Oakland Tribune/1945/06/01/Oakland Flier Returns Home

Oakland Flier Returns Home. En route home on leave awarded him for completing 57 bombing missions over the European war zone is First Lieutenant Perry A. Olsen Jr. son of Mr. and Mrs. P. A. Olsen Sr. [sic] of 1211 Sunnyhills Road. A graduate of Oakland High School and former student in the University of California School of Medicine, Olsen joined the Air Forces in March, 1943. He was attached to the 15th Air Force based in southern Italy, and piloted a plane in the squadron that bombed Berlin, the first time in the war that Italian-based heavy bombers flew the long distance to the Nazi capital. Olsen's 57th mission was flown one day before V-E Day. Notes: Perry Arthur Olsen was known as "Perry Olsen Jr." This has led people to assume his father, Perry Olsen Sr. was "Perry Arthur Olsen Sr.", but he was Perry Maranius Olsen.