D Biographies

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="057285a1erlcgo.png"> <div> <B>VP-21 & VPB-111 Veterans Association</B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=150 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" background="056d4c00dkelyh.png"> <div> <A HREF="http://www.vp-21.org/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.vp-21.org/"><U><B><U>Home</U></B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Biographies/Profiles"><U><B><U>Back to Biogaphies Main Page</U></B></U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B><U> <A NAME="_d__biographies"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></U></B><B><U>(D) Biographies</U></B></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="#ed_dress_1952_1955" TITLE="D Biographies"><U>Dress, Ed</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#bob_dunbar___biography___" TITLE="D Biographies"><U>Dunbar, Bob</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="#harry_dunlap" TITLE="D Biographies"><U>Dunlap, Harry</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><U> <A NAME="bob_dunbar___biography___"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></U></B><B><U>Bob Dunbar</U></B> - BIOGRAPHY - </div> <div> Written by Mrs. Doris Dunbar - March, 2003</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="20af4630.jpg" border=0 width="500" height="355" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"><IMG SRC="220ef630.jpg" border=0 width="239" height="355" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="734" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 18 ><NOBR><div> 1944, Puerto Princessa, Palawan, Phillipines                                                ~2000, Bob and Doris Dunbar</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="642" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 ><NOBR><div> <B>Back, L-R: </B>Richard Bates, G.F. Kreitz, Warren Ponto, Bob Dunbar, Jamnik, Clayton Stokes, Yates.</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 ><NOBR><div> <B>Front, L-R:</B> Walter Martell, Henry Muters, Vincent Marimpietri, Carl Bartelt, J.C. White</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> Bob Dunbar grew up in Cheyenne, Wyoming, although he was born in Park City, Utah. He graduated from Cheyenne High School in 1940. His parents moved to Denver the year he graduated, and since that time he called Denver and Colorado his home, but he did not live there long. The fall after graduating, Bob entered the </div> <div> University of Colorado majoring in chemical engineering, and continued through his sophomore year before joining the Navy. Civilian Pilot Training was being offered at the Boulder Airport and Bob was encouraged to take the training after one student had to drop out because of a football injury. He enrolled in the Naval Aviation Flight Training in the summer of 1942. So he learned to fly!</div> <bR> <div> The U.S. Navy Air Force must have been glad to get him - a straight A studentwho already had learned to fly. Bob trained at Livermore, California and Corpus Christi, Texas. He was commissioned Ensign in April, 1943. After operational training in PBYs at San Diego, he put in a tour of duty as copilot-navigator in VP12, the </div> <div> "Black Cat" squadron of PBY5A amphibians. The crew flew TRANSPAC to Kaneohe, Hawaii, and after a brief stay at Midway, went through the Bougainville campaign. </div> <bR> <div> They returned to Los Alamos, California on an escort carrier in the fall of 1944. Bob then went to Hutchinson, Kansas, to be checked out as PPC (Patrol Plane Commander) in B-24s (the Navy called them PB4Ys). He took a crew of 12 men through operational training at Jacksonville, Florida and at Kearny Mesa, near San Diego. Then he was on his way for a second tour of duty. The crew picked up a new PB4Y2 and did the TRANSPAC to Kanehoe. They were sent to VPB111stationed at Puerto Princessa on Palawan in the Phillipines where they patrolled the South China Sea from Hong Kong to Singapore and across Borneo to the Celebes Sea. Japan surrendered when the crew was on Palawan.</div> <bR> <div> The crew returned to the U.S., arriving at Floyd Bennet Field, N.Y. on Thanksgiving Day, 1945, a very appropriate day. Bob returned to Boulder to finish his bachelor's degree in chemical engineering at C.U. Following his graduation with high honors in 1947 he and Doris Walker, a C.U. freshman, were married in her home town of Pierce, CO. They came East on their honeymoon and Bob started his first job with American Cyanamid Co. in Bound Brook, N.J. A daughter, Jane, was born in 1949. They lived in New Jersey for 37 years and Bob changed jobs twice but the couple remained in their home in Martinsville, which Bob designed and helped to build. </div> <bR> <div>  Retirement came in 1984 when Bob and Doris moved to Pennsylvania, where their daughter, then married and with two daughters, had located. Son-in-law Chris Weidner had attended Lutheran Theological Seminary and was assigned to a church in Reading. The Dunbars had started to build a lakeside vacation home in the Poconos and finally moved there permanently in 1988, shortly after retirement. Bob designed theirhome and did most of the finishing, including plumbing, heating, electrical and carpentry. Doris was his helper and together they built a fieldstone chimney and fireplace.