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| Lt. William Farrow was a pilot in the Doolittle Tokyo raid who was captured and executed by the Japanese. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9529372 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doolittle_Raid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_G._Farrow |
William Glover Farrow never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on September 24, 1918 in South Carolina. His parents Issac and Jesse were both born in North Carolina. His father worked as a state insurance department auditor. William had one younger sister. His parents separated in the 1920s and divorced in the 1930s. William stayed with his mother who found work as a hotel housekeeper. As a youth William became an Eagle Scout. By 1940 William had completed two years of college at the University of Southern Carolina and was still living at home.
Already a trained pilot, he enlisted in the Army Air Forces in November 1940. His mother moved to Washington and became a wartime stenographer. William became a lieutenant and trained to fly B-25 Mitchells in the 34th Bombardment Squadron. After Pearl Harbor he volunteered for a secret mission which turned out to be the Doolittle Raid.
Lt. Farrow and the rest of the Doolittle Raiders steamed out of San Francisco harbor on April 1, 1942 aboard the carrier USS Hornet. Those watching the carrier leave saw the unusual sight of army B-25s tied down on the deck of the carrier.
The attack on Japan was launched on April 18, earlier than planned, but the American ships had been spotted by Japanese boats and the task forced needed to turn around to avoid retaliation. Lt. Farrow flew Bat out of Hell, the final of 16 planes to take off. After bombing an oil tank and aircraft factory in Nagoya, Farrow flew to China but crashed in a Japanese occupied area. He and his crew were captured, imprisoned and tortured with another crew. A mock trail of the eight captured airmen found them guilt and three were sentenced to death, including Lt. Farrow.
He was allowed to write a final letter to his mother which read in part:
Lt. Farrow was executed by firing squad on October 15, 1942. His remains were cremated and buried near Shanghai, China.
The letter should have been sent home through the International Red Cross but it was never sent. The executions were not known in America until after the war ended. His last letter and ashes were discovered at that time. He was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
His grave is at Arlington National Cemetery.
Last year on this date I profiled Lester Taylor, 101st Airborne Division. You can read about Lester 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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