Gerald Jay (Junior) Hosford, Jr.

May 14, 1942

Flagler County has 74 men in the various branches of the armed forces at this time ..... the list up to date is as follows: GERALD JAY HOSFORD, JR

November 12, 1942

Bill Durrance enlisted in the Seabees some time ago may transfer to the Marines soon, according to a letter received by his mother, Mrs. Omega Durrance, this week. Bill is now at a Marine Corps base in California. In the letter he also told his mother of attending a USO dance recently in Los Angeles and ran into JUNIOR HOSFORD. Bill said he and Junior deserted the girls immediately and went into a huddle about "home."

January 28, 1943

Mr. and Mrs. G. J. Hosford have been informed that their son, GERALD HOSFORD, JR., has landed safely in North Africa. Their other son, Richard has been in Africa for some time.

June 10, 1943

Sgt. Richard Hosford in a letter to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. G. J. Hosford here, says that he is now enjoying a period in army camp in Africa. Sgt. Hosford probably saw some pretty hard action in the Tunisia campaign. His brother, GERALD, JR with the air corps at Smyrna, Tenn., has gotten out of the hospital after a stiff case of pneumonia, but is OK now.

August 26, 1943

GERALD HOSFORD has been promoted to M/Sgt. we were told by his father this week. “Junior” is now at Maxwell Field, Ala. His brother Sgt. Richard Hosford is in Sicily.

December 23, 1943

M/Sgt GERALD (JUNIOR) HOSFORD, with the Army Air Corps at Montgomery, Alabama, is here on a furlough visiting his parents and other relatives. This is the first time Junior has been home since 1937. He has been in the army since 1936.

March 22, 1945

M/Sgt. GERALD HOSFORD, son of Mr. and Mrs. G. J. Hosford, and who has been in the army a number of years with the air forces, has been here on a short furlough. He reports to a North Carolina base for a new assignment.

May 10, 1945

M/Sgt. GERALD HOSFORD, son of Mr. and Mrs. G. J. Hosford here, is now in Italy - or was when he wrote home last. He has been in the air corps a number of years.

August 2, 1945

The public relations offices must have been working overtime, because here is another release which states that M/Sgt GERALD J. (JUNIOR) HOSFORD has been assigned to the occupational air force in Europe as a member of the 2nd Bombardment Group, a veteran B-17 Flying Fortress unit with the 15th Air Force.

The release said that Junior has served 39 months with the Air Force overseas as a crew chief.

December 13, 1945

Discharged from the armed forces this week ....... G. J. HOSFORD, JR.