Robert Perdew, 83, of Alta Loma, passed away on September 21, 2007. He was a resident of Rancho Cucamonga his entire life. He was preceded in death by his wife, Joy, to whom he was married for 59 years and his sister, Dorothy. He is survived by sons, John, Scott and Marc of Rancho Cucamonga and three grandchildren, Kari (Lincoln, CA), Daniel (San Diego) and Tawny (Beaumont) and great-grandson, Ryan. He is also survived by siblings, Denning M. 'Jack' (Cardiff By The Sea), Katherine Osborne(Rancho Cucamonga), and Richard ( Melbourne, FL). Bob was born July 15, 1924 in Upland. he was a graduate of Chaffey High School (class of '42) and an Air Force Veteran, serving in the China-Burma-India theatre during World War II as a B-24 pilot. He was self-employed in the auto parts business for 40 years and had a passion for golf, flying, gardening and watching youth sports. A memorial service will be held on October 2nd at Crosslight Church, 9720 Wilson St., Rancho Cucamonga at 11 a.m. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to VNA Hospice, 150 W. First St. Ste. 270, Claremont, CA 91711.
Published in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin on 9/25/2007
In the 1930 U.S. census, 5 yr. old Robert Perdew, b. in CA., was living on Archibald St. in Cucamonga, San Bernardino, CA. with his
38 yr. old father, Earnest Perdew, a citrus farmer, b. in CA.
40 yr. old mother, Clara Perdew, b. in MN.
9 yr. old sister, Dorothy Perdew, b. 1920 in CA.
8 yr. old brother, 'Demming' Perdew, b. in CA.
2 yr. 10 mth. old sister, Katherine Perdew, b. in CA.
Earnest was 26 and Clara was 28 when they married.
Earnest's parents were b. in CA.
Clara's parents were b. in Germany.
In the 1940 U.S. census, 16 yr. old brother, Robert Perdew, b. in CA., was living at 1673 Archibald in Cucamonga, San Bernardino, CA. with his
48 yr. old father, Ernest Perdew, the operator of a citrus ranch, b. in CA.
49 yr. old mother, Claire Perdew, b. in MN.
20 yr. old sister, Dorothy Perdew, b. abt. 1920 in CA.
18 yr. old brother, Denning Perdew, b. in CA.
12 yr. old sister, Katherine Perdew, b. in CA.
7 yr. old brother, Richard Perdew, b. in CA.
Earnest had attended two years of college. Claire and Dorothy had finished one year of college. Denning had graduated from high school and Robert had completed two years of high school.
No occupation was listed for Bob's mother, Clara/Claire, in either census, but she was a nurse. Clara died a few months before Bob's 18th birthday.
From a family clipping (with a photo of brothers, D.M. and Robert E. Perdew)
The Perdew brothers of Alta Loma. Lt. D. M. and Pvt. Robert E., are both serving in the army air corps. Lt. Perdew (above) is a high rating test pilot at Savannah, Ga. He enlisted March 1, 1942. Pvt. Perdew joined the air corps February 27, 1943, and is a member of a college training detachment at Hastings, Neb. The young men are sons of E. E. Perdew of Alta Loma.
On Apr. 15, 1944, "Ava/CRobert Earnest Perdew 19182004" received his United States Army - Army Air Forces diploma, having satisfactorily completed the course of instruction prescribed for Pilot Training at the Army Air Forces Pilot School (advanced two-engine) at Marfa Army Air Field in Marfa, TX.
Signatures: Donald B. Phillips, Colonel Air Corps, Commanding
and Homer W. Ludlow, 1st Lt. Air Corps, School Secretary.
Walla Walla Union Bulletin, Walla Walla, WA.
Sunday, Nov. 11, 1945
LOCAL BRIEFS
COUPLE MARRIED
Miss Joy Dean Benner of Lacrosse, was united in marriage to Mr. Robert Earnest Perdew of Alta Loma, California at the Presbyterian manse, Friday evening (Nov. 9, 1945) (in Walla Walla, Walla Walla, WA.). The ceremony was performed by the Rev. George H. Scofield. The witnesses were Mr. and Mrs. Earl Lieuallen.
San Bernardino Daily News (San Bernardino, CA.)
Wed. morning, Jun. 23, 1976
(See group photo on the left: Bob is kneeling on far right, in front.)
Members of the crew of "The Impatient Lady", a World War II B-24 bomber, which served in the Air Force's "Flying Tigers" under Gen. Claire Chenault in 1944, gathered for a reunion this week with Frank Torregrossa as host as his camp on Sportsman's Road.
Shown standing, from left, are Paul Delehanty of Houston, gunner; Torregrossa, navigator, and Don Novak of Lorain, Ohio, radio operator.
Kneeling, from left, are George Cunningham of Friendswood, bombardier; Warren Tenney of Whiteplains, N.Y., pilot, and Robert Perdew of Alta Loma, Calif., co-pilot.
They are six of the original crew of 10; one is dead and the other three others could not be located to invite to the reunion. Torregrossa, a first lieutenant, was navigator. The squadron of 15 planes flew the Hump of the Himalayas into China and Burma, and flew 54 missions in Southeast China, to the China Sea, Hong Kong, Hanoi and into what is now Vietnam, bombing strategic targets including enemy shipping, railroad yards, munitions dumps and others. The crew was awarded the Presidential Citation for action against the enemy and each member received the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal, each with Oak Leaf Clusters.
The reunion started Saturday and concludes today with a VIP visit to the Johnson Manned Spacecraft Center and Astroworld.
In His Own Words:
"(I was) Born on July 15, 1924 in Upland, California, which at that time was called Ontario in the original San Antonio Hospital. At that time, the hospital was located on Arrow Highway and San Antonio Avenue. My mother, Clara, was a nurse at San Antonio Hospital at that time. My younger life was very typical of the area and era in rural Southern California at that time. Grammar school, high school and helping my Dad with his citrus groves are what occupied a majority of my youth. I was very active in the scouting program in Alta Loma, which I feel is one of the great experiences for young boys. Our scouting troop made some trips that I'll never forget to this day. We went to places such as Death Valley, Salton Sea and Baja Mexico just to name a few. The Boy Scouts were a very influential part of my youth, and as I mentioned before, a great experience for young boys.
