500th Bomb Group ( Very Heavy )

AIRCRAFT COMMANDER

SERIAL NUMBER

NICKNAME

LAW

44-69666

BOTTELED IN BLONDE

Suggested Reading:

Case History 111

The Law Crew

Honor States

500th Bomb Group Virtual Cemetery

The Case History 111 site contains 213 documents and there are 117 at the Law Crew site.

A small number of these is presented within these pages for Sgt Pasternak.

Sgt Pasternak's parents were born in Poland and arrived in the United States during 1912.
In 1917 their daughter Stephanie ( Stefania) was born.

Sgt Pasternak was known as Tadeuz, Teddy, and Thaddeus.
He is listed as Teddy in the 1930 US Census.

Based on available information, the family residence was at
24 Bliss St, Chicopee, Massachusetts, until at least 1965.

Online information for Sgt Pasternak is quite limited and
below this introduction are the few items that I have been able to locate.

He enlisted on 1 February 1944 and his first station was at Fort Devens, Massachusetts.
This was the Reception Center for all men from the New England area.

He was stationed at:

February - March 1944 Greensboro AAF, North Carolina ( Basic Training )
March - May 1944 Harlingen AAF, Texas ( Gunnery School )

May 1944 Lincoln AAF, Nebraska
May - July 1944 Clovis AAF, New Mexico

July - September 1944 Harvard AAF, Nebraska
September 1944 - January 1945 Pyote AAF, Texas

January - February 1945 Kearney AAF, Nebraska
14 February 1945 depart for Mather AAF, Sacramento, California

18 February 1945 depart Mather AAF for Saipan
Arrive Saipan late February 1945

He most likely was assigned to the Lt Edward G Law crew
at either Clovis AAF or Harvard AAF

The B-29 was lost during 73rd Bomb Wing Mission Number 37 the night of 1-2 April 1945.

Lt Law did not survive the crash but the other ten men were able to parachute to safety.
Some details are in the Law Crew section of this site as well as the separate site for the

Law Crew

at the main page of the POW Honor Roll

In mid-April 1945 Sgt Pasternak was transferred from the
Eastern District Kempei Tai Headquarters to the Tokyo Military Prison.

He was among 62 Prisoners of War who died the night of 25-26 May 1945.

Below are the Chicopee Directory, 1944

Registration Card

Enlistment Record from the NARA web site

followed by two brief histories of
Greensboro and Harlingen Army Air Fields



My thanks to the following for their assistance in putting this page together:

Ed Law
Roy Wall
Jim Bowman
Michael Krehl
Scott Muselin

Al Schutte

POW Research Network Japan

CHICOPEE DIRECTORY 1944

source: Ancestry.com

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REGISTRATION CARD
OCTOBER 1940

source: Ancestry.com

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ENLISTMENT RECORD
PAGE 1
[ Note misspelling as PASTERNACK ]

source: National Archives

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ENLISTMENT RECORD
PAGE 2

source: National Archives

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BRIEF HISTORY OF GREENBORO AAF, NORTH CAROLINA
PAGE 1

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BRIEF HISTORY OF GREENBORO AAF, NORTH CAROLINA
PAGE 2

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HISTORY OF HARLINGEN ARMY AIR FIELD
1943

AERIAL GUNNER SCHOOL

source: Army Air Forces Collection

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