William Byrd
Military | Second Lieutenant | Bombardier | 305th Bomb Group Can Do
Assigned to 422BS, 305BG, 8AF USAAF. 25 x combat missions. ETD
Awards: AM, WWII Victory, EAME.
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Lester Personeus Jr
Military
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"Lt. Personeus and crew of the 305th Bomb Group based in England, shown beside their Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, "Nora 2nd". 28 May 1943." Rear L-R: 1st Lt. Lester Personeus Jr, F/O Charles J. Harpool, Lt Norbert A. Zwycke, Lt Wiiliam J. Byrd, T/Sgt William C. Reese Jr. Front L-R: Sgt Roger M. Link, Sgt James O. Gillespie, Sgt George W. James, Sgt William J. Hess, Sgt Euel Jenkins.
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"Lt. Personeus and crew of the 305th Bomb Group, are shown beside a B-17 "Flying Fortress" 'Nora 2'. 20 August 1943. England." Rear L-R: 1st Lt. Lester Personeus Jr, F/O Charles J. Harpool, Lt Norbert A. Zwicke, Lt Wiiliam J. Byrd, T/Sgt William C. Reese Jr. Front L-R: Sgt Roger M. Link, Sgt James O. Gillespie, Unkn, Sgt George W. James, Sgt William J. Hess, Sgt Euel Jenkins.
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"Crew of the 96th Bomb Group* pose beside their Boeing B-17 'Kipling's Error The III'** at an 8th Air Force base in England. 29 June 1943." *Actually 305th Bomb Group **Actually 'Nora 2nd' Crew are - 1st Lt. Lester Personeus Jr, F/O Charles J. Harpool, Lt Norbert A. Zwycke, Lt Wiiliam J. Byrd, T/Sgt William C. Reese Jr, Sgt Roger M. Link, Sgt James O. Gillespie, Sgt George W. James, Sgt William J. Hess, Sgt Euel Jenkins.
Assigned to 422BS, 305BG, 8AF USAAF. 25 x combat missions ETO. Ended tour Duty (ETD). Went on to complete 23 x combat missions on B-29's in the pacific.
Awards: DFC (2OLC), AM (6OLC), WWII Victory, EAME.
Service
People
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James Gillespie
Military | Technical Sergeant | Radio operator | 305th Bomb Group Can Do
Assigned to 422BS, 305BG, 8AF USAAF. 25 x combat missions. ETD Awards: AM, WWII Victory, EAME. -
Charles Harpool
Military | Captain | Co-pilot | 305th Bomb Group Can Do
Assigned to 422BS, 305BG, 8AF USAAF. 25 x combat missions. ETD Awards: AM, WWII Victory, EAME. -
William Hess
Military | Technical Sergeant | Waist Gunner | 305th Bomb Group Can Do
Assigned to 364BS, 305BG, 8AF USAAF. Completed tour of duty. Returned to ETO with the 449BS, 322BG, 9AF USAAF until July 1945 [Documents accompany database form] Awards: DFC, AM (4OLC), GC, WWII Victory, EAME, DUC. -
George James
Military | Staff Sergeant | Waist Gunner | 305th Bomb Group Can Do
Assigned to 422BS, 305BG, 8AF USAAF. 25 x combat missions. ETD Awards: DFC, AM (3OLC), GC, WWII Victory, EAME (1 Battle Star). -
Euel Jenkins
Military | Staff Sergeant | Waist gunner | 305th Bomb Group Can Do
Assigned to 422BS, 305BG, 8AF USAAF. ETD Awards: WWII AM, Victory, EAME. -
Roger Link
Military | Staff Sergeant | Tail Gunner | 305th Bomb Group Can Do
Assigned to 422BS, 305BG, 8AF USAAF. ETD Awards: AM, WWII Victory, EAME. -
William Reese
Military | Technical Sergeant | Flight engineer | 305th Bomb Group Can Do
Assigned to 422BS, 305BG, 8AF USAAF. 25 x combat missions. ETD Awards: AM, WWII Victory, EAME. -
Albert Rolnick
Military | Second Lieutenant | Bombardier | 100th Bomb Group
Original member of Lester Personeus crew, assigned to 306BG, ferrying B-17 42-29625 stateside, contracted jaundice before the Personeus crew departed for ETO. Assigned to 813th 482BG, 8AF USAAF. Aboard B-17F 42-5793 which crashed at Brome, Suffolk, en... -
Norbert Zwicke
Military | Colonel | Navigator | 305th Bomb Group Can Do
Assigned to 422BS, 305BG, 8AF USAAF. 26 x combat missions. ETD Awards: LOM (OLC), DFC (OLC), AM (4OLC), WWII AM, Victory, EAME.
Units served with
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305th Bomb Group Can Do
Group
The 305th Bombardment Group (Heavy), nicknamed "Can Do" was activated 1-March-1942 at Salt Lake City Air Base, Utah which was their primary training base until 11-Jun-1942 when they relocated to Geiger Field, Washington until 29-Jun-1942, then on to... -
422nd Bomb Squadron
Squadron
Aircraft
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42-29529 NORA 2
B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Cheyenne 31/12/42; Salina 10/1/43; Morrison 5/3/43; Brookley 8/3/43; Assigned 369BS/306BG Thurleigh 24/3/43; transferred 422BS/305BG [JJ-L] Chelveston 10/43; then to 545BS/384BG [JD-U] Grafton Underwood 6/11/43; returning from Bremen 13/12/43...
Associated Place
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Chelveston
Military site : airfield
Chelveston was adapted and expanded in preparation for the arrival of American forces. Rather than heavy bombers, the first aircraft to fly from its runways were C-47 Skytrains that were flown by the 60th Troop Carrier Group in July 1942. The first...
Events
| Event | Location | Date |
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| Born | Kingston, NY | 3 January 1919 |
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Son of the Lester Snr and Hattie [Barringer] Personeus. |
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| Enlisted | New York, NY | 28 April 1941 |
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New York City New York |
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| Based | Chelveston | 1944 – 1944 |
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Assigned to 422BS, 305BG, 8AF USAAF. |
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| Died | Saint Augustine, FL | 1 February 2004 |
| Buried | Tongore Cemetery, Olivebridge, NY | 14 February 2004 |
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Tongore Cemetery |
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Revisions
| Date | Contributor | Update |
|---|---|---|
| 09 October 2019 09:39:41 | Al_Skiff | Changes to suffix, nickname, service number, highest rank, role, biography, awards, events, unit associations, place associations and aircraft associations |
| Sources | ||
https://www.fold3.com/record/7381017-lester-personeus |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 27 September 2014 18:18:45 | AAM | AAM ingest |
| Sources | ||
305th Bomb Group Roster / Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia |
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