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Ww2 A-5 parachute Tuskegee airman?


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I am having problems up loading pics right now, but let me get the info out anyway and I'll work on the pics. I have an A-5 harness and parachute with the name of Donald Bull stamped all over along with his service number. The yellow group on the harness has his laundry number stenciled on it and the yellow group has his name and number stenciled on it. The service number is 1217037. The only Donald Bull with that service number comes up as a maĺe black. I know Tuskegee was training B-25 crews before the war ended. They never deployed. What else could this be?

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The 477th was reactivated as the 477th Composite Group at Selfridge Field, Michigan on 15 January 1944 and assigned to First Air Force. The 477th's new mission was to train what would become the legendary World War II African-American aviators known as the Tuskegee Airmen with Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighters and North American B-25 Mitchell bombers. During World War II, continued pressure from African-American civilian leaders led the Army to let blacks train as members of bomber crews, a step that opened many more skilled combat roles to them.


On 5 May 1944, possibly out of fear of a repeat of the previous summer's race riot in nearby Detroit, the 477th was abruptly relocated to Godman Field on Fort Knox in Kentucky.


The morale of the 477th was poor because the field was not suited to use by the B-25 and because black officers, including combat veterans of the 332d Fighter Group who had transferred to the bomber unit, were not being advanced to command positions. By early 1945, however, the 477th reached its full combat strength. It was scheduled to enter combat on 1 July, which made it necessary to relocate once more, this time to Freeman Field, a base fully suited to use the B-25.



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Six F-22 Raptors taxi following touchdown at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, during a ceremony marking the aircraft's arrival 8 August 2007. The F-22s will join the active duty 3d Wing and Air Force Reserve Command's 477th Fighter Group here. The 477th FG becomes the first Air Force Reserve unit to operate and maintain the F-22. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Keith Brown).



At Freeman Field, the Freeman Field Mutiny took place as a result of racial discrimination. As a result of the protest, the 477th was relocated back to Godman Field. Colonel Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., took command on 1 July, and black officers replaced white officers in lower command and supervisory positions. Training was to be completed by 31 August, but the war ended on 14 August with Japan's surrender.


Never deployed in combat, the 477th was downsized when the war ended.

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Record: Donald R. Bull – 12170373

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Residence:

Essex, New York

Date of Enlistment:

1 November 1942

Place of Enlistment:

Albany New York

Component of the Army:

Army of the United States - includes the following: Voluntary enlistments effective December 8, 1941 and thereafter; One year enlistments of National Guardsman whose State enlistment expires while in the Federal Service; Officers appointed in the Army of the United States under Army Regulations 605-10

Branch:

Unknown

Source of Army Personnel:

National Guard in Federal Service, within 3 months of Discharge

Nativity:

Negro, citizen

Year of Birth:

1932

Education:

1 year of high school

Civilian Occupation:

Foremen

Marital Status:

Married

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Biographical Information

Name: Donald R. Bull State of Birth: NY Home State: CA
Note Original collection material is retained at the Palm Springs Air Museum. Gender Male War or Conflict World War, 1939-1945 Military Status Veteran Dates of Service 1943-1946 Branch of Service Army Air Forces/Corps Unit of Service 13th Troop Carrier Command Location of Service Pacific Theater Highest Rank Staff Sergeant Prisoner of War No

view-digital-long.gifCollection Information

Type of Resource: Video: DVD [1 item] --Oral history interview Interviewer: Darrell Pederson Contributor: Dave Thompson Contributor Affiliation/Organization: Palm Springs Air Museum Collection #: AFC/2001/001/75606 Subjects: Bull, Donald R. World War, 1939-1945--Personal Narratives United States. Army Air Forces/Corps. Cite as: Donald R. Bull Collection

(AFC/2001/001/75606), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress

Last Edit: 2019-11-06
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Donald Ross Bull, born Oct. 16, 1922, in Saranac Lake to parents M. Alta and Seth W. Bull of Lake Placid, passed Friday, Jan. 29, 2016.


