Memorials › SSGT Roy Elton Hughes
SSGT Roy Elton Hughes
17 Mar 1921 – 22 Feb 1944
| Birth | 17 Mar 1921 |
| Death | 22 Feb 1944 |
| Cemetery | Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery Lemay Township , St. Louis County , Missouri , USA |
| Added by | JHTorrison on 28 Aug 2016 |
| FaG | https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/42579081 |
Gravesite details
From Parmer Co, TX. ID: 38107151
Bio
A commission as a second lieutenant and a pair of silver wings awaited those who completed navigation school. In the case of newlywed Joe Altemus, so did a navigator's job aboard a B-24 bomber headed for Italy. ROY HUGHES. Radar/Top Gunner "Among the memorabilia left after my father's death, Bill Boyce found a formal military portrait of Roy Hughes, who handled radio and radar duties aboard Miss Fortune and who, under enemy attack, took the top turret position. Scribbled on the back I read: "My buddies in action-an honest and straightforward fighter's airman. I will always remember him! " Roy Elton Hughes grew to manhood in northern Texas during that region's grinding Dust Bowl years when it was all a farmer could do to scrape up enough produce or money to put a few bites in front of each family member once a day. It may have been no accident that Hughes turned out to be rail thin. Born in 1921, Roy and his family settled in the town of Friona by the time disturbing reports started coming in from Europe and the Pacific. His father, Buford Hughes, worked at a car agency, and Roy rose into some of the same universe by pumping gas at the local station. His mother, Lucy Mae, stayed home to take care of her son and his four sisters. According to his mates aboard Miss Fortune, Roy was the best gunner they'd ever seen, cool and quiet in his deadly work, as contrasted with others who became overexcited when lives were on the line and made fatal mistakes. He was, the crew members said, always efficient. Apart from work, he was well liked for talking, always showing up with a smile and, as Ray Noury expressed it later, loving his family "with all his heart." Perhaps this love, much appreciated back home in Friona, was the inspiration of the words on Buford's grave marker: "He gave his only son so others may live free." Top Gunner B-24J Liberator #42-73138 Lost over Czechoslovakia on mission from Italy to bomb Regensburg, Germany.The plane crashed at Nepomuk, CZ. Killed In Action were: 1st Lt. George M Goddard, Jr , Pilot 1st Lt. Haig Kandarian , Co-Pilot 1st Lt. Joseph F Altemus , Navigator 1st Lt. Charles F Spickard, Jr , Bombardier TSgt. Oscar W Houser , Engineer SSgt. Harold C Carter , Armorer-Gunner SSgt. John A Goldbach , Nose Gunner SSgt. Roy E. Hughes, Radio Operator SSgt. Wayneworth E Nelson , Tail Gunner SSgt. Rexford H Rhodes , Asst. Engineer Only SSgt. Raymond Noury survived the crash, falling out of his right waist gunner's window as the right wing explored and broke off, sending the B-24 into a steep and fatal dive. SSgt. Raymond Noury survived as a POW until May 1945 Ray would visit the Czech memorials for the crew's sacrifice for the freedom of others. Ray's visits to the memorials in Pradlo and Nepomuk in 2004 and 2009 can be watched on Youtube... search for Ray Noury Missing Air Crew Report 2726. Two sources has the bomber nicknamed "Butch" and also as "Miss Fortune." The crew's partial remains were interred together in two coffins on June 16, 1950.
Inscription
SSGT, 343 AAF BOMB SQ, 98 BOMB GP WORLD WAR II
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