media-378823.jpg FRE 955 Captain Edmund J Skoner (1912–1988), Chaplain, sits at his desk at Molesworth air base, Cambridgeshire in the winter of 1942 Skoner was attached to the 303rd Bombardment Group, known as the ‘Hell’s Angels’. One of his duties was to write letters of condolence to the families of missing or killed airmen. When this photo was taken in December 1942, the 303rd had only flown six of their eventual 364 missions, with the loss of three B-17s. Skoner’s work was only just beginning. By the war’s end, the 303rd had suffered 1,764 casualties (killed or missing in action and prisoners of war) out of 8,960 serving men. Roger Freeman Collection

Text updated from research for 'Somewhere in England' exhibition at IWM Duxford in 2013.
1. Obituary in the Chicago Tribune, 5 February 1988 gives his date of death and confirms he was living in Florida http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1988-02-05/news/8803270951_1_pastor-…
2. Online ancestry site confirms date of birth; date of death and residents matches obituary http://www.ancientfaces.com/person/edmund-j-skoner/48500657
3. Letter of condolence from Skoner to a Mrs Jennie Swift on 303rd BG website http://www.303rdbg.com/358mcclure-swift1.jpg
4. Daniel B Jorgensen (of the USAF Office of the Chief of Chaplains), Air Force chaplains, Vol. 1. The service of Chaplains to Army Air Units, 1917-1946 (US Govt) – part IV, p.157 focuses on Second World War chaplains
http://digitalcollections.uncw.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/hoc/id…