Willard Raymond Beaumont
Military
Object Number - UPL 36644 - Willard Raymond Beaumont
Prisoner of War (POW) Crashed on 8/1/43 on TDY to 9th AF for Ploesti raid in B-24 'Pudgy' 42-40613
Connections
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Units served with
- Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
People
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 93rd Bomb Group 330th Bomb Squadron
- Highest Rank: Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Pilot
Aircraft
- Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
- Nicknames: Pudgy
- Unit: 93rd Bomb Group 330th Bomb Squadron
Missions
- Date: 1 August 1943
- Official Description: 177 B-24’s, of IX Bomber Command (including Heavy Bombers on loan from Eighth AF) are dispatched to bomb oil refineries at Ploesti and nearby Campina. The operation (TIDALWAVE) is costly, 54 planes and 532 airmen being lost, but damage to the targets...
Places
- Site type: Airfield
- Known as: Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base
- Site type: Cemetery
Events
| Event | Location | Date | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Born |
Philadelphia, PA | 27 September 1921 | |
|
Based Graduated from Flight School |
Ellington Field | 14 January 1943 | January 14, 1943 – Graduated from Flight School, Ellington Field, Texas. Class motto was “One a day for 43-a” because pilots were being killed at a rate of one a day at that time. |
|
Other Prisoner of war |
near Ploesti, Romania | 1 August 1943 - 23 August 1944 | |
|
Other Awarded Distinguished Flying Cross |
15 September 1943 | For distinguished and meritorious achievement while participating in the operations against the Ploesti Oil Refineries of Rumania on 1 August 1943. In carrying out a low-level, long-range attack on an enemy target of extraordinarily great importance | |
|
Other Married |
3 January 1945 | ||
|
Died |
Hatboro, PA | 8 October 2016 | |
|
Buried |
Washington Crossing National Cemetery | 12 October 2016 | Washington Crossing National Cemetery |
|
Enlisted |
Joined the Army Air Corp | ||
|
Enlisted |
Revisions
I am his son.
I am his son and I attended his burial ceremony there.
From family records.
Willard R. Beaumont was an observer on Pudgey during the Ploesti raid.
I am his son, and have obtained this information from a reliable source, perhaps the book "Black Sunday" or his records.
I am his son recording information collected from various reliable sources
Transcribed from the DFC Citation Transcript
I copied the Army Serial Number from his discharge papers and distinguished flying cross citation.
I am his son. I have seen the wounds, the records, and the awards.
I am his son; I have seen his birth certificate.
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 333
