My Family Tradition

Sacramento, CA

This is a newspaper clipping about my father, Oliver Hackwith and his brothers. He lied about his age and joined the Army in 1930 at 17. He started in the infantry, then went to the cavalry and the to the Air Corps just before World War II started. During the war he served as a ball turret gunner on a B-17. He was awarded five air medals and the Distinguished Flying Cross. During the time of the Korean War he was assigned to a B-36 crew but never deployed. He finished his career in weather reconnaissance, on modified B-29s. I joined the Army in 1964 and served four years as a tank crewman. Then I did another 15 years as a scout and MP in the National Guard.

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