Milton Charles “Chuck” Hawkins was born and raised in Pinckneyville, Illinois.  He had 5 brothers (4 of whom also served in WWII) and 6 sisters.  In late 1940 he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corp and was subsequently stationed at Wheeler Field in Hawaii.  He was lead mechanic for a P36 fighter, #86 which was only one of 5 able to get airborne that day.  After the bombing and with war declared he remained in the Pacific theatre at various air fields.  During that time he applied for pilot’s training and was accepted  9 months following Pearl Harbor.  Upon arrival in Biloxi, Mississippi however his entire class was washed out of the program because there were too many pilot trainees at that point.  He then selected to join a B-17 bomber crew and was sent to El Paso, Texas for gunnery school.  They then moved to Nebraska for final training and assignment with his B17 crew.  They arrived at Bury St Edmonds in late 1944 and assigned to the 94th, 331st.  The crew flew 29 missions of which the final 2 were for humanitarian relief drops over Belgium in May 1945.  

Chuck never spoke much about his war experience except tales he told his family about the British people and the farms and villages surrounding the base.  In the early 1980’s his former crew finally located Chuck and the old friendships were reignited with annual reunions and gatherings.  They were a lively group and it wasn’t difficult to sense the special bond they had. Truly, the greatest generation.