Daniel Webster Jenkins

Military

Shot down 12 August 1943 over Belgium returning from Bonn raid in B-17 #4230194 'We Ain't Scared'. Prisoner of War (POW).

Biography, from http://www.af.mil/AboutUs/Biographies/Display/tabid/225/Article/106654/… :

"Daniel Webster Jenkins was born in 1907, in Floydada, Texas, and graduated from high school there in 1924. He then attended West Texas and State Teachers College for one year and Texas Technological College for three years.

Appointed a flying cadet in October 1928, he graduated from primary and advanced flying schools and was rated a pilot and commissioned a second lieutenant in the Air Reserve in October 1929. He received his regular commission as a second lieutenant in the Air Corps in January 1930, and was assigned to the 3rd Attack at Fort Crockett, Texas. In June 1935 he graduated from the Air Corps Technical School at Chanute Field, Illinois, and was appointed base operations officer at Barksdale Field, Louisiana. In January 1937 he was appointed assistant operations officer of the 3rd Wing at Barksdale Field and the following December was named operations and intelligence officer of the 8th Attack Squadron at that station.

In June 1939, General Jenkins was transferred to Wheeler Field, Hawaii, as base technical inspector and base adjutant. In May of 1940 he assumed command of the 78th Pursuit Squadron at Wheeler Field. Returning to the United States in October 1940 he was appointed base executive officer at Eglin Field, Florida and in June 1941 became director of Training at the Army Air Force Gunnery School at Tyndall Field, Florida. During the summer and fall of 1941, General Jenkins was on temporary duty in London, England, as a military observer. In December 1942 he was named director of training at the Central Flexible Gunnery Instructors School at Buckingham Army AirField, Fort Myers, Florida. The following month he assumed command of Buckingham Army Air Base. In July 1943 he again went to England as a flexible gunnery officer with the 95th Bomb Group of the 8th Air Force. On Aug. 12, 1943, he was shot down over Belgium in a B-17 and was captured and remained a prisoner of war until April 29, 1945. Upon return to the United States, General Jenkins became deputy commander of Columbia Army Air Base, South Carolina, and in November 1945 assumed command of that base.

General Jenkins graduated from the Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in July 1946, and was assigned to staff duty in the Plans and Policy Group, War Department General Staff. This was followed by duty on the staff of Headquarters U.S. Air Force upon separation of the Air Force from the Army in 1948. He entered the National War College in August 1948 and upon graduation remained on the staff of that institution for two years.

In August 1951 General Jenkins was assigned to the Twelfth Air Force in Germany as assistant chief of staff for Operations. He was named chief of staff in May 1953, and in October of that year was appointed deputy commander of the Twelfth Air Force. General Jenkins returned to the United States in July of 1954, to become commandant of the Tactical Air Command's USAF Air Ground Operations School at Southern Pines, North Carolina.

In August 1957, General Jenkins was assigned as deputy commander, Ninth Air Force, at Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina."

Connections

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Units served with

The insignia of the 95th Bomb Group.
  • Unit Hierarchy: Group
  • Air Force: Eighth Air Force
  • Type Category: Bombardment

People

  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 95th Bomb Group 335th Bomb Squadron
  • Highest Rank: Technical Sergeant
  • Role/Job: Top Turret Gunner
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 95th Bomb Group 335th Bomb Squadron
  • Service Numbers: 4106A
  • Highest Rank: Colonel
  • Role/Job: Co-Pilot
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 95th Bomb Group 335th Bomb Squadron
  • Service Numbers: 16041158
  • Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
  • Role/Job: Ball Turret Gunner
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 95th Bomb Group 335th Bomb Squadron
  • Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
  • Role/Job: Waist Gunner
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 95th Bomb Group 335th Bomb Squadron
  • Highest Rank: Captain
  • Role/Job: Pilot

Aircraft

  • Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
  • Nicknames: We Ain't Scared
  • Unit: 91st Bomb Group 95th Bomb Group 335th Bomb Squadron

Missions

Places

Events

Event Location Date Description

Born

Floydada, Texas, United States 5 August 1907

Other

Prisoner of War (POW)

12 August 1943 - 29 April 1945 Captured after B-17 # 42-31094 was shot down over Belgium. Interned at Stalag Luft 3 in Sagan, Poland. Force-marched from there to Stalag 7A in Moosburg, Germany, where he was liberated by US troops on 29 April 1945. NARA WWII POW records : "Returned to Military control 11 May 1945."

Died

St Petersburg, Florida, United States 25 March 1989
Floydada, Texas, United States

Buried

Memorial Park Cemetery, St Petersburg, Florida, United States

Revisions

Date
ContributorED-BB
Changes
Sources

MACR 253.
Corrected first name : it's Daniel and not David...

Date
ContributorAAM
Changes
Sources

Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 253 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database