I AM BACK

...in more ways than one.  Jeanne and I just returned from 2 years in Arizona to our home in Columbia, Missouri; and I hope to be a good deal more regular in posting here.

Since we returned, most of our time has been spent putting our yard and our household back together. As we were looking through family history boxes deciding what to bring upstairs, i ran across several things that had not caught my attention before.  I will share information from two items, one each of the next two weeks, the first pertaining to my father, Virgil G. Lambson, the second to my mother, Iola Lambson.

For my father, I came across a very official looking document with "Army of the United States" emblazened across the top above the great seal of the United States. The title of the document is "Separation Qualification Record". under the title is a warning: "SAVE THIS FORM. IT WILL NOT BE REPLACED."

It appears to be a list of responsibilities he had while serving in the Army Air Corps for the purpose of certifying to potential employers his skills in these areas.  I was impressed because it gave in one paragraph an amazing array of responsibilities that he rarely talked about:

AIRPLANE ARMORER GUNNER 612   Inspected, repaired and maintained all aircraft armament.  Preflighted all armament equipment on plane before each mission.  Loaded, aimed and fired Cal 50 machine gun if combat occurred during flight.  Operated nose turret while serving tour of combat duty in B-17 aircraft over Germany.  Served with the 381st Bomb Group in England for 5 months.

In addition, on the back side of the document it listed related work he had done as a civilian from May, 1940 to October, 1941;

SHEET METAL WORKER  Worked for the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation in San Diego Calif. Fabricated, assembled and installed various sheet metal parts including wing and tail assemblies.  Cut metal; shaped it with forming machine.  Punched holes with drills and joined sheet metal parts by means of pneumatic riveting machines.  Worked on B-24s, X31s and XPB-2Y3s and 4s.

A regular Rosie the Riveter!

Some things I never knew about my Dad...and I am prouder than ever.