Fred E Abigt

Military
media-30617.jpeg UPL 30617 Fred Abigt, Cedar Rapids, IA Charles D Taylor collection

"Iowans of the Mighty Eighth", Chapter 22 "Biographies", by Charles D Taylor.

Object Number - UPL 30617 - Fred Abigt, Cedar Rapids, IA

Fred Abigt was aboard B-17 #44-8302 as a photographer when it crashed on 9 November 1944 near Hern, Germany. He was taken as a Prisoner of War (POW). He was a Corporal at the time of his capture but by the end of the war he held the higher rank of Staff Sergeant.



After hearing Reverend Billy Graham speak, he moved to St Paul, Minnesota to attend Northwestern college, where Graham was President between 1948 and 1952. It was here he met his future wife Ruth. Their daughter Lorraine was born in 1956. They had two other children, Bill and Carrie. He joined the Collins Radio Co. in Cedar Rapids in 1959, and became an Engineering Lab. technician.



The family moved to Cedar Rapids, Iowa in 1958 and Fred got a job at the aviation technology company Rockwell Collins where he was to work for the next 30 years. He died in 2013. He was predeceased by his daughter Lorraine who had died in 1998. His wife Ruth survives him as do Bill and Carrie.

Connections

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Units served with

The insignia of the 388th Bomb Group.
  • Unit Hierarchy: Group
  • Air Force: Eighth Air Force
  • Type Category: Bombardment

Aircraft

  • Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
  • Nicknames: Vagabond Lady
  • Unit: 388th Bomb Group 561st Bomb Squadron

Places

Events

Event Location Date Description

Born

Evansville, IN, USA 14 November 1924

Enlisted

Evansville, IN, USA 10 April 1943

Other

Prisoner of War (POW)

Herne, Germany 9 November 1944 - 6 June 1945

Died

Cedar Rapids, IA, USA 29 November 2013 Aged 88

Buried

Cedar Rapids, IA, USA

Revisions

Date
ContributorHelen
Changes
Sources

Iowans of the Mighty 8th.

Date
Contributorjmoore43
Changes
Sources

Added a "-" to the A/C serial # in the "Summary biography" to aid clarity.

Date
ContributorLucy May
Changes
Sources

Brought in information from a duplicate record that had mistaken spelt his surname 'Nbigt'. Sources:
MACR 10351 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database

Enlistment record: https://aad.archives.gov/aad/record-detail.jsp?dt=893&mtch=1&tf=F&q=abi…

ww2pow record: http://www.ww2pow.info/index.php?page=directory&rec=38725

Findagrave record: http://forums.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=117885966

Obituary: http://www.thegazette.com/article/20130930/Obituaries/309309949

Date
ContributorAAM
Changes
Sources

Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 10351

Fred E Abigt: Gallery (1 items)