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On April 8, 1944, a B-24 Liberator Bomber (41-28983) took off from Topeka Army Air Field in Kansas. The B-24, and its crew of ten men of the United States Army Air Corps, were bound for Morrison Field in West Palm Beach, Florida. Morrison Field was a staging base for the theaters of war. After a stopover, the B-24 Liberator Bomber and its crew of ten men would have been en route to Europe via the South Atlantic Ferry Route to join the Allied effort to defeat the Nazi war machine. Shortly after takeoff, the B-24 crashed in the Millington, Tennessee area in the vicinity of the Chickasaw Ordnance Works. Nine men were killed, and one man, Sgt. Richard H. Martin Jr. from Lynchburg, Virginia, parachuted to safety and survived the crash. He was admitted to Kennedy General Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. The nine men who perished in the crash are listed as official casualties of World War II, having died in the service of their country. |
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From the Newspaper: The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Sunday, April 9, 1944 "Exploding in midair with a force that tore it into three pieces, a B-24 Army Liberator carried nine of its crew members to death yesterday morning as it disintegrated over a two mile area just west of the Chickasaw Ordnance Works near Millington." |
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S/Sgt. Lawson C. Chitester was from the Buffalo, New York area. |
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At the time of his death, his wife, Teresa, lived on Tonawanda St., Buffalo, New York. |
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S/Sgt. Lawson C. Chitester's only son, Clifford, was born after he died. |
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Lawson C. Chitester was 21 years old. |
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| This Web page downloads with a musical theme tribute, (MIDI file), and it should play on most browsers. Please turn on your speakers. |
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This Site was designed, coded in HTML, and is maintained by
Kurt A. Dold
, of Norwood, Massachusetts, nephew of
S/Sgt. Albert S. Dold
who was an enlisted member of the crew with
S/Sgt. Lawson Clifford Chitester.
This Web page tribute was originally published on October 1, 2000. The last update to this page was on May 8, 2009. |
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If anyone is upset or offended by this Web page tribute, please accept my apologies, and please contact me at my E-mail address by clicking on to my underlined name at the bottom of this paragraph, and I will address your concerns.
I am merely looking for information and a good photo of each member of the crew of
B-24 Liberator Bomber (41-28983).
I would like to use their individual photos and information on these Web pages as my personal tribute to the men of this crew. Thank you.
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S/Sgt. Lawson C. Chitester, the Flight Engineer, was one of the men killed in the crash of B-24 Liberator Bomber (41-28983).
S/Sgt. Lawson C. Chitester's name is listed on the Buffalo New York World War II Honor Roll Memorial.