Always living an active life, Don competed on the ski team, played soccer, played in the school band and ran track for Lake Placid High School, lettering in all. The family owned Bull’s General Store on Mill Hill in Lake Placid. Don took full advantage of the winter wonderland around him and enjoyed speedskating and ski jumping.


Don joined the Army Air Corps during World War II and served in Honolulu and the greater Pacific Ocean theater. During a search mission in 1944, his plane suffered from engine failure and went down. Don was one of only two survivors and endured a night in a life raft before being picked up by a merchant ship.


After returning from duty, Don attended Northrop University and later went on to UCLA, graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering; he was certified by the state of California as a civil engineer. He worked for 32 years at Air Research, Northrop and TRW as a project engineer.


Don met Jean Lucille Graves skiing Badger Pass in Yosemite. The two were married Aug. 12, 1950. They enjoyed three rambunctious children, homesteading a desert cabin out of Twentynine Palms, waterskiing behind the Bullship and living life to the fullest. Once retired, the two escaped to the Pacific Northwest, mainly Oregon and Washington, in their motor home every summer for 17 years where they volunteered as campground hosts. Don was a member of the Order of the Elks. For the last five years, the esteemed duo has resided in Palm Desert Country Club, California, where he was a committed


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Record: Donald R. Bull – 12170373

no-image.jpg

0 Images

Residence:

Essex, New York

Date of Enlistment:

1 November 1942

Place of Enlistment:

Albany New York

Component of the Army:

Army of the United States - includes the following: Voluntary enlistments effective December 8, 1941 and thereafter; One year enlistments of National Guardsman whose State enlistment expires while in the Federal Service; Officers appointed in the Army of the United States under Army Regulations 605-10

Branch:

Unknown

Source of Army Personnel:

National Guard in Federal Service, within 3 months of Discharge

Nativity:

Negro, citizen

Year of Birth:

1932

Education:

1 year of high school

Civilian Occupation:

Foremen

Marital Status:

Married

 

If Donald Bull was born in 1932 how is it he enlisted at age 10 in 1942? If you want to see the interview with the real Donald Bull click on the interviewers name and a list of people he interviewed will appear. Click on Donald Bull and it will air. It is 40 minutes long and as it turns out he was a flight engineer on B-24's his whole time in including when they ditched in the Pacific while looking for a missing General who was missing at sea.

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pararaftanr2

"If Donald Bull was born in 1932 how is it he enlisted at age 10 in 1942?"

 

The typist must have transposed the numbers. He was probably born in 1923.

 

 

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"If Donald Bull was born in 1932 how is it he enlisted at age 10 in 1942?"

 

The typist must have transposed the numbers. He was probably born in 1923.

 

 

That's the thing. The Army enlistment records only shows one Donald Bull born in New York. The one I can prove existed was white and born in 1922 in New York. This Donald Bull can be seen in the interview What I know about him from the news paper account is not listed on the Army enlistment site. I think they screwed up his information.

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Aznation was good enough to pull the mishap report and it confirms the Donald R Bull born in 1922 is the correct guy. The information from that site was wrong.

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Hello, after doing research and looking at your original post, you have some of the information correct and some wrong. It has nothing to do with Tuskegee. You had the information for Donald Ross Bull correct. He was born in 1922 in New York.



By the way I never use that one WWII Enlistment website http://wwii-enlistment.com/ because I did find out it contains error just like the date of birth on Donald R. Bull. I always use NARA's website for accurate information https://aad.archives.gov/aad/ . I will use the WWII Enlistment website ONLY when searching for laundry numbers.



Rest of the information following for the correct Donald R. Bull follows:



Source: NARA




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Source: WWII Memorial Website



Note: Both these memorials are to your same guy. Donald R. Bull did live in Redondo Beach, CA and he did one. The other one that shows his full name is correct as well. Donald middle name Ross comes from his mother whose name was Martha Ross, which was her maiden name.




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