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Personal info

Full name
PICKENS, Lilbert Dow Jr
Date of birth
9 November 1914
Age
30
Place of birth
Webster County, Kentucky
Hometown
Princeton, Caldwell County, Kentucky

Military service

Service number
35732280
Rank
Technical Sergeant
Function
Radio Operator/Gunner
Unit
848th Bombardment Squadron,
490th Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal with 4 Oak Leaf Clusters

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
5 April 1945
Place of death
Sommelsdijk, the Netherlands

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Ardennes
Plot Row Grave
C 14 5

Immediate family

Members
Lilbert D. Pickens (father)
Myrtle (Davis) Pickens (mother)
Margaret L. Pickens (sister)
Joseph F. Pickens (brother)
James E. Pickens (brother)
Mary E. Pickens (wife)
Carolyn (Reilly) Pickens (daughter)

Plane data

Serial number
43-38131
Data
Type: B-17G
Nickname: Miss Mary Kay
Destination: Unterschlauersbach, Germany
Mission: Bombing of the airfield
MACR: 13854

More information

T/Sgt Lilbert D. Pickens Jr. was a serviceman with the telephone company. He enlisted in Evansville, Indiana on 3 July 1943.

Around 1325 hours the aircraft was hit by flak from German naval vessels in the harbor of Middelharnis. It caught fire and crashed in a field in Westplaat-polder in Sommelsdijk. Members of the Red Cross recovered the bodies and brought them to the morgue of the general cemetery in Sommelsdijk where they were buried on Saturday 7 April 1945. The entire crew of nine was killed.

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, www.archives.gov - WWII Enlistment Record, www.wwiimemorial.com, www.ancestry.com - Headstone and Interment Record / Stokes Family of Ramcat N. C. Family Tree, www.fold3.com - MACR 13854

Photo source: Peter Schouteten, www.wo2go.nl