All the WWII and Vietnam War posts reminded me of a family member lost long ago . This is a relative I never knew. 1st Lt. Robert Black Baumer was my father's cousin. He flew in 51 missions over Europe during WWII. He also served in the Korean War on a B29A Superfortress. His plane was shot down while on a night mission over North Korea on 10 June, 1952. His body was never found. His plane was shot down by a North Korean MiG-15 piloted by a Soviet "volunteer", Anatoly Karelin. There's a lot more on Anatoly Karelin on the internet than my relative. I look at this picture and he is the spitting image of my dad. Dad passed away three years ago and never talked about his cousin Bob. I only found out about him after dad passed. I wish I knew more. Links like what I have posted below don't capture the personal aspect. One of my greatest regrets is that dad never talked about this and I can't find any relatives today.

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/85744

This message has been edited. Last edited by: chbibc,

Thank you for sharing this. If there is a silver lining to all that is going on right now it seems to be a shift in recognizing those people who are really important.

I look at picture like the one you've shown, he's quite ordinary. He's a man that could be seen anywhere and everywhere but then I read his story. I think to myself, could I have done what he did? He's a true hero, a true patriot. As someone who didn't serve, I am thankful to him and all of them who fought, drafted or volunteered.

Again, thank you for sharing this and letting us honor your cousin.

Your post prompted me to snoop around a little to see what could be learned about who was who in Korea air space at war time. Seems the slower American F 80s did a pretty good shoot down job against the Soviet piloted Mig 15s. I was hoping to read something like this out of revenge. Occurs to me, Korea was just a few short years after WW2. I believe American bombers were in China at the time flying from Chinese labor built run ways. Far be it for me to understand how after fighting for the bastards against Japan, we could years later be adversaries but here we are. Ive long felt we should have turned our forces against Russia at the devision of Germany and kicked their asses hard. Perhaps we wouldnt be staring down commies for decades as we have. Thanks for sharing the story of your family member with us.

Another American Hero.

No family tree to follow?

What are the holes in the pix btw.

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
Another American Hero.

No family tree to follow?

What are the holes in the pix btw.

We were never close with family on my dad's side, in fact I can only remember once or twice in my early years meeting Uncle Walt (Bob's dad). I've not been able to trace any relatives. I do not know what the holes in the photo are, it is a photo from a web page. I have no family photos from my dad's cousins.

quote:

Originally posted by David Lee:
Occurs to me, Korea was just a few short years after WW2. I believe American bombers were in China at the time flying from Chinese labor built run ways. Far be it for me to understand how after fighting for the bastards against Japan, we could years later be adversaries but here we are.

Short answer: The China that we aided against the Japanese during WW2 is not the same government as today. During WW2, China was ruled by the Nationalists, which were later overthrown by the current Communists.

At the end of WW2 the Chinese Civil War, which had been ongoing on a small scale since the 1920s but was temporarily put on pause to fight their mutual Japanese enemy, flared back up. In the late 1940s, the Communist revolutionaries succeeded in a series of military victories, overthrowing the Nationalist government and pushing the Nationalists out of mainland China and onto the island of Taiwan. Since 1949, the totalitarian Communists have been in power in China. The tiny island nation of Taiwan, our current ally, is the only remaining vestige of the WW2-era Nationalist Chinese.

quote:

Originally posted by chbibc:
What are the holes in the pix btw.

The holes are from the "INACTIVE" stamp, put on military IDs after discharge to permanently mark them as no longer being active duty (so they couldn't be used fraudulently).

I had the distinct honor of getting to know Maj. Gen. Edwin Robertson a little bit because he was a friend of the man whose ranch my wife and I worked on. Robertson graduated from the USMA in 1947 and went into what soon became the USAF. He flew everything from the P-51 to the F-15 Eagle. Among the awards he received was a DFC and a Silver Star. Thinking about all the planes he flew, I asked him what his favorite was. He answered almost immediately, “I guess it was the F-80 (Shooting Star); it would take a lot of damage and still get you home.” Fuck a bunch of sexy airplanes, get me back home

Even though the war supposidly ended 1953/1954 that did not stop the agression by North Korea. Look at "the blue house raid","USS Pueblo incident" and the ambush attack of a communication truck around 1968. In 1969/1970 I was stationed near/and on the DMZ with a 105mm howitzer unit as a artillery survey. we collected data for possible targets for the big guns. have been 2 steps from the actual white cloth tape marking the boundry line . Had reason to belive that had I crossed that boundry that would have been shot on the spot. Spent some time on several guard post inside the DMZ and watched the USarmy lay out claymore mines during the day and watch the North Koreans move them during the night by turning them around 180degrees then retreat and would start up something making the US soldiers to activate which would send the charge up the guard post hillside. While there several actions which could have restarted a full out rebirth of the war but the American public never had any knowledge of these things happening. And these incidents are still happening. .................drill sgt.