WW2 Fallen - B-24 pilot John Dickson

B-24 pilot John Dickson served in the 706th Bombardment Squadron in Europe.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56287110/john-b-dickson
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/84697287/john-b-dickson
http://www.americanairmuseum.com/unit/1370

2^nd Lt. John Byron Dickson 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.

He was born on August 5, 1920 in Westminster, Oconee County, South Carolina. His parents, James Wade Dickson and Mattie Eugenia Dobbins, were also both born in South Carolina. His father worked as a farmer and beekeeper. John was the youngest of ten children. His brothers were James Jr, Jesse, Herbert, Cecil, Clarence, Charles and Ashley. His sisters were Mabel and Margaret. His brother Cecil died at the age of 15 months, and his mother passed away in 1929. By 1940, John was a civil engineering student at Clemson University and played on the football team.

He enlisted in the US Army Air Force on May 27, 1943 as an officer. He was assigned to the 446^th Bombardment Group, Heavy, 706^th Bombardment Squadron. He became the pilot of a B-24 bomber, #42-51100, called “Tiger,” commanding nine other crew members. The 446^th BG trained in Arizona, Florida, New Mexico, and New York before traveling to England on the RMS Queen Mary. They were based in Bungay, Suffolk, England, and given the nickname “Bungay Buckaroos.”

The Tiger departed on its sixth bombing mission December 2, 1944 with other planes of the 446th, targeting the railway system in Bingen am Rhein, Germany. This was a round trip of approximately 800 miles. Weather conditions were cloudy, and the group couldn’t confirm the success of the bombing. They didn’t experience fighter plane attacks or enemy flak as the group returned to England. In the clouds, two of the bombers fell out of formation, the Tiger and #42-95105 “She’s Mine.” Neither returned to base, and it’s possible that the two planes collided midair. Both were declared missing in action. 

The crew of the Tiger consisted of pilot 2LT John Dickson, copilot 2LT Lawrence Whitaker, navigator 2LT Ernest Levine, bombardier/nose gunner 2LT Anthony Bonaiuto, engineer/top turret gunner SGT John Sauran, radio operator SGT John Christman, ball turret gunner CPL Ralph Baringer, waist gunner SSGT Lawrence Watson, waist gunner CPL Andrew Luchko and tail gunner CPL Alfred Faulk.

John has memorial plaques at the Blue Ridge Gardens of Memory Cemetery in Pisgah Forest, Transylvania County, North Carolina, and at the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial in Cotam, Cambridgeshire, England. Lt. Dickson was awarded the Air Medal and Purple Heart.

Thank you, John Byron Dickson, for your sacrifice. Let's Earn It for John.

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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 (29) 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 Anthony Greco, 63rd Infantry Division. You can read about Anthony 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

The Greatest GENERATIONS Foundation

“Where Every Day is Memorial Day”

http://www.tggf.org