Paddy's Gang 1946: PFC Thomas Stathes

Here's a blast from the past!

News just in from former PFC Thomas Stathes, who served with the 39th Infantry at the end of WWII when the unit was assigned to the 9th Infantry Division during the occupation of Germany.

According to his daughter Diane, Mr Stathes trained at Camp Wheeler, Georgia, for the invasion of Japan but the surrender in August 1945 put an end to that. Instead, he was assigned to the Paddy's Gang in Bavaria where he served with Service Company from December 1945 - December 1946. On my understanding, he served a form of detached duty at the regimental newspaper where he worked for Lieutenant Idle.

I know it's a long reach, but if anyone knows (or has ideas about) where to find copies of the AAAO newspaper from those days, and in particular copies of the cartoons Mr Stathes published, please contact me or go direct to Diane States at mychevy56@verizon.net. Likewise, if anyone has any tips about finding the photo of Mr Stathes sitting in the cockpit of a Messerschmidt ME109, your advice would be much appreciated. Naturally, we'd all appreciate news from anyone who served with Paddy's Gang during 1945-1946.

You can also visit Mr Stathes' page at http://www.wwiimemorial.com (use the search tool).

Needless to say, I'm delighted to hear from the Stathes family; thanks, Diane, for writing in.

AAAO!

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