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Personal info

Full name
MORRIS, Robert Franklin
Date of birth
25 May 1920
Age
24
Place of birth
Spokane County, Washington
Hometown
Tekoa, Pierce County, Washington

Military service

Service number
O-777765
Rank
Second Lieutenant
Function
Co-Pilot
Unit
401st Bombardment Squadron,
91st Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Air Medal with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
8 April 1945
Place of death
Near Standal, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
Plot Row Grave
L 4 2

Immediate family

Members
Nettie M. Morris (mother)

Plane data

Serial number
42-102504
Data
Type: B-17G
Nickname: Times-A-Wastin'
Destination: Stendahl, Germany
Mission: Bombardment of the marshalling yard
MACR: 14295

More information

Robert Morris graduated from Tekoa High School in 1938 and attended Easter Washington College between September 1939 and June 1941. He worked for the Kinzua White Pine Mills Company in Oregon as a chainman before he enlisted on 1 February 1943.

Statement of T/Sgt William J. Carlson, a crew member of another airplane in the group: "I first observed aircraft 42-102504 to be in trouble at about 30 seconds to one minute after bombs away. I saw the no. 2 engine smoking badly and there appeared to be flames between the no. 2 engine and the fuselage. The right wing and engines appeared to be untouched. The aircraft then nosed upward, stood on the right wing tip, and side slipped downward in a steep dive. After it had fallen for a couple of hundred feet I saw one man leave the aircraft and his parachute opened immediately. The aircraft continued downward on a steep circling dive to the right."

Seven crew members were killed, two survived and were taken prisoner.

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, WWIIMemorial, Fold3, MACR, www.ancestry.com - Northern Pacific Railway Company Personnel File

Photo source: Peter Schouteten, Gary Hall