Lee Harold Chalifour (1st Air Ambulance Squadron)
Lee H. Chalifour of Providence Rhode Island joined the 1st Air Ambulance Squadron of the American Field Service on May 15, 1945. He trained in Laconia, New Hampshire and was booked to set sail on August 15, 1945 for the China-Burma-India Theatre for a period of six months. However, in mid-July 1945, Major George “Scotty” Wilson discovered that Chalifour had altered his birth certificate in order to volunteer as an airplane ambulance pilot overseas. At sixteen years-old, he was ineligible to volunteer with AFS, and was honorably discharged on August 20, 1945.
A great deal of planning and work had gone into both AFS’ China Unit and Air Ambulance Squadron. The China Unit had been in the works since August 1943, and the AAS had been under consideration since AFS’ early days in the Middle East. Had the war lasted longer, or had events turned somewhat differently, both might have prospered. Ultimately, neither venture actually reached the field, and the 1st Air Ambulance Squadron ended up being the last Air Ambulance Squadron.
Despite training with AFS for such a short period of time, AFS had a deep impact on Chalifour’s life, which he indicates in the following letter. He regularly donated to AFS throughout his life. Chalifour passed away on March 17, 2021.
Allan B. Prince (CM 43)
Allan Bixby Prince (1924-2021) [CM 43, 485 Company in Italy] was a student at Rutgers University when he joined the American Field service as a volunteer ambulance driver in June 1943. He was sent overseas with unit CM 43 on July 5 and initially served alongside the British 8th Army in Lebanon and Syria. With the war winding down in the Middle East, Prince relocating to Egypt where he joined forces with other ambulance drivers and British troops headed for Sicily to assist with the Italian campaign. Prince served with 485 Company in various parts of southern Italy between January and September 1944 and witnessed the Battle of Monte Cassino before returning home to the United States to continue his studies.
For more information about Allan B. Prince read his obituary, oral history or documents from our Archives.
William R. Wallace [ME 16, FR 4]
William Robert Wallace (1921-2021) was studying at the University of Washington in Seattle when he enlisted with the American Field Service in 1942. He was sent overseas as a volunteer ambulance driver in June 1942 and participated in both the African Campaign in the Western Desert and the Italian Campaign before returning to the United States on leave in August 1944. Wallace went overseas again in November 1944 to assist with the France-Germany Campaign and was honorably discharged from AFS in June 1945. For his service he received several awards, including a European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Ribbon, which was awarded to AFS personnel for outstanding and conspicuous service with the armed forces under difficult and hazardous combat conditions.
Arthur Bruce Boenau (IB 57)
Arthur B. Boenau was born on May 12, 1926 in Casper, Wyoming and grew up in Sunnyside, Queens. Like his father, he attended Amherst College, but decided to postpone his studies during the spring of 1945 in order to join the American Field Service and aid the British 14th Army in India. He returned to Amherst College in February of 1946 and graduated in 1948. His teaching career at Gettysburg College began after he completed an A.M. degree at Columbia University and before he earned a Ph.D. at Columbia in 1964. He taught in the Political Science Department from 1957 to 1991, specializing in the study of foreign political systems. He was active on major college committees, served two terms as chair of his department, and served as faculty marshal. Boenau passed away on May 9, 2019 in Gettysburg.
Craig Phillip Gilbert (CM 93)
Craig P. Gilbert was born on August 13, 1925 in Manhattan. He graduated from Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts in 1943 and joined the American Field Service near the end of World War II. He was one of the volunteers who helped liberate the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945. After the war, he enrolled in Harvard and graduated in 1949. After graduation he worked as a gopher on Broadway, as a journalist, as a freelance television script writer, and as a film editor and producer. By the mid-1960s he had found a full-time position writing and producing for WNET and became an executive producer in 1966. In 1973 his groundbreaking television series An American Family aired. The series examined the lives of the Loud family in California and is widely considered as the first reality television show.
