My Grandfather was Corporal Leonard Burnette of the 15th Army Air Corps of WWII.  I know he did Basic At Fort Bragg (NC),  AIT somwhere in Texas.  Left NY City on a Ship Headed for North Africa.  They landed at Tunis,  Tunishia and continued across the continent until below Sicily.  They then turned north  Passing through Sicily and Italy on their wat to Germany but the war ended before they could get there.  He visited the following places;  the ancient city of Pompeii,  Venice,  Rome,  and Naples Italy.  He served in various jobs  cook,  guard of POW's,  Barber and   Medic.  He never talked about the battles he fought in just the good times he and his friends had when they were not fighting.  He once told me that in the begining they were the army then they transfered his unit to the Air Force.  What you tell me about the 15th army Air Corps and the battles the fought on the ground?

First of all, there is no such unit as the 15th Army Air Corps.  You may be talking about the 15th Air Force.  There is a history of this unit in another part of this forum.  There was no USAF in WWII, that's why they called it "Army Air Forces", as it belonged to the U. S. Army.  The 15th AF did not fight any Germans on the ground, only in the air.  It performed long range strategic bombarment of the German war industry from bases in Italy.

Mark

Hi Chris,
You seem to have a lot of information on your grandfather.  We just need to sort it out and find out what's what. 
 
1) Where are you getting that he was in the 15th Army Air Force?
2) Where are you getting his missions through Italy?
3) When was he in the service? In Italy?
4) Do you have his discharge papers?
 
Help us help you out,
Brian
 
 

Grandson of:
T/SGT William Aguiar
384th 544th
B-17 42-30031 (the Bad Penny)

Chris,
 
Italy had two 15th's.  The 15th Air Force and the 15th Army Group.  From the jobs you describe it seems like your grandfather may have been part of 15th Army Group.  If so, he would have been part of the 5th (US) Army, which was composed of the II and IV (US) Corps, which held the 1st Armored Div, 10th (Mountain) Inf Div, 34th Inf Div, 85th Inf Div, 91st Inf Div, and 92nd Inf Div.  If your grandfather was in the Army (vice Army Air Corps), you might want to try http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/ for additional information.

Fort Bragg, NC was basicly an airborne training facility. They did have army field artillery units training there along with the airborne artillery. There were other units that took basic training in other camps that passed through Fort Bragg for whatever reason. The itinerary you allude to sounds like one my friend and neighbor of the 1st armored infantry took. He never came back.

Fair Winds and following seas.
John, (GM 3/C USS Frost DE 144)

Kin to LT. John W. Farnkopf
15th AAF, 52 FG, 4th FS; Madna, Italy
MIA 11/11/44 remains found 12/8/53

15th Army Group was in Italy 1944-45 (ground troops)
 
Terry T.

I' m still trying to sort out everything, all the info helps.  I described the 15th patch to my dad and he said he had the patch at home.  Sounds like I am on the right track.  My Grandad (Pappy as i called him)  only mentioned airplanes twice to me once was his return trip to US,  the other dropped a bomb in the North African Desert.  Thanks Guys,       Still Digging 

Some people in this forum think everyone in the AAF flew in an airplane or fixed one.  That is a myth!!  It's like every sailor served on a ship.  Some never saw any planes up close.

Mark

Mark...This is confusing to me...from the sound of this...the grandfather was in the Army, but , may have been attached to the Army Air Forces.

It sounds as if he might have participated in one bombing mission...as a trade...some ground personnel DID trade off where the airman went to the ground forces and the trooper flew on a mission, on a one time setup.

He may have been given the 15th Patch (If that is what it is) as a mememto.

The cook, POW guard,barber and medic, sound like a ground troop...at my squadron in Italy, the barbers were  local Italians, and each squadron had a small medical clinic, composed of a Doctor and assistant.  The Doctor was a specialist in babies at the time I was there, and the assistant was transferred to the Infantry after he locked himself in the dispensary on a three day drunk, where he drank all the medicinal whiskey.

This is just a guess on my part, as in my experience, there was only an occasional trade between the airmen and ground troops.
 
An aircrew was trained as a family, and pretty much were together for thier tour, with a replacement crewmember only where necessary, once a crew was established.

I may be incorrect in this as my participation was late in the war.

Jim :-)

James S. Peters Sr. T/Sgt
B-17 Flt Engr, 27 missions
99 BG, 348BS, 5th Wing, 15th AAF
Tortorella, (Foggia#2), Italy
My Tour was from 12/03/44-06/19/45
M/Sgt USAF (Retired)

When you say "ground troops" are you referring to Arms and Services with the AAF or do you mean AGF or ASF units?  I am sure that personnel in the Chemical, Engineer, Finance, Medical, Military Police, Ordnance, Quartermaster and Signal units assigned to the 15th AF also carried the 15th AF patch on their shoulder, just like aircrews did.

Mark

When I refer to ground troops, I mean the Infantry, Tank Corps, and the like.
 
Anyone associated with the USAAF had some sort of aviation designation....Aviation Engineers, as an example.
 
Even the airfield construction units were tied in with the USAAF, because they were trained in airfield construction.
 
I have never seen, during WW II, any other units of the Army involved with the USAAF.
 
Now someone will probably correct me, but, it shouid be only isolated cases, and not the norm.
 
Jim :-)

James S. Peters Sr. T/Sgt
B-17 Flt Engr, 27 missions
99 BG, 348BS, 5th Wing, 15th AAF
Tortorella, (Foggia#2), Italy
My Tour was from 12/03/44-06/19/45
M/Sgt USAF (Retired)

Jim,
I might point out that the 9th Air Defense Command was assigned to 9th AF, which contained Antiaircraft Artillery Brigades, Groups and Battalions for defense of air fields on the continent.  The 1st and 4th Air Forces in the U. S. had similar commands.
The Infantry had units called Air Base Security Battalions which protected Air Bases from attack.

Mark

 
I thank you for your explanation...I am rather limited in my knowledge of any thing other than my job, as a flight crew member...and I sometimes talk when I should listen...my wife always told me I talk too much...and I will yield the floor to someone as you.

I apologize if I have led anyone astray.

Jim :-)

James S. Peters Sr. T/Sgt
B-17 Flt Engr, 27 missions
99 BG, 348BS, 5th Wing, 15th AAF
Tortorella, (Foggia#2), Italy
My Tour was from 12/03/44-06/19/45
M/Sgt USAF (Retired)

The Air Base Security Battalions Mark refers to were actually Air Corps units.  However, most of the support troops on an air base were not Air Corps, but would be assigned to the AAF (as Mark mentioned these were called Arms & Services with the Army Air Forces -- ASWAAF).  The doc you referred to was probably assigned to a Medical Dispensary, Aviation.  A lot of these organizations had their AAF support hidden in their designations, unlike the Aviation Engineer Battalions -- Like Signal Companies, Service Group, Quartermaster Companies,Service Group, Chemical Companies, Air Operations or Ordnance Supply & Maintenance Companies, Aviation and Military Police Companies, Aviation (all of which you might have had on your base, assigned to Fifteenth Air Force, but not to XV Bomber Command).  Any of these would properly be entitled to wear the Fifteenth AF patch.

Bernie Shearon
Push the stick forward, the houses get bigger. Pull the stick back, the houses get smaller (unless you keep pulling -- then they get bigger again)