Friday's Faces From the Past: Happy Valentine's Day!

Breathless and me, January 11, 1982

© Amanda Pape - 2014 - click here to e-mail me.

Wordless Wednesday: "On Ramp at Hickam A.F.B." - September 1952

My dad, Frederick H. Pape, shot this from the B-26 he was navigating on a ferrying mission during the Korean War:

© Amanda Pape - 2015 - click here to e-mail me.

Military Monday: Dad and Milt in Honolulu, September 1952

Here are photos from some other pages from my dad Fred Pape's military scrapbook, about the mission ferrying a B-26 from California to Japan.  Their first stop after leaving McClellan Air Force Base in Sacramento was Hickam Air Force Base in Honolulu, Hawaii.  They had some time to explore the city, so they went to the Royal Hawaiian (the famous pink hotel that opened in 1927 on Waikiki Beach) and to Honolulu's Chinatown.  Below is a picture of Dad (on the right) with his pilot, Milt Royles, on the Waikiki Beach side of the Royal Hawaiian:

Here's some more information about Milt, Dad's pilot:

Milton "Milt" Clarence Royles was born February 24, 1920, in Pennsylvania, probably in Philadelphia, where he was baptized April 11 of that year at Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church.  His father was Leonard Royles, his mother was named Elizabeth, and he had an older brother (by four years) named Joseph.  Leonard was a Philadelphia police officer, and the family lived at 5036 Torresdale Avenue in Philadelphia on the 1930 Census, and were also living there in April 1942.

When Milt enlisted in the Army Air Corps on November 21, 1941, he was a high school graduate working as a bookkeeping machine operator.  By July 11, 1952, when my dad was assigned as Milt's navigator in Night Intruder Crew #12, Milt was a first lieutenant pilot in the Air Force.

As the Korean War wound down, when Dad was reassigned to be a navigator instructor at Ellington Air Force Base in Houston in March 1953, Milt was reassigned to the 1738th Ferrying Squadron based out of Long Beach Municipal Airport in California.  Milt married Vivian J. Woods on March 6, 1953, in San Francisco.  Milt was still with the Air Force in 1956, and they were living in Orlando, Florida.  They later divorced, and on May 12, 1962, as an Air Force Major, he married Cornelia "Corrie" de Vos Burchart of Curacao in Bernalillo County, New Mexico.  After he retired in 1964, they moved to Fort Worth, Texas, where Milt passed away on March 1, 1996.  His ashes are in Columbarium Section 15 of Shannon Rose Hill Memorial Park in Fort Worth.


© Amanda Pape - 2015 - click here to e-mail me.

Friday's Faces From the Past: Fred, Henrietta, Jack, and Bob, San Francisco, 1952

My dad, Fred Pape (on the left) with his first cousin once removed (his mom's first cousin) Henrietta Gauer Strible (1898-1961) and her husband Jack (John Joseph Strible Jr., 1895-1963), and Dad's brother, my uncle Bob (Paul Robert Pape, Jr., 1926-2008), in San Francisco in September, 1926.  Dad was on a short leave before a B-26 ferrying mission from Sacramento, California, to Tokyo, Japan.  Bob was en route from Korea to the Pentagon.  Bob and Fred met at the home of their mother's cousin in San Francisco,  I think the photo above might have been taken outside Roberts-at-the-Beach, a restaurant that had been at 2200 Great Highway in San Francisco since 1897 (as a sign in the photo says).  It was located just off the beach between Golden Gate Park and the San Francisco Zoo. The restaurant closed in the 1960s and was eventually torn down.

© Amanda Pape - 2015 - click here to e-mail me.

Wordless Wednesday: Happy 86th Birthday to My Dad!

My dad, Frederick Henry Pape, serving as best man in his older brother Bob's wedding in June 1954.

© Amanda Pape - 2014 - click here to e-mail me.

