Clarence O Bergeson

Military
media-13229.jpeg UPL 13229 Uniform of 2nd Lt. Clarence O Bergeson at the 93rd Bomb Group Memorial Museum, Hardwick Airfield.

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Object Number - UPL 13229 - Uniform of 2nd Lt. Clarence O Bergeson at the 93rd Bomb Group Memorial Museum, Hardwick Airfield.

2nd Lt. Bergeson flew over to England in a brand new 'silver-finish' B-24 Liberator with his crew at the beginning of May 1944. They took the Southern Ferry Route and probably landed at RAF Burtonwood, as one of his crew members in an old newsletter described it as a ".. large handling and maintenance facility in the Northwest of England .."



On arrival they had to hand over their ship, which caused the crew great upset as they's filled it with 'goodies' from the U.S. and everything was confiscated apart from their clothing and personal possessions.



The crew were then given movement orders to proceed to the 93rd Bomb Group at Hardwick in Norfolk, which they travelled to by train. On arrival they were assigned to the 330th Bomb Squadron and moved into their quarters.



They barely had time to settle in before they were put on the battle order for a mission to Lorient. This was a fairly short mission and may explain why they were sent with little transitional training before taking part in combat operations.



Lt. Bergeson is mentioned in the unit's history "Ted's Travelling Circus" as flying on a mission as part of a six plane formation briefed for a raid on a rocket site at Hout Maismil on the 4 August 1944. The target couldn't be identified due to poor weather so they attacked the Billy/Montigne railway marshalling yards instead. Lt. Bergeson's aircraft lost an engine to flak over Lille and Auxi and then another engine was damaged, however due to his skill as a pilot and with the help of his crew he brought his aircraft safely back to Hardwick.



The two b-24 Liberator's that Lt. Bergeson flew the most were 'Sweater Gal' and 'Ready and Willing'. The First engineer on his crew, Wayne Baker wrote a book about his experiences entitled "Above the Clouds" and in it this is a photo of Bergeson's crew, there is also a list of missions the crew flew with the exception of one which Bergeson did not fly on. Clarence Bergeson flew 33 missions, 3 more than he had to - he did this so his crew could finish their tour together.



Instead of returning back to the United States at the end of his tour he elected to stay on in England to instruct new crews on their arrival into the European Theatre of Operations.



On eventually returning back to the USA he was discharged from the USAAF and became a teacher in New York.

Connections

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Units served with

The insignia of the 93rd Bomb Group.
  • Unit Hierarchy: Group
  • Air Force: Eighth Air Force
  • Type Category: Bombardment

People

  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 93rd Bomb Group 330th Bomb Squadron
  • Highest Rank: Technical Sergeant
  • Role/Job: Flight Engineer

Places

Events

Event Location Date Description

Enlisted

13 July 1942 Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Revisions

Date
Contributordecwriter
Changes
Sources

NARA files verified ASN upon entry, officer number, DFC and AM with two Oak Leaf Clusters. His AM card has the correct officer number, yet they misspelled his first name as Charles versus Clarence. The picture of his uniform shows a PH and a GCM, yet no PH card is on file with the Archives. His personal records could determine the awards. He earned the ACM based on entry date and at least one bronze service star on the EAME Campaign Medal.

Date
ContributorBombay
Changes
Sources

flew the moist>most

Date
Contributorapollo11
Changes
Sources

Information correct as far as records show.

Date
Contributorapollo11
Changes
Sources

All information correct as far as I can gather from records.

Date
Contributorapollo11
Changes
Sources

Information correct as far as I know from records.

Date
ContributorAAM
Changes
Sources

Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / roster

Clarence O Bergeson: Gallery (1 items)