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| Corporal Arthur Plumb was a mechanic with the 54th Troop Carrier Squadron in Alaska. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/120040241/arthur-w_-plumb https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-ww2-54th-troop-carrier-wing-unit-history |
Corporal Arthur W Plumb never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on August 7, 1920 in Weld County, Colorado. His parents, Chester A Plumb and Nelle M Wingfield, were both born in Kansas. His parents separated by 1930. His father moved to Texas and his mother worked as a school teacher in Colorado to support her children. Arthur had a sister, Pauline E. Plumb. Arthur attended high school in Kansas for his freshman year and returned to Colorado to finish his education. By 1940, he worked for the US postal service as a mail carrier.
He enlisted Jan. 9, 1942 in the 54th Troop Carrier Squadron of the Army Air Force as a mechanic. The “Eager Beavers” assembled at Bowman Field, Louisville, Kentucky. They had further training in South Carolina and Georgia. Winter acclimation preparations were carried out at Hill Field, Ogden, Utah and Gore Field, Great Falls, Montana. Their final destination was Elmendorf Field, Anchorage, Alaska, with the task to keep the army supplied with personnel and equipment in the Aleutian campaign. Japan held Kiska and Attu Islands, and Port Heiden and Cold Bay were vital US defensive positions. C-47 aircraft had to be maintained and operated in cold weather, and technical crew accompanied every flight. Poor visibility, spotty radio contact and dangerous weather presented constant difficulty, and it took time for pilots to rely on visual contact over instrument flying.
On November 20, 1942, Corp. Plumb joined a routine flight from Elmendorf Field to Naknek, Alaska with Col. Everett Davis as pilot. Also on the flight were Lt. George W. Hinton, Lt. James N. Noone, Sgt. Herbert W. Dale, Cpl. William Caputkain, Pfc Wallace L. Anderson, Pfc H. Bomberg, and Pvt. A.O. Janse. Failing to return on schedule, the plane was declared missing Nov 28, 1942. The wreckage was discovered crashed into a mountainside near Lake Iliamna in Sept. 1943, and the nine fallen were buried Sept. 11, 1943 at the base cemetery.
Corp. Plumb was reburied at Mountain View Memorial Park, Boulder, Colorado in 1948.
Arthur’s sister, Pauline, worked for the War Department in Washington, D.C. as a stenographer during the war, where she met her husband. Mrs Nelle Plumb was remarried about 1942 to Robert L Jones. She lived to the age of 98, surviving both of her children, ex-husband, and second husband.
Thank you, Corporal Arthur W Plumb for your sacrifice. Let's Earn It for Arthur.
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This profile was written by Marilyn N. Clark. "I have a long-standing interest in World War 2. My grandfather and numerous great-uncles served in that conflict. I have a BA in history from the University of Utah and have a lot of experience with volunteer genealogical research. It’s an honor to find and share information about these heroes that made such great sacrifices. Many thanks to Don for organizing this effort to share their stories.”
This is one of the final 50 stories (27) to be written as part of this project which ends on September 2, 2020, the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. At that time more than 1,370 men and women will have been profiled. The project will live on in an expanded program to write the stories of all 400,000+ US World War II fallen. Visit www.storiesbehindthestars.org to learn more. We welcome your continued support and interest and encourage you to help write some of these stories.
Last year on this date I profiled B-25 bombardier Orlando Loera. You can read about Orlando 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.
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WW2 Fallen 100 is supported by
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“Where Every Day is Memorial Day”
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