Memorials › Gilbert Martin Whitfill

Gilbert Martin Whitfill

9 Jan 1924 – 16 Nov 2006

Birth9 Jan 1924
Death16 Nov 2006
CemeteryCalvary Hill Cemetery and Mausoleum
Dallas , Dallas County , Texas , USA
Added bypatootie on 13 Jul 2025
FaGhttps://www.findagrave.com/memorial/16859627

Bio

Gilbert Martin Whitfill was a World War II prisoner of war who used his logical thinking to become an early computer systems analyst in Dallas. Mr. Whitfill, 82, died Thursday at his home in Paris, Texas. Services were Monday in Paris. He was buried in Calvary Hill Cemetery in Dallas. "He was a very logical thinker," said his daughter, Jeanne Erichson of Austin. "He could sit and work with something and figure it out." In the mid-1960s, Mr. Whitfill was the Great American Reserve Insurance Co. vice president responsible for installing and managing one of that industry's first computerized life insurance operations. "He was real good at figuring out what the field people needed to do their work," his daughter said. "He was just a very logical, straight thinker. If you sat him down with any problem, he could eventually figure it out." Mr. Whitfill was also devoted to his family. "The care of his family – first and foremost – was very important to him," his daughter said. Mr. Whitfill was born and raised in Ennis, where he graduated from high school. He became interested in serving in the Army Air Forces while watching training activity at a nearby airfield, his daughter said. Mr. Whitfill served in the Army Air Forces as a B-24 Liberator pilot based in Italy. He was taken prisoner after being shot down over Austria on May 10, 1944. "He didn't talk a lot about it. ... He talked about not having a lot to eat," his daughter said of her father's time as a POW. John Quigley of Crestwood, Mo., Mr. Whitfill's co-pilot, said the crew was shot down over an Austrian lake on a sortie to bomb a German airfield. "An ME [Messerschmitt] 109 came in on us at 11 o'clock and he just got us," Mr. Quigley said. The B-24 was flying at about 23,000 feet when it was hit, said Mr. Quigley, who was flying the aircraft at the time. "We went on fire immediately," he said. "Nothing could be done; the controls just went limp. "We could see there was no choice, so ... [Mr. Whitfill] gave the order to jump, which we did," Mr. Quigley said. The bomber exploded shortly after the crew bailed out. The nose gunner was shot by the Germans while parachuting to earth. Mr. Whitfill was among the crew members who were taken prisoner by Germans in boats on the Austrian lake. (Mr. Quigley was among those captured about three days later.) That winter, the POWs were marched in near-zero-degree weather to Germany. Many of the POWs had health problems and did not live through the first day's march. "We lost troops on that march," Mr. Quigley said. "They had to shoot some of the dogs that were guarding us. It was bitter cold; it got down to zero or worse." Mr. Whitfill was a popular leader with his crew, with which he had started 12 pervious missions. "He was a big ... Texas farm boy," Mr. Quigley said. "He was a rough, tough old guy, and one of the nicest men I have ever known. The crew just loved him." After the war, Mr. Whitfill attended Southern Methodist University on the GI Bill. He went to work for Great American Reserve Insurance Co., where he met Barbara Ancelin, whom he married in July 1950. Mr. Whitfill became a vice president of the insurance company in 1962. He retired in the mid-1980s and moved to land near Direct, Texas, that he had long used for hunting. He and his wife moved to Paris about 18 months ago, after fire destroyed the home he had built on the rural land. He was a parishioner of Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church in Paris. In Dallas, Mr. Whitfill had been a founding member of St. Pius X Catholic Church and later joined St. Bernard of Clairvaux Catholic Church. In addition to his daughter, Mr. Whitfill is survived by his wife, Barbara Ancelin Whitfill of Paris; three other daughters, Cynthia Burns of New Braunfels, Texas, Rosemary Bain of Plano and Nanette McRoberts of Fort Collins, Colo.; four sons, Steve Whitfill of Carmel, Calif., Kelly Whitfill of Dallas, Charles Whitfill of Greensboro, N.C., and Patrick Whitfill of Southlake; four brothers, Clarence Whitfill of Ennis, Lloyd Whitfill of Florence, Ore., Fred Whitfill of Sachse and Paul Whitfill of Purdon, Texas; six sisters, Gertrude Langley, Thelma Pruitt, Theresa Odolozil and Lucille Prestidge, all of Ennis, Geraldine Whitfill of Austin, and Henrietta McClintock of Dallas; eight grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

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