Pictures from his daughter Julie Williams Hester

US ARMY AIR FORCES

Service: # 17032376

381th Bomber Group,752th Bomber Squadron,   Heavy

Entered service: 1-1-1942

Hometown: Little Rock, Pulaski County, Arkansas 

Born: 24-03-1921 Polard, Clay County, Arkansas

Died: 23-12-2004  Little Rock, Pulaski County,  Arkansas

Buried at: Mitchell Cemetery, Greenway, Arkansas

Email from his daughter Julie: (aug. 12, 2020)

We found this recently. We’ve not been able to find pages 1 and 2, yet. This was a summary my dad wrote for one of his grandchildren years ago.

“Page 3

from me. I had walk the cat walk with the bomb-Bay doors open to get the bomb loose. That was pretty scary. Anyone who says they weren’t afraid of flying is crazy. I don’t want to fly with them. I got the Distinguished Flying Cross for that.

     On our 25th mission we had to crash land in a corn field near Diest Belgium. Two engines on the  right was hit. We were supposed to salvo the Ball turret, but we couldn’t get it off. Riza put the plane down. He put the Ball turret between two corn rows and set it down. The Bomb sight was the only thing we had to destroy.“