World Conflict II Air Power veteran Main Richard Olson by no means mentioned his army service together with his son, Dick Olson.
“I didn’t have all that a lot time to be asking these questions whereas he was at dwelling,” Dick, a Westminster resident, informed the Denver Publish in an interview. “He was a distant father, and I think about a whole lot of that got here from what occurred to him through the warfare and in service.”
After Richard died, Dick turned to army archives, outdated images and interviews with the surviving members of his father’s B-24 Liberator airplane crew to study in regards to the veteran’s journey. By way of his analysis, Dick found that his father, regardless of being severely injured in a aircraft crash earlier than enduring months as a prisoner of warfare, had by no means obtained a Purple Coronary heart.
For seven years, Dick labored to appropriate the oversight. In April, the Air Power agreed to posthumously award Richard a Purple Coronary heart.
The veteran was 22 years outdated when he enlisted within the U.S. Military Air Corps in February 1941, in response to his son. The service was renamed the U.S. Military Air Forces in June of that 12 months and have become the U.S. Air Power in 1947.
“He grew up by means of the Despair and every thing else,” Dick informed The Publish. “I believe he joined as a result of he was searching for three sq. meals a day.”
Courtesy of Dick Olson
Richard Olson (backside middle) poses with a B-24 crew after finishing a six hour coaching flight. (Picture credit score: Courtesy of Dick Olson)
Olson later grew to become the co-pilot of a B-24 bomber aircraft within the 484th Bombardment Group fight unit. Every week after D-Day, whereas stationed in southern Italy, his crew was shot down over the Adriatic Sea by eight German fighter planes whereas flying to Munich.
“They misplaced an engine, they usually couldn’t sustain with the remainder of the bombers, in order that they needed to flip round to return,” Dick mentioned. “Two of the gunners have been killed on the aircraft. After which the aircraft was set on hearth and I believe that they had two extra engines shot out.
“However there was an enormous hearth within the bomb bay in order that they needed to get out of the aircraft. In order that they did, and all people bailed out, those that have been nonetheless alive.”
Shell fragments struck Olson’s leg and he sustained a again harm that left him with continual ache.
Many of the males landed on the Italian shoreline northeast of Venice, in response to conversations Dick had with B-24 crew member John Hassan. He was transferred to 2 different POW camps and after 10 months of incarceration, Olson was liberated on April 29, 1945, from Moosburg, Germany.
“He simply mentioned it was a really uninteresting existence and naturally they have been hungry on a regular basis,” Dick informed The Publish. “There was not an entire lot to do there. They performed sports activities and the American Crimson Cross provided them with books and boardgames and sporting gear and various things to maintain their morale up.”
Courtesy of Dick Olson
Richard Olson’s identification card from his time as a POW in Stalag Luft III. (Picture credit score: Courtesy of Dick Olson)
Olson stayed within the Air Power for 16 years after his liberation from the POW camp and have become a serious, father and husband earlier than leaving the army in 1961, in response to his obituary.
“My mother and father break up after I was about 13,” Dick mentioned. “He moved away from the family they usually obtained divorced.”
After the divorce in 1969, Dick noticed Richard three extra instances earlier than the veteran handed away in 1996 from a number of myeloma.
“I used to be at all times fascinated by his Air Power profession. And since he by no means talked about these different guys, I wished to seek out them and speak to them myself,” Dick mentioned.
He linked with John Hassan, the navigator in Richard’s B-24 crew, in 1997. “Going by means of a few of his papers, I discovered a telephone quantity for John and referred to as him up and began searching for all the opposite crew members additionally,” Dick mentioned, “I finally did make contact with those that have been dwelling or relations for those who had handed away.
“John was my dad’s greatest buddy on the crew and we grew to become actually good associates,” Dick added. “He just about had a photographic reminiscence, in order that’s how I do know an terrible lot about that crew.”
Whereas researching the crew, Dick helped the aircraft’s bombardier, Walter Chapman, get a Distinguished Flying Cross he ought to have been awarded many years prior.
Like Chapman, Olson was additionally lacking an award: a Purple Coronary heart for sustaining an harm whereas within the line of responsibility.
“There was point out of every thing else, just like the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medals,” Dick mentioned. “All of the ribbons and medals that he was entitled to, aside from the Purple Coronary heart.”
Olson’s seize as a POW proper after the B-24 crash meant his wounds went undocumented. In 2017, Dick determined to file a declare with the Air Power Board for Correction of Army Data and show that his father had been injured. “I believed to myself, that is unfinished enterprise, I’ve obtained to see if I can get this factor,” Dick mentioned.
After an in depth submitting course of, the Board for Correction rejected Dick’s request in 2020.
Brian Schenk, founding father of Midwest Army and Veterans Legislation, agreed to work with Dick professional bono and collectively, they took the Board for Correction to federal courtroom, decided to show that Olson had been injured throughout lively responsibility.
“Dick Olson’s father was a warfare hero and he had such excessive humility that he himself by no means sought a Purple Coronary heart,” Schenk informed the Denver Publish.
“I believed to myself, the outdated man went by means of the wringer, and he deserves to have this,” Dick mentioned. “I informed the Air Power within the letter that I wrote with my first utility that I’m doing it for his legacy and for posterity. Individuals ought to know that he was injured combating for his nation.”
On April 23, Dick gained his case and the Board for Correction agreed to posthumously grant Olson a Purple Coronary heart Award.
“He would have been actual blissful to put on this purple coronary heart,” Dick mentioned. “I believe he would have been fairly happy with the combat we put as much as make this occur.”
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