After enlisting in the Army Air Corps in March 1943 and earning his degree in Architecture from Catholic University he was accepted at Flight School. Flight training was completed at bases in Florida, Ohio and Arkansas. He received orders to pilot a B-17 across the Atlantic and report for combat duty in England. Before he left, he married his high school sweetheart, Margie Bingham, in Savannah, Georgia. His co-pilot Franklin Zerbe was best man. Bernie was part of the 388th Bomb Group/560th Bomb Squadron of the 8th Air Force that flew out of Knettishall, England. Ultimately he flew 35 combat missions, the last on Christmas Eve, 1944. Bernie received the Air Medal and 4 Oak Leaf Clusters (representative of 5 Air Medals) for various “tough” missions and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. After the War, Bernie returned to NJ where he bought a home in Red Bank and raised three children. By 1948 he became sole proprietor of his own Architectural practice and over time earned several distinctions including President of the NJ State Board of Architects and induction into the College of Fellows of The Architects Institute of America. Bernie is greatly admired and sorely missed by his children, children-in-law, and grandchildren.