 |
| Lt. William McOmber was a B-26 co-pilot in the 442nd Bombardment Squadron. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/82804558/william-a_-mcomber http://www.americanairmuseum.com/unit/4108 |
William A. McOmber never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on May 1, 1919 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. His parents Adrian and Flora were born in Iowa and Nebraska, respectively. His father worked as a traffic manager. By 1930 the family had moved to Omaha, Nebraska and Adrian worked as an interior decorator. William became an Eagle Scout and later a scout master. William had one younger sister who died in 1937 at age sixteen. By 1940 William was attending his second year of college.
He enlisted in the Army Air Forces in June 1942. He became a first lieutenant and co-pilot in the 442nd Bombardment Squadron, 320th Bombardment Group, 12th Air Force, which was equipped with B-26 Marauders. The 320th BG began operations in North Africa in April 1943. It flew missions on naval targets, marshalling yards, bridges, airdromes, railroads, fuel dumps and other targets in Italy and France. It moved its airbase to Dijon, France in November 1944. Lt. McOmber was with his squadron long enough to fly 45 missions.
On February 6, 1945, co-pilot Lt. McOmber was killed when flying B-26 #43-34258 on a transition flight that crashed near Dijon, France. The pilot and one other airmen on board were also killed.
His grave is at Westlawn-Hillcrest Memorial Park.
Last year on this date I profiled Medal of Honor hero Clinton Hedrick, 17th Airborne Division who stormed a castle! You can read about Clinton 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