Dates of enlistment are October 1942 to November 1945. Washed out of pilot training. Went to radio school at Sioux Falls, SD; gunnery school at Kingman, AZ; crew training at MacDill Field, Tampa, FL. Flew 9 combat missions. A/C damaged on second mission over Hamburg. Made it back to Brussels, Belgium on two engines.

================================

from The Mighty Eighth Museum

Bud Porter was raised in Elizabeth, New Jersey. From 1942-45 Bud served in the United States Army Air Corp. He was assigned to the 412th SQ of the 95th BG of the 8th AF located in Horham, England as a ball turret gunner of a B-17. His crew, 699, was assembled and trained briefly at McDill Field and flew the “Memphis Belle” on two training missions. They went to England abroad the ship the “Queen Elizabeth”. Crew 699 became a family and stayed together for all their eleven missions until Germany surrendered in the spring of 1945. Taking advantage of the GI Bill, Bud went back to college and earned a BS degree from Rutgers University in 1948. He then spent thirty five years with GMAC Finance/Insurance Division of General Motors. Bud and his wife Sis moved to Hilton Head Island in 1984.



As a member of the local community of the 8th AF WWII veterans, he soon became engaged in planning for the museum and aggressively promoted the establishment of the museum in Pooler, Georgia. Once built, he continued his ardent support of the museum. He was present as a volunteer on the day the museum opened and has an unbroken chain of support to this day. He served as the Director of Volunteers and continues to volunteer every Sunday and whenever possible downtown at the Annex. He serves on the Board of Trustees of the museum and is a past president and very active member of the Birthplace Chapter of the Eighth Air Force Historical Society as well.







AM/ ETO/ Unit Citation/ GC