United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II

James_H._Kasler

Colonel James Helms Kasler (May 2, 1926 – April 24, 2014) was a senior officer in the United States Air Force and the only person to be awarded the Air Force Cross three times. The Air Force Cross ranks just below the Medal of Honor as an award for extraordinary heroism in combat.
Kasler was a combat veteran of World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. In Korea, as an F-86 Sabre pilot with the 4th Fighter-Interceptor Wing, he was recognized as an ace, credited with shooting down 6 MiG-15s. Kasler flew a combined 198 combat missions and was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam from August 1966 until March 1973.
He flew a total of 101 combat missions in an F-86E Sabre and scored 6 confirmed air-to-air victories and two more damaged against MiG-15s, becoming among the first jet aces of the Korean War.

Morgan_Woodward

Thomas Morgan Woodward (September 16, 1925 – February 22, 2019) was an American actor who is best known for his recurring role as Marvin "Punk" Anderson on the television soap opera Dallas and for his portrayal of Boss Godfrey, the sunglasses-wearing "man with no eyes", in the 1967 film Cool Hand Luke. On TV, he was a familiar guest star on cowboy shows. On the long-running Western Gunsmoke, he played 16 different characters in 19 episodes (including a pair of two-part stories), the most such appearances of any actor on the show. He also had a recurring role on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp.

Charles_Black_(professor)

Charles Lund Black Jr. (September 22, 1915 – May 5, 2001) was an American scholar of constitutional law, which he taught as professor of law from 1947 to 1999. He is best known for his role in the historic Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case, as well as for his Impeachment: A Handbook, which served for many Americans as a trustworthy analysis of the law of impeachment during the Watergate scandal.

Jimmy_Mankins

James Earl Mankins Sr. (February 9, 1926 – August 20, 2013) was an American businessman and politician.
Born in Electra, Texas, Mankins served in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. Mankins owned a trucking business in Kilgore, Texas. He served in the Texas House of Representatives from 1975 to 1985 as a Democrat. Mankins was defeated by Michael W. Martin in the 1980 election cycle. After Martin resigned the District 13 seat, Mankins won a special election to return to the state house. Mankins died in Longview, Texas.Mankins's son and namesake was indicted in 1995, after an investigation into the Kentucky Fried Chicken murders. Charges against Mankins Jr. were dismissed after DNA evidence failed to show that Mankins Jr. was involved in the crime. By a 2003 court order, his indictment was expunged from non-investigatory records of the KFC murders case, although Mankins Jr. remained imprisoned at the time on separate drug charges.

Clint_Hartung

Clinton Clarence Hartung (August 10, 1922 – July 8, 2010), nicknamed "the Hondo Hurricane", was an American right-handed pitcher and right fielder in Major League Baseball who played with the New York Giants from 1947 to 1952.

Víctor_Manuel_Blanco

Víctor Manuel Blanco (March 10, 1918 – March 8, 2011) was a Puerto Rican astronomer who in 1959 discovered Blanco 1, a galactic cluster. Blanco was the second Director of the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, which had the largest telescope in the Southern Hemisphere at the time. In 1995, the 4-meter telescope was dedicated in his honor and named the Víctor M. Blanco Telescope; it is also known as the "Blanco 4m."

Jack_Hanlon

Jack Clem Hanlon (February 15, 1916 – December 13, 2012) was an American child actor known for his role in Our Gang and silent films. According to Variety, at the time of his death he was the oldest living person to appear in the Our Gang comedies and likely the last surviving cast member of the Buster Keaton silent classic The General.Hanlon was born in Fort Worth, Texas, and was raised by his grandmother in Culver City, California. He started acting at age 10. His first role was in Buster Keaton's 1926 film, The General, before appearing in two 1927 Our Gang/Little Rascals silent shorts: The Glorious Fourth and Olympic Games. He had what was characterized as a breakout performance in the 1929 William Wyler-directed part-talkie The Shakedown, co-starring James Murray and Barbara Kent. He also had minor roles in Romance, where as an uncredited extra he got his first on-screen kiss from Greta Garbo.Between 1930 and 1933, Hanlon appeared in eight more films before giving up his acting career in 1932. After graduating from high school, he played minor league baseball and served as an Army Air Corps paratrooper during World War II. After the war, Hanlon, worked as a furniture mover for Allied Van Lines. He was married to Jean Hanlon from 1940 until her death in 1977. He moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1994. He stayed friends with fellow Our Gang alumnus and Las Vegan, Jay R. Smith. He died on December 13, 2012.

Mel_Hoderlein

Melvin Anthony Hoderlein (June 24, 1923 – May 21, 2001) was an American utility infielder in Major League Baseball who played from 1951 through 1954 for the Boston Red Sox (1951) and Washington Senators (1952–54). Listed at 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m), 185 lb., Hoderlein was a switch-hitter and threw right-handed. He was born in Mount Carmel, Ohio.
A steady infielder with good instincts, Hoderlein is better known as a player who was part of seven major league franchises but only played for two of them. At age 28, it was a long way for Hoderlein, who spent four years of active military service and six seasons in the minors playing for the Reds, Cubs, Yankees and Red Sox systems (1941, 1946–50).
Hoderlein joined the U.S. Air Force during World War II (1942–45). After being discharged, he was part of several transactions before debuting in the majors in August 1951 with the Red Sox, while hitting .357 (5-for-14) in nine games. Before the 1952 season, he was traded by Boston with Chuck Stobbs to the White Sox in the same transaction that brought Randy Gumpert to Boston. But Hoderlein did not appear in a game for the White Sox. He was sent immediately along with Jim Busby to the Senators in exchange for Sam Mele.
Hoderlein gave three years of good services for Washington, coming out of the bench as a defensive replacement and for pinch-hitting duties. In the 1954 midseason he was dealt to the Tigers for Johnny Pesky, but he decided to finally hang his spikes.
In a four-season career, Hoderlein was a .252 hitter (74-for-294) with 22 runs and 24 RBI in 118 games, including 10 doubles, three triples, two stolen bases, and a .327 on-base percentage. He did not hit a home run. He made 88 infield appearances at second base (77), shortstop (8) and third base (3), committing 14 errors in 423 chances for a collective .967 fielding percentage.
Hoderlein died in his hometown of Mount Carmel, Ohio at age 77.

George_H._McKee

Lieutenant General George H. McKee (April 28, 1923 – January 6, 2015) was an American Air Force lieutenant general and command pilot who was commander of Air Training Command with headquarters at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas.