Tuesday, September 03, 2019

Grover Sassaman is the oldest Harley Davidson dealership owner, aged 98, and operates in Macon Georgia. He was a Corsair mechanic in the Black Sheep Squadron in World War II


Sassaman joined the Marines in May, 1942. After completing his training, he shipped out to the South Pacific, where he served on islands in New Caledonia, the New Hebrides, as well as Guadalcanal, Bougainville and others. His notable history includes helping maintain the F4U Corsairs belonging to Major Gregory ‘Pappy’ Boyington’s VMF-214 – Black Sheep Squadron – during the Solomon Islands campaign.

Out on the front lines, where replacement aircraft and parts were often in short supply, maintenance personnel had to use their ingenuity to keep what they did have flying. As an example of such fortitude, Sassaman once combined major components from two damaged Corsairs – one with a ruined forward section and the other broken to the rear – to make one airworthy fighter.

He later embarked with General Douglas MacArthur on his return to the Philippines. Sassaman was injured in the Battle of Luzon and received the Purple Heart in March 1945. He left the Marine Corps in 1945 with the rank of Master Technical Sergeant.

He has logged over one million miles on motorcycles since he first rode one when he was 11 years old.


When WW2 was over, he went right away to the Harley-Davidson factory as his career had already began with Harley Davidson when he first attended Harley-Davidson Factory School in 1939

He was signed as a dealer in Indiana by Arthur Davidson, and though his new dealership was a one-man operation, he grew it, then he got a dealership in Lakeland, Florida, and in 1957 he relocated to Macon.



this following video is a great history by Grover himself, of what he's done in life since high school - WW2 and getting into business with Harley Davidson




http://warbirdsnews.com/aviation-museum-news/dixie-wing-to-reunite-wwii-black-sheep-squadron-mechanic-with-corsair.html

A photograph from Sassaman’s album showing the Frankenstein Corsair which he helped repair. It is believed to combine the forward fuselage and center section of VMF-214 F4U-1A Bu.17777 which Denmark Groover overturned on landing on December 16th, 1943 with the rear fuselage from F4U-1A Bu.49748, a 14 Squadron Royal New Zealand Air Force Corsair designated NZ5218, which Flying Officer B. Hay bellied in at Piva airfield, Bougainville on July 14th, 1944 due to hydraulic damage from enemy fire. Interestingly, Bu.17777 is also recorded as having been flown by VMF-212 double ace, Phillip Delong.

https://www.macon.com/news/local/article114015878.html
https://harleydavidsonofmacon.com/About-Us

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