STAFF SERGEANT RAYMOND D. BLETHEN, JR. 11116786 KIA

STAFF SERGEANT RAYMOND D. BLETHEN, JR. 11116786 KIA US Army Air Corps. Sergeant Blethen graduated from Haverhill High School in 1940 and then attended Northeastern University. He enlisted in the Air Corps November 13, 1942, and received his training as an airplane mechanic at Southport, Miss., and then Gunnery School at Kingman, Arizona. At Boise, Idaho, he passed his examination for cadet pilot and went to Pre-Flight School, Alva, Oklahoma. From there he went to Advanced Training School, Sheppard Field, Texas, where his training was terminated by the War Department clue to a sufficient number of trained pilots in the Air Corps.· He was then assigned to the Bomb. Crew Det., 488th Bomb. Group (H) as an aerial engineer on a B-17. On June 25, 1945, while on a training mission, his plane was ordered to land at the nearest air field due to inclement weather. It crashed in the attempt to land. Sergeant Blethen leaves his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Raymond D. Blethen, 46 Frances St., one brother, and one sister.

 

1- Haverhill Massachusetts – Haverhill  in World War Two