KIA

We are excited that, after years of hoping to find some kin of Lt. Wallace, who lost his life saving his crew (see our previous story of regarding William H. Wallace here), one last effort in fall 2015 has allowed us to get to know his daughter, Judy Ikels, and she has been gracious to share with us much about...

Burials of 1st Lt. John B. Leskie (middle initial corrected, for "Benard"), Flight Officer John G. Meuth, 2nd Lt. Lawrence A. Swanson, S/Sgt. Edward Lietener, Sgt. David H. Randolph. All men were members of the 322nd Troop Carrier Squadron. Maj. Gen. Wedemeyer and Maj. Gen. G. X. Cheves were present at the funeral ceremony. Their unarmed transport plane crashed--in some...

43rd Fighter Squadron class 43C training at Randolph Field, Texas, around March, 1943. Irving DeGon is front row, fourth from the left.

1st Lt. Irving Woodrow DeGon poses with Fairchild PT-26 trainer at primary training in Parks Air College, Illinois.

1st Lt. Irving Woodrow DeGon passes in front on tent carrying flying gear while in training. Finished on June 1, 1942, by Levingston's Photo Service, Lake Charles, Louisiana. This is during his period of advanced training at Barksdale Field, Louisiana.

1st Lt. Irving Woodrow DeGon was killed on January 20, 1944, Chabua, India, in a plane crash while piloting a C-46 (#741) during a take off from an airfield, along with crew members named Smith, Shea, and Gray. He was starting his 8th month as a transport pilot in the India-China Wing Army Transportation Corps (ICWATC), and had made 30...

2nd Lt. Paul S. Hite was killed while flying with another crew on March 26, 1943. The plane he was on crash on take off on a combat mission. Eight of the nine people on that flight died, with S/Sgt. Harvey Cook as the sole survivor. Lt. Hite enlisted on April 30, 1940. ASN O-791435. He was born on February...

Sgt Richard Dille “Dick” Arbogast, killed along with the rest of the B-24 crew during crash 28 May 1944, in China. (Photo courtesy of Vindicator I.) See background of crash here. Sgt. Arbogast was 23 years old. His family received a last letter from him dated April 10, 1944. See more of his personal story at USAAF Memoriam.

Cpl. Elmer Eugene Zobb, a crew chief in the 396th Air Service Squadron, 12th Air Service Group, was lost upon crash of a B-24, #41-23889 (which had been converted to transport configuration), after departure at around noon January 25, 1944, from Barrackpore, India, for a flight to Chabua, India, when the weather closed at Chabua, despite final contact with the...

T/Sgt. Walter F. Casselberry, #33247620. Williamsburg, Pennsylvania. Born January 1, 1907, died October 4, 1944. T/Sgt. Casselberry entered service in July, 1942, with a high school education, and a background in poultry farming. He received training as both an armorer-gunner and a bombardier. After training, T/Sgt. Casselberry flew more than 50 missions--a very large count--in the Mediterranean theater. He is...