I was raised in the citrus industry and worked around it with my Dad until I was old enough to join the Army Aviation Cadet Program. My Army Aviation Cadet program proceeded as follows: Boot camp at Lincoln, Nebraska, College at Hastings, Nebraska, pre-flight at Santa Ana, California, primary flight training at King City, California, basic training at Taft, California, advanced training and graduation at Marfa, Texas. I then went to Yuma, Arizona for a few hours in the B-17 bomber. After Yuma, I was sent to Walla Walla, Washington for RTU training in the B-24 bomber.
Walla Walla, Washington is where I met my crew that I would go overseas with and best of all, met my future wife, Joy Dean Benner. Joy and I became engaged before I left Walla Walla and married on my return from China in 1945. My designation at Walla Walla was initially co-pilot which I went overseas as, and I also checked out as first pilot. However, I flew co-pilot for the majority of the time I was in the China-Burma-India Theater, better known as the "CBI". In later part of my tour, I flew with some of the new crews on their first missions to check them out for combat readiness. Our squadron was a self-supporting unit and we would fly our own supplies in from India, over the "Hump". We would typically fly 5 or 6 bombing missions and then make a trip over the Hump for supplies which we considered a leisurely flight after the combat missions. The supply runs were a welcome change of pace after flying bombing runs over so much enemy territory.
From Walla Walla, my crew and I went to Hamilton Field, just north of San Francisco where we picked up a new Consolidated Aircraft (now known as General Dynamics) B-24 bomber. The next step was our flight overseas to China, which was quite an adventure. Leaving Hamilton Field, we first stopped in Amarillo, Texas, then made stops in Dyersburg, Tennesseee, Syracuse, New York, Newfoundland, the Azores, Morocco, Tunis, Cairo, Egypt, Iran, Karachi, India (now Pakistan), Cahaba, India and the final stop, Chenkung, China.
In China, we served under General Claire Chenault's Flying Tigers, which was a carry-over from the original American Volunteer Group, better known as the "AVG". Our squadron of 15 B-24's flew the Hump over the Himalayas into Burma and India, and flew 54 missions in southeast China to the South China Sea, Hong Kong, and Hanoi, Vietnam, bombing strategic targets including enemy shipping, railroad yards, munition dumps, and other targets. The crew was awarded the Presidential Citation for action against the enemy and each received the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal, each with Oak Leaf Clusters. After a short hitch in Rupsi, India, my crew spent 65 days on the General Collins, which was a liberty ship with standing room only.
Upon my return home, Joy and I were married in Walla Walla, Washington on November 9, 1945. It was then time to find a job. At first, I did odd jobs, 5 years in highway construction, 9 years for an oil company and finally started my own business in auto parts in 1960 which lasted for 35 years until retirement. Joy and I had three sons - John, Scott and Marc who are all doing well. At the present time, I'm retired and spend a lot of time going to the doctor and the grocery store.
Euology to Bob - given by his brother, Col. Denning M. 'Jack' Perdew:
"I knew Bob well, perhaps better than anyone else. We grew up together, played together and worked together.
Being raised on a ranch, there was always plenty of work and our dad had to call on us for help; driving a tractor, smudging and filling the pots in the winter, irrigating in the summer, maintaining and servicing the farm equipment, and there were always a lot of blisters to be had at the end of a pick and shovel. There was one chore at which Bob developed considerable expertise and wound up with it as his responsibility: milking the family cow. Somehow, to my disappointment, I never developed a knack for it. There was much work to do. Yet there was time to go to school and to have a little fun playing games, hunting rabbits and coyotes and swimming in the reservoir that was just across the street from our house.
Some of the games we played wouldn't be recognizable for today's generations. We didn't have TVs or electronic games. They hadn't been invented yet. We had a lot of fun though playing hide and seek, kick the can, tippy-cat and others that I can't recall. I do remember racing around through the lemon grove, picking off fruit as we ran and throwing them at each other. It really smarted when you were hit by one of them and it was upsetting to our next door neighbor who was also a fruit grower. He reported us to our dad.
I recall that we once removed the rubber tires from our little red wagon and beat the outer edges of the wheels together to where they were about the thickness of an ice skate runner. We then took the wagon up to the top of Archibald avenue which is very steep near the foothills and enjoyed a high speed and dangerous ride. On another occasion, we took our bicycles several miles up to a forestry service dirt road on the mountain just behind the church and then coasted down at a high rate of speed. On most of this wild ride, there were steep drop-offs and no guard rails. We survived those hills and created a lot of good memories. I'm pretty sure we didn't share them with our parents. We wouldn't have wanted them to worry.
Then came Pearl Harbor and our entry into World war II. I joined the Army Air Corps and entered flying school. I was aware that Bob wanted to do the same thing but at that time you had to have completed two years of college to enter the aviation cadet program and Bob was still in high school. Later the need for pilots was great and they scrapped the two years of college rule and Bob immediately left high school before graduating and entered the aviation cadet program. He was able to get his high school diploma through the GED program of the Army Air Corps. On graduation from flying school, Bob was commissioned a 2nd lieutenant and assigned duty as a pilot of four-engine bombers.
As I neared the end of my combat tour in China, I learned that Bob was just starting his tour also in China as a pilot in the 4-engine B-24 Liberator bomber. Subsequently, his unit and mine joined together in a raid on Hong Kong harbor. His B-24s went in at high level and bombed the docks and our B-25's went in at low level and skip bombed the many commercial and military vessels anchored in the harbor.
As I was leaving China, I stopped in to spend several days visiting with Bob at his base in Cheng Kung. We had a great time getting reacquainted and talking old times. I recall one evening, probably around pay day, someone started a crap game on a brown GI blanket spread out on the barrack floor. The rule seemed to be that if you were winning, you were expected to stay in the game and give others a chance to get their money back. I'm not much of a gambler and was hoping that I would start losing so I could leave the game. Finally, everyone lost all their money and i walked away with more than $4,000, a sizable fortune in those days. On my return to the U. S., I think that I must have bought a drink for everyone in Miami.
In 1945, the war ended and there was a great exodus back to civilian life. And we all had to find new occupations. As I recall, Bob partnered with Art Hughes in operating a gas station in Pomona. He then spent several years delivering oil for Greg and he then went into selling auto parts and built up a very successful business which he operated up to the day of his retirement.
