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| First Name: |
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| Born/Died |
| September 14, 1917 / July 2, 2005 |
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| Decorations: |
| Distinguished Flying Cross, Chinese Cloud Banner,
French Croix deGuerre, Air Medal with Oak Leaf Clusters |
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| Pre AVG: |
| Greene grew up near Amarillo, Texas and
attended college at the New Mexico Military Institute where he was
on the varsity football team for three years. As soon as he
was eligible, he applied for and was accepted as an aviation cadet
with the U.S. Army Air Corps. Paul was awarded his wings at
Randolph Field, class 40-C with fellow AVG'er, R.T. Smith.
The following year, as a flight instructor at Randolph, he and
R.T. convinced the AVG recruiter, Skip Adair, they should be hired
for the First American Volunteer Group being formed to defend the
Burma Road for China. Although, neither had flown the P-40,
their persistence prevailed and P.J. set sail for China with R.T. |
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| AVG Service: |
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P.J. participated in the first combat of the 3rd Squadron
defending Rangoon, Burma on December 23, 1942. During the
air battle, he was jumped by several Japanese fighters and was
forced to bail out. The Jap pilots made several passes
trying to strafe P.J. in his parachute, but he evaded their
bullets by making his parachute swing out of the line of
fire. Eventually, P.J. simply played dead and his attackers
left him to land in a rice paddy. The following April, P.J.,
together with R.T., attacked seven zeros. They each shot
down one enemy fighter but the combat had cost them their
gas. Seeing R.T. crash land in a dry rice paddy, P.J. was
forced to land in a tiny field on a mountainside. With
refueling, he was able to save the much needed fighter.
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| Post AVG, WWII: |
| After Paul Greene was honorably discharged from the
Flying Tigers, he returned to the States and reentered the Army
Air Corps with his commission as a 2nd Lt. but quickly advanced to
the rank of Major. P.J. was then assigned to the Army's Air
Training Command along the Texas gulf coast for bombing and
gunnery schools. In two years, Lt. Colonel Greene was sent
to Italy with the 15th Air Force to command the 97th Fighter
Squadron of the 82nd Group flying the Lockheed P-38s. Upon
returning to the U.S. a second time, Greene was assigned to the
Pentagon Fighter Branch which was his last military assignment. |
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| Post War Career: |
| Following the war, Greene became successful in
several businesses. He began with a marine/salvage operation
in Long Beach, CA. One purchase he made was two new surplus
P-38s, fully equipped and fueled for $1,250 each! Greene
entered the water well business by developing the pumping system
which doubled the output of water wells making farmers independent
of electric power outages occurring at the time. A short
business as a cotton farmer in Arizona gave way to a very
successful textile business for many years. Paul Greene has
remained active in aviation as a pilot/owner/builder of several
general aviation and sport aircraft. |
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