Thursday, April 07, 2016

Goldsby, Claude W. (28 May 1935 - 7 Apr 2016)[].

Goldsby, Claude W. (28 May 1935 - 7 Apr 2016) [].
Former husband of Scroggins, Glenna ( - ) [] [FS:].
Central Oregonian, Claude W. Goldsby, 25 Apr 2016 [Newsbank]
(Updated 27 Apr 2016).

Central Oregonian (Prineville, OR) - April 25, 2016
Deceased Name: Claude W. Goldsby May 28, 1935 - April 7, 2016
Claude was born to Andrew and Dorothy Goldsby on May 28, 1935, in Cushing, Okla. The family moved to Oregon in 1944.

During the summer of 1945, the family moved to Keizer.

He graduated from Salem High School in the spring of 1953.

Following graduation, he went to work at Salem Equipment Company as an apprentice machinist. In the fall of 1953, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corp.

Immediately following graduation from USMC MCRD San Diego, Calif., Boot Camp during January of 1954, Claude was selected for, and was trained as a Junior Drill Instructor.

He served in that capacity until late summer 1954 when all Junior Drill Instructors below the grade of Staff Sergeant were pulled from the drill field at MCRD San Diego, and MCRD Paris Island, then sent to the Naval Retraining Commands located at Portsmouth, Va., and Camp Elliott San Diego, Calif., to become Ships Company Marine Guards and Prisoner supervisors.

While stationed at Camp Elliott as a military policeman, as he was promoted, he worked his way up from Tower Guard, through Corporal of the Guard, Base Motor Patrol, sergeant of the guard starboard prisoner chaser section supervisor, to assistant commander for "Item" Prisoner Company.

Along the way, he became the USMC Camp Elliott detachment training instructor.

On Dec. 18, 1956, he married Glenna Scroggins .

He was honorably discharged Oct. 27, 1957.

In July 1958, he enlisted in the United States Air Force. He was assigned student status for Advanced Electronics and Automatic Tracking Radar Training at Keesler AF Base Biloxi, Miss.

During the summer of 1959, he was assigned as an Automatic Tracking Command and Guidance Technician for the Matador/Mace (TM061C) missile for 13 months, on K-53, a remote, isolated, island located above the 28th parallel in the Yellow Sea, only 10,000 yards from the North Korean coast.

During the summer of 1960, he was reassigned to the Strategic Air Command 1st Combat Evaluation Group, 12th Radar Bomb Scoring Detachment 3, located at Douglas International Airport and various temporary duty stations, until "hand picked" for transfer to the 4080th Strategic Reconnaissance Command Wing at Davis Monthan AFB Arizona during early June 1963.

While stationed there, he was assigned to the "Lightening Bug" Drone Project as an Automatic Tracking Radar Technician for the Command Guidance and Recovery of the then "Top Secret" USAF BQM-34 series drones then under combat development.

He deployed with the unit to Da Nang South Vietnam and Taoyuan Taiwan during early August 1964, where he was to serve many TDY combat tours until the late fall of 1967 when he was reassigned to flight training. Then, during early 1968, a Combat Aircrew launching drones over South East Asia.

He continued to serve in the Combat Aircrew capacity, and other new aerospace equipment until his retirement on Aug. 1, 1974. He worked his way up to Flight Instructor/Flight Examiner for the Aircrew Position. During that time, he achieved the rank of Master Sergeant. Serving several times as the SAC 350th SRS Flying Squadron 1st Sergeant.

He amassed a total of 2,028.0 fly hours, of which 1,277.1 were combat flying hours, before retiring. In total, he flew 449 Combat Sorties launching combat mission drones, of which about 60 percent were dual launches.

During his enlistment, he earned numerous awards and decorations. Among them was the Bronze Star and the Commendation Metal with one Oak Leaf Cluster for ground activities. He also earned the Air Medal with nine Oak Leaf Clusters and the Distinguished Flying Cross for combat crew activities. He earned numerous other awards, including the Missile Man Badge, Senior Missile Man Badge and the Master Missile Man Badge.

In 1972, he and Glenna divorced.

He participated in the first drone launched and recovered in Southeast Asia. He also flew on the last scheduled North Vietnam Drone Combat mission. He retired from active duty August 1974, then returned home to Oregon.

After returning home to Oregon, he became interested in the emerging wood stove industry. He started a business manufacturing associated equipment. He obtained three U.S. patents and one Canadian patent.

Claude married Alta Propeck in October 1976.

Claude and Alta sold their wood stove business and then relocated to Prineville during the summer of 1986, where they resided since.

Claude was preceded in death by his parents and brothers, Leo and Carl Goldsby. He is survived by his wife, Alta; sisters, Dorothy Hardwick of Salem, and Inice Foster of Keizer; daughter, Dorathy Belveal of Napa, Idaho; sons, Gregory (Connie) Goldsby of Mesa, Ariz., and Jeremy (Sayaka) Goldsby of Kanagawa, Japan; Alta's sons, William (Terese) Propeck of Troutdale and Daniel (Phyllis) Propeck of Mt. Vernon; many grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews. He loved them all so very much.

Central Oregonian (Prineville, OR)
Date: April 25, 2016
Author: Central Oregonian
Record Number: b2fafe849bfca9ab82b983e349088f294ef2b15
Copyright © 2016 Central Oregonian, All rights reserved.

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