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Personal info

Full name
PITTS, Cherry Calvin
Date of birth
10 February 1913
Age
31
Place of birth
Olney, Young County, Texas
Hometown
Boswell, Choctaw County, Oklahoma

Military service

Service number
O-679115
Rank
First Lieutenant
Function
Pilot
Unit
715th Bombardment Squadron,
448th Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters

Death

Status
Finding of Death
Date of death
22 April 1944
Place of death
Over the English Channel near Hopton-on-the-Sea

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Margraten
Walls of the Missing

Immediate family

Members
William L. Pitts (father)
Mary A. (Hall) Pitts (mother)
Bernice E. Pitts (brother)
Avis E. Pitts (brother)
Pauline D. Pitts (sister)
Granville E. Pitts (brother)
Sybil Pitts (sister)
Willard E. Pitts (brother)
Homer D. Pitts (brother)
Jettie Pitts (sister)
Lavenia E. Pitts (wife)

Plane data

Serial number
42-52608
Data
Type: B-24H
Destination: Hamm, Germany
Mission: Bombing marshalling yards
MACR: 4301

More information

1st Lt Cherry C. Pitts enlisted in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on 30 March 1942.

Returning from their mission, some elements were mistakenly hit by British coastal gunfire as they crossed Great Yarmouth at 2200.

#42-52608 erupted in flames before exploding.

Air-Sea Rescue found no survivors near the oil slick one mile from Hopton-on-the-Sea.

Source of information: André Koch, Terry Hirsch, www.abmc.gov, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.archives.gov - WWII Enlistment Record, www.fold3.com - MACR 4301, http://forum.armyairforces.com, www.ancestry.com - 1920 Census / Moran Family Tree

Photo source: André Koch, www.okgenweb.org, www.findagrave.com - Tom White