World War II Honoree

Max Franklin Fuller

Branch of Service

U.S. Army Air Force

Hometown

Mount Airy, North Carolina

Honored By

His Family

JOINED THE 779TH BOMBARDMENT SQUADRON, 464TH BOMBARDMENT GROUP (HEAVY) ON NOVEMBER 12, 1943 AT POCATELLO, IDAHO. HE WAS PROMOTED TO STAFF SERGEANT ON APRIL 20, 1944. THE MISSION OF AUGUST 18, 1944 COMPLETED 50 MISSION CREDITS FOR HIM. IN RECOGNITION OF HIS OUTSTANDING SERVICE, THE FOLLOWING AWARDS WERE RECEIVED: AIR MEDAL, FIRST, SECOND AND THIRD OAK LEAF CLUSTER, DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS. THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE WAS PRINTED IN THE TIMES (MT. AIRY, NORTH CAROLINA NEWSPAPER) ON AUGUST 18, 1944: STAFF SERGEANT MAX F. FULLER, SON OF MRS. JOHN FULLER, OF MOUNT AIRY, HAS RECENTLY SHOT DOWN HIS SECOND GERMAN MESSERSCHMITT 109 WHILE ON A MISSION OVER VIENNA, ACCORDING TO A PUBLIC RELATIONS DISPATCH TO THE TIMES. SERGEANT FULLER, WHO ALREADY HAS THE AIR MEDAL WITH OAK LEAF CLUSTERS FOR MERITORIOUS SERVICE, IS A WAIST GUNNER ON A B-24 LIBERATOR BOMBER AND HAS FLOWN MISSIONS OVER FRANCE, GERMANY, ITALY, AND THE BALKANS, HITTING SUCH TARGETS AS THE PLOESTI OIL FIELDS, THE MESSERSCHMITT FACTORIES AT WEINER-NEUDSTADT, AUSTRIA, AND THE FLYING BOMB FACTORIES AT FREDERICKSHAVEN IN SOUTHWESTERN GERMANY. INTERVIEWED ABOUT THE TWO PLANES HE HAS SHOT DOWN, SERGEANT FULLER SAID, 'ONE OF THE SHIPS I SHOT DOWN CAME STRAIGHT IN AT ME, AND I THOUGHT HE WOULD CRASH INTO THE SIDE OF OUR B-24. I POURED ABOUT FIFTEEN ROUNDS IN HIM, AND HE STARTED BURNING AND BLEW UP. THOSE GERMANS ARE GAME, THOUGH, FOR THEY COME IN AND SEE WHAT YOU HAVE, AND GOD HELP YOU IF YOUR GUNS JAM. THE GERMANS DON'T FOOL AROUND. IT SEEMS LIKE THEY ARE DESPERATE, AND THEY WILL GLADLY GIVE A FIGHTER FOR A BOMBER.'