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| Twin brothers William and Woodrow Richardson were gunners in the 827th Bombardment Squadron. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/42255771/woodrow-w-richardson https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/88983870/william-m.-richardson |
William and Woodrow Richardson never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, they sacrificed their lives for our freedom.
They were born on August 8, 1918 in South Carolina. Their parents Walter and Maggie were also both born in South Carolina. Their father worked as a carpenter and later as a farmer and a cobbler. They had one older brother (who served in the Navy during the war), two younger sisters, and two younger brothers. By 1940 each of the twins had completed two years of high school and were living at home. William worked as a farmer and Woodrow found work as a government laborer.
The brothers enlisted in the army on June 29, 1940. They volunteered for the Army Air Corps and both became sergeants and gunners in the 827th Bombardment Squadron, 484th Bombardment Group, 15th Air Force which was equipped with B-24 Liberators. The 484th BG arrived in Italy in April 1944. Regular targets ranged from France to Romania. I believe it was generally the rule that brothers were not assigned to the same plane, but this rule was not applied in this case.
The 484th BG flew its thirtieth mission of the war on June 11, 1944. The target that day was Giurgiu, Romania. Three bombers were lost on that mission including the one carrying the Richardson brothers. One engine was knocked out over the target and German fighter planes shot down the crippled bomber. Woodrow and William were originally listed as missing in action, but their deaths were confirmed by the end of the year.
William is buried at Trinity Cemetery in Florence County, South Carolina. Woodrow is buried in a common grave at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in Lemay, Missouri.
Last year on this date I profiled Jack Roark, 80th Infantry Division. You can read about Jack 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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