I have recently uncovered pictures of my father Perry "Duff" Monroe as a Cadet at LAAF possibly in late 1944. He has pictures with "Jimmy Rice" his pal. There are also pictures with "Short" and "Pete" referred to as fellow "returnees" w/ the #'s 8 & 5 which I believe reference the 8th and 5th AF (his was 15 which was his combat unit - 15thAF, 485thBG) There are also pictures of "Moe" and "Greek" and one titled "Jim Rice and crew" in front of a B24 w/ large 652 on the nose. Could possibly be snow on the ground. My father did not talk about his experiences. With help from the 485thBG Assn I have been able to reconstruct his combat experience through his photo's and documents. I am hoping to find anyone that may have known him during this time or have ideas on how to research this. Again, this training was after completion of 50/35 as a ball gunner on the Owen crew, "My Brother And I', 828th BS. Thanks.

Dave Monroe USMC '72-'80 Sempre Fi
Son of Perry "Duff" Monroe, 485thBG, 828thBS
Original Crew "My Brother And I"

By LAAF do you mean Lincoln Army Air Field in Nebraska?  If so, at this point in the war I understand Lincoln was a CCTS with the task of combat crew retraining for purposes of putting together B-29 crews out of previous B-17/B-24 flyers for the 2nd Air Force.  I have the scan of a special order from February 1945 transfering a block of B-29 crews from the Lincoln AAFld C-RP to the 382nd BG (VH) at Smoky Hill AAFld:
http://home.mchsi.com/~anderson.kevin/pics/382pic_so56_LincolnAAF_1.jpg

Kevin Anderson

k9  I believe the "L" referred to Lubbock in Texas. My understanding was that he was in training to become a pilot. Hopefully there may be other documents, orders, seperation papers, etc. that my brother may have to shed more light on this. Thanks.

Dave Monroe USMC '72-'80 Sempre Fi
Son of Perry "Duff" Monroe, 485thBG, 828thBS
Original Crew "My Brother And I"

FYI, according to the database here on this website, there are no less than 10 airfields of the name L-something Army Air Field that can be abbreviated as LAAF, including two in Texas:

Lemoore (CA, Lakeland (FL), Leesburg (FL), Liberal (KS), Laurel (MS), Lewistown (MT), Lincoln (NE), Lockbourne (OH), Laredo (TX), and Lubbock (TX)

I hope your brother has a document that spells out the name for you so you know which one for sure.

Kevin Anderson

Hello Dave
 
Truly I m very curious about the "Greek"! Do you know his name or any info about hin?
Can you send me the photo please?
I would be grateful for any help.
 
Regards
George      e-mail: georgechalkiadopoulos@yahoo.gr