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Tech. Sgt. John H. "Jake" Schuffert

Tech. Sgt. John H. "Jake" Schuffert made a unique, valued and memorable contribution to the Berlin Airlift. Schuffert, an aircraft radio operator, volunteered to do cartooning for the Airlift Times, which was a newspaper published by the U.S. Air Force for Airlift personnel. His keen sense of humor and skill as a cartoonist soon made him one of the best known and remembered Airlift personalities. Schuffert, who is from New Carlisle, Penn., joined the U.S. Army Air Forces in 1941 and served as a radio operator and gunner on B-24s of the 464th Bomb Group in Europe. Shot down in late 1944, he spent the rest of the war, with the help of Yugoslav partisans, evading German forces. After the Airlift, he served in the Korean War, and in the early 1960s, he retired at the rank of master sergeant. He then continued his service to the USAF as a civilian graphic artist until his final retirement in 1986.

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