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| Sgt. Edwin Bain and his crewmates flew this B-25 on the famous Doolittle raid to bomb Japan. https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=56305660&ref=acom https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/27-march-1942/ |
Edwin V. Bain, Jr. never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on September 23, 1917 in North Carolina. His father was also born in North Carolina while his mother was from up north in New York, but just one generation away from Ireland. Edwin Jr. had a younger sister. His father worked as a garage mechanic and later as a real estate salesman after moving to Chicago. Edwin Jr. stayed in North Carolina and lived with his sister at the home of his dad's father. His mom died of pellagra in 1934.
Edwin joined the Army Air Corps on August 20, 1936. He was originally trained as a radio operator and repairman. When the war started he was a sergeant and trained gunner on B-25s. Early in 1942 he volunteered for a secret mission which turned out to be the Doolittle raid on Japan. He was the upper turret gunner on the 14th plane to take off from the USS Hornet on April 18, 1942. His plane bombed Yokohama and safely made it to China where the crew all bailed out and evaded Japanese capture.
After returning to America, Sgt. Bain's next assignment was the Mediterranean. By December 1942 he was flying missions as a gunner on B-26 Marauders.
He was killed in action on July 19, 1943. After a combat mission near Rome, his plane crashed into the Tyrrhenian Sea. His remains were not recovered.
His death is memorialized at the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery and Memorial.
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.
Join the public Facebook group WW2 Fallen 100
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