Fall 2026 Militaria and Aviation Auction
Lot 226:
Description
WWII B-26 navigator grouping – 9th BG, DFC, PH, Air Medal 12 OLC. Documented Ninth Air Force grouping to Captain George Eugene Kunde, O-665923, of Milwaukee: navigator, Purple Heart, Distinguished Flying Cross, and Air Medal with twelve oak leaf clusters. Born 1921, Juneau High School, University of Wisconsin and Marquette. Rated navigator at AAF Navigation School, Hondo, Texas, 17 October 1942 (diploma in the lot, cadet 16043640). Individual flight records place him in B-26 Marauders with a Ninth Air Force bomber unit; the May-June 1944 cards list combat sorties in the fifties through the seventies. Awards on his personnel form: Purple Heart, GO 387, Bomb Group, June 1944; Air Medal with 12 OLC, Hq Ninth Air Force GO 146/44; DFC, Hq 9th BG, December 1944. After the war he flew as an aircraft observer with the 48th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron at Otis AFB and was released from active duty in November 1951. Wife: Betty Jane (Dooley) Kunde, Milwaukee.
In the lot: Purple Heart, Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal, EAME, American Campaign, Victory, Army of Occupation, and an additional campaign medal; pilot/observer wings, U.S. and captain’s insignia, large gilt eagle; Ninth Air Force patch and AAF winged patches. Original Form 5 flight records, WD AGO personnel pages, observer time sheet from Otis, and the Hondo diploma. Papers worn and complete as a working file; medals and insignia with honest wear. A named Marauder navigator’s group-wounded in June 1944, decorated through a long combat tour, and documented down to the sortie numbers.
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