World War II Honoree

Laddie B Fields

Branch of Service

U.S. Army Air Force

Hometown

Hobart, Oklahoma

Honored By

Ellen H. Fields

Relationship

wife

Flew 28 combat missions over Germany from NOV44 to MAR45 as a tail gunner on a B-17 bomber. He was drafted shortly after his 18th birthday. On July 29, 1943, he was inducted into the U. S. Army Air Forces at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Following basic training he was sent to Texas Technical College in Lubbock, Texas, for aviation courses. Having already accumulated 10 hrs of flight training in the Taylorcraft L-2A Grasshopper light-observation aircraft, he was diverted from flight training to gunnery school. He was assigned to the two-month gunnery school at Kingman Army Airfield, Arizona, for further training in the use of both the .30 and .50 cal machine guns. Subsequent training in their maintenance and the theory of sighting them completed his preparation as a tail gunner (MOS 611). In late October 1944, he was shipped out to England, where he was assigned to the 534th Bomb Squadron, 381st Bomb Group (H), 8th Air Force, as the tail gunner of a B-17 Flying Fortress (G model), #43-38771. For the next seven months, he and his crew would fly strategic bombing missions from RAF Ridgewell, about 40 miles northeast of London, to Germany and central Europe. He was wounded by shrapnel on his 28th mission, over Berlin, March 18, 1945. He returned home to the U. S., June 10, 1945, and was honorably discharged at Sioux Falls Army Airfield, South Dakota, October 24, 1945. Campaigns: Ardennes GO 33 WD 45; Central Europe GO 40 WD 45; Rhineland GO 33 WD 45. Decorations: Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters for meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight against the enemy. Purple Heart for wounds received in action on a bombing mission over Berlin, March 18, 1945. EAME ribbon.