US Airforce info

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stattointhailand
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US Airforce info

Post by stattointhailand » March 24, 2021, 2:41 pm

Just wondering if any of you guys can give me some advice.
I'm trying to trace service details of a distant relative (now deceased)
I've not got a clue what service records are publicly available or where to start looking (brick walls everywhere I try)
She was a Lt Col in the USAF and served in Korea and Vietnam
She was born 09 Aug 1920 in Boston Mass and died 12 Jun 2016
Her name was Bernice Hazel Stanley

any advice on where I may find some info would be much appreciated



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tamada
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Re: US Airforce info

Post by tamada » March 24, 2021, 7:52 pm


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Re: US Airforce info

Post by stattointhailand » March 24, 2021, 8:31 pm

No tam, brings up a couple of "'hits", but not the right person, same with New England Historic Genealogical Society (American Ancestors) finds a couple of hundred records, but apart from 1930 census record nothing to note.
Would have thought a female Lt Col would have at least been newsworthy, but obviously not. Perhaps I'd have more luck if I used a Huawei phone to do the search :-)

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Re: US Airforce info

Post by tamada » March 24, 2021, 9:13 pm

stattointhailand wrote:
March 24, 2021, 8:31 pm
No tam, brings up a couple of "'hits", but not the right person, same with New England Historic Genealogical Society (American Ancestors) finds a couple of hundred records, but apart from 1930 census record nothing to note.
Would have thought a female Lt Col would have at least been newsworthy, but obviously not. Perhaps I'd have more luck if I used a Huawei phone to do the search :-)
About 15 years ago, I helped a girl in Australia who was searching for a Vietnam-era veteran's info (her dad) and it was cracked by linking his USAF squadron or flight to a date when they were located at Udon air base. That opened links to a couple or three small, special interest websites run by former flyers. Since she was trying to find her father, I left her to it and she emailed me a few years later to say she had eventually found him, or rather where and when he had died back home in the US.

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Re: US Airforce info

Post by stattointhailand » March 24, 2021, 9:26 pm

Unfortunately my family "contact" in the States (ex Army Major) who had access to several "paywall" genealogy sites passed away a year or so ago, so I'm currently having to scour all the "free to view" sites for scraps of info.
Only found out about Bernice recently, she never married , so I presume had no kids, both parents now dead, no siblings, so I really need a "paper trail". Would be great to find out if she was ever in Udon :-)

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Re: US Airforce info

Post by tamada » March 25, 2021, 12:04 am

stattointhailand wrote:
March 24, 2021, 9:26 pm
Unfortunately my family "contact" in the States (ex Army Major) who had access to several "paywall" genealogy sites passed away a year or so ago, so I'm currently having to scour all the "free to view" sites for scraps of info.
Only found out about Bernice recently, she never married , so I presume had no kids, both parents now dead, no siblings, so I really need a "paper trail". Would be great to find out if she was ever in Udon :-)
From the researching for the Aussie girl, I recall there were a few bases in Thailand that USAF were variously stationed at; Udon, Nakhon Phanom, Ubon, Korat, Takhli, Don Meuang and U-Tapao.

I have a deceased dear friend who was officially based with the USAF at Udon but was one of the Ravens flying out of Long Tieng in Laos. They used to turn their dog tags in here and cut any US clothing tags off before flying north. His call sign was 'Magnet Ass' as he had the dubious fame of being arguably the most shot-down flier of the Vietnam theater.

https://www.airspacemag.com/military-av ... 22/?page=3

https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/houst ... =179960570

Fred wanted to be cremated and his ashes scattered at Long Tieng. However, the location is still off-limits to foreigners and designated a military facility. We ended up renting a boat out of Nong Khai and dumping his ashes in the Mekhong. Close enough as Fred would have said.

Then we got really drunk.

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Re: US Airforce info

Post by FrazeeDK » March 26, 2021, 9:00 am

I dug through different levels of the U.S. government archives site.. couldn't find a single hit on her...
Dave

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Re: US Airforce info

Post by tamada » March 26, 2021, 10:38 am

^ Maybe she had the same classification as Captain Fred Platt?

"... The Ravens wore plain clothes, we were pilots divorced from the military who worked with the American Embassy in Vientiane Laos and the C. I. A. We were Forward Air Controllers, but we actually did what was necessary Any Time Any Place to preserve the freedom of Laos. We were Air Force pilots who were 'sheep dipped' so we could stay in the Air Force and not be identified as such. Ravens worked closely with the Air America people, but were considered a separate Black Operation and not under direct Air Force control."

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Re: US Airforce info

Post by stattointhailand » March 26, 2021, 1:31 pm

FrazeeDK wrote:
March 26, 2021, 9:00 am
I dug through different levels of the U.S. government archives site.. couldn't find a single hit on her...
Thanks for trying Dave

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Re: US Airforce info

Post by stattointhailand » March 26, 2021, 1:39 pm

Wouldn't be the first tam. I've already found one ex CIA US spy working in Europe after WWII in another branch of the family :shock:

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