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| Sgt. Cecil Campbell may be in this photo of this B-17 that took him on his final mission. https://burtnerfamily.wordpress.com/tag/blithe-spirit/ |
Cecil Royce Campbell never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on July 28, 1917 in Texas. His parents were both born in Arkansas. His father worked as a farmer and later as a county road laborer. Cecil had two older sisters and one younger sister. By 1940 Cecil had completed six years of school. He was living with his parents and worked as a news office typesetter. He married his wife Mary Erma in 1941. They had one son born in July 1944, probably after Cecil left for Europe.
He enlisted in the army on June 17, 1943. At some point he was assigned to the Army Air Corp where he became a sergeant in the 711th Bombardment Squadron, 447th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force. The 447th Bomb Group flew B-17s. It arrived in England in November 1943 and completed 258 bombing missions by April 1945.
On March 15, 1945 Sgt. Campbell joined the crew of Blythe Spirit as an observer/waist gunner for a mission to bomb Oranienburg, Germany. The B-17 was hit by flak and crashed near Schonhausen. Two of the crew survived and became prisoners of war. The other eight, including Sgt. Campbell were killed in action.
His grave is at Shannon Rose Hill Memorial Park in Fort Worth, Texas. His widow remarried after Cecil died. She passed away in 2006. His son died in 1992.
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!
To mark having over 100,000 visits to my project to honor the fallen of WW2 on their 100th birthdate, I created this video to share. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY
Join the public Facebook group WW2 Fallen 100
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