Gerry Teldon was born August 28, 1924 in the Bronx, New York.  The family moved to Cedarhurst, Long Island when Gerry was quite young, and that is where he grew up.  His father, a Great War veteran, ran a successful dressmaking business, so even in the dark days of the Depression the family was doing well.  The attack on Pearl Harbor had a great impact on Gerry and the men and women of his generation.  He immediately wanted to join the Army Air Corps, a fact that pleased his father – who had been wounded in his own military days and had experienced the difficulty of life in the infantry.  Gerry was interested in naval aviation but they denied him, saying that his Jewish background and lack of education were impediments.  Undeterred he crossed the street and interviewed for the US Army Air Corps; he reported for a medical exam – which he failed – but when the doctor stepped out Gerry took the paperwork and moved on to the next step!   He went into training after that, making stops across the south and west.  Gerry was selected to be a P-47 fighter pilot, and he first had the chance to fly that aircraft in Pocatella, Idaho, where he was involved in a serious accident.  He recovered though, and he was bound for Europe not long after the June 6 D-day invasion.  Gerry ended up being deployed to the Mediterranean theater of the war, and he joined the 79th Fighter Group (85th/87th Fighter Squadron) in Italy, where he flew a total of 62 missions.  The P-47 Thunderbolt was a fighter bomber so Gerry strafed and bombed ground targets as he flew tactical missions in support of the advancing Allied armies.  They also flew missions in the Balkans in support of local partisan groups, and when the war was over Gerry was part of the American occupation army in Austria – where he learned to ski!  After the war Gerry stayed in the Air National Guard, and when the Korean War began he was recalled to duty and sent to Manchester, N.H. to train pilots on the P-47.  When that ended Gerry never flew again, reckoning that he had used up all his good luck.  He went back to work and soon married and began his own family, putting the war behind him and finding his way in postwar America.  Gerry Teldon was interviewed over zoom by Scott Masters in June 2025.