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name
PEARSON, Phillip Edger Jr - Date of
birth
24 December 1919 -
Age
24 -
Place of birth
Texas -
Hometown
Wichita Falls, Wichita County, Texas
Personal info
Military service
- Service
number
O-750676 -
Rank
Second Lieutenant -
Function
Pilot -
Unit
55th Fighter Squadron,
20th Fighter Group
-
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster
Death
-
Status
Missing in Action - Date of
death
1 May 1944 - Place of
death
Jodogne-Souveraine, Belgium
Grave
-
Cemetery
American War Cemetery Ardennes - Tablets of the Missing
Immediate family
-
Members
Phillip E. Pearson Sr. (father)
Jessie (Mccluskey) Pearson (mother)
Gretchen I. Pearson (sister)
Plane data
- Serial
number
42-67763 -
Data
Type: P-38J
Nickname: Doty
Destination: Liège, Belgium
Mission: Bomber Escort
MACR: 4542
More information
2nd Lt Phillip E. Pearson Jr. attended college and was a hotel manager.He joined the Air Corps of the Regular Army at Fort Sill, Oklahoma on 29 October 1941.
Statement of 1st Lt Melvin C. Pannell:
"I was flying yellow leader and was providing top cover at 3,500 feet while three planes of white flight were strafing the hody A/D. I saw a P-38 going across the A/D from southwest to northeast. He hit the ground just on the north edge of the field, burst into flames, and exploded. I do not know who was flying that plane, but from subsequent conversation, I believe it was Lt Pearson."
Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Terry Hirsch, MACR 4542, 20th Fighter Group, www.ancestry.com - Texas Birth Certificates / 1930 census
Photo source: Peter Schouteten, http://www.20thfightergroup.com - Mike Murray, Arie-Jan van Hees, Pilot Class Book 43-F Rankin, Tulare, California, Pilot Class Book 43-G Merced, California, Pilot Class Book 43-G, Rankin, Tulare, California