James Otto Auman
MilitaryEnlisted crew men of Crew #607/431 - Robert H. Taylor Crew
466th BG - 786th & 784th Bomb Squadrons
466th BG Archives
Staff Sergeant James O Auman served as a gunner with the 466th Bomb Group. He was wounded on his 21st mission on 9 August 1944. He was flying with Crew #421 - Eugene Godbout Crew as a replacement gunner that day instead of with his regular crew (Crew #431 - Robert H. Taylor Crew).
When he returned the United States he married Edna 'Snookie' Dippold.
This was described in his wife's obituary as follows:
'In May of 1945, when her husband Jim was recovering from wounds sustained in WWII, Snooky and Rita Auman traveled to Pawling, N.Y., to the hospital to visit him. On May 8, V-E Day was declared. Snooky then told him that he said when the war was over, they would get married and reminded him of that. They were married one week later in a small chapel in Pawling, with all of her husband’s Army buddies in attendance.'
The two of them owned and operated Auman's Grocery Store in St Mary's from 1945 until they retired in 2009. Jim also served as the Mayor of St. Mary's from 1966 to 1970.
Back in 2006 there were aircraft models hanging from the ceiling in the store and they still sold 1 cent candy. Both Jim and Snookie were an important part of their local community, with the store around the corner from their church.
When Snookie and then Jim died within weeks of each other in 2011, both were deeply missed by their neighbours and by people from across town who used to pop into their store for a chat before it closed.
Connections
See how this entry relates to other items in the archive by exploring the connections below.
Units served with
- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
- Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
- Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
- Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
Places
- Site type: Airfield
- Known as: Attlebridge Arsenal, Station 120
- Site type: Military site
- Site type: Airfield
- Known as: Pathway
Events
Event | Location | Date | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Born |
Saint Marys, PA, USA | 23 February 1920 | Son of the John R. and Genevieve Dippold Auman. |
Other Wounded In Action |
Saarbrücken, Germany | 9 August 1944 | "Today Rapuano and I flew a volunteer mission with Lt. Godbout to ball bearing factory at Stuttgart. There was an overcast so we hit the secondary target at Saarbrucken instead. Flak was very accurate over the city. We lost two ships on our way out. One turned into an orange torch just off our wing (this was probably the McGregor Crew). We ran into very accurate flak again near Cologne. The tail gunner (Ed Lukanic) took a piece of shrapnel in the heel and leg and was removed from the turret for first aid. A part of the same burst hit my right ankle. I lost lots of blood and could not walk. Major Thompson (Command Pilot) gave me first ai. My boyhood friend, Wally Bickmire, met the aircraft with the ambulance crew at Attlebridge when we landed. After examination at the base hospital I was transferred to the 231st Station Hospital for an operation to remove the shrapnel." - Jim Auman |
Other Married Edna 'Snookie' Dippold |
Pawling, NY 12564, USA | 16 May 1945 | |
Died |
Saint Marys, PA, USA | 11 November 2011 | His wife Edna had died on November 4, 2011. Jim's brother, William "Beagle" Auman, died just hours after him on November 11, 2011. |
Buried |
Saint Marys Cemetery, Saint Marys, PA 15857, USA | 15 November 2011 | Saint Marys Cemetery Saint Marys Elk County Pennsylvania, USA |
Revisions
Obituary of Jim Auman: http://www.lynchgreenfuneralhome.com/index.php/obituary-archives/item/8…
Obituary of Jim's wife Edna 'Snookie': http://www.lynch-radkowski.com/?p=423
Blog post about Jim and Snookie's' grocery store with pictures of how it was decorated: http://thehappysorceress.blogspot.co.uk/2006/07/shared-your-thoughts-ea…
Combined two records for James O Auman. This record now includes information from the following sources:
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / Unit roster in the book 'Attlebridge Arsenal' by Wassom & Brassford, page 343 & SECOND AIR DIVISION by Turner Publishing Company, D790.A2S45, 1998, page 199
466th BG Historian
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / http://8thairforce.com/44thbg/search/perlastname.asp