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Frederick C Chevalier | S/Sgt Frederick C Chevalier Born in Marshall, Texas in 1920, Frederick Chevalier graduated from Marshall High School in 1938. He registered for the draft in October of 1941, and attained a high enough score on his General Classification Test to choose his branch of service. He chose the Army Air Corp. After completing basic training at Sheppard Field, Texas, Chevalier received advance training at Chanute and Boca Raton. He served a stint as a Drill Instructor at Sheppard Field, Texas prior to attending Electronics and Radar School. Following completion of this school, he was sent to the Pacific aboard a tanker filled with 100-octane aviation gasoline. Not a pretty thought with Japanese submarines on the prowl. His job on board was as caretaker for a group of ten P-38s and P-61s being transported into combat. He had to maintain the waterproofing on these aircraft, which was a time consuming job given the storms they encountered on route. Chevalier finally arrived in New Guninea and reported to the replacement depot there. He was assigned to the 90th Bomb Group Jolly Rogers, and he flew fifteen missions with this unit in their B-24s. He was then transferred to the 312 h Bomb Group where he would serve as a Radar Countermeasures Operator. Chevalier was on board the Hobo Queen, a B-32 Dominator, which came under attack of August 18, 1945. Two aircraft, the Hobo Queen and the Hobo Queen 11 were jumped by more that a dozen Japanese fighters while flying photoreconnaissance over Tokyo. The Hobo Queen took the worst of the attack, and lost Sgt. Marchione During the attack the Hobo Queen went into a power dive. After leveling out from the dive, the aircraft commander asked Chevalier to shut down his radar counter measures equipment and tend to the injuries of S/Sgt Lacharite who was wounded during the attack. During the long flight back to Okinawa Chevalier would loosen the tourniquet on Lacharites leg every 15 minutes to allow some blood to flow. Arriving back at Okinawa the commander of the Hobo Queen was unable to bank the aircraft because of a feathered prop. Despite these problems they landed without incident. After leaving the Army Air Corps Fredericks civilian career focused around electrical contracting and the electrical power industry. He retired from Southwestern Electrical Power Company in May of 1982. He resides in Shreveport, Louisiana with his wife of fifty-three years, the former Wilma Sampson. Frederick has two children, three grandchildren and five great grandchildren. |
Items Signed by S/Sgt Frederick C Chevalier |
| Hobo Queens by Stan Stokes. (B) Price : £75.00 | The B-32 Dominator was produced by Consolidated Aircraft in parallel with Boeings development of the B-29 Superfortress. While both of these long-range heavy strategic bomber development programs encountered some difficulties, the B-29 was completed...... | |
| Hobo Queens by Stan Stokes. (D) Price : £60.00 | The B-32 Dominator was produced by Consolidated Aircraft in parallel with Boeings development of the B-29 Superfortress. While both of these long-range heavy strategic bomber development programs encountered some difficulties, the B-29 was completed...... |
Packs with at least one item featuring the signature of S/Sgt Frederick C Chevalier |
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