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Major (USAF
Ret. Sergeant when with
the 2nd ERS) Lawrence H.
Bernstein, (1926-) was born in New York city in the northern tip
of Manhattan Island on June 22,
1926. He was
one of three children born to
Mr. and Mrs.
Samuel Bernstein. Mr. Bernstein himself a veteran of WW1. He
graduated from Textile High School in 1943. His early dream in
life was to be an
Air Force
fighter pilot. When he heard a P-38 whistle by, he said to
himself "That's for me."
Prior to
graduating from HS he enlisted in the Aviation
Cadet program and was accepted for flight training after completing
high school, he was called to active duty on 10
November 1944. Major
Bernstein entered preflight training in Biloxi,
Mississippi. Six weeks into preflight we were told that there
was a surplus of cadets in training and we had a choice of
transferring to the
Infantry or attend one of the Army training schools. He chose to be
transferred to Scott Field, Illinois which was a radio operator gunnery
school. It involved flying and that is what
he wanted to do. He graduated from Scott Field as
a Radio Operator Mechanic Airborne. He was then transferred
to Nellis Field in Nevada for gunnery training which was done
in B-24's. Upon
completion of gunnery school he was transferred to Clark Field in
the Philippines and assigned to the 24th photo Mapping Squadron,
flying in B-24's.
In August of 1945 he was
transferred to the 2nd ERS. He stayed at Clark Field for one month
when he was assigned to
the 2nd ERS in Palawan Island, He flew in the
OA-10A, the
B-17H and the
C-47. as a radio operator. One memorable mission in the B17H was to assist in rescuing the crew of
a British Bomber that had ditched off the
coast of French Indo China (Vietnam) When we
arrived on the scene we dropped our boat and the crew
scrambled to get into it. While we were orbiting scene the left
inboard engine started
smoking and the prop was feathered. We decided continue
orbiting until we were sure the crew would be picked up. We made
contact with a British ship that was nearby
and gave them the aircrews position when they had
them in sight we headed for Saigon. At this time no three
engine was cutting out so we were in dire straits. We still had about
50 miles to Saigon, at this time the the Tower was
notified of our Emergency
and gave us clearance for a straight in approach.
I thought we were
going to land in the trees. Later we found
out that we had coconut palm leaves on the
tailwheel. It took 30 days to get the parts and the aircraft
ready to return to Palawan. There were no
quarters in Saigon so we were put up
at the American Embassy, and later at the Continental Hotel which was
French. Finally got back to Palawan and resumed the same routine of
flying a mission every day. The reason for
that is there was a P-51 Squadron located
at our field and we were supporting their missions out over the South
China Sea.
In
September 1946 he had accumulated enough points (56) to be returned
to the states. He was discharged in Nov
1946. He then went back to school. He
remained in the Reserve in the meanwhile as a buck Sgt. At this time
he worked in a radio Mfg plant that made A/C
radios.
In 1947 he moved to Florida work with his father. He did that until 1948
when he received notification that he was being recalled back to
active duty. He went through a refresher Basic
Training Course at Lackland AFB.
He was then moved to Maxwell AFB where he was trained as an Air
Traffic controller. From there he went to Great Falls Mont. and then Elmendorf
AFB in Alaska. He was assigned to the Flight Following section of ATC on
the North Pacific Air route. He was promoted to S/SGT and assigned to Gen
Smith head of the Alaskan Air Command. He was the Generals personal
radio operator on his C-54. After about three months of flying with the
General his Squadron CO Captain William A Bomar called him in for a conference. He
explained to him that the travelling Aviation Cadet Testing Unit was
going to be in Elmendorf AFB the next week and he wanted him to go down an
take the test. He said yes sir and the next week he was tested. He passed
with high grades for pilot training. Three weeks later he was called to
attend Primary Pilot Training in Malden Missouri. He trained in the T-6 and
finished Primary no 2 in the class. He then went to Greenville Ms were
he flew the T-28. Upon graduating as a 2nd Lt he was assigned as an
instructor at Goodfellow AFB Texas He instructed there in the T-6, T28, B25 and the
T33. In 1956 he was assigned to Williams AFB Az flying F-86's did that for
six months when he was assigned to Nellis AFB flying the North American
F-100 A Super Sabre the first a/c to fly supersonic in level flight. Upon
completion of the course at Nellis he was assigned to the 20 TFW, 79
TFS flying F-100-D models. We we supporting the Nato forces Nuclear threat
against the Cold War. Was in the 79 TFS for 3years flying 1100 hours in
the F-100D and F models. The F model was the two-seater which he
instructed in also. After the third year In England he bid the blokes farewell and
was assigned to Williams AFB Az flying F1-00's. Upon arrival at
Williams the mission had changed to a Pilot Training base. They moved in a bunch
T-37's and T-33's. He was assigned to the T-33 section as a Flight
Commander. He was promoted to Captain when he was in Europe. He was the
first selected pilot to attend the checkout in the new supersonic
trainer, the T-38. He instructed in the T-38 until 1965 when he was assigned to
go to Vietnam. He spent 15 months in country. the first 7 months as a
Forward Air Controller (FAC) the next 8 months flying F100's he finally reached
his goal of becoming a fighter pilot in combat. He flew over 300 missions as a FAC
and F-100 Jock. After Vietnam he was assigned to Randolph AFB in the Elite
Squadron that trained the instructors, as a Flight Comander.
The Squadron was
moved to Tyndall AFB in 1968. He and his family of wife and 4 children 2
boys and 2 girls. A week after we had arrived he was notified that he
was going TDY to Korea, the North Koreans had just captured the Pueblo (spy
ship) He spent 7 months training the South Koreans how to best utilize
Close Air Support with their F-5'S. Upon returning to Tyndall he was
assigned as operations officer of the Pilot Instructor School which he
performed until he was moved to Columbus AFB Ms. He was a Major at this
time and was assigned as the Director of Operations for the 3650TH
Pilot Training Wing. They were flying T-37'S and T-38'S. He set up the entire
Basic portion of the Training Program for the T-38.
He retired with 26 years service 10 years enlisted and 16 comissioned.
He flew 11,650 hours mostly in single engine a/c. He had 380 hours of
combat time. His decorations are The Distinguished Flying Cross with 2 oak leaf
clusters, The Bronze Star, The air medal with 15 oak leaf clusters.
Presidential Unit Citation,. and a whole bunch of other medals from WW2,
Korea, and Vietnam.
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