Meet us at the Legion at 12:30pm on Saturday, June 24th – at 1pm we will all take a ride down the street to see Legion Post Past Vice Commander and WWII Army Veteran Raymond Bussemer.  We will roll up to his house on our motorcycles and cars and give him a surprise visit and THANK HIM for his service. 

Mr Bussemer  served as Vice Commander of our American Legion Post in 1959 ! Check out some of the newspaper articles from back then, in which you’ll see Mr Bussemer was very active with out Legion parties as well. While he is not currently a member, please join us to thank him for his service and his participation at our Legion. 

Sgt Raymond Bussemer Bio:  Serving from Jan 6, 1943 – Feb 16, 1946, Ray entered the War from Ft. Indiantown Gap PA, where he went to Camp Bulter NC. for Basic Training.

He attempted to become a pilot but found a better job in being a Radio Operator and a Gunner on the 50 Cal Mid Ships Gun. Attached to the 394th Bomb Group, 584th squadron on board a Martin B-26 Marauder, this aircraft received the reputation of “Widowmaker” due to the early models’ high accident rate during takeoffs and landings.

The B-26 had a payload of 2 tons. During Major Missions there where 36 planes that would take to the air, this all happened within 12 minutes. Once in the air, they would fly in groups of six planes, each group flew in very tight formation. The planes flew no more than one plane length apart.

At the end of World War 2, The B-26 Marauder had the lowest battlefield loss rate of any USAAF bomber!

Our Hero’s squadron was involved in operations over Cambria France where he flew in 6 different Bombing missions during which he was given the AIR MEDAL award.