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2nd Lt. Walter A. Clark
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01/15/2003 05:24:47 PM
Thank you for the reply. Yes, this Clark is my uncle. He did die on Sept. 1, 1944. Mom just told me the wrong year. I've found something else out that has me confused. ( I am just starting to learn about the Army Air Force) As a Christmas present for my mother, I cleaned up my Uncle Walter's foot locker, I assume it was sent home to the family after his death. Yellow stencil on the side of the foot locker reads 318th Fighter Group. The web site, americanwardead.com lists my uncle in the 8th Fighter Squadron, 49th Fighter group. Can someone explain this to me?
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jpeters140
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Re: [birdseye] 2nd Lt. Walter A. Clark
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01/16/2003 12:40:38 AM
 Hi :-) This is a WAG (Wild Ass Guess).....both of these units :the 318th and the 49th Fighter Groups flew in the Pacific, and it is possible that the 318th was given the responsibility for shipping the foot locker home. Things were very fluid if that is the correct term, in that the units, both Fighter and Bomber were sent from one locatoin to another in order to stem the Japanese advances...as a result, many of the airmen were not even paid for a time as the records were not able to catch up.Things were VERY confused at times, with replacements scarce (a/c and airmen). I am NOT saying this was the case...but,...anything was possible in the Pacific.
This MAY be a possible answer.
Jim :-)
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steveburris
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Re: [birdseye] 2nd Lt. Walter A. Clark
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07/27/2003 10:47:20 PM
Yet another educated guess is that your uncle was with
the 318th Fighter Group on Saipan and was flying P-47's until in was decided that he should be transfered to the
49th Fighter Group at Biak in preparation of the impending
invasion of the Phillipines. This would be especially true if he had been trained to fly the P-38 back in the States.
Do you know where he trained to fly fighter planes?
I find in my records that he had graduated from pilot school
at Moore Field near Mission, TX on Oct 1, 1943 and that he was listed as being from Ogdenburg, NY in his classbook "The
Mission of 43I".
Hope that this helps you in your search for your uncle's past. Steve
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