This Military Service Page was created/owned by
SSgt Robert Bruce McClelland, Jr.
to remember
Manske, Joseph William, Col USAF(Ret).
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Contact Info
Home Town Gowanda, New York
Last Address San Antonio, Texas
Date of Passing Apr 04, 1998
Location of Interment Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery (VA) - San Antonio, Texas
He was the flight engineer/gunner in crew #5 on the Doolittle Raid. After the raid he flew a few more missions in the CBI Theater, then got commissioned, and later was an aircraft maintenance officer in the Mediterranean Theater. He later served in the USAF until retiring as a colonel in 1973.
The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 2, 1926, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Flying Cross to Corporal Joseph W. Manske (ASN: 6914440), United States Army Air Forces, for extraordinary achievement as Engineer/Gunner of a B-25 Bomber of the 1st Special Aviation Project (Doolittle Raider Force), while participating in a highly destructive raid on the Japanese mainland on 18 April 1942. Corporal Manske with 79 other officers and enlisted men volunteered for this mission knowing full well that the chances of survival were extremely remote, and executed his part in it with great skill and daring. This achievement reflects high credit on himself and the military service.
Division: Doolittle Tokyo Raider Force Crew #5 (Plane #40-2283, target Tokyo): 95th Bomb. Sq. L-R: Lt. Eugene F. McGurl, navigator; Capt. David M. Jones, pilot; Lt. Denver V. Truelove, bombardier; Lt. Ross R. Wilder, copilot; Sgt. Joseph W. Manske, flight engineer/gunner. (U.S. Air Force photo)
WWII - European Theater of Operations/North Apennines Campaign (1944-45)
From Month/Year
September / 1944
To Month/Year
April / 1945
Description (North Apennines Campaign 10 September 1944 to 4 April 1945) In Italy during the fall and winter of 1944-1945 the Allies used their air power against the enemy’s communications as ground forces beat against the Gothic Line north of the Arno. Although little progress was made on the ground, the action in the Apennines tied down a large German army at a time when those troops could have been used in decisive campaigns being directed against Germany by the Allies in the west and the Russians on the east.