Leonard B. Faupel

Leonard Brigham Faupel was born in Irvington, New Jersey in June 1920. Following his high school graduation, he worked for the P. Ballantine & Sons Brewing Company in Newark, New Jersey, where he rose to the rank of Chief Clerk, supervising ten other clerks distributing advertising to various venues. Faupel also did some advertising copy writing himself. The Pearl Harbor attack motivated him to enlist in the military; in May 1942 he joined the Army Air Forces and entered basic training at Fort Dix. After boot camp, Faupel applied for pilot training, but was rejected due to his color blindness.

Faupel was assigned to the Air Forces Intelligence Branch and remained at Fort Dix. His primary task there was to plot the location of German submarines attacking ships off the east coast of the United States, and to coordinate information regarding them with both the Navy and the Intelligence Library in New York. Intelligence from all sources went through him, and he had to make sure it ended up in the right place.

Faupel thought he could do more for the war effort by volunteering for overseas duty. His request was approved, and he left the United States in July 1943. Faupel was assigned to the 94th Combat Bomb Wing of the 8th Air Force. He was stationed at an air base in the midlands of England, where his job was analyzing photographs of enemy locations, operations, and bridges vital to logistic support. Faupel would estimate damage from bombing runs, and then write reports on the results. He was picked over seven other enlisted men to be appointed as enlisted chief of the Intelligence Section, and promoted to Technical Sergeant (T/SGT). The photos used in Faupel’s analysis were taken by B-17’s on bombing missions. When the bomb bays opened, an automatic camera began to take photos while the bombs dropped. He recalled that the precision bombing effort wasn’t bad, as they hit their targets most of the time.

Faupel also had a role to play in D-Day. He originally applied to do a flyover on D-day and capture images of the Allied invasion and German coast defenses, although this failed to materialize. Faupel also had information as to where soldiers would land on D-Day. As one of the more trusted enlisted men, he was given prior notice of the D-Day date, but when the weather caused it to be changed, he could not tell anyone about his role or what he learned for fear of spies learning about it.

The 94th was located at a female British Royal Air Force wing base, and Faupel did not find the living quarters enjoyable, because it was built with women in mind. Due to the war and consequent lack of space, the Americans had no choice but to use the base for their own purposes. Faupel’s section had forty men in it, and they had to share one bathtub and shower!

Faupel did see some combat action. His base was hit several times by German V-1 flying bombs, and there were casualties in his company. He said the 8th Air Force lost more men in combat in World War II than the Marines. One morning, Faupel witnessed a B-17 flying in the wrong direction, crash and kill twenty men! Faupel was deeply saddened by this, but was relieved to find that his brother, who was also in the Army Air Forces and lucky enough to be stationed with Faupel, was not one of the casualties. 

After the war ended, Faupel was recommended for direct commission as an officer, but was not chosen due to his lack of higher education. He received the Bronze Star Medal, European, African and Middle Eastern Service Medal and the Good Conduct Medal for his service. Faupel returned to work at Ballantine, where he rose to become an advertising executive at the company. He married Jacqueline Kuett in 1947 and had children shortly afterward. 

Leonard B. Faupel passed away at the age of 90 on March 22, 2011.