This Military Service Page was created/owned by
SSgt John Beier (Guns)
to remember
Beier, Alvin, TSgt.
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My father was drafted in 1942, he spent only one week in basic training and was shipped out to Brisbane then Eagle Farms in Australia as an aircraft. sheet metal worker. He had prior experience in private industry. Prior to WWII he worked for Douglas Aircraft and had worked on the XB-19 bomber. During WWII he was at Eagle Farms and modified the 1st B-25 to carry a 75mm cannon. He also flew 4 missions with Col. Pappy Gunn. From Australia he went to Port Morsby, then to the Phillipines. He ended the war at Nichols Air Field outside of Manila.During WWII my father was assigned to the 81st Depot Repair Squadron, part of the 81st Air Depot Group
After WWII he went to work for Trans Ocean airlines in Oakland California, then for Lockheed Missle and Space in Sunnyvale California. While at Lockheed he built the capsules that were used on the Mercury and Gemani space programs. His last project at Lockheed before his retirement was to build the prototype boom that is being used on the space shuttle.
He is burried at the San Joaquin Valley National Cemetery.
WWII - Pacific Theater of Operations/Papua Campaign (1942-43)
From Month/Year
July / 1942
To Month/Year
January / 1943
Description (Papua Campaign 23 July 1942 to 23 January 1943) In another effort to take Port Moresby the Japanese landed troops at Buna, Gona, and Sanananda in July 1942. At first the Allies could offer only feeble resistance to the enemy forces that pushed southward through Papua, but the Allies were building up their strength in Australia. By mid September Fifth Air Force had superiority in the air over New Guinea, and the Japanese drive had been stopped. The Allies then began to push the enemy back, with Fifth Air Force ferrying supplies and reinforcements to the troops fighting in the jungle. Buna was taken on 2 January 1943, and enemy resistance at Sanananda ended three weeks later.