World War II Honoree

Arthur Leo Crow

Branch of Service

U.S. Army Air Force

Hometown

Wapanucka, Oklahoma

Honored By

Ronald Crow

Relationship

Nephew

U.S. Army, 13 January 1943 to 23 April 1944. He was the nose gunner on a B-24H named 'Towney's Tavern', after the pilot John Townsend. He entered the service in Oklahoma City and went to boot camp at Fort Sill. He went to air crew school in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He and the crew trained at Gowen Field, Idaho and Muroc Field, California. They were in Hamilton Field, California when they received their brand new B-24. They flew to Europe via South America and Africa in January, 1944. They began operations from Stornia, Italy in February, 1944. 15th Air Force, 456th Heavy Bomb Group, 746th Squadron. He had about 20 mission credits. The crew had a group photo taken before they left on their last mission on 23 April 1944. The mission was to bomb a fighter aircraft factory near Vienna, Austria. The group of bombers were attacked by German fighters when they were 20 minutes away from target. Towney's Tavern lost an engine and fell back; it was then swarmed by the fighters. The plane went out of control briefly. When the plane was stable, the Captain ordered the crew to bail out. They were near Gyor, Hungary. The parachute count for the plane varies from 6 to 10. Six of the crew were captured and sent to German Prisoner of War camps. He was seriously wounded during the air combat and did not make it out of the plane before it crashed. He is listed on the Tablets of the Missing at the American Military Cemetery in Florence, Italy. His awards are Purple Heart, Air Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters, European Theatre of Operations with two battle stars and the WWII Victory Medal.