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In Memoriam

If you wish to post a memorial to a 315TCG WW2 veteran, please email me (mileshamby@cox.net) and I will be delighted to post your submission or establish a link to it here – obits, pictures, PDFs, weblinks, all welcome!

 

Robert J. Gibbons

USAF Retired

d. Aug 15, 2002

 

 

Maj. Gen Robert J. Gibbons, USAF Ret, passed from this life in his home on August 15, 2002 at the age of 86. Born in New York City, his life was defined by his love and respect for his family and his country. Attending the University of Alabama on a track scholarship, he graduated with a BS in 1939, trained with the Army Air Corps at Kelly and Randolph AFB and received his pilot wings in 1940. That same year, he married the former Helen Frances Draper of San Angelo, a graduate of the University of Texas, Austin. For almost five years he was an active participant in WWII operations, including flying behind enemy lines to pick up downed pilots and leading the 315th Troup Carrier Group in the Normandy landings, Arnheim troop carrier operations, and the Rhine River crossing. His post-war career included assignments at Air Command and Staff School, Maxwell AFB, Keesler AFB, Army War College, Bolling AFB, Directorate of Plans (J5), Headquarters Pacific Command Hawaii, where he was Director of the CIA in the Pacific, Foreign Technology Division, AF Systems Command, Wright-Patterson AFB. He was Deputy Chief of Staff of Intelligence at US Air Forces Headquarters Europe, Wiesbaden; Director of Intelligence, US Strike Command, MacDill AFB; Director of Intelligence, Headquarters US European Command, Stuttgart, Germany and retired in 1972 after almost 33 years of distinguished service. His military decorations include the Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster, Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star, Army Commendation Medal, Distinguished Unit Citation Emblem and various campaign medals for the European and African theaters. Preceded in death by his beloved wife, he is survived by his daughter and her husband, Candace and Mike Bumgarner; grandson, Kevin Bumgarner, his wife Melanie and their children, Kevin and Kaitlyn; granddaughter, Brandace Hope and her children, Nikolai and Jacqueline Novack and niece, Kathy Bodeep, her husband George and their children. The family will receive friends on Thursday, from 6:00 to 8:00 P.M. at the Colonial Funeral Home on Kitty Hawk in Universal City. Services with Military Honors will be held at 10:00 A.M. on Friday, August 23, 2002 at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery. Colonial Chapel Hill. Subj:    ~  from San Antonio Express News, Tue, 20 Aug 2002, submitted by member George F. Cholewczynski

 

Robert J. Gibbons, 315th TCG, Group Executive Officer and Commanding Officer (succeeding Col. Hamish McLelland)

Wife: Florence

Col. Henry G. Hamby, Jr

USAF (Retired)

Jan 10, 1916 – Jul 2009

 

First commanding officer 310th TCS

Retired as Colonel, USAF

 

 

Link to Hamby Memorial

 

 

Submitted by Miles Hamby, son