Captain Wilson P. Porch.
Served in CBI Theater as Technical Inspector for Aircraft, 61st Air Service Group, for several years.
He was already reserve officer (Second Lieutenant) in the infantry (ASN O-411880) at Camp Blanding in Florida when war broke out. Things moved quickly for him, and by December 10, 1941, newspapers had already included him in lists of those receiving "Army Orders." But by just three days later, as listed in local papers on December 13, 1941, he was transferred to the "Army of the United States flying school" in Albuquerque, NM--Long interested in airplanes, he had collected many newspaper and magazine images of aviation into a scrapbook during his teenage years in the 1920's, and even before the war he held a solo pilot's license and owned his own aircraft (a 1933 Waco biplane, no. NC73072, co-owned with Winton A. Smith in 1939), making him a valuable resource to the Air Force.
He married in late December, 1941, shortly after Pearl Harbor.
He was promoted from 2nd Lt. to 1st Lt., effective February 1, 1942. By February, 1943, he had been promoted from First Lieutenant to Captain.
He did at least one leg of trip to India (via Australia) on U.S.S. General Butner, in late 1944.
Returned via S. S. Marine Adder, arriving San Francisco May 30, 1946, from Calcutta India, via Singapore and Shanghai, China.
