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| Lt. Lloyd Hemphill was killed in a Nebraska C-47 crash that claimed 28 lives. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/42636047/lloyd-lee-hemphill/photo http://www.nebraskaaircrash.com/crashsites/naper.html |
Lloyd Lee Hemphill never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on October 6, 1919 in Oklahoma. His parents Roy and Rena were both born in Missouri. His father worked as a carpenter. The family moved to Missouri and Ray became an assistant manager at a cafe. Lloyd had an older brother and two younger brothers. All four brothers served in WW2. Lloyd completed four years of high school. He married Norma Faye Douglas (May 1942) and they had one daughter. He obtained a pilot's license while still a civilian.
Lloyd volunteered for the Army Air Forces in January 1942. He reached the rank of first lieutenant and served as a P-40 fighter bomber pilot, starting in December 1942, in North Africa, Sicily and Italy. After flying more than 80 combat missions he was sent home in March 1944. He was assigned to be a P-47 instructor at Bruing Airfield in Fairburg, Nebraska.
Lt. Hemphill was killed in an August 3, 1944 plane crash when a C-47 transport, with 28 men on board, crashed near Atkinson, Nebraska. Apart from the crew of four, all of the casualties were P-47 pilots. A contemporary report claimed it to be the worst air disaster from one plane crash in the USA. The plane had been flying in bad weather and investigators guessed that turbulence and a lightning strike could have disabled an engine. It broke up in the air before crashing into a ravine with parts scattered over a mile (shown in drawing above).
Lt. Hemphill is buried at Osborne Memorial Cemetery in Joplin, Missouri.
Last year on this date I profiled Joe Hargette, 34th Infantry Division. You can read about Joe 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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