</div> <bR> <div> By chance, Bob learned through a Navy friend who saw it in a magazine that his squadron was having a reunion in Indianapolis in 1989. He and Doris attended that reunion. After 40 plus years, Bob did not recognize some of his squadron mates and evensome of his crew and likewise, many did they recognize him. Tearful embraces and warm handshakes accompanied their recollections of names and faces and experiences. Several squadron reunions were attended after that by Bob and Doris, and the crew started having reunions every other year. Often, Bob's crew got the prize for having the most crew members present at the squadron gatherings. At the Colorado Springs reunion in 1993, seven were present out of the 12 crew members.</div> <bR> <div> As for memorable events, I can remember the crew discussing many events and anecdotes, but fear of inaccuracy prevents me, his wife, from mentioning any here. Most memorable for me was the time the crew assembled in our living room in the Poconos at a reunion and one of the crew said, "Well, I just want to thank you, Dunbar, for bringing us all home safely." They quickly got over calling him "Mr. Dunbar" as we met at</div> <div> reunions. </div> <bR> <div> We visited a member of Bob's crew and his wife, Walter and Barbara Martel, while we were in Tuscon, AZ one winter. Walter took Bob for a ride in his airplane, which he had learned to fly in his retirement. When they returned, Walter commented to me that he was happy and proud to be able to pilot his former PPC. Bob was </div> <div> persuaded to take the controls for a take-off but declined the landing. During Bob's career as a chemical engineer, there were some extracurricularactivities that he enjoyed. He served a three-year term on the </div> <div> Bridgewater-Raritan Board of Education, two years on the Bridgewater Planning Board, and five years as </div> <div> treasurer of the Martinsville United Methodist Church. He and Doris traveled several times to Europe and Great Britain, to Venezuela, Japan, and Nova Scotia. </div> <bR> <div> After retirement, the Dunbars wrote a genealogy book on Doris' Welsh ancestors who migrated from the coal regions of Pennsylvania to Golden, Colorado. After that, Bob wrote several books on different branches of his family. He loved researching his ancestors in the Archives Building in Philadelphia and at libraries and historical societies all over the country. He and Doris have tramped around cemeteries in Nova Scotia and in Scotland. Bob felt close to his ancestors when the two of them visited the little fishing village of Dunbar, Scotland, and saw the remains of Dunbar Castle.</div> <bR> <div> After about ten years living by a lake in the Poconos, where Bob sailed in the summer and his grandchildren ice skated in the winter, they decided to move to a lifecare retirement community, Brittany Pointe Estates in Lansdale, Pa. in December, 1997. Bob was active there as a member of the bridge group, as treasurer for two years of the residents' association, and as a member of the inhouse computer programming team. He</div> <div> helped persons having problems with their personal computers. In addition, he served as financial secretary and auditor of Christ United Methodist Church, and volunteered to mow the church's ball field (on a tractor) once a week during the summer. He continued his genealogical research and writing.</div> <bR> <div> Bob died January 9, 2002, of lung complications, probably accented by his many years working with asbestos. Doris continues to reside at Brittany Pointe where she is active and enjoys being near her family. </div> <bR> <div> Son-in-law Chris Weidner is a Lutheran pastor; Jane works for KenCrest, a Lutheran agency servicing persons with developmental problems; Sarah is in graduate architectural school at Pennsylvania </div> <div> University and works part time for an architectural firm in Philadelphia; and Emily is a sophomore at</div> <div> Connecticut College in New London, CT. END</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="#_d__biographies" TITLE="D Biographies"><U><B><U>RETURN TO TOP</U></B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <B><U> <A NAME="harry_dunlap"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></U></B><B><U>Harry Dunlap</U></B></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B><U> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="219" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 256 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="27ddafa0.jpg" border=0 width="218" height="250" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 18 ><NOBR><div> Harry&Annie, 2001 Reunion</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></U></B></div> <bR> <div> Harry A. Dunlap,Jr.----Biography</div> <div> My life began when I was birthed in Louisville, Ky, on the 6th day of May, 1924 in the Jewish Maternity Hospital, recently famous for their mechanical heart replacement.