Keith Jerald Clinton

Military

Assigned to 652BS, 25BG, 8AF USAAF. On 9-May-44 the mission to the Azores was routine until the last leg. Just out from Land's End when all hell broke loose. There was a terrible metal ripping sound and some explosions. Bullets and 20mm shells ripped into the rear fuselage wounding 2 crew. Crew fought off 4 x Ju88's, downing one and forcing a second to trail off homewards with smoke from one engine. RAF spitfire escort, responding to the ships mayday, pointed out the damaged undercarriage, whilst the two failed engines also became apparent. Clary Stephenson bellied landed Lands End. 3 x WIA, 5 x RTD. Wounded in Action (WIA). Crashed fatally on take off for weather recon to Azores 6-Jun-44 Returned to Duty (RTD).





Awards: AM (4OLC); PH, GC, WWII Victory, EAME (4 x Battle star), American Campaign Medal.

Connections

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Units served with

A B-26 Marauder of the 654th Bomb Squadron, 25th Bomb Group, parked on a runway. Handwritten on reverse: '654 BS.'
  • Unit Hierarchy: Group
  • Air Force: Eighth Air Force
  • Type Category: Reconnaissance

People

  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 25th Bomb Group 652nd Bomb Squadron
  • Service Numbers: 15110085 / O-754300
  • Highest Rank: First Lieutenant
  • Role/Job: Pilot

Aircraft

  • Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
  • Unit: 25th Bomb Group 652nd Bomb Squadron

Places

Events

Event Location Date Description

Born

Ada, Michigan 16 October 1922 Son of Glenn Louis and Lois S. [Katz] Clinton.

Enlisted

Kalamazoo, MI, USA 22 January 1943 Kalamazoo, Michigan

Other

Wounded in Action (WIA)

Lands End, Cornwall, UK 9 May 1944 Wounded in head by Ju88 attack, patched up by radio Op and aided into ball turret to fight off attackers. (WIA).

Other

Survived fatal crash

Watton, Thetford IP25, UK 6 June 1944 Survived fatal crash on take off for weather recon to Azores 6-Jun-44 Returned to Duty (RTD).

Died

7 July 2016

Buried

7 May 2018 Arlington National Cemetery Arlington, Virginia Section 55 Site 4072

Based

Watton Assigned to 652BS, 25BG, 8AF USAAF.

Buried

Ada Cemetery Ada, Kent County, MI Memorialised Ada Cemetery Ada, Kent County, Michigan

Revisions

Date
ContributorEmily
Changes
Sources

Removed source information added by Wattonman from biography

Date
ContributorWattonman
Changes
Sources

Norman Malayney, "The 25th Bomb Group (Rcn) in WWII" Schiffer Publications Ltd. 2011.

Date
ContributorAl_Skiff
Changes
Sources
Date
ContributorAAM
Changes
Sources

Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / self; Aerial Intelligence of the 8th Air Force, pg 38