Norman B Cooler
Military
Sent through to the American Air Museum by Norman Cooler's nephew, Wes Cooler III.
Object Number - UPL 25732 - Norman B Cooler
Norman Cooler served as a flight engineer with the 379th Bomb Group, flying bombing missions out of Kimbolton, England.
On 25 April 1944, he was taken prisoner when the aircraft he was flying, B-17 43-38272, collided with B-17 43-38178, near Pilsen.
Connections
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Units served with
- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
- Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
Aircraft
- Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
- Nicknames: Thumper
- Unit: 379th Bomb Group 525th Bomb Squadron
Places
- Site type: Airfield
Events
| Event | Location | Date | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Enlisted |
Sumter, SC, USA | 19 October 1942 | At Shaw Field |
|
Other Prisoner of War |
Germany | 25 April 1944 | |
|
Born |
Kingstree, South Carolina |
Revisions
His headstone lists his PH and Ex-POW status. If he applied to the government for the POW Medal, he would have received it. He earned at least one bronze star on the EAME Campaign Medal.
Added a POW event per WW2 POW records at the National Archives (NARA).
Added some punctuation to the "Summary biography" to aid clarity.
NARA enlistment record: https://aad.archives.gov/aad/record-detail.jsp?dt=893&mtch=1&cat=all&tf…
Brought in information from duplicate record. Source:
379th Bombardment Group Anthology, pg 342 / Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia
Correspondence with Norman Cooler's nephew, Wes Cooler.
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / Supplement, B-17 Flying Fortress Story by Roger A. Freeman