Military Monday: Ferrying a B-26 from California to Japan, Late September 1952

After survival school and a brief family visit (with his first cousin once removed Henrietta Gauer Strible and her husband Jack, along with his brother, my uncle Bob Pape) in San Francisco, my dad, Frederick Henry Pape, was assigned to a group of twelve pilots and twelve navigators ferrying twelve B-26 aircraft from McClellan Air Force Base outside Sacramento, California, to Tachikawa Air Force Base in Tokyo, Japan.  I've written about some of my dad's memories of this trip in a previous post, and will write more over the next couple weeks.  Above is a page from my dad's military scrapbook, showing his drawing of the route they took, as well as a photo of the Tumon Bay area in Guam (long before the development boom there).


© Amanda Pape - 2014 - click here to e-mail me.

Friday's Faces from the Past: John Pape and Daughter-In-Law, ABT 1934

This picture comes from the collection of my second cousin Bill - it belonged to his grandmother, Martha Pape Bleidt (1890-1981), who was my great aunt.  The photograph is of my great-grandfather, John Pape (1851-1945) and his daughter-in-law, my paternal grandmother, Elizabeth "Betty" Florence Massmann (Mrs. Paul Robert) Pape (1902-2000).  The photo was taken in Des Moines, Iowa, where John's oldest daughter, my great aunt Clara Pape (1889-1975) , lived from 1933 to at least 1946, and where second daughter Rhea Maria Pape (1892-1977) lived starting about 1944.  Rhea's daughter Patricia "Pat" Pape Hunter Parks (1923-1967), John's first grandchild, also lived in Des Moines, beginning in 1943 (with Clara).

It's not clear when this photo was taken.  A guess is 1934, because the collection includes another photo of John with a June 15, 1934, date, inscribed "Fur Clara von Pa" (German for "For Clara from Pa").  John, Betty, and Paul may have gone to visit Clara in Des Moines, and Paul may have taken the photo and later sent it to Clara.  Martha ended up with many of the belongings of her single or widowed siblings, as she outlived them all, and many of them shared Uncle Lee Pape's home in Wilmette near the end of their lives.

© Amanda Pape - 2014 - click here to e-mail me.

Wordless Wednesday: John Pape's Naturalization, August 15, 1892

Here is a copy of the naturalization paperwork for my great-grandfather, John Pape (1851-1945) that my mother ordered from Cook County Superior Court many years ago:

And here is a copy of the index card for his naturalization.  As you can see, because he was naturalized prior to 1904, there is very little information on the paperwork that isn't on the index card.  No information about date and town of birth, ports of departure and arrival, the ship he came on, occupation, nor information about wife and children.



Source:  "Illinois, Northern District Naturalization Index, 1840-1950," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9PQQ-4M96?cc=1838804&wc=M6TM-5NL%3A165566301 : 20 May 2014), O-463 to P-142 Justina, Part B > image 1479 of 5274; citing NARA microfilm publication M1285 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).


© Amanda Pape - 2015 - click here to e-mail me.

Military Monday: SAC Survival School, Stead Air Force Base, Reno, Nevada, August 4-14, 1952

After my father, Frederick Henry Pape (1929-2017) was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant after graduation from navigator training at Ellington Air Force Base in Houston, Texas, on April 11, 1952, which began his three years of active duty, he visited home in Chicago in late April and early May.  He was en route to next assignment, which was B-26 bombardment training at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia, beginning May 14.

On July 11, 1952, he was assigned to Night Intruder Crew #12 as the navigator-bombardier with First Lieutenant Milton C. "Milt" Royles, pilot, and Airman Second Class William R. "Pep" Peppers, gunner.  On August 4, 1952, the crew was sent to Stead Air Force Base near Reno, Nevada, for an advanced survival training course (completed August 14), and then on to Camp Stoneman near Pittsburg, California.

At survival school, they were joined by two other Night Intruder crews:

• #8:  Captain Calvin S. Rowe, pilot; Captain Frederick B. Elliott, navigator, and Airman Second Class Albert A. Gagne, gunner; and
• #13:  First Lieutenant Ben F. Pace, pilot; Second Lieutenant Richard Robert "Dick" Parks (one of Dad's classmates at Ellington), navigator; and Airman Third Class Maurice E. Price, Jr., gunner.

