Ben Winks

ASN:O-520776

Induction & Enlistment:

  • June 27, 1941 to December 4, 1942. No time lost under AW 107.

Military Occupation:

  • Flight Officer from December 5, 1942 to May 9, 1943.

  • Commissioned from May 9, 1943 to June 6, 1944

  • Glider Flight Commander, April 1, 1944

Highest Rank:

  • Promoted 2nd Lieutenant, March 1, 1943

Training:

  • Bowman Field, Louisville, Kentucky

  • Laurinburg-Maxton Army Air Force Base, North Carolina.

  • Rated as a glider pilot December 6, 1942, 29 Palms, California

  • 374th Troop Carrier Group Glider Echelon

  • Army Air Force Glider School, Dalhart, Texas

  • 436th Tug Group, 82nd Troop Carrier Squadron

Departures & Returns:

  • Arrived ETO January 28, 1944

Battles/Campaigns:

  • Normandy

Decorations:

  • Air Medal, Purple Heart

  • Marksman, Carbine 30 M-1; Pistol, CAL. 45

Status:

  • Killed in Action evening of June 6, 1944, Pilot Horsa Glider/Crash Landing, One and One half miles NE of Ste. Mere Eglise, France

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STL Archive Records