I can imagine that most of his customers enjoyed dealing with Bob. He was a straight shooter. Honest, sincere and considerate in his dealing with everyone. He was a great brother and i always loved and respected him. He was a family man and his first concern was always for his wife and children. He and Joy spent a lot of time in Little League and other activities when their kids were growing up.
We will miss him very much. But our sadness at his passing can be tempered by our belief that he probably was ready to move on. The burden of his illness was great, the outlook for the future wasn't promising, he truly missed his beloved wife and is probably happy to have been joined with her again.
The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. We can look forward joyfully to being with him again in the hereafter.
Published in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin on 9/25/2007
In the 1930 U.S. census, 5 yr. old Robert Perdew, b. in CA., was living on Archibald St. in Cucamonga, San Bernardino, CA. with his
38 yr. old father, Earnest Perdew, a citrus farmer, b. in CA.
40 yr. old mother, Clara Perdew, b. in MN.
9 yr. old sister, Dorothy Perdew, b. 1920 in CA.
8 yr. old brother, 'Demming' Perdew, b. in CA.
2 yr. 10 mth. old sister, Katherine Perdew, b. in CA.
Earnest was 26 and Clara was 28 when they married.
Earnest's parents were b. in CA.
Clara's parents were b. in Germany.
In the 1940 U.S. census, 16 yr. old brother, Robert Perdew, b. in CA., was living at 1673 Archibald in Cucamonga, San Bernardino, CA. with his
48 yr. old father, Ernest Perdew, the operator of a citrus ranch, b. in CA.
49 yr. old mother, Claire Perdew, b. in MN.
20 yr. old sister, Dorothy Perdew, b. abt. 1920 in CA.
18 yr. old brother, Denning Perdew, b. in CA.
12 yr. old sister, Katherine Perdew, b. in CA.
7 yr. old brother, Richard Perdew, b. in CA.
Earnest had attended two years of college. Claire and Dorothy had finished one year of college. Denning had graduated from high school and Robert had completed two years of high school.
No occupation was listed for Bob's mother, Clara/Claire, in either census, but she was a nurse. Clara died a few months before Bob's 18th birthday.
From a family clipping (with a photo of brothers, D.M. and Robert E. Perdew)
The Perdew brothers of Alta Loma. Lt. D. M. and Pvt. Robert E., are both serving in the army air corps. Lt. Perdew (above) is a high rating test pilot at Savannah, Ga. He enlisted March 1, 1942. Pvt. Perdew joined the air corps February 27, 1943, and is a member of a college training detachment at Hastings, Neb. The young men are sons of E. E. Perdew of Alta Loma.
On Apr. 15, 1944, "Ava/CRobert Earnest Perdew 19182004" received his United States Army - Army Air Forces diploma, having satisfactorily completed the course of instruction prescribed for Pilot Training at the Army Air Forces Pilot School (advanced two-engine) at Marfa Army Air Field in Marfa, TX.
Signatures: Donald B. Phillips, Colonel Air Corps, Commanding
and Homer W. Ludlow, 1st Lt. Air Corps, School Secretary.
Walla Walla Union Bulletin, Walla Walla, WA.
Sunday, Nov. 11, 1945
LOCAL BRIEFS
COUPLE MARRIED
Miss Joy Dean Benner of Lacrosse, was united in marriage to Mr. Robert Earnest Perdew of Alta Loma, California at the Presbyterian manse, Friday evening (Nov. 9, 1945) (in Walla Walla, Walla Walla, WA.). The ceremony was performed by the Rev. George H. Scofield. The witnesses were Mr. and Mrs. Earl Lieuallen.
San Bernardino Daily News (San Bernardino, CA.)
Wed. morning, Jun. 23, 1976
(See group photo on the left: Bob is kneeling on far right, in front.)
Members of the crew of "The Impatient Lady", a World War II B-24 bomber, which served in the Air Force's "Flying Tigers" under Gen. Claire Chenault in 1944, gathered for a reunion this week with Frank Torregrossa as host as his camp on Sportsman's Road.
Shown standing, from left, are Paul Delehanty of Houston, gunner; Torregrossa, navigator, and Don Novak of Lorain, Ohio, radio operator.
Kneeling, from left, are George Cunningham of Friendswood, bombardier; Warren Tenney of Whiteplains, N.Y., pilot, and Robert Perdew of Alta Loma, Calif., co-pilot.
They are six of the original crew of 10; one is dead and the other three others could not be located to invite to the reunion. Torregrossa, a first lieutenant, was navigator. The squadron of 15 planes flew the Hump of the Himalayas into China and Burma, and flew 54 missions in Southeast China, to the China Sea, Hong Kong, Hanoi and into what is now Vietnam, bombing strategic targets including enemy shipping, railroad yards, munitions dumps and others. The crew was awarded the Presidential Citation for action against the enemy and each member received the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal, each with Oak Leaf Clusters.
The reunion started Saturday and concludes today with a VIP visit to the Johnson Manned Spacecraft Center and Astroworld.
In His Own Words:
"(I was) Born on July 15, 1924 in Upland, California, which at that time was called Ontario in the original San Antonio Hospital. At that time, the hospital was located on Arrow Highway and San Antonio Avenue. My mother, Clara, was a nurse at San Antonio Hospital at that time. My younger life was very typical of the area and era in rural Southern California at that time. Grammar school, high school and helping my Dad with his citrus groves are what occupied a majority of my youth. I was very active in the scouting program in Alta Loma, which I feel is one of the great experiences for young boys. Our scouting troop made some trips that I'll never forget to this day. We went to places such as Death Valley, Salton Sea and Baja Mexico just to name a few. The Boy Scouts were a very influential part of my youth, and as I mentioned before, a great experience for young boys.
I was raised in the citrus industry and worked around it with my Dad until I was old enough to join the Army Aviation Cadet Program. My Army Aviation Cadet program proceeded as follows: Boot camp at Lincoln, Nebraska, College at Hastings, Nebraska, pre-flight at Santa Ana, California, primary flight training at King City, California, basic training at Taft, California, advanced training and graduation at Marfa, Texas. I then went to Yuma, Arizona for a few hours in the B-17 bomber. After Yuma, I was sent to Walla Walla, Washington for RTU training in the B-24 bomber.
