Thank You

Foremost, I'd like to thank my father for all he's done for me throughout my life. And try as I might, he has never been one to talk much of his war experiences. So, when for Christmas, my sister, brothers and I each received two volumes of family photographs including some wartime images, I was quite surprised-and thrilled. I have had his 34th commemorative book that was published in 1946 for quite some time and it's fortunate that he made notes in it as to people, events and missions that he was involved with. During the summer of 1999 he sent me more items involving his war experience. Items like inoculation records, passes, tourist maps, mission maps and mission notes torn from a small (3 1/5 x 5) steno notebook. Those transcribed notes appear on the "Mission Notes" page in this web site. These items help give a glimpse-maybe some insight-and make possible imagining what my father's WWII experience was like. I treasure the photograph of his crew and I salute those men as I salute all WWII veterans especially the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice and didn't come home.

I have other plans for this web site, this is just a first step and for that I must thank Gary Ferrell. Quite by accident, I stumbled into the Heavy Bombers web page and then found Gary's Valor To Victory site. There I found a treasure trove of information. Incredible amounts, fascinating information. Thank you! A combination of artifacts from my father and information from Gary's selfless research made this web page possible. And has raised many more questions. At the moment I'm approaching it as a one crew story. I hope you've enjoyed your visit and I hope the site will grow.

A (very) Brief Biography

My father, Paul M. Gustafson was born in 1919 and grew up with his parents, brother and sister in Norway, Michigan, a small town in the upper peninsula of that state. His father was a minister, his mother staying at home. After graduating from high school in 1936 my father ventured to Chicago to work his way through North Park College graduating with an associates degree in 1938. He entered Northwestern University in the fall of 1939.

In the fall of 1941 he was drafted into the army. He went into the medical corps and December 7, 1941 found him in an army barracks in Texas. Thereafter his medical detachment was shipped to Jamaica where the unit eventually received a commendation for cleaning up the rampant venereal disease rate in the area. Feeling as though he was not being participatory enough in the war effort, he asked to be and was transferred to the Army Air Corps.

He was trained as a navigator, what was to become the Dutchmen's crew was put together and there was more training. The crew was shipped to England in December 1944. The web pages attempt to illustrate and piece together this part of his life.

After the war he returned to Chicago, finishing college at Northwestern University in 1946. He met my mother, Mary Jane Tucker, a fellow Northwestern student on a blind date. My parents were married in 1946. My sister, Karen, was born in Chicago in 1947, and shortly thereafter they moved to Grand Forks, North Dakota for my father's first college teaching position.

In 1949 the family next moved to St. Paul, Minnesota after my father took a position at Macalester College. Me and my brothers, Eric and Mark were born in St. Paul. After defending his dissertation my father was awarded his Phd. in sociology from the University of Minnesota in 1964.

A 1964 move found the family in the small college town of Hiram in northeastern Ohio. My father was a dedicated, highly regarded and much loved professor of sociology there until his retirement from full-time in 1985. He continued to teach Weekend College until 1993.

Wooster, Ohio is my parent's new home. They continue to thrive and be active, always concerned with the human condition, my parents are active in, among other things, hospice, volunteering at the hospital and within the community. They have an unquenchable curiosty for the diverse world about them and love to travel being active in Elderhostel. Most recently (October 2000) they spent three weeks in India. They are the proud grandparents of six and great-grandparents of one. Me, my brothers and sister are blessed to have such parents.

Bret Gustafson

Suggested Reading
One Last Look, Philip Kaplan & Rex Alan Smith, Abbeville Press, 1982
Fall of Fortresses, Elmer Bendiner, Putnam, 1980
Catch 22, Joseph Heller, Random House, 1955

Links

JCCC
One of the finest community colleges in the nation and my place of employment.

Heavy Bombers
The site that helped plant the seeds for this site.

Valor To Victory
Gary Ferrell's site. An abundance of information about the 34th online.

34th Bomb Group

390th Bomb Group
A great site. Of particularly interest to me is the info about many of the the aircraft that were central to the European theater, both allied and axis.

Aircraft M.I.A. Project
An organization in Poland dedicated to finding downed alliedWWII aircraft. Additionally, their research includes USAAF missions flown to Poland during the war.

[Home] [Crew] [Crew 2] [Album 1] [Album 2][Notes] [Mendlesham] [Fragments] [Strike Photos] [Mission Map] [Groundcrew]
[]