William J Thompson

Military ROLL OF HONOUR

Originally assigned to the 303BG/359BS as an Aerial Gunner at Gowen Field, Boise, Idaho on 19-Feb-42. However, he was reassigned to the 97BG prior to 303BG's deployment to Molesworth in September 1942. Date of reassignment not determined.



Shot down 21 October 1942 in B-17 41-24344 while serving as a Waist Gunner. Killed in Action (KIA).

Connections

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Units served with

Official emblem of the 303rd Bomb Group approved 7 November 1942.
  • Unit Hierarchy: Group
  • Air Force: Eighth Air Force
  • Type Category: Bombardment
Ground personnel of the 97th Bomb Group reservice a B-17 Flying Fortress (serial number 41-9023) nicknamed "Yankee Doodle", following the raid on Rouen. Image stamped on reverse: 'Associated Press.' [stamp], 'Passed for Publication 18 Aug 1942.' [stamp], 'Air=SER (Boeing).' [written annotation] and '216112.' [Censor no.] Printed caption on reverse: 'U.S FLYING FORTRESSES RAID ROUEN IN DAYLIGHT. Associated Press Photo Shows: No sooner had one of the huge Fortresses landed after the raid than ground crew im
  • Unit Hierarchy: Group
  • Air Force: Eighth Air Force
  • Type Category: Bombardment

Aircraft

  • Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
  • Unit: 97th Bomb Group 414th Bomb Squadron

Missions

Places

Events

Event Location Date Description

Born

Shawnee, Oklahoma, USA

Other

Killed in Action (KIA)

Plouescat, France 21 October 1942 Missing Air Crew Report (MACR) 15352 only indicates that he was MIA. However, testimony from 1Lt. Robert E. Jackson, in that MACR record, said that a German officer showed him the ID tags of 5 of the 8 KIAs in this crew and indicated that three others were unidentified but claimed that all the KIAs had been recovered and buried.

Revisions

Date
Contributorjmoore43
Changes
Sources

Capitalized all the words in the "Role/job" field to aid readability.

 

Date
ContributorLee8thbuff
Changes
Sources

Lee Cunningham 19-Nov-2014. The association with the 303BG was originally ingested from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth AIr Force, Savannah, Georgia resulting in a DUPLICATE entry, that information has been COMBINED into this single entry. The association with 303BG in the Summary Biography has been confirmed by Mr. Gary Moncur, the website historian of the 303BG, http://www.303rdbg.com/ via an e-mail inquiry of Mr. Moncur by Mr. Cunningham.

Date
ContributorLee8thbuff
Changes
Sources

Lee Cunningham 28-Oct-2014. Correction to mission association.

Date
ContributorLee8thbuff
Changes
Sources

Lee Cunningham 27-Oct-2014. Missing Air Crew Report (MACR) 15352.

Date
ContributorAAM
Changes
Sources

Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 15352 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database