Lawrence Jenkins

Military
media-28492.jpeg UPL 28492 Lawrence Jenkins

Added name of airman to caption

Object Number - UPL 28492 - Lawrence Jenkins

Lawrence Jenkins was born on January 29, 1924 in Battle Creek Michigan. Lawrence attended Lakeview schools and he eventually graduated from there in 1942. Right out of high school Lawrence enlisted into the the air force on October 26, 1942 at Fort Custer. Even though you were required to have two years of college to get into the air corps, lawrence got accepted with no college at all. After being selected to be in the air corps, Lawrence went to many different states in the US for training. After training Lawrence was placed in the second bomb group, in the 96th bomb squadron. There he completed 14 combat missions as a co-pilot before being shot down over Vienna, Austria on July 16, 1944. The plane got direct hits and the engines set on fire, the plane went spinning out of control. Larry got hit by shrapnel in the legs, and he struggled to leave the plain, if it was not for Ray Voss, another guy on the plane, lawrence would have died in the plane because he passed out. When Lawrence hit the ground after he jumped out of the plane he was captured by the Germans. Lawrence then spent the next ten months as a prisoner of war. As a prisoner of war Lawrence got little food, and there medical treatments were limited, so his legs remained in bad shape from the plane crash. Luckily he was liberated by Russian forces, and was sent to Percy Jones Army Hospital in Battle Creek, Michigan, where he spent the next two years recovering from his wounds. After recovering from his wounds, Lawrence attended Albion and Jackson college to start his career as an electronics technician for the RCA. Lawrence married his wife Peg in 1946. They had three kids together Connie, Roger, and Larry Jr. Lawrence’s accomplishments did not go unrecognised, he received the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal (with 1 Oak Leaf Cluster), the Purple Heart, the POW Medal, the Army Good Conduct Medal, The American Campaign Medal, the ETO Campaign Medal (with one Battle Star), the World War II Victory Medal, and the British POW Medal, and part of the book Eagles' Wings was written about him. Lawrence lived a long and memorable life, but on May 28, 2017, he passed away at the age of 93.

Connections

See how this entry relates to other items in the archive by exploring the connections below.

Units served with

  • Unit Hierarchy: Group
  • Air Force: Twelfth Air Force
  • Type Category: Bombardment

Revisions

Date
ContributorWD-C Mustang
Changes
Sources

Associated media using users profile:
https://www.americanairmuseum.com/activity/35282

Date
ContributorMattison8
Changes
Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Jenkins

Eagles’ Wings - Book written about Lawrence Jenkins (my Great Grandpa’s) war story

Personally talked to Lawrence (my great grandpa) himself and his son Roger (my grandpa)

Lawrence Jenkins: Gallery (3 items)