Frederick Charles Bothwell, Jr.

Frederick Charles Bothwell, Jr, (31 December 1913 – 12 December 1985) Colonel USAAF, Bronze Star Medal, OBE - Military, Croix de Guerre avec Palme, was an officer in the 15th Air Force during the Second World War, and a senior executive in New York State government following the war.

Early life

Bothwell, the son of Frederick Bothwell, Sr. and Sarah Adams Bothwell was born in Royersford, Pennsylvania and educated at Royersford High School, where he lettered in football. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in the class of 1936. That year he married Catherine Rose Hannon of Pittsfield, Massachusetts and with her had a two sons, Frederick and Anthony.

Military career

Initially assigned to Air Corps flight training at Ft Sam Houston, Texas, Bothwell was subsequently posted to the 2nd Battalion, Mounted Field Artillery in the Panama Canal Zone, where he led a mounted battery of 75mm howitzers in training exercises in the isthmus. Upon the outbreak of hostilities, he was recalled to service with the Army Air Force in the Ordnance Corps.

The War Years

At the onset of the war, Bothwell established weapons and crew training and support programs in a number of USAAF bases, including Midland, Texas; Pinehurst, North Carolina; Maxwell Field, Alabama; and at Grenier Field in Manchester, New Hampshire, among others. He advanced rapidly in rank, and at one point was the youngest full Colonel in the U.S. forces.

War Service

Bothwell was assigned to service with the 15th Air Force, composed of B-24 Liberator bombers and deployed with that group to North Africa and Bari, Italy, Headquarters of the Foggia Airfield Complex. He was assigned to liaison duty with the RAF and Marshall Tito's Yugoslav Partisans. In Yugoslavia he was responsible for securing the repatriation of escaped Allied prisoners of war and bomber crews who were forced down while attempting to return from bombing missions against Axis oil facilities in Ploesti, Romania.

Post war

Following V-E Day in 1945 Bothwell was assigned to SHAEF HQ. He retired with a medical disability in 1946, and entered a life of public service, initially as Director of the New York State Civil Defense Authority, later as Chief Executive Officer of the New York State Liquor Authority. He divorced his wife Catherine and married Alice Miles of Portland, Oregon. They had two children, Lawrence and Mary Anne.

Sources

• http://www.nytimes.com/1986/01/05/obituaries/frederick-bothwell-jr.html
• http://www.vermontel.net/~tomh/mancha.html
• page 470 http://sill-www.army.mil/FAMAG/1937/NOV_DEC_1937/NOV_DEC_1937_PAGES_462_479.pdf
• page 488 http://sill-www.army.mil/famag/1938/NOV_DEC_1938/NOV_DEC_1938_PAGES_488_505.pdf
• http://sill-www.army.mil/428thfa/2-2nd_FA/history.html
• http://sill-www.army.mil/famag/1937/JUL_AUG_1937/JUL_AUG_1937_FULL_EDITION.pdf