 |
| Sgt. Okey Hiibner was a top turret gunner in the B-17 Full House, which was in the 427th Bombardment Squadron. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/92258394/okey-leonard-hiibner https://www.pinterest.com/offsite/?token=297-316&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.303rdbg.com%2Fpp-43-37666.jpg&pin=342484746642705111&client_tracking_params=CwABAAAADDQ1MzU5OTQ1ODAxMgA~0 |
Okey Leonard Hiibner never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on August 14, 1918 in Utah. His parents George and Retta were both born in West Virginia. His father worked as a farmer. Okey had one older brother, four older sisters, one younger brother and one younger sister. By 1940 he had attended Utah State Agriculture College (now USU) and had completed a 2 1/2 year mission for the LDS church.
He was drafted into the army on December 3, 1941. He volunteered for the Army Air Forces and was trained to be a top turret gunner. He became a staff sergeant in the 427th Bombardment Squadron, 303rd Bombardment Group which was equipped with B-17 Flying Fortresses.
Sgt. Hiibner had completed nineteen missions prior to his final mission on November 9, 1944. The target that day was Metz, Germany. Shortly after takeoff, Hiibner's plane, nicknamed Full House, collided with another bomber. Both planes crashed and only the tail gunner in the other plane managed to bail out and survive.
His grave is at Mendon City Cemetery in Mendon, Utah.
Sgt. Hiibner's story is also told at https://www.fold3.com/page/638677283-okey-l-hiibner/stories. It is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project, Utah pilot.
Last year on this date I profiled Fred Bigbee, 78th Infantry Division. You can read about Fred 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
No comments:
Post a Comment