Walla Walla, Washington is where I met my crew that I would go overseas with and best of all, met my future wife, Joy Dean Benner. Joy and I became engaged before I left Walla Walla and married on my return from China in 1945. My designation at Walla Walla was initially co-pilot which I went overseas as, and I also checked out as first pilot. However, I flew co-pilot for the majority of the time I was in the China-Burma-India Theater, better known as the "CBI". In later part of my tour, I flew with some of the new crews on their first missions to check them out for combat readiness. Our squadron was a self-supporting unit and we would fly our own supplies in from India, over the "Hump". We would typically fly 5 or 6 bombing missions and then make a trip over the Hump for supplies which we considered a leisurely flight after the combat missions. The supply runs were a welcome change of pace after flying bombing runs over so much enemy territory.
From Walla Walla, my crew and I went to Hamilton Field, just north of San Francisco where we picked up a new Consolidated Aircraft (now known as General Dynamics) B-24 bomber. The next step was our flight overseas to China, which was quite an adventure. Leaving Hamilton Field, we first stopped in Amarillo, Texas, then made stops in Dyersburg, Tennesseee, Syracuse, New York, Newfoundland, the Azores, Morocco, Tunis, Cairo, Egypt, Iran, Karachi, India (now Pakistan), Cahaba, India and the final stop, Chenkung, China.
In China, we served under General Claire Chenault's Flying Tigers, which was a carry-over from the original American Volunteer Group, better known as the "AVG". Our squadron of 15 B-24's flew the Hump over the Himalayas into Burma and India, and flew 54 missions in southeast China to the South China Sea, Hong Kong, and Hanoi, Vietnam, bombing strategic targets including enemy shipping, railroad yards, munition dumps, and other targets. The crew was awarded the Presidential Citation for action against the enemy and each received the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal, each with Oak Leaf Clusters. After a short hitch in Rupsi, India, my crew spent 65 days on the General Collins, which was a liberty ship with standing room only.
Upon my return home, Joy and I were married in Walla Walla, Washington on November 9, 1945. It was then time to find a job. At first, I did odd jobs, 5 years in highway construction, 9 years for an oil company and finally started my own business in auto parts in 1960 which lasted for 35 years until retirement. Joy and I had three sons - John, Scott and Marc who are all doing well. At the present time, I'm retired and spend a lot of time going to the doctor and the grocery store.
Euology to Bob - given by his brother, Col. Denning M. 'Jack' Perdew:
"I knew Bob well, perhaps better than anyone else. We grew up together, played together and worked together.
Being raised on a ranch, there was always plenty of work and our dad had to call on us for help; driving a tractor, smudging and filling the pots in the winter, irrigating in the summer, maintaining and servicing the farm equipment, and there were always a lot of blisters to be had at the end of a pick and shovel. There was one chore at which Bob developed considerable expertise and wound up with it as his responsibility: milking the family cow. Somehow, to my disappointment, I never developed a knack for it. There was much work to do. Yet there was time to go to school and to have a little fun playing games, hunting rabbits and coyotes and swimming in the reservoir that was just across the street from our house.
Some of the games we played wouldn't be recognizable for today's generations. We didn't have TVs or electronic games. They hadn't been invented yet. We had a lot of fun though playing hide and seek, kick the can, tippy-cat and others that I can't recall. I do remember racing around through the lemon grove, picking off fruit as we ran and throwing them at each other. It really smarted when you were hit by one of them and it was upsetting to our next door neighbor who was also a fruit grower. He reported us to our dad.
I recall that we once removed the rubber tires from our little red wagon and beat the outer edges of the wheels together to where they were about the thickness of an ice skate runner. We then took the wagon up to the top of Archibald avenue which is very steep near the foothills and enjoyed a high speed and dangerous ride. On another occasion, we took our bicycles several miles up to a forestry service dirt road on the mountain just behind the church and then coasted down at a high rate of speed. On most of this wild ride, there were steep drop-offs and no guard rails. We survived those hills and created a lot of good memories. I'm pretty sure we didn't share them with our parents. We wouldn't have wanted them to worry.
Then came Pearl Harbor and our entry into World war II. I joined the Army Air Corps and entered flying school. I was aware that Bob wanted to do the same thing but at that time you had to have completed two years of college to enter the aviation cadet program and Bob was still in high school. Later the need for pilots was great and they scrapped the two years of college rule and Bob immediately left high school before graduating and entered the aviation cadet program. He was able to get his high school diploma through the GED program of the Army Air Corps. On graduation from flying school, Bob was commissioned a 2nd lieutenant and assigned duty as a pilot of four-engine bombers.
As I neared the end of my combat tour in China, I learned that Bob was just starting his tour also in China as a pilot in the 4-engine B-24 Liberator bomber. Subsequently, his unit and mine joined together in a raid on Hong Kong harbor. His B-24s went in at high level and bombed the docks and our B-25's went in at low level and skip bombed the many commercial and military vessels anchored in the harbor.
As I was leaving China, I stopped in to spend several days visiting with Bob at his base in Cheng Kung. We had a great time getting reacquainted and talking old times. I recall one evening, probably around pay day, someone started a crap game on a brown GI blanket spread out on the barrack floor. The rule seemed to be that if you were winning, you were expected to stay in the game and give others a chance to get their money back. I'm not much of a gambler and was hoping that I would start losing so I could leave the game. Finally, everyone lost all their money and i walked away with more than $4,000, a sizable fortune in those days. On my return to the U. S., I think that I must have bought a drink for everyone in Miami.
In 1945, the war ended and there was a great exodus back to civilian life. And we all had to find new occupations. As I recall, Bob partnered with Art Hughes in operating a gas station in Pomona. He then spent several years delivering oil for Greg and he then went into selling auto parts and built up a very successful business which he operated up to the day of his retirement.
I can imagine that most of his customers enjoyed dealing with Bob. He was a straight shooter. Honest, sincere and considerate in his dealing with everyone. He was a great brother and i always loved and respected him. He was a family man and his first concern was always for his wife and children. He and Joy spent a lot of time in Little League and other activities when their kids were growing up.
We will miss him very much. But our sadness at his passing can be tempered by our belief that he probably was ready to move on. The burden of his illness was great, the outlook for the future wasn't promising, he truly missed his beloved wife and is probably happy to have been joined with her again.
The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. We can look forward joyfully to being with him again in the hereafter.
