WW2 Fallen - B-17 waist gunner Cletis Campbell + Captain America tie-in

Sgt Cletis Campbell, kneeling second from right, was a B-17 waist gunner in the 379th Bombardment Group.
The co-creator of Captain America was born on the same day.
https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=57031902&ref=acom
https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=329291

Cletis H. Campbell never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.

He was born on August 28, 1917 in Indiana. His parents were also both born in Indiana. His father worked as a milk condensery filler and later as a glove factory cutter. Cletis had three older sisters four younger sister and five younger brothers, one of whom was in the navy during the war. By 1940 Cletis had completed four years of high school and was still living at home.

In the spring of 1942 Cletis left his job as a welder and enlisted in the army on April 1, 1942. He reached the rank of sergeant in the 525th Bombardment Squadron, 379th Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force. It was equipped with B-17 Flying Fortresses.

The 379th Bomb Group arrived in England in May 1943 and engaged in strategic bombing of targets in Nazi occupied Europe through May 1945. No American bomb group in World War 2 dropped more tonnage on the German enemy than the 379th BG.

On February 22, 1944 the mission was to bomb an aircraft factory in Halberstadt, Germany. Sgt. Campbell was a waist gunner on his last mission. His B-17 was hit by flak and disintegrated in mid-air. Two men survived, the other eight, including Sgt. Campbell were killed. The plane crashed near Schlebusch, Germany.

His grave is at Buntin Cemetery in Frankfort, Indiana.

Thank you Cletis for your sacrifice. Let's Earn It for Cletis.

Jack Kirby

Most people don't recognize the name of Jack Kirby (born as Jacob Kurtzberg on the same day as Cletis Campbell). But most everyone would recognize the comic book character that Kirby created with Joe Simon -- Captain America.

Kirby grew up in New York City and developed a talent for drawing comic characters at an early age.

Kirby was already well established in his comic book career before World War 2 started. The first Captain America comic book came out in March 1941. It was an immediate hit. To meet demand they had to print more than 1 million copies of the second issue.

Knowing he was at risk to be drafted at anytime, his publisher had him create extra comic stories so they could be published after he was called up.

Pfc. Jack Kirby had already created Captain America before fighting in the 5th Infantry Division in Europe.
https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2017/02/8-ways-comic-book-legend-jack-kirby-fought-fascism.html

Kirby's number did come up and he joined the army on June 7, 1943. He served as a private first class in Company F, 2nd Battalion, 11th Infantry Regiment, 5th Infantry Division. The 5th ID arrived on Utah Beach a month after D-Day and played an important role in Patton's 3rd Army march through France.  Because of his drawing talent, Kirby was often sent ahead with lead units in order to draw maps and pictures. His actions earned him a Bronze Star. During the Battle of Bulge Kirby suffered extreme frostbite. He was sent to England where his legs were almost amputated. He recovered and was sent back to America to finish out the war.

After the war Kirby was involved in what eventually became both DC and Marvel Comics. During his career Kirby worked on Green Arrow, Classics Illustrated, The Fantastic Four, Hulk, Thor, Ironman, X-Men, and Black Panther. He even drew the first Spider-man, though Stan Lee used a different artist when it rolled out.

Kirby died in 1994.

We will never know what the untapped talents of the WW2 fallen would have created. But we do know their sacrifice gave us a better world.

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. Now more than 200 fallen have been profiled with more than 200,000 visits. Is there interest in seeing a similar video highlighting those from the group of second 100?

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Join the public Facebook group WW2 Fallen 100