was held as a prisoner of war for 40 months. He returned to Japan in 1948 where he spent 30 years
preaching and teaching Christianity.