Robert Perdew, 83, of Alta Loma, passed away on September 21, 2007. He was a resident of Rancho Cucamonga his entire life. He was preceded in death by his wife, Joy, to whom he was married for 59 years and his sister, Dorothy. He is survived by sons, John, Scott and Marc of Rancho Cucamonga and three grandchildren, Kari (Lincoln, CA), Daniel (San Diego) and Tawny (Beaumont) and great-grandson, Ryan. He is also survived by siblings, Denning M. 'Jack' (Cardiff By The Sea), Katherine Osborne(Rancho Cucamonga), and Richard ( Melbourne, FL). Bob was born July 15, 1924 in Upland. he was a graduate of Chaffey High School (class of '42) and an Air Force Veteran, serving in the China-Burma-India theatre during World War II as a B-24 pilot. He was self-employed in the auto parts business for 40 years and had a passion for golf, flying, gardening and watching youth sports. A memorial service will be held on October 2nd at Crosslight Church, 9720 Wilson St., Rancho Cucamonga at 11 a.m. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to VNA Hospice, 150 W. First St. Ste. 270, Claremont, CA 91711.
Published in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin on 9/25/2007
In the 1930 U.S. census, 5 yr. old Robert Perdew, b. in CA., was living on Archibald St. in Cucamonga, San Bernardino, CA. with his
38 yr. old father, Earnest Perdew, a citrus farmer, b. in CA.
40 yr. old mother, Clara Perdew, b. in MN.
9 yr. old sister, Dorothy Perdew, b. 1920 in CA.
8 yr. old brother, 'Demming' Perdew, b. in CA.
2 yr. 10 mth. old sister, Katherine Perdew, b. in CA.
Earnest was 26 and Clara was 28 when they married.
Earnest's parents were b. in CA.
Clara's parents were b. in Germany.
In the 1940 U.S. census, 16 yr. old brother, Robert Perdew, b. in CA., was living at 1673 Archibald in Cucamonga, San Bernardino, CA. with his
48 yr. old father, Ernest Perdew, the operator of a citrus ranch, b. in CA.
49 yr. old mother, Claire Perdew, b. in MN.
20 yr. old sister, Dorothy Perdew, b. abt. 1920 in CA.
18 yr. old brother, Denning Perdew, b. in CA.
12 yr. old sister, Katherine Perdew, b. in CA.
7 yr. old brother, Richard Perdew, b. in CA.
Earnest had attended two years of college. Claire and Dorothy had finished one year of college. Denning had graduated from high school and Robert had completed two years of high school.
No occupation was listed for Bob's mother, Clara/Claire, in either census, but she was a nurse. Clara died a few months before Bob's 18th birthday.
From a family clipping (with a photo of brothers, D.M. and Robert E. Perdew)
The Perdew brothers of Alta Loma. Lt. D. M. and Pvt. Robert E., are both serving in the army air corps. Lt. Perdew (above) is a high rating test pilot at Savannah, Ga. He enlisted March 1, 1942. Pvt. Perdew joined the air corps February 27, 1943, and is a member of a college training detachment at Hastings, Neb. The young men are sons of E. E. Perdew of Alta Loma.
On Apr. 15, 1944, "Ava/CRobert Earnest Perdew 19182004" received his United States Army - Army Air Forces diploma, having satisfactorily completed the course of instruction prescribed for Pilot Training at the Army Air Forces Pilot School (advanced two-engine) at Marfa Army Air Field in Marfa, TX.
Signatures: Donald B. Phillips, Colonel Air Corps, Commanding
and Homer W. Ludlow, 1st Lt. Air Corps, School Secretary.
Walla Walla Union Bulletin, Walla Walla, WA.
Sunday, Nov. 11, 1945
LOCAL BRIEFS
COUPLE MARRIED
Miss Joy Dean Benner of Lacrosse, was united in marriage to Mr. Robert Earnest Perdew of Alta Loma, California at the Presbyterian manse, Friday evening (Nov. 9, 1945) (in Walla Walla, Walla Walla, WA.). The ceremony was performed by the Rev. George H. Scofield. The witnesses were Mr. and Mrs. Earl Lieuallen.
San Bernardino Daily News (San Bernardino, CA.)
Wed. morning, Jun. 23, 1976
(See group photo on the left: Bob is kneeling on far right, in front.)
Members of the crew of "The Impatient Lady", a World War II B-24 bomber, which served in the Air Force's "Flying Tigers" under Gen. Claire Chenault in 1944, gathered for a reunion this week with Frank Torregrossa as host as his camp on Sportsman's Road.
Shown standing, from left, are Paul Delehanty of Houston, gunner; Torregrossa, navigator, and Don Novak of Lorain, Ohio, radio operator.
Kneeling, from left, are George Cunningham of Friendswood, bombardier; Warren Tenney of Whiteplains, N.Y., pilot, and Robert Perdew of Alta Loma, Calif., co-pilot.
They are six of the original crew of 10; one is dead and the other three others could not be located to invite to the reunion. Torregrossa, a first lieutenant, was navigator. The squadron of 15 planes flew the Hump of the Himalayas into China and Burma, and flew 54 missions in Southeast China, to the China Sea, Hong Kong, Hanoi and into what is now Vietnam, bombing strategic targets including enemy shipping, railroad yards, munitions dumps and others. The crew was awarded the Presidential Citation for action against the enemy and each member received the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal, each with Oak Leaf Clusters.
The reunion started Saturday and concludes today with a VIP visit to the Johnson Manned Spacecraft Center and Astroworld.
In His Own Words:
"(I was) Born on July 15, 1924 in Upland, California, which at that time was called Ontario in the original San Antonio Hospital. At that time, the hospital was located on Arrow Highway and San Antonio Avenue. My mother, Clara, was a nurse at San Antonio Hospital at that time. My younger life was very typical of the area and era in rural Southern California at that time. Grammar school, high school and helping my Dad with his citrus groves are what occupied a majority of my youth. I was very active in the scouting program in Alta Loma, which I feel is one of the great experiences for young boys. Our scouting troop made some trips that I'll never forget to this day. We went to places such as Death Valley, Salton Sea and Baja Mexico just to name a few. The Boy Scouts were a very influential part of my youth, and as I mentioned before, a great experience for young boys.
