Navy aircrew medal group – WW2 and Korea

[Geoff]

Last weekend I found a medal group at a central Ohio antique mall that belonged to a Navy sailor who served through WW2 and Korea in PBM Mariner flight crews. The group includes two sets of the sailor’s dogtags, his WW2 Combat Aircrew wings, a set of Navy Aircrew wings, eight mounted medals, plus copies of his two Air Medal award citations. There was also some brief information about him released under a Freedom of Information request by a previous owner of the group. Since purchasing this I’ve done some basic Ancestry.com research trying to recover this sailor’s story.

 

Below: most of the group shown here. Additional papers, mostly research on the patrol squadrons he served in, were also included but not shown in this photo.

 

 

 

[Geoff]

William Joseph Dowd was born on March 5, 1924, to Frank and Elsie Dowd of New Brighton, Staten Island, New York. He was the third of four children born to the Dowds. William grew up only a dozen or so blocks from New York Harbor (to the east/north east) and the Kill Van Kull channel that separates Staten Island from Manhattan.

 

Just weeks past his 17^th birthday Dowd joined the peacetime Navy on April 21, 1941, little dreaming that eight months later the country would be plunged into war. The teenager was trained as an aviation mechanic, and during World War Two he served as an air crewman aboard PBM Mariner patrol aircraft. During the war he served first with Navy patrol squadron VP-207, and later with VP-201. These two squadrons patrolled the Caribbean: at various times flying from Bermuda, Puerto Rico, Ecuador, Brazil, and the Panama Canal Zone.

 

Photos: A closer photo of his wings and medals. His Navy Good Conduct Medal is engraved with his name and the year "1944". He eventually was awarded four stars for the Navy GC medal, but he only displays three of the stars on the ribbon. Also shown is a close-up of one of his dogtags.

 

 

[Geoff]

With the postwar draw-down of units and manpower, William Dowd left active Navy service on March 16, 1947. He was called back to active duty in June, 1950 as the Korean War kicked off, and Dowd returned to flying status aboard PBM Mariner patrol aircraft again. This time he served in an active combat theater. He flew with VP-46 (1951-52) and VP-50 (1953) along the coast and waters off of Korea, earning two Air Medals during his Korean War service.

 

Photos of the two wings that came with this group. The WW2 Navy Combat Aircrew wings are hallmarked "Amico" on the back. There is no indication from the information that a previous owner gathered that Dowd was authorized to wear any stars on his combat wings though he did fly in an active combat zone in Korea. I can't make out the hallmark information on his other Navy aircrew wings.

 

 

 

 

[Geoff]

Dowd earned a total of five Navy Good Conduct medals during his Navy career. At some point he apparently attended Career Counselors School, but I don’t have any details of his serving as a counselor. At the end of his career it appears he served with TRARON 27 (a training squadron) at Corpus Christi, TX. At that time TRARON 27 flew S2F-1T Grumman “Tracker” trainer aircraft with the mission of training ASW aircrews. William Dowd retired from the Navy at Corpus Christi, TX on May 4, 1970 after 26 years of active duty service.

 

Photocopies of his two Air Medal citations, both from the Korean War.

 

 

 

[Geoff]

Dowd died of natural causes on March 7, 1988 in Corpus Christi. It’s not known if he had a family or if he was buried or cremated. I haven’t been able to locate a record of an actual interment or burial. Ancestry.com records indicate that Dowd was buried at Ft. Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego, CA. However, visiting the “Find A Grave” site I discovered that Dowd’s marker at Ft Rosecrans National Cemetery seems to be a “memorial” marker (placed by one of his brothers I believe) rather than an actual burial marker.

 

I’m honored to be the current caretaker of this group, and honored to be able to preserve and pass on the story of this sailor’s service to our country. Thanks for looking at this topic!

 

 

 

 

[katieony]

A really nice medal group and tribute to this Sailor!

 

Mike

[American Heritage]

wonderful catch Geoff!

[scottplen]

Very nice find !