more info on great-uncle Bob P.

[winterbadger]

From an email from a very helpful chappie who does a website on the US pilots in WW1.

Air Service Feb 1917 - 21 July 1919
Overseas Feb 1917 - 15 July 1919
Volunteer SSU 15, American Field Service (ambulance corps as you already found out) Feb - Oct 1917. Attached to French Army. Enlisted in AS in Paris 10 Oct 1917. Trained at Tours and Issodun. Commissioned 1/Lt, AS 15 May 1918. Promoted to Captain 1 October 1918.
Attached to 1st Observation Group, 12th Aero Squadron from June 181 to the end of the war.
He was also CO of the 12th from 25 October until the end of the war.

He did indeed earn the Croix de Guerre with star for his ambulance service, but the story continues.

For his air service work, he was awarded the Croix de Guerre with Palm, awarded by Marshal Petain himself; Chevalier, Belgian Order of Leopold;, King Albert Medal; Citation by Brigadier Gen. Mitchell 11 Nov 18; Citation by General Pershing 27 March 1919.

He was also awarded the Distinguished Service Cross - our second highest bravery award.

His citation -

For extraordinary heroism in action in the vicinity of Boureuilles, France on September 26, 1918. As pilot, 12th Aero Squadron, he was assigned the duty of locating the American Front lines during the first two hours of the Argonne Offensive. Unable to locate the line at the usual altitude maintained at such a time, he flew down to a dangerous altitude of 50 meters, secured the important information sought and discovered our lines held up by a strongly held nest of enemy machine guns. Noting the exact location of the nest upon his map he flew back to division headquarters and reported the exact location of our lines, as well as that of the enemy machine gun nest. With his plane riddled by enemy bullets, one control shot away, he returned to the lines, discovered the enemy nests had not been destroyed and that they were inflicting heavy casualties upon our troops. In the face of concentrated enemy fire and attacked by four enemy planes, he went down, his plane barely skimming the tree tops and deliberately fired over 400 rounds into the enemy nests, thus causing the enemy gunners to abandon their guns and positions and enabling troops of his division to resume their advance. Again gaining altitude, he discovered and destroyed by his fire an enemy signal station, signally unmolested, two kilometers north of the lines; this act was performed at an altitude of 50 meters amid a storm of protection fire from enemy anti-aircraft guns.

Comments

[schizokitty.livejournal.com]

Zowie! I think the best I can do was that my maternal grandfather was a Civil Defense coordinator for Ashland, OR. He was exempted from service, maybe because he had two young children at the time?

I know that some of one or two of my father's uncles served in WWII, but I don't even know their names.

Good on Uncle Bob!