Gets Wings as Bomber Pilot
From The Malakoff News
Friday, April 21, 1944
Lt. Grady L. Cumbie, son of T. E. Cumbie of Athens, Route 4, has completed his advanced flight training at the Army Air Force Pilot School at Fort Sumner,new Mexico, and has attained the rank of Second Lieutenant in the Army Air Force.
Enlisting in the Air Corps on March 21, 1943, Lt. Cumbie was sent first to Santa Ana,California for his pre-flight training. He received primary training at the Cal-Aero Academy at Ontario,California and his basic at Marana,Arizona, near Tuscon. After completion of his advanced flight training at Fort Sumner, Lt. Cumbie was sent to Dalhart,Texas, where he is taking a final three-month training course before going into combat. He is a pilot on a B-17 Flying Fortress.
The news of his having obtained his Wings as a United States Army pilot was received here recently in a letter to his wife, the former Miss Dorothy Cliver, who during her husband’s absence is residing with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. A. E. Cliver.
