World War II Honoree

Raymond Edward Gipson

Branch of Service

U.S. Army Air Force

Hometown

Leesville, Louisiana

Honored By

Lindsay Safran and Craig Gipson

Relationship

Grandchildren

He was the bombardier on the 'Nasty Habit', a B-17 flying fortress with a crew of 10. The crew named the plane the Nasty Habit because it had a bad habit of getting shot up on most missions. Additionally, the Nasty Habit crash landed twice. On March 3, 1944, while attempting to bomb a V2 rocket site in France, heavy flak knocked out the right engine and caused the wing to burst into flames. He jumped from the plane before it exploded. He was immediately captured and put in Prisoner of War camp Stalag Luft 3, approximately 100 miles southeast of Berlin. He was imprisoned for 395 days. In early 1945, after being forced to march four days in sub-zero temperatures followed by a three-day transport by rail, he was moved to a new prisoner war camp, Stalag V in Moosburg. On April 29, 1945, General George Patton’s 3rd Army attacked the prison and freed the prisoners. He was awarded four air medals and the Prisoner of War medal for his service to his country.