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BIO WikiTree, luper-027, Info Req

Subject: Seeking Biographical Information on

James Rhea Luper, COL, USAF, SN: 1448a (my father)

WikiTree ID: luper-27

 

Official service record lost in the fire at the records center in Missouri.

Facts known in chronological order:

• Born February 19, 1914 in Salem, Marion, Oregon
• Education?
• Enlisted US Army, 1934?
• Accepted at USMA, 1935
• Graduate, USMA, 1938, Army Air Corps SN: O21240
• Married, Thayer Hall, West Point, Orange Co., New York, 1938
• Daughter, Carol Louise Luper, b July 28, 1939in San Antonio, Bexar, Texas
• Son, James Rhea Luper, III, (the undersigned) b March 6, 1942 at Station Hospital, Maxwell Field, Montgomery, Montgomery Co., Alabama
• Accident Report:
• Divorced,
• LTC, Chief of Staff and Deputy Commander of the 46th Bombardment Operational Training Wing, Ardmore Army Air Field, Ardmore, Carter Co., Oklahoma, 1943, October 31, 1943Operation Fast Forward
• Remarried, November 23, 1943, to Rene Hiller
• COL, Commander, 457^th Bombardment Group (Heavy), Grand Island, Nebraska, Jan 4th, 1944
• His aircraft was the 1000^th B17 from Douglass Long Beach Plant, SN: 42-38113 Nicknamed Pistol Packin’ Mama, renamed RENE III for his wife
• As Mission 133 Air Commander, B17 SN; 44-8046, 750^th, was shot down Oct. 7, 1944 over Politz, Poland, Synthetic oil refinery on the Oder River
• POW, Stalag Luft 4B, Oct, 1944
• Returned, ?
• Daughter, Jare Rhea Luper, b October 12, 1944 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, d November 23, 2010
• Daughter, JudithEsther Luper, b January 7, 1948 in Nanking, China
• Visited me in Martha’s Vineyard, Dukes Co., Massachusetts 1949
• Son, Albert Rhea Luper b May 5, 1950in Station Hospital, Davis-Monthan AAF, Tucson, Pima Co., Arizona
• Inspector General, Strategic Air Command, under LG Curtis Lemay, 1953
• On the AF BG List?
• Died, February 23, 1953in Omaha, Sarpy County Nebraska, crashing on final approach to Offutt Air Force Base
• Accident Report:

We are particularly interested in COL Luper’s military service info, but anything of memory will be greatly accepted.

Please send the information to me at the address listed above. If you have questions about my request, please contact me by phone at (520)366-1091 or by email at luper8@gmail.com.

Thank you for your assistance. I look forward to hearing from you.

A Wish for Peace from Helen Keller

On train
Hakodate, Hokkaido,
September fourteenth, 1948
Dear Mrs. Ryder,
We shall always remember you as an understanding friend, giving us the rest we so needed in such a serene, charming atmosphere. In an unusually happy way you share our love of the people of Nippon, and it did us good to hear you interpret Buddhism not only as a belief, but also as a road to peace.
Strongly I feel, Ida, that if the deep spiritual quiet which Buddhism has fostered through the ages spreads into other lands and religions, it will hasten the day when wars will cease. For wherever men and women pause a while each day for happy thoughts and fair visions, they are refreshed for work and the difficulties of life. In those long looks into soul-life they have time to see each other as brothers and sisters and to act together for the common good. By uniting the peoples and enabling them to understand each others problems and ways of thinking, those true followers of the Light will at last usher in world peace and a brother-loving civilization.
Our visit at the Park Hotel was the only real rest we had had in many months, and we both bless and thank you for making it possible for us to soak ourselves in the Peace that pervades the place.
Devotedly yours,
Helen Keller
________________________________________

Ida Ryder Archives

Honoring Grannie Ryder

Internet Sales Tax

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The Unknown

Discovering that which appears to be unknown – this is where we find the most satisfaction. We universally fund Science to create that which appears to advance our lives. I’m sorry, but it is my belief that Religion, as it is being practiced today, is stuck in a rut; by refusing to change. Or maybe it actually changes much more slowly. We all have a measure of God-Given Spirituality, even if we individually cannot accept its reality. It is a fact that everything in creation is constantly changing; is it not our purpose to discover the ultimate direction it is going. Grandmother Ryder had something to say about this in her “We Knew Him Not” essay originally published in “Sunrise” magazine, Volume XV, Number 11, the August, 1965 issue, the last paragraph: “If the tribal God, idol of the past few centuries, has left us, let us give him a decent burial, without bitterness or mourning. He did for us that which we permitted. He could not have wanted us to glorify Him with prejudice and persecution, with inquisitions and crusades. These were our own ideas. The image we made of the universal Source of love and compassion dies now for our salvation.”

A New Day for an Old Timer

I’ve been researching old memories. I remember grannie saying – or was it Sissie – my Mommy – someone placed a thought in my memory banks in any event…that our family was related in some way to a sister of Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector extraordinaire of England, Ireland and such places, but the rabbit got hold of me again somehow and I ended up at a little line of text in the Wikipedia that intrigued me.

Monuments and posthumous honours

 In 1776, one of the first ships commissioned to serve in the Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War was named Oliver Cromwell.

I have toyed with model-making all my life.  Perhaps some research of this vessel would result in a new scale model project.

Original Intent: To establish a blog location for personal D&A Support Guidelines; A home for the oppressed/homeless.

I am a retired, divorced career soldier of the USA, and later, the Aerostat business, trained as an electronic technician (RADAR) and advanced microcomputer technician from the old days (hehe.) On Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/jimmyrhea.luper and https://www.facebook.com/geeky42, amd One Great Family – http://www.onegreatfamily.com/ but you must join up to see anything.
My new spouse thought up the blog name from former ideas as a subsidiary of her now defunct architectural design business, Simpanen, Inc. She had contracted the debilitating disease of Rheumatoid Arthritis, a career-terminating one for a mechanical designer, at a time that there was no possible cure. Eventually, the medical industry came up with methods that placed the disease into the category of suspension, but the effects had already caused severe deformation of her hands and feet. Then during our few short years together, she underwent operations to replace both knee joints and one shoulder joint, as well as hand knuckle and elbow operations. We had met in a depression-support group and eventually also joined a local AA group. Early-on, she was diagnosed with several psychological diseases, all of which were considered chronic, called SMI. After much experimenting with various drugs, a solution was found that allowed her to have a nearly normal existence.

Remembering Grandmother Ryder

Ida Quinby Perrine OGFN: 58177056
I have lots of stuff that came to me after her death – I am her oldest Grandson – and have been creating MSWord files of her published articles with the US branch of the Theosophical Society’s Sunrise Magazine, now out of print. I still need to check with the TS – not sure if I need permission. Will get back soon with their answer.

Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress.com. I’ll write something as soon as I think of it!

Personal Status

Update: Jimmy-Rhea Luper, III was married to Sirkku Simpanen on Jan 7th at the main Chapel on Fort Huachuca.  The reception was held at the Serenity Club on Highway 92 souith of Sierra Vista, AZ.