Dad said survival school was set up for teams of ten men, so they apparently had an (unnamed) student instructor assigned to their team.  Their civilian instructor was Jack Farnsworth.

On the back of another copy of this photograph, Dad wrote, "Stead A.F.B. -  Group picture after return from trek thru the mountains."

Here is Night Intruder Crew #12 at survival school, Milt, Pep, and Fred, the "Best B-26 Crew":

I have more pictures of Milt, Pep, Ben Pace, and Richard "Dick" Parks, and you can click on the links to learn more about each man.  Here is what I could find out about some of the other men pictured:

Calvin Swope Rowe, Sr., was born March 28, 1920, in Adair County, Kentucky, the only child of Kentuckians Martin Rowe and Vila Reece. The 1930 Census shows the family living at the Adair County Poor Farm, but by 1940, Martin has become the sheriff of Adair County and the family is living in Columbia.  Calvin is a clerk in the sheriff's office and is married to a woman named Maxine.   On October 16, 1942, Calvin enlisted in the Army Air Corps, and served in World War II.  In 1958, Calvin was still serving in the Air Force, and he and Maxine were living in Bowling Green, Kentucky.  Calvin also served in Vietnam, and ended his service at the rank of lieutenant colonel.  On February 4, 1982, he married Alma Givens Cress in Sacramento County, California.  He died May 17, 1983, in San Bernadino County, and is buried at Riverside National Cemetery in Riverside, California.

Albert A. Gagne was born August 4, 1929, in New Hampshire, the fifth of seven children and oldest son of furniture repairman Albert J. Gagne and Rose Labbe, both born in New Hampshire of Canadian parents. The family lived in Somersworth, New Hampshire in 1930 and 1940.  By the time his Air Force service ended, on November 5, 1955, he had reached the rank of Staff Sergeant.  He married in 1955 and had at least a son and a daughter.  He died October 5, 2001, and is buried in Pine Hill Cemetery in Dover, New Hampshire.

Maurice Edward Price, Jr., was born October 16, 1929, in New Jersey, the third of four children and first son of Maurice Edward Price, Sr., and Gladys Mabel Wentzell.  The family lived in Takoma Park, Maryland, in 1930, and in Washington, DC, in 1935 and 1940.  Maurice died February 18, 1955, and is buried at East View Cemetery in Salem, New Jersey.  His service separation date was supposed to be October 25, 1955, so he may have died while serving in the Air Force.  He had reached the rank of sergeant in the 308th Bomb Wing.

I was unable to find any definitive information about Frederick B. Elliott or Jack Farnsworth.


© Amanda Pape - 2015 - click here to e-mail me.

Follow Friday: Genealogy Do-Over in 2015

This is a 13-week program designed by Thomas MacEntee of Geneabloggers.  The idea is to stop and take a breather from genealogical research, get organized, and then start back up in a more orderly fashion (citing sources thoroughly, for example).  The topics to be covered are relevant and timely for me.  I've felt I've gone about as far as I can with the same old resources, not to mention, so much of my and mother's research is so disorganized that I am probably repeating searches.

I'm linking to a few resources here:  Thomas' blog posts on this topic, and the resource page.  I've already decided the Facebook group is way too overwhelming and too much of a time suck.  I may go to it to get other ideas on particular topics that Thomas brings up that are of interest to me, but (as with many groups I've joined in Facebook), I need to pull it out of my news feed.  For now, I'm just following the links shown here.

I don't plan to do a whole lot differently in this blog.  I will eventually continue the series about my dad's military service that I worked on in May and November 2014.  I'll keep sharing and writing about old family photos.

The project for yesterday and today is data backup.  My file organization system, especially for photos, is really lacking.  My plan is to read the links above each week but not necessarily do everything right away.  I'd rather learn first before jumping in and possibly making an even better mess.


© Amanda Pape - 2014 - click here to e-mail me.