Robert Cozens
Military | Lieutenant Colonel | Pilot/Command Pilot | 95th Bomb Group
Military
Military | Lieutenant Colonel | Pilot/Command Pilot | 95th Bomb Group
Military | Major | Pilot | 95th Bomb Group
Assigned to 334BS, 95BG, 8AF USAAF. ETD
Awards: AM, WWII Victory, EAME.
Military | Second Lieutenant | Pilot | 95th Bomb Group
Shot down 26 July 1943 in B-17 42-30304. Killed in action.
Earlier on mission 17 July 1943 returned same a/c with LWG Jesiolowski killed in action.
Military | Captain | Pilot | 95th Bomb Group
Killed in service 29 December 1943. Accident in A/C #42-39883 'Ruthless' flying through overcast, plane crashed into a mountain while on a non-operational mission to transport crew members who had completed tours of duty to another field for return to...
Military | Lieutenant | Pilot | 95th Bomb Group
Shot down 6 September 1943 in B-17 #42-30300 'Hell-n-Back', Prisoner of War (POW).
POW
Group
The 95th Bomb Group was the only Eighth Air Force Group to be awarded three Distinguished Unit Citations. The first, shared by all four Bomb Wing Groups, was for the bombing of an aircraft factory under intense enemy fire at Regensburg on 17 August...
Squadron
B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Cheyenne 21/2/43; Gore 7/3/43; Assigned 334BS/95BG [BG-Q] Alconbury 19/4/43 LITTLE JIMMIE;
...
B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Cheyenne 21/2/43; Gore 7/3/43; New Castle 6/4/43; Dow Fd 12/4/43; Assigned 334BS/95BG [BG-B] Alconbury 15/4/43 PATSY ANN; Framlingham 12/5/43; Horham 15/6/43; 5m, transferred 364BS/305BG [WF-O] Chelveston 17/6/43; Missing in Action Gilze...
B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Cheyenne 15/4/43; Smoky Hill 22/4/43; Presque Is 10/5/43; Assigned 511BS/351BG [DS-N] Polebrook 26/5/43. Transferred 334BS/95BG [BG-H] Horham 16/6/43.
...
B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Cheyenne 24/4/43; Smoky Hill 5/5/43; Presque Is 24/5/43; Assigned 335BS/95BG [OE-S] Framlingham 29/5/43; Horham 15/6/43; with J.E. Koehler force landed Hardwick AF 20/10/43; 45m, transferred 388BG APH Knettishall 4/44; 803BS RCM Oulton 16/5...
B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Cheyenne 7/5/43; Gore 8/5/43; Cheyenne 20/5/43; Smoky Hill 25/5/43; Kearney 27/5/43; Dow Fd 2/6/43; Assigned 303BG Molesworth 16/6/43; transferred 334BS/95BG [BG-F] Horham 17/6/43; with R.C. Cozens force landed RAF St Eval 28/6/43; Missing in...
B-17 Flying Fortress
Delivered Cheyenne 19/5/43; Gore 20/5/43; Smoky Hill 30/5/43; Wright 30/6/43; Smoky Hill 20/7/43; Kearney 22/7/43; Dow Fd 25/7/43; Assigned 334BS/95BG [BG-B] Horham 28/7/43; 54m, transferred APH with Azon for Aphrodite missions, Knettishall; Aphrodite...
13 May 1943
The large fighter sweeps of the last several weeks have not been successful in drawing any significant numbers of German fighters in opposition. So, if the German will not send his fighters up for a one-on-one confrontation with the American P-47s,...
29 May 1943
Three primary targets are selected for this mission. The U-Boat pens at St. Nazaire, France are selected as the target for a force of 169 B-17s despatched from: 91BG (23); 92BG (22), 303BG (30); 305BG (25) 306BG (24); 351BG (21) and 379BG (24). This is...
13 June 1943
German naval facilities and port areas at Bremen, Germany and Kiel, Germany are the primary targets for this mission. A formation of 151 B-17s despatched from: 91BG (21); 92BG (17); 303BG (27); 305BG (24); 306BG (28); 351BG (21); and 379BG (13) are to...
22 June 1943
The German rubber industry (Chemische Werke Hüls AG) at Marl (district Hüls-Nord), Germany, is the primary objective of this mission and is assigned to the Bomb Groups with the most expericence. Also the industrial area of Antwerp, Belgium is assigned...
