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Abbott, Earl

abbott earl

US Navy – World War II

“Don’t write about me. Write about the ship.”

That’s what World War II veteran Earl Abbott said when he was asked about his military service.

The ship was the USS Henrico, named after the oldest county in Virginia, was 492-ft long Attack Transport that carried 5,500 tons of cargo, including as many as 28 landing craft, 1500 troops, and assault equipment. There certainly is a lot to write about the service of this truly remarkable ship, from her commissioning in 1943 to her retirement in 1968. However, it’s not possible to write about the ship without telling the stories of men such as Earl Abbott who served as her breath and her heartbeat. Abbott was aboard her only a few of those years, but they were among the most critical. [Read more…]

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Bailey, James

James Bailey

BAILEY
James

Grove City
US Navy – World War II
US Army – Korea, Vietnam

James A. Bailey of Grove City wasn’t satisfied with one military career. He actually served three.

He was just 17 when he joined the Navy, becoming the fifth of the Grove City Bailey brothers to serve in World War II. In Korea, he served in the Army as a paratrooper. After that, he went to helicopter flight school and served three tours as a pilot in Vietnam.

“In between his tours in Vietnam, he flew President Johnson around,” said his brother, Dick. “Once he flew a Huey from Washington home to Harrisville and landed it in a ball field. That was the last time we saw him.”

During his third tour, CWO Bailey was flying combat missions in Long Khahn Province with the 118th Assault Helicopter Company.* Unlike many other helicopter units, they remained stationed at Bien Hoa [photos], near Saigon, throughout their whole time in Vietnam, from June of 1963 to July of 1971.

On October 9, 1969, CWO Bailey was commanding one of a group of six Hueys inserting and extracting troops during a combat operation along the Song Dong Nai River, not far from Saigon. In a landing zone big enough for only three helicopters at a time, The helicopter in which Bailey was riding was the last aircraft of the second group of three to land. Five U.S. troops scrambled aboard. During a hover check after lifting off, the pilot discovered that the helicopter lacked full power. He set the chopper back down and waited until the others had departed so he wouldn’t have to contend with their rotor wash. As he attempted to fly out, a rotor blade struck some very tall, thick bamboo.

The pilot tried his best to maneuver the aircraft over the river and set it down gently, but the aircraft pitched as its blades hit the water. It tipped onto its side and sank in less than ten seconds. The river’s current was very swift, making it impossible for the survivors to make it to shore. The only survivor was the pilot.

Searches were conducted for nearly two weeks, but none of those who had departed the aircraft were found at that time. Two who were in the aircraft were recovered and identified.

CWO Bailey’s remains were found much later and returned to the States. His family traveled from Mercer County to attend his funeral in Arlington National Cemetery.

On the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Panel W7 Line 122

*Photo history of the 118th in Vietnam

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Bailey, Richard

Dick Bailey on motorcycle with friendsGrove City, PA
Life is a Wild Ride

Dick Bailey started first grade in Jones one-room school, between Barkeyville and Clintonville, , PA, in 1927, when he was just five years old.

“My brother was a year older than me,” he said. “My parents wanted company for him because we had to walk two miles to school.” But that was okay, he jokes, because it was so far they never got there until recess.

Maybe all that slow walking was what motivated Dick later on to drive anything on wheels as fast as he could, and to fly his own plane. [Read more…]

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Bartolo, Ray

Ray Bartolo

Greenville, Pa

US Army – World War II

One way to measure military service is by counting the number of years a person actually serves. Another way is to consider how long that service continues to profoundly affect one’s life.

For Ray Bartolo, the first way adds up to three years. The second way stretches out to the rest of his life. [Read more…]

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Bee, Donald

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Blose, Jimmy

Lt. Jimmy Blose

Lt. Jimmy Blose

Sharpsville, PA
A Restless Spirit

Jimmy Blose was driven by a restless spirit. He wrote, “I may have been a much better man had I stayed in Sharpsville, but I know that I never could have been content living there. Something was missing there; I don’t know just what it was.”

Before he reached his 24th birthday, that restless spirit drove Jimmy to a place half the world away, where he vanished for nearly 65 years. [Read more…]

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Boloton, Leon and Harriett

Harriett and Leon Bolotin

Harriett and Leon Bolotin

Sharon, PA
Furnished with Knowledge

In Czarist Russia, being drafted into military service was like receiving a life sentence – or maybe a death sentence. The term was 25 years as a private, with no possibility of promotion. Very few survived those 25 years because of bad food, physical abuse, and miserable living conditions.

In 1906 an eighteen-year-old man named Simon Bolotin avoided that fate by coming to Youngstown, where his distant cousins had been living for 15 or 20 years. They were in the furniture business. They set him to peddling goods such as rag rugs and curtains house to house in Sharon. [Read more…]

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Bowers, Vi and and Harold

Harold, Shirley, and Vi Bowers

Harold, Shirley, and Vi Bowers

Sharon, PA

Country Boy Meets City Girl

Harold J. Bowers was a country boy born to an Irish family; Vi Conte was a city girl of Italian descent; so maybe it’s true that opposites attract.

Harold grew up on a farm near Leesburg, in Mercer County, PA. He was a teen during the depression. It was a difficult time , but it was tempered by the diversions his family and neighbors created for themselves. They hunted and fished as much for the food as for the fun. [Read more…]

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Brown, Bob and Helen

Bob and Helen Brown wedding

Hermitage, PA
Which way to go?

During her adventures in Wonderland, Alice asked the Cheshire Cat which way she should go. The cat said, “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.”

“I don’t much care where—“  said Alice.

“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,”’ said the Cat.

“–so long as I get SOMEWHERE,’ Alice added as an explanation.

“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.” [Read more…]

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Burns, Ed and Faye

Ed and Faye BurnsHubbard, Ohio
Rooted in the Wild West

Where does Pennsylvania meet Texas? Well, Washington, DC, was a good place for Ed Burns and his wife, Faye Cope Burns. And how does it happen? Maybe a guy takes typing in high school and gets very good at it. Then he lets fate twist and turn his life along a most unexpected route.

Ed was born in Rossiter, PA, near Punxutawny, in 1920. It’s unlikely that he ever dreamed of meeting a girl from Texas whose ancestors helped tame the Wild West; that he would work some day on a ranch in Texas; that he would raise a great family with Faye. [Read more…]

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