Service Number 16068920

United States Army Air Force (USAAF), 8th Air Force, 1st Air Division

303rd Bomb Group, 360th Bomb Squadron

Based at RAF Molesworth, Cambridgeshire, England

Killed in action – 25th June 1943, T/Sgt. Dick W. Jones was killed instantly after being hit in the chest by a 20mm cannon shell fired by a Luftwaffe fighter aircraft. This was his 15th combat mission. There were no other losses in the crew of ten, the badly damaged aircraft did make it back to England however the damage meant the aircraft was unable to safely land, and it was ditched in the North Sea, with T/Sgt. Jones’ body still inside. His body eventually washed ashore on the 5th July 1943.

Burial Information – Cambridge American Cemetery, Cambridge, England

Plot E, Row 3, Grave 61

Dick W. Jones was born 12th March 1916. His mother was Minnie Helen Ashworth (03/10/1888 – 08/04/1969), and his father George Perry Jones. They lived in California, and were married on 8th May, 1914 – his mother now being known as Minnie Helen Jones. When Dick was 8 years old, George unfortunately passed away.

At some point thereafter, Minnie & Dick moved to Aurora, Illinois where in the 1930 census, she was single and employed as a stenographer. They lived in rented property at this time with a ‘roomer’. Whilst in Aurora, Minnie was to remarry to Charles Thompson (born 1877), who was a dentist – there are no apparent details of the wedding date, however the 1940 census shows them now as a married couple, with Minnie now being known as Minnie Helen Thompson.

Educationally it is known that Dick attended North Central College, Illinois for two years before finding employment in Chicago at Foote Bros. Gear & Machinery Company. Here they produced gears for Pratt & Whitney engines.

On 16th October 1940 at the age of 24, Dick registered with the armed forces for active service. In March 1942 he was accepted into the Army Air Corp and began specialist training as a radio operator.

Dick was assigned to the 360th Bomb Squadron, of the 303rd Bomb Group, based at RAF Molesworth, England. He formed part of the crew piloted by Captain George V. Stallings, it is documented in family memoirs that they knew Dick was in Africa in early March 1943, so it seems likely they ferried an aircraft via the southern ferry route into Europe (via South America, West Africa and finally England). The Boeing B-17 that the crew ferried across was “Cat O’Nine Tails” – #42-5482 although the crew never used this aircraft operationally. This aircraft is shown on record as being received into the 303rd Bomb Group on 6th March 1943, so the assumption is that Dick and his crew arrived on, or close to, this date also.

By the 25th June 1943, Dick had completed 14 combat missions. On this date, the 303rd Bomb Group despatched 25 aircraft on Mission number 44, to bomb the shipyards and submarine buildings at Hamburg, Germany. The crew of Lt. Stallings, including Dick Jones, were assigned B-17F #42-5468 “Quinine - The Bitter Dose”.

During the return flight, their aircraft came under intense attack by enemy aircraft. During these attacks both waist gunners were injured, as was the navigator. Unfortunately, Dick was killed instantly whilst at his position of Radio Operator when a 20mm cannon shell struck him directly in the chest. Damage to the aircraft was severe, with the aircraft left barely flyable. Lt. Stallings (pilot) was able to return the aircraft to England, and shortly after making landfall near Coltishall, Norfolk, the crew was instructed to abandon the aircraft and bale out. Numerous attempts had been made to extract the body of Dick and release his body by parachute from the aircraft but to no avail. Lt. Stallings remained with the aircraft, the aircraft being directed to head out to sea, where Lt. Stallings finally also bailed out leaving the aircraft to crash into the sea. Dick's body went down with the aircraft.

Lt. Stallings landed in the sea, around ½ mile from shore. He was able to safely swim to shore, where he was met by a local holding a glass of rum. Ten of the eleven crew members had survived (there was an observer onboard for this flight, hence the extra crew member from the usual ten).

It was assumed that the remains of Dick's body was lost, however on the 5th July 1943 a body of an American bomber crewman was washed up on the east coast of England, identification tags confirmed the body to be of T/Sgt Dick W. Jones.

His body was initially buried at Brookwood Cemetery, Surrey on 15th July 1943. This was a temporary burial place during the war years. After the end of the war, the Cambridge American Cemetery was built at Madingley, on the outskirts of Cambridge. At some point Dick's body was transferred from Brookwood to his final resting place Madingley. His grave is located in Plot E, Row 3, Grave 61.

In the course of his duties, T/Sgt. Dick W. Jones earnt the following medals:-

Distinguished Flying Cross

Air Medal with 1 Oak Leaf Cluster

Purple Heart

With thanks to the surviving relatives of Dick W. Jones for their input and permission for use of archive material/images, and also the 303rd Bomb Group website (http://303rdbg.com/) who granted kind permission to use material from their website in the making of this story.