2ND LT. PAUL D. SNEDIGAR

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.

2nd Lt. Paul D. Snedigar, the B-24 Pilot, was one of the men killed in the crash of B-24 Liberator Bomber (41-28983).

Paul Dean Snedigar entered the service of our country in July of 1941. Upon entering the armed forces, he was assigned to the Coast Artillery and received training in Virginia, North Carolina, and at Barstow, California. In the fall of 1942, he was transferred to the Army Air Corps. He received his "Wings" and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant on July 28, 1943 at Williams Field, Arizona. Paul Dean Snedigar was a graduate of Class WC 43-G, AAFAFS, Williams Field, Higley, Arizona. He continued his training at various bases, completing his training at Boise, Idaho. From there he went to Topeka Army Air Field in Topeka, Kansas, and from there, he took off on the ill-fated flight on April 8, 1944.

Several of 2nd Lt. Paul Dean "Jack" Snedigar's family members took the train from Pratt, Kansas to Topeka, Kansas on April 8, 1944. They visited with Jack and several crew members before the B-24 took off on what should have been a flight to Morrison Field in Florida, and, from there, a series of flights to join the war effort in the European Theatre of Operations. After their visit, his relatives drove back to Pratt. By the time they had arrived in Pratt, Jack's parents had been notified of the crash which took the life of their son, and the lives of eight other crew members.

2nd Lt. Paul Dean Snedigar was born in Pratt, Kansas, and was the oldest member of the crew.

He was the son of Charles Alva Snedigar and Ica Dora Coghill of Pratt, Kansas.

He was married to Kathleen Pankow of Riverside, California.

From an obituary: "Lieutenant Paul Dean (Jack) Snedigar was a graduate of Pratt High School in 1937. He attended Wichita University for two years before entering the Army on July 9, 1941. After serving in the regular Army for several months, he transferred to the Army Air Corps, and on July 29, 1943, was commissioned a Second Lieutenant at Chandler Field in Arizona."
"Jack was later stationed at Roswell, New Mexico; Salt Lake City, Utah; Casper, Wyoming; Boise, Idaho; and Topeka, Kansas."
"At the time of his death, he was survived by his wife, Kathleen Pankow of Riverside, California; his parents, Mr. and Mrs. C. A. Snedigar of Pratt, a sister, Mrs. Ora Lambert of Pratt, and a brother, John of California. Miss JoAnn Lambert, Pratt high school senior, is a niece."

"Services for 2nd Lt. Paul D. Snedigar were conducted on April 15, 1944, at Simon Mortuary, Riverside, California, where he was laid to rest in the Evergreen Cemetery at the foot of Mount Rubidoux."

Paul D. Snedigar was 26 years old.

2nd Lt. Paul D. Snedigar is listed on the World War II Casualty List from Pratt County, Kansas.

2nd Lt. Paul D. Snedigar is listed on the World War II Honor List of Dead and Missing Army and Army Air Corps Personnel from Kansas.

2nd Lt. Paul Dean Snedigar's name and memory is enshrined at the National World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.