Cpl Carlo Arthur Gotsche
(1911 - 1996)
Profile
Cpl Carlo A Gotsche was one of the Danish nationals serving in USAAF during the Second World War. He was born in Denmark in 1911 and emigrated with his parents to the USA in 1915.
Carlo Arthur Gotsche was born on 23 September 1911 in Copenhagen, to Peter Gotsche and Anna Botilda Elisabeth Gotsche (née Nielsen).[1]
Gotsche and his parents emigrated to the United States in 1915. Gotsche and his mother arrived in New York onboard SS Hellig Olav on 24 August 1915.[2] His father had arrived the year before. Gotsche’s parents married in Buffalo, New York on 28 August 1915.[3]
The family settled in Queens, New York. Gotsche was employed as an office clerk in an advertising agency.[4] However, at the time of his draft, in October 1940, Gotsche lived in Sunnyside, Long Island. He was unemployed.[5]
Gotsche enlisted as a private (32494940) in the USAAF at Fort Jay Governors Island, New York, on 3 September 1942. His civil occupation is categorised as statistical clerks and compilers at enlistment.[6] Very little information is available about his service. He seems to have been serving in the United States at air base units on the 4th Air Force, which at this point was responsible for the operational training of units and crews.[7] He is known to have been assigned as a corporal to Section B, 323rd Headquarters Air Base which was redesigned Section B, 421th AAF Base Unit on 28 March 1944. Thus unit was stationed at Muroc Air Base in California.[8] The station was used P-38 Lightning and B-24 Liberator replacement training.[9]
Gotsche was naturalised as a US citizen on 7 November 1945 in New York.[10] He returned to New York where he worked as a product control specialist for Kennecott Copper until retirement in 1969.[11] He died on 7 April 1996 in Pawling, New York.[12]
Endnotes
[1] DNA: Parish register, Rigshospitalets sogn. Originally baptized Karlo Arthur Götsche.
[2] Ancestry: New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957.
[3] Ancestry: New York State, Marriage Index, 1881-1967.
[4] Ancestry: 1930 and 1940 United States Federal Census.
[5] Ancestry: U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947.
[6] Ancestry: U.S., World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946.
[7] Fourth Air Force, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Air_Force#Fourth_Air_Force_(1940–1960) (accessend on 16 November 2024).
[8] NARA: RG 64: Morning Reports, Morning Reports for March 1944: Roll 338 (2 of 3) (NAID: 465817752); RG 64: Morning Reports, Morning Reports for April 1944: Roll 409 (2 of 3) (NAID: 468587270).
[9] Edwards Air Force Base, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwards_Air_Force_Base#World_War_II (accessend on 16 November 2024).
[10] Ancestry: New York, Index to Petitions for Naturalization filed in New York City, 1792-1989.
[11] Obituary, Poughkeepsie Journal, 10 April 1996, p. 2B.
[12] Ancestry: U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014.