Harry L. DEATON
Staff Sergeant US ARMY AIR FORCES
Service: # 16104297
381th Bomber Group,752th Bomber Squadron, Heavy
Entered service: 12 Aug 1942, Peoria Illinois
Hometown: Madison County, Illinois
Born: 14 June 1921 Godfrey, Illinois
Died: 3 September 2018 East Hartland
Buried at: East Hartland Cemetery, Granville Road,
East Hartland, CT 06027
Missions: 9
Medals:
27 August 1944 Sgt Deaton was reclassified as a gunnery instructor.
18 October 1944 Sgt Deaton was promoted to S/Sgt.
24 February 1945 S/Sgt Harry L. Deaton and William Gildermeister returned from DS ay No 10 technical training school.
Info From A & J Ossolinski:
Hi Rudy, your English is very good. It is very good to talk to you. I just got back from visiting with Mr. Deaton. My friend and I just gave him the model of "Honey". It brought back many memories for him. I have attached a picture of Mr. Deaton and I with the airplane. He was a "supernumerary" which means he was not assigned to any crew and flew any ball turret openings on any aircraft that needed someone. I will try to find out more information for you. It was his 5th mission. He was 21 years old and many of the pilots were younger than him. He is 91 years old now and very alert and spry for his age. I told him about you and how we learned of each other and I gave him your name and email address but as you can imagine he does not know about computers or email. I told him you said a warm hello from Belgium and that you were interested in the men that flew the plane. He was amazed to know someone from around the world was interested in the plane and the men. I am also attaching to this email the research document I gave him tonight. This is the 4th B17 my friend and I have given to these great men who flew to protect us and free us from the Axis. I will send the picture in the next email because it is still in my camera.
Ossolinski (left) gives Harry Deaton a beautiful sefmade model of the "Honey"!
Photo A & J Ossolinsky (2013)
I saw Mr. Deaton yesterday at church. Unfortunately, he doesn't have any pictures of the crew. The crew was mostly put together at the last minute and he didn't even know their names although he did say one of the crew was killed from flak on that mission. He thinks it was the tail gunner, Wolski. He did not want to talk about the day they crashed. He did say they walked away from the crash site and found a pub to call somewhere. He keeps saying, "he can't remember", but he has a fine memory.