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39th Bomb Group (VH)
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Decorations

airmedal.gif [The Air Medal]

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2

br_oak2.jpg [Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster]



Unit Citation

arpuc.jpg [The Presidental Unit Citation]

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Oak Leaf Cluster


Service Awards

amcamp.gif [The American Campaign Medal]
apcm.jpg [The Asiatic-Pacfic Campaign Medal]
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wwiivic.gif [The Victory Medal, World War II]


Click on the name of the Decoration, Service Award, or Ribbon Device to learn the criteria



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Capt Anthony Quesada
Radar Observer/Grp Radar Officer

Colonel Anthony Quesada was born in New York City, NY in 1916 and attended public schools there.

He is a graduate of the University of Nebraska and Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration.

Commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, Field Artillery Reserve in 1938, he served his first tour of duty with the Civilian Conservation Corps (C.C.C.).  Transferred to the Army Air Corps in 1943, and integrated into the regular Army in 1947.

Wartime service included a tour as a Navigation Instructor at San Marcos, Texas, and navigation in the air campaign against Japan as a Navigator/Radar Observer on Crew P-27, 39th Bomb Group, 314th Wing.

Post war assignments consisted mostly of staff assignments as an Armament – Electronics Officer with the Strategic Air Command at both Air Force and Command levels, in which capacity he was instrumental in the developing portable mobile surveillance equipment and the Armament – Electronics surveillance buildings which were eventually adopted by for use by the Air Force at large.

At the Air Staff level, he participated in the development of the Air Force Calibration Program, served as a consultant to the German Luftwaffe in the use of automated clock-out equipment, and latterly was the staff project officer for the S.A.C. Command and Control System.

He celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of his marriage to the former Anita V. Melina of New York City in 1989 the wedding took place in Turner Falls, Idaho during his first tour of duty.

Retired in 1963, he resides with his wife in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.  He served as an Assistant Professor of Administration at Florida Atlantic University until 1975, and now serves as a volunteer at Insight for the Blind and the IRS/VISTA program.

The above was from a letter dated July 27, 1994 to James Wyckoff, Assoc President. It was transcribed as written - note the letter was written long hand and in some cases difficult to determine.

Below is what appeared in "History of the 39th Bomb Group"

Anthony "Tony" Quesada submitted the following for "History of the 39th BG" (1996): 

"Sorry to say I have lost touch with my crew. I stayed on Guam while they all went to Tinian to go home by surface transportation by virtue of the 'Point System' Those of us left behind flew the planes home, and we never saw or heard from each other again. 

I was pulled off the crew after 20 missions because Group Operations wanted to use our talents to brief later missions. This prevented us from completing a tour and rotating home. As it turned out, the war ended, which negated this grand strategy. 

George Walsh, my A/C became a weatherman in 1946. In 1947,he and a colleague and their wives took a C-46 sightseeing to Venezuela to see the Bridal Veil Falls. They crashed in the jungle and all aboard perished.


Anthony Quesada took his Final Flight on 14 January 2006 per the SSDI - our records and the "last residence" listed in SSDI match

Crew 27 Main Page
61st Squadron Crew Index
Source: Anthony Quesada Letter dated 07/24/1994; 39th BG History; SSDI