World War II Honoree

Norman E. Portwood

Branch of Service

U.S. Army Air Force

Hometown

Peoria, Illinois

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Staff Sergeant. On June 20, 1942, he was inducted into the United States Army Air Corps at Peoria, Illinois. After his graduation from Boot Camp, he was selected to attend the Flight Aviation Training Program. Served as a Tail Gunner in a B-24 ‘Liberator’ Bomber in the European Theater of Operations, assigned to the Seventh Bombardment Squadron, Thirty-Fourth Bombardment Group; U.S. Eighth ‘Mighty Eighth’ Army Air Forces. His unit was based at the Royal Air Force Station Mendlesham, near the village of Stowmarket, England. Reported missing in action Sunday, July 9, 1944 during a bombing mission to France. A formation of bombers from his group was dispatched to bomb German V-1 Rockets launching pads that were targeting London, England. The pads were Camouflaged, and sheltered in a large forest in Northern France, located near the village of Juvincourt. His bomber was hit by German anti-aircraft ground fire flak, and severely damaged while leaving the target. The pilot was forced to crash-land into the English Channel near the village of Selsey Bill, England with the loss of seven lives. His name is permanently inscribed in the tablets of the missing, memorialized at the American Cemetery in Cambridge, England. He received the following awards posthumously: Air Medal with Three Oak Leaf Clusters and the Purple Heart. The Air Medal awarded for meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight. This Patriot, a Native American Indian, a descendant of the Sioux ‘Pine Ridge’ tribe was awarded the Purple Heart, for his ultimate sacrifice in defense of his country.