Gilbert passed away on April 10, 2020 in Lower Manhattan.
Richard McMasters Hunt (IB 57)
Richard (Rick) M. Hunt was a student at Yale when he enlisted in the American Field Service. He traveled oversees to Colombo, Sri Lanka in May of 1945 when he was just was eighteen years old. From Colombo, his unit, IB 57, traveled to Calcutta, India, and then to Secunderabad, a small town in southern India, which had a large military camp. Rick spent the next eight months there, during which time he met and heard Mahatma Gandhi speak. After the war, Hunt completed his bachelors at Yale, obtained a master’s degree from Columbia University, and earned a Ph.D. in history from Harvard University. He joined the faculty of Harvard and taught social studies and history, including courses on Nazi Germany and leadership. During his four-decades-long career he served as University Marshal (1982-2002), Director of the Mellon Faculty Fellowship Program, and Assistant Dean and Associate Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. In 1952, when Hunt was working for Radio Free Europe, he joined the AFS Board for the first time. He became a Life Trustee in 1966. At Harvard, Hunt served as the faculty advisor to AFS students who were hosted in the Boston area. Hunt was also one of the founding trustees of the Roy A. Hunt Foundation, an organization named after his father that supports community development, youth violence prevention, the environment, the arts, and international relations. His philanthropy continues to extend to numerous social, educational and cultural causes, especially within the Pittsburgh area.
Hunt passed away on April 10, 2020.
Richard (Dick) William Nelson (CM 60)
Richard (Dick) W. Nelson was born in Racine, Wisconsin on July 16, 1925. Determined to play a part in the war effort, he volunteered for the American Field Service between 1944 and 1945. His unit, CM 60, served alongside the British 8thArmy throughout Italy during some of the toughest battles on the continent, including the Battle of Monte Cassino. After the war, Nelson returned to the United States and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1948. Nelson was employed by John Oster Mfg. Co. of Racine from 1948 and 1967 and marketed Oster products throughout Mexico and Latin America. From 1967 to 1985, Nelson acted as Export Manager for Jacobsen Mfg. of Racine. He traveled throughout the world selling to and cultivating clients of Jacobsen’s superior line of gang mowers, which were used everywhere on golf courses, polo fields and government owned lands. Under his leadership, Jacobsen earned the U.S. Commerce Department’s prestigious ‘E’ pennant for excellence in exporting American made products overseas. Outside of work, Nelson enjoyed reading and playing the piano. He was fluent in both Spanish and Italian, which he wrote and spoke until his passing on March 11, 2020 in Racine, surrounded by a community that continues to participate in AFS’ exchange programs.
Kenneth Melling Schubert (IB 14)
Kenneth (Ken) M. Schubert was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. During the Second World War, he served as a volunteer ambulance driver for the American Field Service alongside British Forces in the India-Burma theatre. After the war, he graduated from Bowdoin College and worked in the corrugated-box industry, eventually becoming the Co-owner and President of Kendal Container Corporation. In addition to Brooklyn, Schubert also lived in Montclair, New Jersey, Geneva, New York, Morristown, New Jersey, and Elkins Park, Pennsylvania before settling in Wheaton, Illinois. He and his wife traveled extensively during their retirement years.
Schubert passed away on February 28, 2020 in Wheaton.
Donald Raymond Vogt (IB 57)
Donald R. Vogt was native of Syracuse, New York. Hoping to make a difference during the Second World War, he served as volunteer ambulance driver for the American Field Service alongside British Forces in India-Burma. After the war, he returned to the United States and worked as a data technician for the U.S. Postal Service for thirty-three years. Throughout his life, Vogt enjoyed the challenge of fixing things and building things. He built his home in Sandy Pond, New York and built a boat from scratch, which he fished from for many years. He also enjoyed traveling with his wife and spent winters in Myrtle Beach.
Vogt passed away on April 11, 2019.