World War II Honoree

Given C. Grooms

Branch of Service

U.S. Army Air Force

Hometown

Pebbles, Ohio

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Staff Sergeant. Inducted into the United States Army November 10, 1942 at Huntington, West Virginia. Upon his graduation from recruit training, he was designated to attend the Flight Aviation Training Program. He served as a B-24 ‘Liberator’ Bomber Radio Operator, assigned to the 718th Bomber Squadron, 449th Bomber Group, Forty-Seventh Bomber Air Wing, an element of the U.S. Fifteenth Army Air Forces. His unit was based at the Grottaglie Airfield Taranto, Italy. Sunday, January 30, 1944 he was reported missing in action, when his group was dispatched for a bombing mission on the Luftwaffe Airfield Udine, Italy. As the formation approached the target his bomber was shot down by German Fighters. In remembrance of the brave, his name is permanently inscribed in the tablets of the missing, memorialized at Florence American Cemetery and Memorial Location: Via Cassia, Italy. This American Patriot received the following decorations posthumously: Air Medal and the Purple Heart. The Air Medal was awarded to the Sergeant for meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight, and the Purple Heart for his Heroism and ultimate sacrifice.