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MARCEL S. BOLLAG |
 Swiss
Emigration Record
for Marcel Samuel Bollag shows that he left Southampton, England on
the SS Normandie, a strangely prophetic name for the ship that
bore him to the United States. |
 Normandie
Manifest
shows Marcel on line 19, age 18, occupation Merchant, bi-lingual in
German and English, |
Certificate of Arrival
attests to the fact that Marcel arrived on the SS Normandie on March
30, 1939 |
 Petition
For Naturalization
T/4 Bollag, Hq Hq Demolition Regiment, Ft Knox, KY, gave an
oath of allegiance on 9 July 1942 with a Sgt Stager and Capt
Hoffstaetter as witnesses |
Marcel Bollag enlisted in the U.S. Army at Camp
Upton, Yaphank, NY on 7 November 1942 and rose from Pvt to SSgt and then
was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant during the course of WWII. He
was captured on D-Day but escaped [see
report by John Kersh recounting their joint experiences.]
Marcel was awarded the Combat Infantryman badge and Bronze Service
Arrowhead device for his participation in Normandy assault At some
point he was given a commission and was also awarded the Bronze Star
Medal and Purple Heart but the circumstances are unknown
Following the war, Marcel pursued a career in construction and
owned a door and window franchise. His businesses and family roots made
him a frequent traveler to Europe, especially Zurich. |
 TWA
Flight 921/24, January 24 1951, Aircraft N-6011C
departed Zurich for new York with an interim stop in Paris. Marcel
(line 22) avoided a head tax as a U.S. citizen.
This tri-tailed Constellation aircraft probably was an early L-049
model which carried between 60 to 81 passengers, depending on
configuration and cruised at 200 mph.. |
 TWA
Westbound International Flight Schedule, 1955
shows that Flight 919, flown only on Mondays, (see circled flight
number) originated in Cairo with waypoints in Athens and Rome before
arriving at 8:30 pm in Zurich (circled times).
Remarkably, the flight was serviced and left in just half an hour
bound for Paris and Shannon. The flight stopped for fuel in
Gander, Newfoundland and then landed at Boston, MA before arriving in
New York at 1:50 pm on Tuesday afternoon. |
 TWA Flight 919, October 10, 1955 Aircraft Nr 6001C
carried Marcel (line 20) from Zurich to New
York in less than 17 hours. That was a fast trip considering there
had been stops in France, Ireland, Newfoundland and Massachusetts along
the route. |
 Sky
Tourist Flights
launched by TWA in 1952 were advertised as low-cost international
travel.
Flights such as TWA 919 (at left) had round trip fares of $563.80 between
New York and Zurich. |
 Royal
Dutch Airlines Flight KL 63, 17 Jan 1956
had a crew of 8, including a Captain, 2 pilots
(plus an extra), 2 flight engineers and 2 wireless operators but only 1
air hostess and 2 stewards for cabin service. The type of aircraft
is undetermined but was probably a Super Constellation.. |
 Flight
KL 63, Amsterdam to New York, 17 Jan 1956
included passenger Marcel Bollag and daughter
Carol (see last 2 lines). |
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