Born on November 8, 1924, Bernie (or “B.C.” as he was affectionately known by friends and family), was the son of Constantine and Elizabeth Gaus of Geistown—a small town in western Pennsylvania near Johnstown. His father owned a tavern in Geistown, one of the few thriving businesses in the midst of the Great Depression, and B.C. often helped his dad by serving customers at the store. After completing high school, he was drafted into the Army but during basic training at Fort Knox, KY would hear planes flying overhead and wondered what he was doing on the ground. He transferred into the Army Air Corps in September of 1943 and began what would become a 30-year career as an aviator. His initial training in Deming, NM was as a bombardier in B-17s and B-29s. With the end of World War II in 1945, he was released from active duty and returned home to help his dad in the tavern. During this time, he also worked in the newspaper industry for the Conemaugh Engraving Company in nearby Johnstown.
After about a year he re-entered Flight School at Goodfellow AFB as a pilot-in-training in the nascent U.S. Air Force, flying the AT-6 and P-51 Mustang. In August of 1950, he was deployed to Ashiya, Japan as a transport pilot to help with the Korean War effort. There, he participated in many tactical missions with the 61st Troop Carrier Squadron (“The Green Hornets”), including air drops of troops and supplies over the Korean peninsula north of the 38th parallel. In November of 1950, the Chinese Communists overran the border and surrounded the U.S. Marines during the infamous Chosin Reservoir campaign during which the U.S. suffered heavy losses, due both to combat and to the frigid temperatures (as much as 50 degrees below zero). The C-119 transport plane he was flying (#49-142, fondly known to the aircrews as “Ricki Ticki”), carried needed supplies into the combat area and participated in the evacuation of the Marines. On the final mission, the engines began freezing up and the “Flying Boxcar” almost didn’t make it safely onto the ground. After quickly unloading the aircraft, the flight engineer held down the engine primer switch to keep the engines running without backfiring, and they were able to successfully climb out of sniper fire to an altitude of about 2,500 feet as the next-to-last flight to leave the battle zone. His actions during all the airlift operations from Japan into and out of the Korean conflict led to his being awarded the Air Medal with a second Oak Leaf Cluster.
Throughout his life, B.C. maintained a close friendship with William J. “Bones” Blanton, a fellow aviator in the Air Force. Bones referred to B.C. in a book he authored entitled “Mill Hill Pilot” in which he fondly remembered their flights together in the Korean War and several close calls they had flying in the Pacific theatre in those years.
In March of 1954 while stationed at what was then Sewart AFB, Bernie met Ann Margaret Powers, a young American Airlines flight attendant (they were called stewardesses in those days) in Nashville, TN. They shared a love for flying and, after a brief courtship, married on November 6 of that year. They raised three children in the 28 years that followed—Therese (Teri), Terrence (Terry), and Tracy. After being stationed at various Air Force bases around the United States and the world (never more than three years at a time), Bernie settled the family in Austin, TX in 1969, where he subsequently retired from the Air Force as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1973.
B.C. was blessed with many other longtime friends, one of whom was his childhood buddy and classmate Dick Ruth from Geistown. For more than 75 years, both Dick and B.C. fastidiously maintained a correspondence with their 7th grade teacher, Sister Mary Lorraine, who just recently passed away at the age of 97 in 2011.
In the mid 1970s, B.C. received his real estate broker’s license and sold residential property for the Great Hills development in Northwest Austin under the business name of “The Haus of Gaus.” After Ann’s death in 1982, Bernie visited Geistown for the family reunion of his pal Dick Ruth and encountered his former high school sweetheart, Mary Ellen Shaffer. Another “longtime friend” story, they reunited shortly thereafter and stayed together for more than 25 years, living in Fort Meyers, FL; Honolulu, HI; Mesa, AZ; and Austin until Mary Ellen’s passing in 2010.
Along with his three children, B.C. has four grandchildren: Lorelei (currently a Captain in the USMC in Washington, DC), Landon (a student at UT-Austin), Kaylan (a 10th grader at Highland Park High School in Dallas), and Krista (an 8th grader at Highland Park Middle School in Dallas).
Besides aviation, B.C. held a great love for country music, with his favorite artists being Willie Nelson, Marty Robbins, and Jim Reeves.
Heartfelt gratitude goes out to the following who assisted in B.C.’s care as his health waned: the amazing staff at The Plaza at Querencia, where B.C. and Mary Ellen resided, who went above and beyond what was expected in dad’s care; Dr. Jonathan Sheinberg (to whom B.C. grew especially close) and his awesome staff; Camille Ross, G.N.P., for her extra attentiveness; Dr. Milton Shepperd and the incredible staff of Texas Home Health Hospice, who not only assisted B.C., but who comforted family members through this journey; and finally, the endearing staff from Home Options (Caregivers & Companions) who ultimately became like family. We thank you all for your unwavering affection and attention you showed to B.C. in his final months.
Friends are cordially invited to a visitation with the family from six o’clock until eight o’clock in the evening, on Sunday, the 10th of June 2012, at Cook-Walden Funeral Home, 6100 North Lamar Boulevard, Austin, Texas.
A Funeral Mass will be celebrated at half past ten o’clock in the morning on Monday, the 11th of June, at St. John Neumann Catholic Church, 101 Westlake Drive, Austin, Texas. Interment will follow in Cook-Walden Capital
Parks Cemetery, Pflugerville, Texas.
The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to a favorite charity in B.C.’s memory.
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