WW2 Fallen - B-24 airman Aubrey Garrett

Sgt. Aubrey Garrett served as a B-24 airman in Italy.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/42249100/aubrey-ford-garrett

Aubrey Ford Garrett never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.

If you have enjoyed reading the stories of the WWII fallen, Can you help write some stories? It's a big project. The more help, the better.  Announcing "The Stories Behind the Stars", see https://www.storiesbehindthestars.org. This crowd-sourced national project has the goal of compiling stories of all 400,000+ of the US World War II fallen in one free-to-access central database. We are going to need a lot of volunteers. Anyone visiting a war memorial or gravesite will be able to scan the name of the fallen with a smartphone and his story will appear on the phone.

Aubrey was born August 4, 1920 in West Monroe, Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, one of three brothers including Hodge and Edward. His father L. Carsey Garrett, born in Alabama was a blacksmith for the Missouri Pacific Railroad, his mother, Connor a homemaker born in Louisiana. 

In 1940 Aubrey had already graduated from Ouachita Parish High School and was a locomotive fireman for the Missouri Pacific Railroad. He married Lillian Martha Marhefka on August 1, 1939 and their daughter, Diane was born in 1942.

Aubrey enlisted in the Army Air Corps on February 15, 1942.

Sgt. Aubrey Ford Garrett’s Liberator Bomber crashed while on a secret mission near Milan, Italy on October 4^th, 1944. All onboard were killed and were repatriated in a single mass grave at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis, MO on January 16, 1950.

The names of the interred are:

Sgt. Arthur E. Blackwell 

2^nd Lt. Bob H. Bookout

Sgt. Isaac E. Carmack

S.Sgt. James J. Ferguson

Sgt. Aubrey F. Garrett

Sgt. Francis J. Grochala

2^nd Lt. Irving B. Reider

Sgt. Carroll Savage

Capt. Charles R. Sloan

2^nd Lt. John W. Wilson

Gaspare R. Pace Italian civilian

Two unknown Italian civilians

Sgt. Garrett was awarded the Purple Heart, WWII Victory Medal, American Campaign Medal, Army Presidental Unit Citation, and the Army Good Conduct Medal.

Thank you, Aubrey Ford Garrett for your sacrifice. Let's Earn It for Aubrey.

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This profile was written by Linda Simpson. I have been an avid genealogist and historian for over 40 years. When I saw an article on Don’s project I knew I wanted to be a part of Stories Behind the Stars. What an amazing way to honor our fallen, by ‘Earning It’ for them.

This is one of the final 50 stories (30) 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 Tarawa fallen Stanley Winnemucca, 2nd Marine Division. You can read about Stanley 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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Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100

 

WW2 Fallen 100 is supported by

The Greatest GENERATIONS Foundation

“Where Every Day is Memorial Day”

http://www.tggf.org