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| First Lieutenant Joseph Bottalico, was a PBJ-1H pilot in VMB-612 at Iwo Jima. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/107537044/joseph-john-bottalico/photo https://www.facebook.com/vmb612/photos/pcb.809859075774112/809858602440826/?type=3&theater |
Joseph John Bottalico never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
Announcement: In just a few days we will be starting a project that will result in the stories of all 400,000 plus of the World War 2 fallen at one online location. There will be an accompanying smart phone app to allow users visiting any war memorial to scan the fallen serviceman's name and be linked to his story. Watch this blog or join the WW2 Fallen 100 Facebook page to learn of upcoming details.
Joseph was born on February 3, 1920 in New Jersey. His parents Giuseppe and Anna were both born in Italy. His mother died in 1921. His father worked as railroad foreman. Joseph had an older brother and sister and, from his father's second marriage, three younger sisters. By 1940 Joseph had completed four years of high school. He was captain of the football team and also served in the National Guard while in high school. He attended one year of college at William and Mary.
He enlisted in the US Marines Corps in April 1942. He reached the rank of first lieutenant in VMB-612, 21st Marine Air Group, 4th Marine Air Wing. He and his squadron were sent to Pacific Theater in May 1944. He flew the PBJ-1H, the Marine version of the B-25 Mitchell. He logged in more than 1,200 hours of flight time. His last assignment was to support the American capture of Iwo Jima. He flew 25 missions during this time and his group sunk 25 Japanese ships.
By April 20, 1945, the Americans had operational airfields on Iwo Jima. Lt. Bottalico's plane #35239 crashed at the end of the runway while attempting a takeoff. Lt. Bottalico and four others were killed.
His grave is at New Camden Cemetery in Camden, New Jersey.
HENRY HEIMLICH and GEORGE ARMITAGE MILLER
While Lt. Bottalico never made it home, two others born on the exact same day left a mark on history.
Henry Heimlich was born in Delaware. His grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. He graduated from medical school in 1943. Meanwhile George Armitage Miller was born in West Virginia. He graduated with a masters degree in speech from University of Alabama.
During World War 2 Heimlich served in the US Navy in China were his service included secret mission duties. Miller was studying at Harvard for his Phd which was related to jamming signals and was classified top secret my the military.
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| https://libapps.libraries.uc.edu/liblog/2014/08/an-afternoon-with-henry-heimlich-md/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Armitage_Miller |
Last year on this date I profiled B-24 pilot. You can read about Dallas here.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
Love to see more!
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