25 June 1943
This mission was intended to be the first major attack on the industrial area of Hamburg, Germany but weather and contrails made fromation flying too difficult and dangerous. As a result, the main formation 197 B-17s from: 91BG (18); 92BG (23); 303BG ...
28 June 1943
The primary specific target for this mission are the lock gates at St. Nazaire, France to be attacked by two separate formations and also another force is despatched to bomb the German airfield at Beaumon Le Roger, France. A formation of 120 B-17s of...
4 July 1943
The aircraft factories at Le Mans and Nantes, France and the lock gates and harbour facilities at La Pallice, France are the primary targets for this mission. The mission is comprised of three elements:
...
10 July 1943
German airfields at Caen, Abbeville, and Le Bourget at Paris, France are the primary targets for this mission. 112 B-17s form a combined force from 91BG; 92BG; 305BG; 306BG; 351BG and 381BG to bomb the German airfield (Carpiquet) at Caen, France. Cloud...
14 July 1943
The German air depot at Villacoublay, France and the German airfields Amiens/Glisy and Le Bourget at Paris, France are the primary targets for this mission. These attacks are made by three separate elements: 116 B-17s are despatched from 92BG (15);...
24 July 1943
Three targets in Norway are the primary targets for this first mission flown by 8th AIr Force to Norway. They are the nitrate works at Heroya and the port areas at Trondheim and Bergen. The first element is a combined force of 180 B-17s from: 91BG (22)...
Military site : airfield
Horham airfield was planned and built for RAF use, but handed over to the Eighth Air Force and used initially by the 47th Bomb Group. When they joined the Twelfth Air Force in January 1943, it became home to the B-26 Marauders of the 323rd Bomb Group....
Event | Location | Date |
---|---|---|
Born | Howland, TX | 29 May 1921 |
95th BG Combat Tour | Horham Airfield, UK | 13 May 1943 – 20 October 1943 |
25 Combat Missions |
||
Died | Roxton, TX | 27 October 1996 |
THE PARIS NEWS, Mon., Oct. 28, 1996, p. 5A: '(Picture) Roy Margel Ballard, 75, died Sunday Oct. 27, 1996, at his home in Roxton. Services will be at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29, at Fry and Gibbs Funeral Home Chapel with Nolan Butler, minister of College Church of Christ, officiating. He will be assisted by Earl Smith and Jerry Amsler. Burial will be in Evergreen Cemetery. The family will receive friends from 7-8 p.m. Monday at the funeral home and at other times at their home in Roxton. Mr. Ballard was born May 29, 1921, in Howland, Lamar County, Texas, a son of James Roy (Jack) and Mary Essie Ballard. He graduated from Paris High School in 1938. In July 1942 he enlisted in the United States Air Force and graduated from Harlingen, Texas Gunnery School where he was awarded the Silver Wings of the Aerial Gunner and promoted to the rank of sergeant. He was a ball turrett gunner on U.S. bombers with the 95th Bombardment Group and flew more than 35 missions in France, Germany, Africa and England, receiving the European-African-Middle Eastern Air Medal with one Bronze Star, Good Conduct Medal with three Bronze Clusters, one Overseas Bar and the Distinguished Flying Cross. In October 1945, he received his honorable discharge at Randolph Field, Texas. In 1947, he was one of the first to enlist when the Texas National Guard was organized in Lamar County. He served with the 49th Armored Division at Port Polk, LA, during the Berlin crisis and served as administrative assistant to the division surgeon until his retirement in 1981 with the rank of major. He was owner and operator of Ballard Trucking Co. many years. Mr. Ballard was a 25-year member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks No. 2433, serving the organization as Exalted Ruler from 1977-1979 and from 1984 until the present. During his tenure the lodge increased its membership from 200 to 1,200 and is the largest lodge in membership in Texas. He married Barbara Thompson April 27, 1947, |
||
Buried | Paris, TX | 29 October 1996 |
Evergreen Cemetery |
Date | Contributor | Update |
---|---|---|
28 April 2021 18:11:19 | jmoore43 | Changes to middlename |
Sources | ||
Added middle name from info in the obituary attached to the Died event. |
||
Date | Contributor | Update |
22 July 2020 23:20:42 | 466thHistorian | Changes to service number, highest rank, awards, events, person associations, place associations, aircraft associations and mission associations |
Sources | ||
https://95thbg.mmsw.eu/person/275 |
||
Date | Contributor | Update |
27 September 2014 18:24:37 | AAM | AAM ingest |
Sources | ||
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / http://95thbg.org/95th_db_pages/left_formation_code/gethonoroll.php |