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| Medal of Honor hero Lt. David Kingsley is memorialized at Suhozen, Bulgaria where his plane crashed. The memorial includes part of the plane and was erected 60 years after the crash. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7528319 http://www.homeofheroes.com/wings/part2/18_kingsley.html |
David Richard Kingsley never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on June 27, 1918 in Oregon. His parents David and Agelina were also both born in Oregon. His father worked as a iron works machinist and later as a police investigator. David had an older brother, three younger brothers, and four younger sisters. All of the Kingsley brothers served in the military during WW2. His father died in an automobile accident when David was 10 years old and his mother was pregnant with child number nine. She died of cancer in 1939, leaving David in charge of the family (his older brother joined the Navy to send home some income and was at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941). By 1940 David had completed four years of high school and was working as a machinist helper and as a firefighter and acting as dad to seven younger siblings as young as 11.
He enlisted in the army and was picked to attend flight school, where he was selected to specialize as a bombardier and navigator. The Army Air Forces picked the smartest men to learn navigation and most of them were college educated. The fact that David dual qualified with a high school education says a lot about his abilities. He became a second lieutenant in the 341st Bombardment Squadron, 97th Bombardment Group which was equipped with B-17 Flying Fortresses. It was first assigned to the 8th Air Force in England in August 1942 but after a month it was transferred to the 12th Air Force in North Africa. In November 1943 it became part of the 15th Air Force. Lt. Kingsley joined his unit in March 1944 when it was based in Amendola, Italy.
The 97th BG participated in strategic bombing missions throughout southeastern Europe ranging up to Germany. Lt. Kingsley's crew flew 20 successful missions during his first 60 days.
The mission for June 23, 1944 took Lt. Kingsley to Ploiesti, Romania, with its critical oil refineries. The 761 bombers assigned were the largest sent to this target. His plane Opissonya, was in the tail end Charlie position, leaving it more vulnerable to fighter attacks. On the way to the target, the plane blew an oil line, leaving it to run on three engines. The crew decided to stick with the mission rather than abort since missions to Ploiesti counted double toward getting the 35 missions needed to return home.
His posthumous Medal of Honor citation describes what happened next that day.
On the bomb run 2d Lt. Kingsley's aircraft was severely damaged by intense flak and forced to drop out of formation but the pilot proceeded over the target and 2d Lt. Kingsley successfully dropped his bombs, causing severe damage to vital installations. The damaged aircraft, forced to lose altitude and to lag behind the formation, was aggressively attacked by 3 ME-109 aircraft, causing more damage to the aircraft and severely wounding the tail gunner in the upper arm. The radio operator and engineer notified 2d Lt. Kingsley that the tail gunner had been wounded and that assistance was needed to check the bleeding. 2d Lt. Kingsley made his way back to the radio room, skillfully applied first aid to the wound, and succeeded in checking the bleeding. The tail gunner's parachute harness and heavy clothes were removed and he was covered with blankets, making him as comfortable as possible.
Eight ME-109 aircraft again aggressively attacked 2d Lt. Kingsley's aircraft and the ball turret gunner was wounded by 20mm shell fragments. He went forward to the radio room to have 2d Lt. Kingsley administer first aid.
A few minutes later when the pilot gave the order to prepare to bail out, 2d Lt. Kingsley immediately began to assist the wounded gunners in putting on their parachute harness. In the confusion the tail gunner's harness, believed to have been damaged, could not be located in the bundle of blankets and flying clothes which had been removed from the wounded men. With utter disregard for his own means of escape, 2d Lt. Kingsley unhesitatingly removed his parachute harness and adjusted it to the wounded tail gunner.
Due to the extensive damage caused by the accurate and concentrated 20mm. fire by the enemy aircraft the pilot gave the order to bail out, as it appeared that the aircraft would disintegrate at any moment.
2d Lt. Kingsley aided the wounded men in bailing out and when last seen by the crew members he was standing on the bomb bay catwalk. The aircraft continued to fly on automatic pilot for a short distance, then crashed and burned. His body was later found in the wreckage.
2d Lt. Kingsley by his gallant heroic action was directly responsible for saving the life of the wounded gunner.
Tragically, his plane crashed into a home and killed seven people. A memorial remembering Lt. Kingsley and the crash victims was erected in Suhozem, Bulgaria in 2004.
His grave is at Arlington National Cemetery.
For a very detailed telling of Lt. Kingsley's story see here.
Last year on this date I profiled Edward Madigan, the artist Disney missed. You can read about Edward 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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