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| B-17 navigator flew 43 missions from England an earned the Distinguished Flying Cross. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/89723841/gene-kenneth-shipp/photo http://www.americanairmuseum.com/media/26646 |
Gene Kenneth Shipp never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on November 10, 1919 in Kentucky. His parents William and Callie were also both born in Kentucky. His great-grandfather Frank Lane Wolford was a locally well known Civil War cavalry officer and politician. His father worked as a produce house manager, first in Kentucky and then in Texas. He died in 1935 in a car accident. Gene had two older brothers, two older sisters, and one younger brother. By 1940 Gene had moved back to Kentucky where he worked as a post office clerk. He had completed one year of college and was married to Carrie V. Walker.
He volunteered for the Army Air Forces in June 1942. He became a navigator and first lieutenant in the 360th Bombardment Squadron, 303rd Bombardment Group beginning in the spring of 1944. This unit flew B-17 Flying Fortresses out of Molesworth, England. He completed 30 combat missions after which he was sent home for a time but he went back to finish an additional 15 missions that would qualify him to come home for good.
He flew his 43rd mission on January 21, 1945. The target that day was the marshalling yard at Aschaffenburg, consider by the flyers to be a milk run. Unfortunately, Lt. Shipp's plane collided midair with another US plane over Germany. The left wing of Lt. Shipp's plane broke off after clipping the right wing of another B-17 and they both went done. Two men survived as POWs but Lt. Shipp and sixteen others were killed. Lt. Shipp was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
His grave is at Columbia Cemetery in Columbia, Kentucky. I don't know what happened to his widow.
GEORGE FENNEMAN
Future TV star George Fenneman was born on same date as Gene Shipp. George was born in, of all places, Beijing, China (his parents had an import-export business). He came to California when he was nine months old and grew up there. He graduated from San Francisco State College in 1942 with a degree in speech and drama. His appealing voice landed him a job as a radio announcer.
George served in World War 2 as a broadcast correspondent for the US Office of War Information.
After the war George resumed his radio announcer career. He is best know for his role as Groucho Marx's sidekick on the popular 1950's game show You Bet Your Life.
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| https://www.deseret.com/2004/7/31/19842848/chris-hicks-old-tv-shows-showing-up-again-on-dvd |
Last year on this date I profiled Pearl Harbor fallen Marshall Darby, USS Oklahoma. You can read about Marshall 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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