BLOSEL RAYMOND CASPER Age 98, went to be with the Lord on June 27, 2018. Ray was born in Pittsburgh, PA to the late William and Agnes Blosel. He was preceded in death by his loving wife, India Earle Blosel. In addition to his wife, Ray was preceded by a daughter, Rose Agnes Clayton; brothers: William, John, Charles, Albert, Edward, James, Joseph Blosel; and sister, Mildred Cowan. He is survived by two daughters: Belle Blosel and Mary Jane Brawley; six grandchildren: Joe E Muphree, Leslie Ann Clayton Brown (Kevin), Dawson Brent Clayton (Krista), Summer Brawley and Chase Brawley; five great-grandchildren: Tommy, Mason, Skye, Wyatt and Morgan. He is also survived by his sister, Florence Spinneweber; and many loving nieces and nephews. He attended Brentwood High School and graduated with his Class in 1938. In November 1940 Raymond joined the United States Army Air Corps as a buck private. His first military assignment was at Maxwell AFB, Montgomery, Alabama. During this time period Raymond attended aircraft mechanics school at Spartan School of Aeronautics, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. A few months after the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Raymond made PFC and was sent to Jackson, Mississippi Army Air Base for primary training on PT-17's. After his primary training, he was sent to Mississippi Institute of Aeronautics; and then he received basic flying training at Bush Field in Augusta, Georgia. After all training was completed, Raymond received his wings at the advanced flying school, Napier Field, in Dothan, Alabama, and was sent to Greenville Army Air Base (later renamed Donaldson AFB) for combat training on B-25 bombers. One evening, while attending a USO dance at Sears Shelter in Greenville, Raymond met his soon-to-be wife, India Earle. They were married in November, 1943, and their wedding night was spent at the Poinsett Hotel in downtown Greenville. They honeymooned in Florida for a month and then returned to Greenville where Raymond was again stationed at Greenville Army Air Base. By now he was a 2nd lieutenant and served as an instructor for B-25 pilots. In the latter part of 1943, Blosel was sent to Kellogg Field, Michigan, with orders to pick up a brand-new B-25, which he flew the southern route to North Africa, where he put in 50 bombing missions, targeting German airports and harbors, and shipping ports in Sicily, Sardinia, Italy and North Africa. After his missions were completed, Raymond returned to Greenville Army Air Base. After Greenville Army Base closed, Raymond was sent to Lake Charles, LA, in 1946, and then he was transferred to El Paso, Texas. In late 1948 to 1949 (after fighting the Germans in World War II), Raymond participated in the Berlin Airlift and the Korean War. During the Berlin Airlift, Raymond flew three C-54 plane loads of coal each day from Fassberg in West Germany to Tegel where the Germans had built the longest runway in Europe. He'd land at Tegel and would wait as German volunteers unloaded the 10-ton cargo (which had been packed into duffle bags) in 12 to 14 minutes. Then he was off-back to Fassberg to get loaded up again. The coal was being brought in to Berlin by the American pilots as a humanitarian effort to help the German people who were now starving to death because of a blockade by the Soviets. The blockade was lifted on May 12, 1949. In 1949 Raymond participated in the Korean War. He was a maintenance officer of an early warning radar site on the island of Cho Do. From 1949 to 1950, while stationed at San Antonio, Raymond was made a food service officer. In 1950, he was sent to Biloxi Mississippi where he attended radar electronics school for training in early warning radar. In 1952-1953, he was reassigned to his first assignment in Japan at Tachikawa AFB. In the following years, up until his retirement in 1963, Raymond was stationed at Eglin AFB, Florida, and Shaw AFB, Sumter, SC. After he had put in 23 years in the Air Force, Raymond decided to finally retire, and take his family back to Greenville, SC, where he had met his wife and his career in the Air Force had really begun. Graveside service will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Friday, July 6, 2018, at M. J. "Dolly" Cooper Veterans Cemetery, 140 Inway Drive, Anderson, SC 29621. In lieu of flowers, memorial may be made to Wounded Warrior Project, PO Box 758517, Topeka, Kansas 66675-8517. A memorial message may be sent to the family by visiting www.mackeymortuary.com. Send condolences post-gazette.com/gb