I was raised in the citrus industry and worked around it with my Dad until I was old enough to join the Army Aviation Cadet Program. My Army Aviation Cadet program proceeded as follows: Boot camp at Lincoln, Nebraska, College at Hastings, Nebraska, pre-flight at Santa Ana, California, primary flight training at King City, California, basic training at Taft, California, advanced training and graduation at Marfa, Texas. I then went to Yuma, Arizona for a few hours in the B-17 bomber. After Yuma, I was sent to Walla Walla, Washington for RTU training in the B-24 bomber.
Walla Walla, Washington is where I met my crew that I would go overseas with and best of all, met my future wife, Joy Dean Benner. Joy and I became engaged before I left Walla Walla and married on my return from China in 1945. My designation at Walla Walla was initially co-pilot which I went overseas as, and I also checked out as first pilot. However, I flew co-pilot for the majority of the time I was in the China-Burma-India Theater, better known as the "CBI". In later part of my tour, I flew with some of the new crews on their first missions to check them out for combat readiness. Our squadron was a self-supporting unit and we would fly our own supplies in from India, over the "Hump". We would typically fly 5 or 6 bombing missions and then make a trip over the Hump for supplies which we considered a leisurely flight after the combat missions. The supply runs were a welcome change of pace after flying bombing runs over so much enemy territory.
From Walla Walla, my crew and I went to Hamilton Field, just north of San Francisco where we picked up a new Consolidated Aircraft (now known as General Dynamics) B-24 bomber. The next step was our flight overseas to China, which was quite an adventure. Leaving Hamilton Field, we first stopped in Amarillo, Texas, then made stops in Dyersburg, Tennesseee, Syracuse, New York, Newfoundland, the Azores, Morocco, Tunis, Cairo, Egypt, Iran, Karachi, India (now Pakistan), Cahaba, India and the final stop, Chenkung, China.
In China, we served under General Claire Chenault's Flying Tigers, which was a carry-over from the original American Volunteer Group, better known as the "AVG". Our squadron of 15 B-24's flew the Hump over the Himalayas into Burma and India, and flew 54 missions in southeast China to the South China Sea, Hong Kong, and Hanoi, Vietnam, bombing strategic targets including enemy shipping, railroad yards, munition dumps, and other targets. The crew was awarded the Presidential Citation for action against the enemy and each received the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal, each with Oak Leaf Clusters. After a short hitch in Rupsi, India, my crew spent 65 days on the General Collins, which was a liberty ship with standing room only.
Upon my return home, Joy and I were married in Walla Walla, Washington on November 9, 1945. It was then time to find a job. At first, I did odd jobs, 5 years in highway construction, 9 years for an oil company and finally started my own business in auto parts in 1960 which lasted for 35 years until retirement. Joy and I had three sons - John, Scott and Marc who are all doing well. At the present time, I'm retired and spend a lot of time going to the doctor and the grocery store.
Euology to Bob - given by his brother, Col. Denning M. 'Jack' Perdew:
"I knew Bob well, perhaps better than anyone else. We grew up together, played together and worked together.
Being raised on a ranch, there was always plenty of work and our dad had to call on us for help; driving a tractor, smudging and filling the pots in the winter, irrigating in the summer, maintaining and servicing the farm equipment, and there were always a lot of blisters to be had at the end of a pick and shovel. There was one chore at which Bob developed considerable expertise and wound up with it as his responsibility: milking the family cow. Somehow, to my disappointment, I never developed a knack for it. There was much work to do. Yet there was time to go to school and to have a little fun playing games, hunting rabbits and coyotes and swimming in the reservoir that was just across the street from our house.
Some of the games we played wouldn't be recognizable for today's generations. We didn't have TVs or electronic games. They hadn't been invented yet. We had a lot of fun though playing hide and seek, kick the can, tippy-cat and others that I can't recall. I do remember racing around through the lemon grove, picking off fruit as we ran and throwing them at each other. It really smarted when you were hit by one of them and it was upsetting to our next door neighbor who was also a fruit grower. He reported us to our dad.
I recall that we once removed the rubber tires from our little red wagon and beat the outer edges of the wheels together to where they were about the thickness of an ice skate runner. We then took the wagon up to the top of Archibald avenue which is very steep near the foothills and enjoyed a high speed and dangerous ride. On another occasion, we took our bicycles several miles up to a forestry service dirt road on the mountain just behind the church and then coasted down at a high rate of speed. On most of this wild ride, there were steep drop-offs and no guard rails. We survived those hills and created a lot of good memories. I'm pretty sure we didn't share them with our parents. We wouldn't have wanted them to worry.
Then came Pearl Harbor and our entry into World war II. I joined the Army Air Corps and entered flying school. I was aware that Bob wanted to do the same thing but at that time you had to have completed two years of college to enter the aviation cadet program and Bob was still in high school. Later the need for pilots was great and they scrapped the two years of college rule and Bob immediately left high school before graduating and entered the aviation cadet program. He was able to get his high school diploma through the GED program of the Army Air Corps. On graduation from flying school, Bob was commissioned a 2nd lieutenant and assigned duty as a pilot of four-engine bombers.
As I neared the end of my combat tour in China, I learned that Bob was just starting his tour also in China as a pilot in the 4-engine B-24 Liberator bomber. Subsequently, his unit and mine joined together in a raid on Hong Kong harbor. His B-24s went in at high level and bombed the docks and our B-25's went in at low level and skip bombed the many commercial and military vessels anchored in the harbor.
As I was leaving China, I stopped in to spend several days visiting with Bob at his base in Cheng Kung. We had a great time getting reacquainted and talking old times. I recall one evening, probably around pay day, someone started a crap game on a brown GI blanket spread out on the barrack floor. The rule seemed to be that if you were winning, you were expected to stay in the game and give others a chance to get their money back. I'm not much of a gambler and was hoping that I would start losing so I could leave the game. Finally, everyone lost all their money and i walked away with more than $4,000, a sizable fortune in those days. On my return to the U. S., I think that I must have bought a drink for everyone in Miami.
In 1945, the war ended and there was a great exodus back to civilian life. And we all had to find new occupations. As I recall, Bob partnered with Art Hughes in operating a gas station in Pomona. He then spent several years delivering oil for Greg and he then went into selling auto parts and built up a very successful business which he operated up to the day of his retirement.
