Phil Staley and Jimmy Stewart
Moffet Field, California
Summer, 1941
Jimmy and I were two of the early draftees before Pearl Harbor. We both had to eat bananas and drink water to pass the physical because we were underweight.
He had a private pilot's license, but the Army Air Corps did not recognize it at the time.
He was a corporal when this picture (right) was taken.
After Pearl Harbor, they gave him a discharge, then gave him a commission in the reserves.
He was re-activated and went on to advanced flight training, then flew combat missions on B-24's in the 8th Air Force. He retired as a General.
I (above) went on as a crew chief on BT-13's and B-17's and flew 30 missions as a Tail Gunner
in the 8th Air Force( 612th squadron) aboard the B-17 "Lassie Come Home" (left) .
-Phil Staley
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