World War II Honoree

Albert Pearson

Branch of Service

U.S. Army Air Force

Hometown

Rifle, Colorado

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Staff Sergeant. Inducted into the United States Army Air Corps November 27, 1941 at Fort Logan, Colorado. Following the completion of basic military training, he was selected to attend the Flight Aviation Training Program. He served as a crewmember aboard a B-24 ‘Liberator’ Bomber, assigned to the 780th Bomber Squadron, 455th Bomber Group and an element of the U.S. Fifteenth Army Air Forces. His unit was based at the Panatella Air Base Location: Cerignola, Italy. Thursday, August 3, 1944 he was killed in action, when his bomber was shot-down by German Anti-Aircraft ground flak, crashing near the city of Friedrichshafen, Germany. The Flight group’s mission was to bomb and destroy the Friedrichshafen Steele Plants/Factories. Personnel from a Graves Registration Company buried him in the Saint Avold Battlefield Cemetery Metz, France. In the post-war era, this Airman’s family requested that he be buried with Military Honors at the Lorraine American Cemetery Location: Saint Avold (Moselle), France. This American Patriot received the following decorations posthumously: Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster 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.