Crew Number 23

On April 6, 1942, Henry Spohrer enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps from Monroe, LA. Later that year he was posted to Kelly Field near San Antonio, TX to begin his training. Almost a year later, on April 1, 1943, Aviation Cadet Henry Spohrer graduated as an “aerial” navigator from the U.S. Army Air Corps Training Center in Hondo, TX. Henry wanted to become a navigator because he thought that the skills he would learn (especially math) would be helpful to him in his employment after the war. By the end of that month, he was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant and posted to Geiger Field, near Spokane, WA. Henry took military leave to visit with his father, Joseph W. Spohrer, Sr., who was dying of mouth cancer back home in Monroe.



For some time, Henry had been dating Rosalie Marie Ballard, a young Catholic woman, from Monroe, LA. On June 31, 1943, Henry and Rosalie were married at St. Matthew’s Catholic Church in Monroe. They took a short honeymoon to Natchez, MS, staying in the Eola Hotel. Then, Henry had to leave his war bride to return to service. After several military transfers, including stops at Great Falls, MT, Salina, KA, and Bangor, ME, Henry flew as a navigator with the 390th Bombardment Group, 8th Air force, on a B-17 Flying Fortress Bomber in the US and overseas to England.



Henry was posted overseas with the 388th Bombardment Group, 8th Air force, in Knettishall, Suffolk, England. He flew as a navigator with the 388th on a B-17 Flying Fortress Bomber (the “Miss Mac”) for 25 missions in Europe and participated in bombing missions over Schweinfurt, Wilhelmshaven, Brunswick, Bremen, and Regensburg in Germany; Gdynia, and Posen in Poland; and Paris and Bordeaux in France. At 12%, the 8th Air Force had the highest attrition rate of all U.S. Forces in World War II.



In February, 1944, Henry completed his last bombing mission and was posted back to the States, where he was later appointed an instructor of navigation at England Air Force Base near Alexandria, LA. Rosalie joined him there, and he served the remainder of his service years in that position until he was mustered out in Sept. 2, 1945 at Camp Shelby near Hattiesburg, MS. Having no car, he hitch-hiked there and hitch-hiked back.



During his service in the U.S. Army Air Corps, Henry was awarded the Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters and the Distinguished Flying Cross—the last earned when he was the lead navigator for his combat wing on a bombing mission to Brunswick, Germany.



After the War, Henry returned to Rosalie and Louisiana and became a civil construction project manager and built locks, highways, and bridges across the state. He and Rosalie had six children. Henry Spohrer was born in Nevada, MO, on March 3, 1916 and died in Baton Rouge, LA, on April 19, 1979. He and Rosalie are buried in Baton Rouge.