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Personal info

Full name
BRADFORD, Joe Wayne
Date of birth
11 February 1918
Age
26
Place of birth
Boyd, Wise County, Texas
Hometown
Arlington, Tarrant County, Texas

Military service

Service number
18177453
Rank
Staff Sergeant
Function
Tail Gunner
Unit
322nd Bombardment Squadron,
91st Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters

Death

Status
Died of Wounds
Date of death
22 July 1944
Place of death
Dulag Luft

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Ardennes
Plot Row Grave
A 8 2

Immediate family

Members
Walter H. Bradford (father)
Virgie E. Bradford (mother)
Chancy Bradford (sisther)
Barney Bradford (brother)
Margaret (McClean) Bradford (wife)
Joann Bradford (daughter)

Plane data

Serial number
43-37626
Data
Type: B-17G
Destination: Berlin, Germany
MACR: 5979

More information

S/Sgt Joe W Bradford graduated from Arlington High School (1935), North Texas Agricultural College (1937), and Texas A & M University (1939). He was a vocational agriculture teacher in the Gatesville, Texas public school system.

S/Sgt Bradford entered the service on 8 November 1942 at Cameron College in Lawton, Oklahoma. He received gunnery training at Tyndall Field in Florida. He was sent overseas in March 1944.

The aircraft was last sighted about 0932 hours. On the first sweep made by enemy fighters the plane was hit in the left wing. The aircraft peeled off to the left, apparently under control and out of view. No parachutes were observed coming from this aircraft.

Sgt Bradford had completed 19 missions when he was reported missing over Germany on June 21, 1944. The family received notification that he was a prisoner on July 17th and had died on July 22, 1944.

Source of information: Michel Beckers, Terry Hirsch, 91st Bomb Group, David Chapman, Texas A&M University Archives,
Files of the Former Students Association, WWII Draft Card

Photo source: Michel Beckers, http://library.uta.edu - Library University of Texas at Arlington