2nd Lt. Gilbert A. Rauh - 1916-1943
10th AF 39th Grp 444th Sq - Bombardier B-24
China/Burma Campaign - KIA/MIA December 1943 - Recovered - 2025
Gilbert A. "Gibby" Rauh
was born in 1915 to Julius and Gertrude (Hofmann) Rauh and grew up on the
family farm in Westchester County, New York. Barely into their teens, Gibby,
his cousin George Hofmann, and their lifelong friend Francis "Mike"
Iriarte formed a friendship that would endure through the Roaring Twenties, the
hardships of the Great Depression, and ultimately into World War II. The three
boys grew up together, shared what little their families had during difficult
times, and entered adulthood with an unbreakable bond. When America prepared
for war, Gibby led the way. On January 14, 1941, nearly a year before Pearl
Harbor, he enlisted in the U.S. Army, determined to serve in the Army Air
Forces. His two closest friends soon followed.
Selected for bombardier training,
Gibby earned his commission as a Second Lieutenant and received his
bombardier's wings on February 13, 1943. Assigned to the crew of a B-24
Liberator, he deployed to the China-Burma-India Theater, where his operational
base became Panagarh Air Base in eastern India. Flying aboard the B-24J Apocalypse,
Gibby and his crew attacked Japanese airfields, rail yards, harbors, and supply
centers in Burma as part of the campaign to halt Japan's advance toward India.
Between November and December 1943, he successfully completed nine combat
missions, each one carrying him deep into hostile territory.