Missions
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The WWII Combat Diary
of Lt Kermit D. Wooldridge
B-17 Pilot 1943,
my father
Click 3 lines at upper left if Mission list does not appear on the left.
MISSIONS
My mother gave me my father's WWII combat diary after he died and said, "You'll want to do something with this some day."
Now I have. fran
The Mission list ( 3 lines at top left of page) will bring up any of the 25 raids. Raids with * asterisks are most dangerous or have an unusual landing or incident.
Below, the first three pages of the WWII combat diary of B -17 pilot, Lt Kermit D. Wooldridge
Below , the WWII diary of Lt Kermit Wooldridge, showing dates and models of his aircraft
Below, December 24, 1941, the War Department gives Kermit Wooldridge a temporary Commission as 2nd Lt. (He remains in the Army twenty-five years.)
Below, bio of Lt Kermit Wooldridge
Three weeks after Pearl Harbor, former high school drop out, Kermit (Woody) Wooldridge is given a Commission as 2nd Lt and begins training as pilot of the B-17 heavy bomber. He will train for 500 hours flight time before moving to Kimbolton, England with the 379th Bomb Group. His first mission is June 29, 1943. Maybe realizing the importance of what was happening, he begins to type the events of each mission on small sheets of paper which would become his #WWII Diary. It now resides in the cold bowels of the Library of Congress where it can only be seen by appointment. 😐
Lt Wooldridge was born in Lawton,Oklahoma in 1917 and raised in Texas. His disabled parents could not control him and he dropped out of school and joined the U.S. Army at 16 on a forged application. He served first in the 7th Cavalry at Fort Dix in 1934. When Pearl Harbor was bombed he was given the "temporary" Commission as 2nd Lt and became a part of WWII in Europe. He flew twenty five missions over Nazi occupied territory in one of the most dangerous times in the war, before the long range fighter. Lt Wooldridge was not a hero, but he was a skilled pilot and a lucky one. His crews performed many heroic actions. Wooldridge survived the war, but so many never returned. His story could be the story of any airman in the 8th Air Force. We honor the service of those who served in WWII and mourn the sacrifices of those who were imprisoned or did not make it back.
Upon returning to the U.S after his final mission, December 13, 1943, Wooldridge remained in the U.S. Army serving nearly twenty-five years. He served also in the Korean War in Anti-aircraft Artillery, married Marjorie Tayloe, raised four children and retired as a Lt Colonel. He then did something he never had done - he attended and graduated from the University of Tampa in Florida in math and industrial arts. He died in 1994 and has a memorial headstone in Arlington National Cemetery.
Below, Pilot Kermit D. Wooldridge (Woody) in cockpit of his B-17. Photo October 2, 1943
Credits
Website Frances Wooldridge Bekafigo @FrancesBekafigo on Twitter
and Stanley Wooldridge
WWII aircraft photos, taken by the USAAF are from the Roger Freeman Collection that can be found at
American Air Museum in Britain http://americanairmuseum.com/
Lt Wooldridge and crew photos taken by USAAF in England
References
The Mighty Eighth A History of the Units, Men and Machines of the U.S. 8th Air Force Roger Freeman
Mighty Eighth War Diary Roger Freeman
American Air Museum in Britain
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