Radio operation T/Sgt. Boleslaw A. Skurnowicz as member of crew of B-24 during training stateside.
Boleslaw A. "Benny" Skurnowicz was born in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania in 1921. He was one of six children of Polish immigrant parents. Polish was spoken in the home and Benny learned to speak English in elementary school. His father, a coal miner, died from Miner’s Asthma when Benny was thirteen. Benny was a good student, but had to leave school to help support the family. He worked various jobs before enlisting in the Army in 1942.
Benny received basic infantry training at Camp Forrest, TN. After passing his screening test for Aviation Cadet, he transferred to Nashville but was disqualified from the program due to a finger damaged since childhood. His next stop was Keesler Field in Biloxi, MS, where he was classified as radio operator-mechanic-gunner. He traveled by train to Sioux Falls, SD to receive radio training, and Kingman, AZ for gunnery training. Following a ten day visit to his home in Frackville, PA, Benny was off to California where he would become a member of a group that would eventually become a heavy bomber crew destined for China. The air trip to China began in Miami, and took him to Brazil, The British Gold Coast in West Africa, Nigeria, Oran, Libya, Tunisia, and Egypt, then to the Gulf of Aden, Iran, and on to Karachi and Assam in India. The last leg of the journey took him over the Himalaya Mountains (The Hump) to Kunming, China.
As part of the 14th Air Force, 308th Bomb Group, 425th Squadron based in Kunming, the crew flew B-24 bombers attacking Japanese personnel, supply concentrations, air bases, transportation routes, communications centers, and ocean going vessels throughout China, Indo-China, Burma, and over the China seas. Frequent resupply missions were flown to and from India over the Himalayas.
On 22 July, 1944, less than two weeks after his arrival in China, Technical Sergeant Skurnowicz and crew had to bail out of the B-24J "Burma Queen" in the vicinity of Tsuyung. Bad weather had effectively shut down all airfields in the Kunming area. The plane ran out of fuel after almost twelve hours in the air. The entire crew returned safely to Kunming on July 28th. Later in the year he was treated for "fever of unknown origin." He had been infected with Malaria, which would remain in his system for years.
Benny returned to the United States in early 1945 after surpassing the required number of hours of combat flying. Although he flew many supply missions over The Hump, no known record was kept of those flight hours.
He had earned the Air Medal, Good Conduct Medal, Distinguished Flying Cross, Distinguished Service Award, and the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal with bronze star. He also received the China War Memorial Decoration from the Republic of China. He became a member of the Caterpillar Club when he used his parachute to save his life after bailing out of the Burma Queen.
After the war, Benny returned to his home town of Frackville, PA where he readjusted to civilian life. Drawing from his wartime experience, he obtained his amateur radio license in 1948 and operated as W3OSJ. He attended Williamsport Technical Institute where he studied radio communications and electronics. He began a long career with the Department of the Army in 1953 at the Tobyhanna Army Depot in Pennsylvania, where he met his future wife. The couple settled in Gouldsboro, PA and raised two children.
Benny’s work for the Army as an electronics specialist required frequent travel and at various times he was stationed in Germany, Arizona, and New Jersey. He retired after 31 years of service.
(Text and materials courtesy of S. Skurnowicz.)