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Reuben William Hendrickson
Information came to us from his daughter Mary and son Bob
| Born In: | May 12, 1921 Tamarack Hill, Michigan |
| Education: | 3 years at Michigan College of Mining and Technology Houghton, Michigan |
| Pre-Military Employment: | |
| Military Service Record: | 24 years with the United States Air Force.
Kelly Field, San Antonio, Texas for his Pre-flight training, Class
42_H.
Primary Training at Chickasha, Oklahoma,
Basic Training at Randolph Field in San Antonio, Texas
Advanced Flying School, at Moore Field, San Antonio, Texas
Transitional Training at Drew Field, Sarasota, Fla., 80 hours flying the P-39's, and 10 hours flying the P-40 December 24, 1942 he departed by air to Landhi Field, Karachi, India where he was with the 10th Air Force, 51st Fighter Group, 25th Fighter Squadron until March 1943. Per orders of General Claire Chennault, he was transferred to the 14th Air Force, 23rd Fighter Group, 74th Squadron. He climbed into a P-40, along with three other pilots, he flew over "the Hump" to Kunming, China. He flew from there to Yunanyi in the western part of China. After the terrible attack on the air strip at Yunanyi on April 26, 1943, the 74th Squadron was moved to Kweilin where Dad remained for the rest of his tour of duty which ended in March, 1944. He flew back to Karachi India and became part of the FRTU until August 1944. He returned stateside in September 1944 where he returned to Hubbell, Michigan for a 26 day leave, and redistribution tour at Miami Beach. |
| Date Discharged or retired: | November 30, 1965 |
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Awards, Medals and Commendations |
DFC, AHM, Chinese Air Hero's Medal, WWII Victory Medal, Asia Pacific Medal with 4 bronze stars, Distinguished Unit Citation Asiatic Pacific Campaign with oak leaf, American Campaign, National Defense Medal, Air Frosce Longevity Service Ribbon with 4 silver oak leafs, Korean Service Medal, Korean Distinguished Unit Citation (Presidential), United Nations Service Medal Korea, Air Froce Commendation Medal, Army Commendation with one silver oak leaf. |
| Post-Service Employment: | Department of Defense |
| Hobbies: | Fishing, gardening, travel. |
| Wife: | Ednarose Barbara Seppla |
| Children: | 8: William Patrick, Robert, Michael, Mary, Pat, Jeff, Bill, Anne |
| Grand Children: | 8: David, Robert, Rainer, Kyra, Matthew, John William, Jamie, Christy |
| Memories to share: | Our Father loved to fly, and even in his failing health would stop and look to the skies when he heard the sound of a plane engine going overhead, and there would be a tear in his eye. |
| Personal Comments: | His favorite poem was High Flight by John Magee, which was
read at his gravesite at Arlington National Cemetary in 2001. My Father never spoke much about the times in WWII or Korea, but you could tell it had a great impact on his life. He met some wonderful friends while in the Cadet Schools that later went onto India and China with him. One of his classmates, Fennard Herring he pulled from his burning plane on coming back from a mission, and saved his life...he never told us about this, we found out in recent months later while doing research into his military career. |
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Other pilots of the 74th |
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Photo taken outside the BOQ at Kweilin |
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left to right: George Lee, Reuben Hendrickson, Sam Kinsey, Tom Bennett, Raymond Strantz |
left to right: Ken LaTourelle, Bob Milks, Tom Bennett, John Duffy, Sam Kinsey, and the man sitting in front of them is Charlie Cook