</div> <bR> <div> In 1931 my parents divorced, father remarried and we moved to Indianapolis, In. where we lived for four years. Those were lean years but we didn't think it was so bad because everyone else was in the same boat. My father was a good watchmaker earning $25.00/week plus commissions. In 1935 we moved again to Shreveport. La. which was the beginning of a series of moves, including Dallas, Tx ,Baton Rouge, La., Jacksonville, Fl. and Pensacola, Fl. about one every year or two. In 1939 I went to live with my Grandparents in Shreveport La. and graduated from High school there in May, 1941. A short stay in Jacksonville, Fl. and then another move to Pensacola, Fl. where I decided to join the Navy on 2 August, 1941 on a Kiddie cruise (17 yrs. old. The beginning of a 30 year career). </div> <bR> <div> There has been some change in my phisique since that time: I was 5' 9" and weighed 136lbs. My recruiter made me eat lots of bannanas and drink water to pass the weight requirement. Then to boot camp in Norfolk. Checked into boot camp a week or so after double deck bunks replaced hamocks and whites with blue colars were retired. Gene Tunney was our physical training leader and our platoon leader was an old chief Turret Captain who weilded a mean saber on our backside if we didn't do right. Boot camp taught us a lot about military conduct which came easy for me since I had a couple years of ROTC in High School. We were also taught how to scrub our clothes and hang them up with "clothes stops".</div> <bR> <div> From boot camp I went to AMM A school in Pensacola and then to an OS2U squadron where I learned what happens when a wing tip float gets caught in the water upon landing. After a few months I was transferred to VT4 and served as a plane capt on P2Ys and later PBYs. Then "December 7, 1941" I was, then, launched into a 30 year career which placed me in duty stations such as Pensacola, where I married a Pensacola girl on September 7th 1943. I was 19 and she was ,barely, 17. It has worked out great so far. (60years) Four children. Three boys and 9 years after the last boy a girl. All this has resulted in 9 Grandchildren , 11 Great Grandchildren and 1 Great great granddaughter. (Prolific kids). </div> <bR> <div> Then to Moffet Field, with Mobile Training, teaching air frames on the PV3, back to St Louis for about a year when WWII ended. As you can see I had a very dangerous four years during the War. Feel pretty guilty about that but that's the way the chips fell. Made chief in 1947. Then my career took me to Gitmo Bay, Pensacola (one tour every 11 years), VF 43, VP-21, FASRON Special 200 at Blackbush, England where I was commissioned an Ensign LDO. I'm not sure but I think I was the oldest Ensign in the world at 34, after school in Newport where we were taught how to be an OOD of a Destroyer under way. (Valuable information for an AC maintenance type), ZP-2 for one year in Brunswick, Ga. That tour was another story especially for a brand new ensign as the power plants officer who knew little or nothing about Airships and was ,collaterally, assigned as the inflight refueling officer which had never been done before. What an experience!! </div> <bR> <div> Then followed CDR. Bill Mackey for my second tour to VP-21. Then to Staff duty on CNABATRA maintenance dept..in Pensacola, then to VP-44 in Pax River. From there to Staff Duty on COMNAVPHIL at Sangley Pt., no aircaft, no personnel, other than staff. My duties there were anything that nobody else was assigned to. Such as Air Sea Rescue coordinator for the Southeast SUB PAC area, 7th Fleet Scheduling Conference where I had to convince all that I needed to be at Baguio a week before and a week after the conference to coordinate everything including golf 'T' times. It was a tough tour but somebody had to do it. Tropical white short every day, five days a week, duty about once a month and only three or four times longer than 8 hour days when there was a rescue operation going on. Then, in 1970, for a twilight tour of one year in Pensacola after of which I retired on Sept. 30, 1971.</div> <bR> <div> Beginning in 1947, I joined the Masons (Master twice), York Rite (presiding Officer in all bodies), Scottish Rite, Grotto, Eastern Star and several affiliated orginazations. I became what you might call a joiner.</div> <div> After a short time with an industrial chemical company servicing, primarily, paper mills in the southeast I quit and started doing what Momma tells me to do and playing golf (I lied about my age and joined a seniors golf assn.:-) )every chance I get..</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="#_d__biographies" TITLE="D Biographies"><U><B><U>RETURN TO TOP</U></B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <B><U> <A NAME="ed_dress_1952_1955"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></U></B><B><U>Ed Dress, 1952-1955</U></B></div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="901" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 256 ><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="2bdbcfa0.jpg" border=0 width="188" height="250" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="2bf4dfa0.jpg" border=0 width="333" height="250" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="2c5c9fa0.jpg" border=0 width="201" height="250" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG SRC="2c49ffa0.jpg" border=0 width="159" height="250" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 88 WIDTH="188"><div> Ed Dress, 1951</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="336"><div> HC12 Flight Crew: Back Row: George Ryan, Jake Benner, Archie Turner, Ed Dress, Fred Strasser, Bob Dunkle. </div> <div> Front Row: Officers Peters, Golden and Johnson. Brunswick, Winter 1954.