8 May 1942 – “Alexandria, La.—(INS)—Army authorities at Esler field began an investigation Friday into the deaths of six fliers from the field in the crash and burning of a bomber, 12 miles east of Alexandria.
“The dead included: Second Lieut. Merton W. Ortmann, 23, pilot, of Clinton, Wis.; Second Lieut. Edward N. Walters, 23, co-pilot, Odebolt, Ia; Second Lieut. George S. Edwards, 25, Crawford, Tex.; Second Lieut. Thomas S. Gilliam, 27, Appomattox county, Va.; Second Lieut. Charles T. Willock, Jr., Winthrop, Mass.; and Staff Sgt. Thomas R. Numbers, 26, Glendale, Cal.”
Source
“lowean and Five Others Killed in Plane Wreck,” Waterloo Daily Courier (Waterloo, Iowa), 8 May 1942, pg. 2.
Hi Linda,
My mother’s brother, Charles T. Willock, Jr., I believe is the flier named in the 8 May 1942 article. This is the first piece of information, other than what my Mom was able to tell me (she passed at age 70 in 1998). She was about 10 years younger than her Charles (they called him “Junie”). Her mom died when she was 3, and her Dad was an atty and not “present” for his remaining children, esp with his wife dying at 37 (in 1931 – pregnant with twins at the time). My Mom said that Charles was not supposed to be on that plane; that he had offered to take the place of an airman who had partied too hard the previous night and asked him to replace him on that mission.
I would like to know even more about that investigation and will continue my search. If you learn anything more, would you please be willing to let me know.
Thank you so much.
Linda Panosky
Hi Linda – what an amazing story you provided. I’ll do a quick search this morning to see if I can find any other articles. I discovered that article at newspaperarchives.com. I don’t know if they have a month by month capability for payment, but you might want to see if they do. You’d probably find a few stories, as a story such as this would be found in several newspapers. Unfortunately, they probably would all say the same thing, unless it’s a local paper that focused on your uncle specifically.