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388th Bomb Group (H) Jake Colvin & Crew (replacements from 452nd) Colvin crew - A/C 42-30800 was hit by flak over the target just after bombs away, left the formation and disappeared into the clouds. The crew ditched just off the Dutch Coast and were picked up by Germans Air Sea Rescue boat. This was one of the 452nd Bomb Group crews in our aircraft.

Assigned Fighter Group VF- 22 served aboard the USS Cowpens CVL-25 (nicknamed The Mighty Moo). ESN Bacon was reported missing in the Philippine Islands on November 5, 1944.The Cowpens was part of Admirals Haley’s Task Force 38.

Lonnie Vinson enlisted in the Navy eleven days after Pearl Harbor. He was stationed as a member of the Naval Armed Guard aboard a merchant ship in the Atlantic. He was fighting on the critical frontline in the of the Battle of the Atlantic- the United States and Great Brittan’s battle to supply strategic (and Basic) war materials to remain in the fight against Nazi Germany. On May 29, 1942 the Stanvac Calcutta, a tanker, sailed from Montevideo, Uruguay heading north unescorted. Aboard the ship was a crew of 42 Merchant Marines and Seaman 2nd Class Lonnie Vinson and eight other Naval Armed Guards. On June 6 off the coast Recife Brazil the ship was spotted by the German raider Stier [Schiff 23]. When the lookout spotted the German ensign/flag, the captain ordered full steam and attempted to out distance the enemy. Both deck guns fire 20-25 shells each. The heavier armed Stier responded with 148 rounds and torpedoes. The Stanvac Calcutta soon became dead in the water, sinking, the 37 surviving crew members were taken aboard the Stier. On June 12 the Stier meet supply tanker Charlotte Schliemann and transferred her prisoner to this ship.On May 29, 1942 the Stanvac Calcutta, a tanker, sailed from Montevideo, Uruguay heading north unescorted. Aboard the ship was a crew of 42 Merchant Marines and Seaman 2nd Class Lonnie Vinson and eight other Naval Armed Guards. The prisoners were transferred to the Japanese SS Nanking were the remained until transferred to prison camps. Seaman Vinson was imprisoned at Pow Camp #3-B Kokuro in Fukuoka Japan at Yalata Steel Works. Yalata steel major producer of steel for Japan. Camp was liberated on September 13, 1945

Pilot B-17 KIA February 29, 1944. Shot down (flack) over Germany on February 29, 1944

B-17 copilot. Killed (all 10 in crew) over Pollinkhove, Belguim on Jan. 13, 1943. 365 BS 305 BG 8th AF

Roy entered the Navy April 4, 1943, the day before his 18th birthday. Roy served on the USS YORKTOWN (CV-10) participating in the Philippine operation, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa Campaigns. He was part of a force that occupied Japan immediately after the war ended. Following the end of WWII, Roy returned to South Carolina to attend college under the GI Bill, graduating from the University of South Carolina and their School of Law in 1951. Wanting to experience life beyond the borders of Great Falls, he joined the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General's Corps (JAGC) in 1955, serving more than 22 years with tours at Fort Benning, Fort Jackson, Camp Darby – Italy, and the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA; the Pentagon, Vietnam, Hawaii and Huntsville, Alabama, where he retired.