From my dad Fred Pape's military scrapbook:
Ben Francis Pace was born March 16, 1923, in Kentucky, the second of three children and only son of Ross Bernam Pace and Ruth Bridgewater Pace. He had an older sister named Florence Evelyn and a younger sister named Virginia. By the 1930 Census, Ben's parents were divorced, and he and his mother and sisters lived with his grandmother, Eliza Bridgewater, in Glasgow, Barren County, Kentucky (on the 1940 Census as well). Ben enlisted in the Army Air Corps on June 5, 1941, served in both World War II and Korea, and ended his career as a major in the Air Force on August 31, 1962. He died May 1, 1995, in Panama City, Bay County, Florida (where he had been living since at least 1979), and is buried in Evergreen Memorial Gardens there, next to his wife Helen.
Dad did not identify the other man facing the camera (the one to the right) in the photograph. It's definitely not Ben's navigator/bombardier, Dick Parks, nor does it look like their gunner, Maurice Price.
Dad said he flew with Ben once. Because of the prevailing winds that day, they had to take off to the north, towards the mountains you can see in the background in the photo above, rather than south, towards Pusan Bay, and it was "rather hairy."
© Amanda Pape - 2015 - click here to e-mail me.
Ben Francis Pace was born March 16, 1923, in Kentucky, the second of three children and only son of Ross Bernam Pace and Ruth Bridgewater Pace. He had an older sister named Florence Evelyn and a younger sister named Virginia. By the 1930 Census, Ben's parents were divorced, and he and his mother and sisters lived with his grandmother, Eliza Bridgewater, in Glasgow, Barren County, Kentucky (on the 1940 Census as well). Ben enlisted in the Army Air Corps on June 5, 1941, served in both World War II and Korea, and ended his career as a major in the Air Force on August 31, 1962. He died May 1, 1995, in Panama City, Bay County, Florida (where he had been living since at least 1979), and is buried in Evergreen Memorial Gardens there, next to his wife Helen.
Dad did not identify the other man facing the camera (the one to the right) in the photograph. It's definitely not Ben's navigator/bombardier, Dick Parks, nor does it look like their gunner, Maurice Price.
Dad said he flew with Ben once. Because of the prevailing winds that day, they had to take off to the north, towards the mountains you can see in the background in the photo above, rather than south, towards Pusan Bay, and it was "rather hairy."
© Amanda Pape - 2015 - click here to e-mail me.
I am Ben Francis Pace niece. My mother, Virginia Pace, was Ben’s sister. I have never had any information about my grandfather, Ross, until just recently. Your post has given me the substantiation that I have “found” my Grandfather Pace. Thank you so much for your post.
ReplyDeleteMelodye, thank you for your comment, and I am glad I (and my dad) could be of help! I am so glad my dad shared his scrapbook with me and told me stories about the people in it, rather than leaving it for me to find later after he was gone. :)
Delete