I can imagine that most of his customers enjoyed dealing with Bob. He was a straight shooter. Honest, sincere and considerate in his dealing with everyone. He was a great brother and i always loved and respected him. He was a family man and his first concern was always for his wife and children. He and Joy spent a lot of time in Little League and other activities when their kids were growing up.
We will miss him very much. But our sadness at his passing can be tempered by our belief that he probably was ready to move on. The burden of his illness was great, the outlook for the future wasn't promising, he truly missed his beloved wife and is probably happy to have been joined with her again.
The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. We can look forward joyfully to being with him again in the hereafter.
Published in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin on 9/25/2007
In the 1930 U.S. census, 5 yr. old Robert Perdew, b. in CA., was living on Archibald St. in Cucamonga, San Bernardino, CA. with his
38 yr. old father, Earnest Perdew, a citrus farmer, b. in CA.
40 yr. old mother, Clara Perdew, b. in MN.
9 yr. old sister, Dorothy Perdew, b. 1920 in CA.
8 yr. old brother, 'Demming' Perdew, b. in CA.
2 yr. 10 mth. old sister, Katherine Perdew, b. in CA.
Earnest was 26 and Clara was 28 when they married.
Earnest's parents were b. in CA.
Clara's parents were b. in Germany.
In the 1940 U.S. census, 16 yr. old brother, Robert Perdew, b. in CA., was living at 1673 Archibald in Cucamonga, San Bernardino, CA. with his
48 yr. old father, Ernest Perdew, the operator of a citrus ranch, b. in CA.
49 yr. old mother, Claire Perdew, b. in MN.
20 yr. old sister, Dorothy Perdew, b. abt. 1920 in CA.
18 yr. old brother, Denning Perdew, b. in CA.
12 yr. old sister, Katherine Perdew, b. in CA.
7 yr. old brother, Richard Perdew, b. in CA.
Earnest had attended two years of college. Claire and Dorothy had finished one year of college. Denning had graduated from high school and Robert had completed two years of high school.
No occupation was listed for Bob's mother, Clara/Claire, in either census, but she was a nurse. Clara died a few months before Bob's 18th birthday.
From a family clipping (with a photo of brothers, D.M. and Robert E. Perdew)
The Perdew brothers of Alta Loma. Lt. D. M. and Pvt. Robert E., are both serving in the army air corps. Lt. Perdew (above) is a high rating test pilot at Savannah, Ga. He enlisted March 1, 1942. Pvt. Perdew joined the air corps February 27, 1943, and is a member of a college training detachment at Hastings, Neb. The young men are sons of E. E. Perdew of Alta Loma.
On Apr. 15, 1944, "Ava/CRobert Earnest Perdew 19182004" received his United States Army - Army Air Forces diploma, having satisfactorily completed the course of instruction prescribed for Pilot Training at the Army Air Forces Pilot School (advanced two-engine) at Marfa Army Air Field in Marfa, TX.
Signatures: Donald B. Phillips, Colonel Air Corps, Commanding
and Homer W. Ludlow, 1st Lt. Air Corps, School Secretary.
Walla Walla Union Bulletin, Walla Walla, WA.
Sunday, Nov. 11, 1945
LOCAL BRIEFS
COUPLE MARRIED
Miss Joy Dean Benner of Lacrosse, was united in marriage to Mr. Robert Earnest Perdew of Alta Loma, California at the Presbyterian manse, Friday evening (Nov. 9, 1945) (in Walla Walla, Walla Walla, WA.). The ceremony was performed by the Rev. George H. Scofield. The witnesses were Mr. and Mrs. Earl Lieuallen.
San Bernardino Daily News (San Bernardino, CA.)
Wed. morning, Jun. 23, 1976
(See group photo on the left: Bob is kneeling on far right, in front.)
Members of the crew of "The Impatient Lady", a World War II B-24 bomber, which served in the Air Force's "Flying Tigers" under Gen. Claire Chenault in 1944, gathered for a reunion this week with Frank Torregrossa as host as his camp on Sportsman's Road.
Shown standing, from left, are Paul Delehanty of Houston, gunner; Torregrossa, navigator, and Don Novak of Lorain, Ohio, radio operator.
Kneeling, from left, are George Cunningham of Friendswood, bombardier; Warren Tenney of Whiteplains, N.Y., pilot, and Robert Perdew of Alta Loma, Calif., co-pilot.
They are six of the original crew of 10; one is dead and the other three others could not be located to invite to the reunion. Torregrossa, a first lieutenant, was navigator. The squadron of 15 planes flew the Hump of the Himalayas into China and Burma, and flew 54 missions in Southeast China, to the China Sea, Hong Kong, Hanoi and into what is now Vietnam, bombing strategic targets including enemy shipping, railroad yards, munitions dumps and others. The crew was awarded the Presidential Citation for action against the enemy and each member received the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal, each with Oak Leaf Clusters.
The reunion started Saturday and concludes today with a VIP visit to the Johnson Manned Spacecraft Center and Astroworld.
In His Own Words:
"(I was) Born on July 15, 1924 in Upland, California, which at that time was called Ontario in the original San Antonio Hospital. At that time, the hospital was located on Arrow Highway and San Antonio Avenue. My mother, Clara, was a nurse at San Antonio Hospital at that time. My younger life was very typical of the area and era in rural Southern California at that time. Grammar school, high school and helping my Dad with his citrus groves are what occupied a majority of my youth. I was very active in the scouting program in Alta Loma, which I feel is one of the great experiences for young boys. Our scouting troop made some trips that I'll never forget to this day. We went to places such as Death Valley, Salton Sea and Baja Mexico just to name a few. The Boy Scouts were a very influential part of my youth, and as I mentioned before, a great experience for young boys.
I was raised in the citrus industry and worked around it with my Dad until I was old enough to join the Army Aviation Cadet Program. My Army Aviation Cadet program proceeded as follows: Boot camp at Lincoln, Nebraska, College at Hastings, Nebraska, pre-flight at Santa Ana, California, primary flight training at King City, California, basic training at Taft, California, advanced training and graduation at Marfa, Texas. I then went to Yuma, Arizona for a few hours in the B-17 bomber. After Yuma, I was sent to Walla Walla, Washington for RTU training in the B-24 bomber.
