Rodney Alverson Williams

Military

Rodney A Williams flew as a waist gunner with the 613th Bomb Squadron of the 601st Bomb Group. On 18 March 1945, he was taken as a Prisoner of War (POW) when the B-17 'Lady Jane' (serial number 43-38607) he was aboard was shot down and crashed near Wittingen, Germany. Williams was wounded by flak. He was held at Luft Stalag I, Barth Germany.



His daughter, Lorraine Manatt, received his Purple Heart on his behalf 70 years after her father was shot down during a ceremony at Los Alamitos Army Airfield in Los Alamitos, California on 18 March 2015.

Connections

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Units served with

A pathfinder B-17 Flying Fortress (serial number 44-8258) of the 401st Bomb Group. Image by Robert Astrella. Written on slide casing: '48258 14 A, Mount Farm.'

401st Bomb Group

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

Aircraft

43-38607

  • Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
  • Unit: 401st Bomb Group 613th Bomb Squadron

Events

Event Location Date Description

Born

Spokane, WA, USA 14 October 1911

Died

Orange County, CA, USA 28 January 1994

Other

Prisoner of War (POW)

Germany 18 March 1945

Born

Long Beach, CA, USA

Revisions

Date
Contributorjmoore43
Changes
Sources

Capitalized the words "Waist Gunner" in the "Role/job" field.

Date
ContributorLucy May
Changes
Sources

Houston Chronicle article: http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/us/article/World-War-II-vet-awarde…

Findagrave record: http://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=williams&GSfn=rodney&…;

Date
ContributorAAM
Changes
Sources

Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 13137 / MACR 13137, http://www.401bg.org/Main/History/Members/Details.aspx?ID=2266 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database