George Paul Ethridge, Jr. (Paul) was born in 1924 in Plains, Georgia to George Paul Ethridge, Sr. and Willie Mae Blackshear Ethridge. He grew up in nearby Richland with his parents and younger brother, Noel Harold. He signed up for the Army Air Corps in June 1943 and was sent to Keesler Air Field in Mississippi for Army Infantry training, then to Texas Tech College in Lubbock, Texas for flying basics and pre-flight training, then to Santa Ana, California for more basic pre-flight training. In January 1944 he went to primary flight school near Phoenix, Arizona, flying Stearman trainers. He did more basic training in Ontario, California, flying the Vultee SNV/BT-13 Valiant (the “Vibrator”). Then he went back to Phoenix to fly AT-6s, where he learned to fly in formation and attended gunnery school. He graduated in August as a 2nd lieutenant.

Paul next went to North Carolina for glider pilot training, then traveled to Scotland on the Queen Mary. He arrived near Glasgow in November 1944 and took the train to join the 313 Troop Carrier Group, 47 Company in northern England, near Nottingham, where he flew gliders and as a co-pilot on C-47s flying supplies to troops in northern France.

Paul then began flying C-46s, which carried twice as many men. In March 1945 he stayed in Achiet, France to be closer to the action, living three to a tent and hauling supplies. He flew near the front to the tent hospital to bring the walking wounded back to a better hospital. After VE-Day, Paul went back to Bovington, England, a large airport handling transatlantic flights, where he worked as a passenger pilot and in the EATS (European Army Transport Service), conveying supplies all over Europe. In September 1946 he was assigned as a Navy Commodore’s pilot in Bremen, Germany.

In addition to England, Scotland, France, and Germany, Paul visited Switzerland (where he learned to ski), Salzburg, Amsterdam, Brussels, and Copenhagen; he went to Munich, Frankfurt, and Nuremburg, where he attended the trials and saw Hitler’s henchmen in the dock. He went to Berchtesgaden and sat in Hitler’s chair. In December 1946 he was separated as a 1st lieutenant and went home.

Paul has been a member of the American Legion for 73 years and served in various leadership positions, including as Adjutant and Commander. He attended Emory University on the GI Bill, then came home and ran the local Veterans’ Affairs office part-time until 1970, while also farming peanuts and cotton and raising cattle. He acquired his own Piper Cherokee and flew to all the lower 48 states.

In May 2014 Paul flew to Washington, DC on an Honor flight with several Georgia WWII veterans that he arranged to come with him. They visited the memorials and were treated to a public celebration at the Columbus, GA airport when they returned. Today Paul lives in Salem, Alabama with his wife, Gloria. He has retired from farming, but still tends his grapevines.