Staff Sergeant Lawrence C. Bales / United States Army Air Corps

Son of Edith (Lawrence) Bales and the late Harold C. Bales, who was for several years superintendent of the Milford schools, Lawrence was born in Boston May 11, 1919, and came to Milford in July of that year. He attended local schools, graduating in 1937, and studied for over a year at Dartmouth College. He enlisted in the Air Corps July 15, 1941. At Westover Field, Massachusetts, he had basic training with the Air Corps. Until he went overseas February 27, 1944, with the 640th Bomb Squadron, 409th Group (L) he served in many places in this country including Louisiana Maneuvers, Alexandria, Louisiana; Spartanburg, South Carolina; Pendleton, Oregon; Tucson, Arizona; Spokane, Washington; Rapid City, South Dakota; Walla Walla, Washington; Redmond, Oregon; Avon Park, Florida; and De Ridder, Louisiana. Leaving this country, he went to England and there participated in the aerial support of the invasion of Normandy. In July, 1944, he was hospitalized and returned to the United States in October of that year. He was hospitalized at Lovell General Hospital, Fort Devens, Massachusetts, until he was discharged from there on November 25, 1944

This profile courtesy of the Milford NH Historical Society, from a book published in cooperation with the Milford Press in 1949 entitled Milford in WWII. Submitted by Gary Ledoux