</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> Sylvia & Ed Dress, 2005</div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> Joe Sediva & Ed Dress</div> <div> Malta, 1954</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> I enlisted in the Navy in March of 1951, and served with VP21 during the years 1952 through March of 1955, at which time I was discharged with the rank of Aviation Machinist Mate, Second Class. During the first part of my tour of duty with the squadron I was a mechanic on a check crew where I learned a great deal about aircraft engines, and developed maintenance skills under the tutoring of Chief Vic Scheele, a man I greatly admired for his knowledge, work ethic, and rapport with the men who worked under his supervision.</div> <bR> <div>  </div> <div> At some point during my tour I was assigned to a flight crew as a second mech, and then later as a plane captain. During most of my term as a plane captain, I was associated with HC 12 Flight Crew members Fred Strasser, AD, Archie Turner, AT, Jake Benner, AT, Bob (Dunk) Dunkle, AO, and George Ryan, AO. I have many fond memories of the times I spent with these guys. We worked hard together, and there were some scarey moments, but there were a lot of fun times too. Particularly impressed in my mind are the good times we had on the AirFam hops that the squadron flight crews made to many European countries during the two duty tours that VP21 spent on the island of Malta…I have reminisced about those trips and the guys on my flight crew many times during the 50 years that have gone by. </div> <bR> <div> I also remember very well many other good friends I made during my years with VP21, especially guys like Carl Lazzaro and Joe Sediva, (many a good laugh was shared with these two), Glenn Harkleroad, Rich Cybulski, Jim (Ike) Iacovone, Ken Fryover (VP 21 softball teammate), Jimmy Jones (also teammate softball player and an excellent pitcher)…..If any of the men I have mentioned in this writing are reading this, I want to say to you a hearty hello…..and I hope you are doing well. Also, it would be really great to hear from you!..My email address is <A HREF="mailto:syledance@eccable.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:syledance@eccable.com"><U><B><U>syledance@eccable.com</U></B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> Mentioning Malta brings memories of English chow halls (fish and whatever), quonset huts, softball games, diving off rocks into the blue Med, goats, rocks, quarries with dust, the narrow winding streets of Valetta, begging kids with outstreched arms yelling “Hey Joe", hot airplanes, hot engines, and hot, hot weather. And then the finale to the Malta tour...a return to the frigid weather of Brunswick, Maine. These are treasured memories that I wouldn't trade for the world.</div> <bR> <div> After I left the Navy, I went to college and graduated in 1959 from the University of Scranton with a degree in accounting. I then married Sylvia Caravello in December of that year and moved to Maryland where I began a 26 year career in Washington, D.C. as a Tax Law Specialist in the National Office of the Internal Revenue Service. (I was one of those really bad guys!!!)</div> <bR> <div> Sylvia and I raised four children in the rural town of Clarksville, Maryland, and we now have 10 grandchildren. Our children all live in Maryland. Our youngest son was just married a few weeks ago, so there will most likely be more grandchildren.</div> <bR> <div> I retired from the IRS in 1987 when I was 55. To keep myself busy, I bought a book on how to build a house, and then purchased a piece of property at Lake Anna in Virginia. For the next three summers I lived in a small trailer on the property, and physically built a four bedroom cottage there. For the last 15 years we have spent the summer months in that cottage, much to the delight of our grandchildren who love the lake and who visit us regularly. </div> <bR> <div> Sylvia and I do a lot of travelling and we are active in ballroom dancing, tennis, bowling, boating and several other hobbies. We sold our home in Clarksville when I completed the cottage in Virginia, and we now reside in a townhouse in Ellicott City, Maryland during the winter months. I participate in senior activities and presently serve as the president of our local senior organization. I have been in that capacity for about 8 years (not because I’m a great president….but because no one else wants the job). </div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="#_d__biographies" TITLE="D Biographies"><U><B><U>RETURN TO TOP</U></B></U></A></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>