The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1945-03-15
News Telling Of
Lincoln Co.
ServiCennen
Bits of News from Here
and There About the Boys
from Home.
COLLECTED FROM ALL
CORNERS OF THE WORLD

18TH AIR FORCE IN ITALY
Tech. Sgt. Jess w. Bolen, %, of
Eureka, Mont, foreman of 18th
AAF Service Squadron parachute
shop, is proud of the little establish
ment which he operates for the ben
eft of the Army Air Forces.
With half a dozen men working
for him he has a position of inn
portance and responsibility in the
squadron, which services veteran
Psi Mustang fighter group in Italy.
In this shop parachutes are un-
packed, inspected. hung in spe-
cially built hot-air chamber to dry,
and then repacked for service. How
ever, this isn't all the parachute
ringers do.
They also operate poWer-driven
sewing machines, one of them a
German model picked up in Tu-
nisia after the campaign there, TO
make burlap and canvas wing COW
ers for the planes, to sew leather
goods and other heavy materials
used in the planes. and to repair
May Vests, dinghies, and other
flight equipment.
Sgt Bolen keeps his shop neat
and orderly and runs it with a
smooth efficiency, providing a valu-
able service for fighter group main
tenance.
In civilian life he had his own
trucking business at Eureka, Mont,
where his mother, Mrs Marie Bolen,
and his wife, Mrs. Lila Bolen. await
his return. Entering the army jan
2. 1912, he has served overseas for
81 months in Tunisia, Sicily, Corsi-
ca, and Italy.
Pfc. Edward Mooney, son of Mr..
and Mrs. B. E. Mooney, former
Rexford residents but now residing
at Riverbank, Calf, has been trans
ferred to some other part of the
South Pacific from Saipan, where
he was for several months.
18th AAF in ItaIy-Sergeant
William Stolarczyk, Is, son of Mr..
Karol Stolarczyk, Libby Mont, a
squadron photographer in the
ground forces of 18th AAF Psi
Mustang fighter group, mas this
month completed two years of over
seas duty in the Mediterranean
Theater of Operations.
He has served in North Africa
and Italy since February 1913 with
a group that has destroyed 472 en-
envy planes in aerial combat on
400 missions. It is the only fighter
group in the Mediterranean Theater
which has an average of more than
one aerial victory for each combat
mission flown against the enemy.
This unit was the first fighter
group to fly the historic Italy-to-
Russia shuttle mission in June,
1914, and thus became the first AAF
unit to fly combat operations from
a Soviet base.
For the feats of destroying 81
German planes over Sardinia on
July 80, 1943, and scoring 81 aerial
victories over Northern Italy on
January 30, 1914, this group has
been awarded two Distinguished
Unit Citations-the highest military
honors which can be awarded to a
unit.
Personnel who have served with
this veteran group since it left the
United States in 1943 are author
lied to wear, in addition to the Dis.
tinguished Unit Badge with one
cluster, the European-African Mid
die East theater ribbon with cam.
paign stars. These stars represen
the groups participation in aeria
campaigns over Tunisia, Sardinia
Italy, and Southern France.
Sgt. Stolarczyk has served in thu
Army Air Forces since November
1941 and completed his Army basi,
training at Jefferson Barracks, Nc