SASABERANGER
SWCA Member, Absent Comrade
On March 22nd of this year Lt. Col. Leon E. (Bill) Braxton passed away in Tampa.
He was born in Hope Mills, NC May 1st, 1917. He was within about six weeks of turning 102.
He started his military career in Panama in 1935. He served two years in the Coast Artillery and was discharged in 1937.
Upon returning home he found out that the Depression was still in full swing and there still wasn't any work.
He traveled to the Tidewater, VA area and while on a bus noticed a Bill Board for the Army Air Corps. He asked the driver
how he could get to Langley, AFB. The driver took him to the main gate. Thirty minutes he was a private in the US Army Air
Corps. While at Langley he advanced through every enlisted rank from Private through Master Sargent. He was then
promoted to Warrant Officer. In 1941 he was sent to OCS in Miami. Upon graduation he was selected for Flight Training.
Upon graduation he flew P-40s for most of the war at Waycross, Georgia.
Shortly after the war ended he was sent to Washington, DC and then transitioned to C-47 and C-54 aircraft and sent to
Vienna, Austria in 1946. During the two years there he flew the Embassy route behind the Iron Curtin. And when Uncle Joe
Stalin tried to blockade Berlin he and every other transport pilot in Europe began the epic Berlin Air Lift.
When that operation ended He and his family returned to the States and he became a Training Pilot at Nellis AFB, NV,
Goodfellow AFB, San Angelo, TX, Edwards, AFB, CA. And in 1950 was sent back to DC and assigned to the Pentagon.
In 1952 he was sent to Japan with the 50th Troop Carrier Squadron, C-119 Flying Box Car and then to Korea.
He returned to the states in late 1953 and in 1954 few to French Indo China (Viet Nam) and flew operations in support
of the French forces there. That ended with the evacuation of the Foreign Legion.
From the period of 1954 to 1959 he was assigned to The Office of Special Investigations (OSI). He attended the FBI
Academy and was assigned to Westover AFB in Springfield, MA. From there he moved to Otis AFB, Cape Cod, MA and in 1958
to Warner Robbins AFB, GA.
On August 30, 1959 he was promoted to LT. Col (USAFR) and retired from Active Duty. His total flight hours exceeded
12,000.
After the Air Force he went to the University of Miami in Florida ad go his degree in German Language in 1963 and the
following year a Master's from Kent State Univ. Kent, OH.
He taught High School in Miami for two years, Stetson University for five years and he finished teaching at Satellite Beach,
HS near Patrick AFB in Florida.
In 2000 he moved to Tampa Florida to be near his daughter and his grand kids.
A Celebration of Life was celebrated in Tampa a week before his 102nd Birthday. There were 67 family member and friends
present.
This August he would have been retired for 60 years from the USAF.
RIP Dad
He was born in Hope Mills, NC May 1st, 1917. He was within about six weeks of turning 102.
He started his military career in Panama in 1935. He served two years in the Coast Artillery and was discharged in 1937.
Upon returning home he found out that the Depression was still in full swing and there still wasn't any work.
He traveled to the Tidewater, VA area and while on a bus noticed a Bill Board for the Army Air Corps. He asked the driver
how he could get to Langley, AFB. The driver took him to the main gate. Thirty minutes he was a private in the US Army Air
Corps. While at Langley he advanced through every enlisted rank from Private through Master Sargent. He was then
promoted to Warrant Officer. In 1941 he was sent to OCS in Miami. Upon graduation he was selected for Flight Training.
Upon graduation he flew P-40s for most of the war at Waycross, Georgia.
Shortly after the war ended he was sent to Washington, DC and then transitioned to C-47 and C-54 aircraft and sent to
Vienna, Austria in 1946. During the two years there he flew the Embassy route behind the Iron Curtin. And when Uncle Joe
Stalin tried to blockade Berlin he and every other transport pilot in Europe began the epic Berlin Air Lift.
When that operation ended He and his family returned to the States and he became a Training Pilot at Nellis AFB, NV,
Goodfellow AFB, San Angelo, TX, Edwards, AFB, CA. And in 1950 was sent back to DC and assigned to the Pentagon.
In 1952 he was sent to Japan with the 50th Troop Carrier Squadron, C-119 Flying Box Car and then to Korea.
He returned to the states in late 1953 and in 1954 few to French Indo China (Viet Nam) and flew operations in support
of the French forces there. That ended with the evacuation of the Foreign Legion.
From the period of 1954 to 1959 he was assigned to The Office of Special Investigations (OSI). He attended the FBI
Academy and was assigned to Westover AFB in Springfield, MA. From there he moved to Otis AFB, Cape Cod, MA and in 1958
to Warner Robbins AFB, GA.
On August 30, 1959 he was promoted to LT. Col (USAFR) and retired from Active Duty. His total flight hours exceeded
12,000.
After the Air Force he went to the University of Miami in Florida ad go his degree in German Language in 1963 and the
following year a Master's from Kent State Univ. Kent, OH.
He taught High School in Miami for two years, Stetson University for five years and he finished teaching at Satellite Beach,
HS near Patrick AFB in Florida.
In 2000 he moved to Tampa Florida to be near his daughter and his grand kids.
A Celebration of Life was celebrated in Tampa a week before his 102nd Birthday. There were 67 family member and friends
present.
This August he would have been retired for 60 years from the USAF.
RIP Dad
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