Saunders, Laverne George “Blondie” born on 21-03-1903, in Stratford, South Dakota, 
to George Saunders (1870-1961) and his wife Margaret , born Flaherty Saunders (1968-1920). Laverne had one brother, Earl Michael Saunders (1898-1974). He was married to Josephine, born Riley Saunders (1900-1998) and the couple had two sons, Maurice Melvin Saunders ( 1929-1954) and Richard George Saunders (1934-2008).
entered the U.S. Military Academy at West Point 
on 01-07-1924, and graduated as a 2 Lieutenant of Infantry on 09-06-1928. It was there that his coal-black hair inspired his nickname “Blondie”. 
Saunders completed Air Corps Flying School 
and was awarded his pilot wings at Brooks Field, Texas, in June 1929. After completing Advanced Flying School, he was assigned to the 40th School Squadron at Kelly Field, Texas, from October 1929 to August 1930. Lieutenant Saunders next served with the 23rd Bomb Squadron 
at Langley Field, Virginia, under command of Lieutenant Colonel George A. Blakey, where he ferried airplanes to Panama until he became the Assistant Football Coach at West Point in 1931. He served at West Point
until December 1939, and then served as Commanding Officer of the 23rd Bomb Squadron and then the 12th Bomb Group 
at Hickam Field, Hawaii, until shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, when he took command of the 11th Bomb Group 
in the Southwest Pacific, serving until December 1942. Major Saunders managed to get a bomber into the air during the attack on Pearl Harbor 
but was too late to find and strike the Japanese Fleet. The objective was the destruction of the American Pacific Fleet, which was based at Pearl Harbor, on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. The attack was carefully prepared and coordinated and came as a total surprise.
On 07-12-1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor. Many of the American ships in port were sunk or damaged. The attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United States into World War II. The Japanese bombarded the Americans with bombs and torpedoes. 2,403 Americans were killed and 1,282 were injured. The high number of deaths was mainly caused by the sinking of the battleship USS Arizona. When this ship sank, 1,177 people died. 
including fifteen fathers and sons and 23 brothers. The soldiers who survived the attack on the USS Arizona, or who were not on board at the time of the bombing, can be buried in the battleship after death. So far, 33 men have taken advantage of that opportunity. During a solemn ceremony, divers bring an urn containing ashes to an opening in the USS Arizona and then slide them inside. Vernon Olsen 
are laid to rest. He died in 19-02-2015 at the age of 91.
The losses on the Japanese side were much smaller, 65 soldiers were killed or wounded. A Japanese sailor was captured. The attack came as a great shock to the American people and led directly to American involvement in World War II, both in the Pacific and in Europe.The next day, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt declared war on Japan on behalf of the United States. 
“Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.”
Laverne’s next assignment was as Deputy Chief of Staff at Headquarters Army Air Forces in Washington, D.C., where he served from December 1942 to July 1943. Beginning in August 1942, Saunders’ B-17 group was operating out of Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides, South of the Japanese-held Guadalcanal and the other occupied islands in the Solomons. At times they used Henderson Field at Guadalcanal for their attacks on Japanese shipping, aircraft and shore installations. Doubling as base commander and combat commander, Saunders led his group in destroying 60 enemy planes during this period, damaging 33 others, and seriously crippling an aircraft carrier and other vessels. But the Japanese struck back with aircraft attacks and shelling of bases — and the battle continued in the air. When his group was attacked head-on by a swarm of Zeros 
as they made a second run on a Japanese target, the pilot of Saunders’ B-17 was killed and the copilot seriously wounded. Saunders took the controls, landed the damaged plane near an island and helped the crew escape, inflate two boats and get ashore. General Saunders was assigned to the 58th Bomb Wing 
at Smoky Hill Army Air Field, Kansas, 
in July 1943, and deployed with the Wing to Kharagpur, India, where he took command of the 58th Bomb Wing, serving there. His replacement Major General Curtis E. LeMay “Iron Ass”
Blondie stayed on for several more weeks to assist LeMay 
before returning to the United States to assume command of another B-29 wing. On 18-09-1944 a B-25 Mitchell bomber he was flying in during an administrative flight disappeared. LeMay ordered a search, and the wreckage was found in the jungle 3 miles (4.8 km) from base in India it had taken off from. LeMay and his pilot landed at the base and walked to the crash site. Saunders was the only survivor. His ankle was crushed. He spent the next two and a half years in hospital, where part of his leg was removed. For his services in China-Burma-India he was awarded the Air Medal 
and the Legion of Merit with an oak leaf cluster.
helped move an engine off Saunders’ crushed ankle. He spent the next 2 1/2 years in the hospital and was a patient at Walter Reed Hospital from September 1944 until he was medically retired from the Army Air Forces on 28-02-1947 after losing a portion of his leg to the accident..
Death and burial ground of Saunders, Laverne George “Blondie”.
Saunders was retired from the Army on account of his disability on 28-02-1947. He returned to Aberdeen, South Dakota, where he was the district manager of the Rushmore Mutual Life Insurance Company and the President of Saunders Motor Sales. His son, Second Lieutenant Saunders, Maurice Melvin “Mo” Saunders
was killed in the crash of a Douglas A-26 Invader bomber at Donelson, Tennessee, on 16-01-1954, age 24, Aberdeen Municipal Airport was named Saunders Field in his honor in 1946 but was renamed Aberdeen Regional Airport in 1979. He ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Aberdeen. Laverne “Blondie” Saunders died in Aberdeen on 16-11-1988, age 85 in Aberdeen, South Dakota and was buried in Sacred Heart Cemetery Brown County, South Dakota, USA.
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