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| P-51 pilot Edwin Pinkerton served with the 354th Fighter Group in England and France. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14941738/edwin-pinkerton https://www.worldwarphotos.info/gallery/usa/aircrafts-2-3/p-51-mustang/354th-fighter-group-p-51-mustang-in-england-early-1944/ |
Edwin Pinkerton never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on November 11, 1919 in California. It was not know as Veterans Day yet. That would not happen until 1954. His parents William and Catherine were both born in Ireland. His father worked as a fruit farmer. He died in 1936. Edwin had two older sisters and five older brothers. By 1940 Edwin was living with his mother and had completed three years of college.
He volunteered for the Army Air Forces in June 1941. He became a first lieutenant and was trained to fly P-51 Mustangs. He served in the 353rd Fighter Squadron, 354th Fighter Group. For the most part, its main role was escorting American bombers on missions to continental Europe. On D-Day it provided fighter cover for the Allied landings on Normandy.
Although it started off based in England, by the end of June it was based in Circqueville, France. During the summer it flew a lot of missions to hamper German efforts to support their troops in Normandy. On August 7, 1944, planes from the 353rd BS ran into a dozen Bf109s in the Laval-Alencon area. The Americans downed half of the enemy fighters. The Germans shot down two American planes which included Lt. Pinkerton, who did not survive.
His grave is at Pierce Brothers Santa Paula Cemetery in Santa Paula, California.
Last year on this date I profiled B-17 pilot William Minerich. You can read about William 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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