Walla Walla, Washington is where I met my crew that I would go overseas with and best of all, met my future wife, Joy Dean Benner. Joy and I became engaged before I left Walla Walla and married on my return from China in 1945. My designation at Walla Walla was initially co-pilot which I went overseas as, and I also checked out as first pilot. However, I flew co-pilot for the majority of the time I was in the China-Burma-India Theater, better known as the "CBI". In later part of my tour, I flew with some of the new crews on their first missions to check them out for combat readiness. Our squadron was a self-supporting unit and we would fly our own supplies in from India, over the "Hump". We would typically fly 5 or 6 bombing missions and then make a trip over the Hump for supplies which we considered a leisurely flight after the combat missions. The supply runs were a welcome change of pace after flying bombing runs over so much enemy territory.
From Walla Walla, my crew and I went to Hamilton Field, just north of San Francisco where we picked up a new Consolidated Aircraft (now known as General Dynamics) B-24 bomber. The next step was our flight overseas to China, which was quite an adventure. Leaving Hamilton Field, we first stopped in Amarillo, Texas, then made stops in Dyersburg, Tennesseee, Syracuse, New York, Newfoundland, the Azores, Morocco, Tunis, Cairo, Egypt, Iran, Karachi, India (now Pakistan), Cahaba, India and the final stop, Chenkung, China.
In China, we served under General Claire Chenault's Flying Tigers, which was a carry-over from the original American Volunteer Group, better known as the "AVG". Our squadron of 15 B-24's flew the Hump over the Himalayas into Burma and India, and flew 54 missions in southeast China to the South China Sea, Hong Kong, and Hanoi, Vietnam, bombing strategic targets including enemy shipping, railroad yards, munition dumps, and other targets. The crew was awarded the Presidential Citation for action against the enemy and each received the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal, each with Oak Leaf Clusters. After a short hitch in Rupsi, India, my crew spent 65 days on the General Collins, which was a liberty ship with standing room only.
Upon my return home, Joy and I were married in Walla Walla, Washington on November 9, 1945. It was then time to find a job. At first, I did odd jobs, 5 years in highway construction, 9 years for an oil company and finally started my own business in auto parts in 1960 which lasted for 35 years until retirement. Joy and I had three sons - John, Scott and Marc who are all doing well. At the present time, I'm retired and spend a lot of time going to the doctor and the grocery store.
Euology to Bob - given by his brother, Col. Denning M. 'Jack' Perdew:
"I knew Bob well, perhaps better than anyone else. We grew up together, played together and worked together.
Being raised on a ranch, there was always plenty of work and our dad had to call on us for help; driving a tractor, smudging and filling the pots in the winter, irrigating in the summer, maintaining and servicing the farm equipment, and there were always a lot of blisters to be had at the end of a pick and shovel. There was one chore at which Bob developed considerable expertise and wound up with it as his responsibility: milking the family cow. Somehow, to my disappointment, I never developed a knack for it. There was much work to do. Yet there was time to go to school and to have a little fun playing games, hunting rabbits and coyotes and swimming in the reservoir that was just across the street from our house.
Some of the games we played wouldn't be recognizable for today's generations. We didn't have TVs or electronic games. They hadn't been invented yet. We had a lot of fun though playing hide and seek, kick the can, tippy-cat and others that I can't recall. I do remember racing around through the lemon grove, picking off fruit as we ran and throwing them at each other. It really smarted when you were hit by one of them and it was upsetting to our next door neighbor who was also a fruit grower. He reported us to our dad.
I recall that we once removed the rubber tires from our little red wagon and beat the outer edges of the wheels together to where they were about the thickness of an ice skate runner. We then took the wagon up to the top of Archibald avenue which is very steep near the foothills and enjoyed a high speed and dangerous ride. On another occasion, we took our bicycles several miles up to a forestry service dirt road on the mountain just behind the church and then coasted down at a high rate of speed. On most of this wild ride, there were steep drop-offs and no guard rails. We survived those hills and created a lot of good memories. I'm pretty sure we didn't share them with our parents. We wouldn't have wanted them to worry.
Then came Pearl Harbor and our entry into World war II. I joined the Army Air Corps and entered flying school. I was aware that Bob wanted to do the same thing but at that time you had to have completed two years of college to enter the aviation cadet program and Bob was still in high school. Later the need for pilots was great and they scrapped the two years of college rule and Bob immediately left high school before graduating and entered the aviation cadet program. He was able to get his high school diploma through the GED program of the Army Air Corps. On graduation from flying school, Bob was commissioned a 2nd lieutenant and assigned duty as a pilot of four-engine bombers.
As I neared the end of my combat tour in China, I learned that Bob was just starting his tour also in China as a pilot in the 4-engine B-24 Liberator bomber. Subsequently, his unit and mine joined together in a raid on Hong Kong harbor. His B-24s went in at high level and bombed the docks and our B-25's went in at low level and skip bombed the many commercial and military vessels anchored in the harbor.
As I was leaving China, I stopped in to spend several days visiting with Bob at his base in Cheng Kung. We had a great time getting reacquainted and talking old times. I recall one evening, probably around pay day, someone started a crap game on a brown GI blanket spread out on the barrack floor. The rule seemed to be that if you were winning, you were expected to stay in the game and give others a chance to get their money back. I'm not much of a gambler and was hoping that I would start losing so I could leave the game. Finally, everyone lost all their money and i walked away with more than $4,000, a sizable fortune in those days. On my return to the U. S., I think that I must have bought a drink for everyone in Miami.
In 1945, the war ended and there was a great exodus back to civilian life. And we all had to find new occupations. As I recall, Bob partnered with Art Hughes in operating a gas station in Pomona. He then spent several years delivering oil for Greg and he then went into selling auto parts and built up a very successful business which he operated up to the day of his retirement.
I can imagine that most of his customers enjoyed dealing with Bob. He was a straight shooter. Honest, sincere and considerate in his dealing with everyone. He was a great brother and i always loved and respected him. He was a family man and his first concern was always for his wife and children. He and Joy spent a lot of time in Little League and other activities when their kids were growing up.
We will miss him very much. But our sadness at his passing can be tempered by our belief that he probably was ready to move on. The burden of his illness was great, the outlook for the future wasn't promising, he truly missed his beloved wife and is probably happy to have been joined with her again.
The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. We can look forward joyfully to being with him again in the hereafter.
Family Members
Parents
