Hi all,
I just got an email back from my uncle Don. I had asked him if he could remember what PBJ squadrons were at Cherry Point when he was stationed there. He said he could only remember VMB-413.
This is what he wrote I figured some of you might enjoy it.
:
Hi Nate: Sorry I did not get back to you sooner about the PBJ squadrons. The only one that I recognize is VMB 413. I believe that it was the first squadron that finished its training at Cherry Point or at Edenton, NC. I don't remember the dates of that period. Go to Google and type in "Marine Operational Training Group 81." the History section that states when we moved to Edenton. It was a brand new airfield when we got there and we were the only squadrons on the base at that time.We had just a couple of squadrons there for a short while and that was good duty with just the personnel of just a couple of squadrons. No long lines for our meals, etc.We had the couple of squadrons of SNB's at Cherry Point when the group was started and I don't remember if they moved with us up to Edenton. They were used for training the pilots from light twins to the heavier PBJs. When they got to Cherry Point, they had just finished their flight training in single engine planes and transtioned to twin training on the Beeches. I worked just a short while on the SNBs ane then was transfered to the PBJs. When I first got to the Point, we had no planes and several of us were sent to Lockheed factory out in San Fernando in California. We went there to learn the basics on maintenance on Lockheed PV-1 Venturas. We were there for six weeks and when we got back to the Point, the Marine Corps had decided that they were going to use the PBJs. So we had to back to school on the base for training on the PBJs. In 1945, we were transfered back to the Point. I was transfered to an outlying field called Oak Grove MCAS.and that is where I was when the war was over.We did not do too much training then. I had chance to go out on the line for maintenance or a chance to work in the office. It was getting close to winter and they had no hangars at Oak Grove, and I only had about six months left on my enlistment, so took the job in the squadron office. The fellow that was in the office with me did most of the typing and I did the filing.He got discharged before I did, so I took over his job and even typed up my own discharge papers and took them in to the Squadron Commander and has him sign them and then I was released and got ready to come home. Ruth and I got married when I was at the Point and she came home when we transfered to Edenton and came back down when we transfered back to the Point, where we could find housing in New Bern, which was a town near the base. AS for those other squadron numbers that you asked me about, I don't know what they were. There were several other squadrons at the Point, some were using Lockheed Hudsons and were doing anti submarine patrol out over the Atlantic, and there were a couple of Night Fighter squadrons also. Hope this answers some of questions. Hope that I did not bore you with all of this. Take care,
Uncle Don._________________
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