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| Lt. Linwood Perkins, 43rd Bombardment Group, was killed when his B-24 crashed on takeoff at Port Moresby, New Guinea. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/147756884/linwood-w-perkins https://www.flickr.com/photos/peacelovescoobie/5626919480 https://picclick.com/WW-2-US-Army-Air-Force-43rd-Bombardment-351992909379.html |
Linwood W. Perkins never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on June 20, 1918 in Maine. His parents Blaine and Ethel were born in Maine and Massachusetts, respectively. His father worked as a house carpenter. Linwood had a twin brother. By 1940 Linwood had completed four years of high school and was working as a bookkeeper while living at home.
He enlisted in the army on January 13, 1941. He attended flight school and was trained to fly bombers. He became a second lieutenant in the 403rd Bombardment Squad, 43rd Bombardment Group, 5th Air Force which was originally equipped with B-17 Flying Fortresses. It was sent to Australia and began operations in September 1942. In 1943 the 43rd BG transitioned from B-17s to B-24s. Its main targets were enemy shipping.
On November 1, 1943 Lt. Perkins' B-24 took off at 2:00 am from its Port Moresby airbase for a planned recon mission over Rabaul. The bomber crashed at the end of the runway killing all of the crew. The cause was attributed to fuel fumes that ignited in the fuselage, an unfortunate common occurrence with Liberators.
His grave is at Pine Grove Cemetery in Bangor, Maine.
Last year on this date I profiled Dale Modrell, 28th Infantry Division. You can read about Dale here.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
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