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| Clayton Knight - 1944 |
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| Recent Address: |
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6704 Langston Drive, Knoxville, TN 37918 |
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| Email: |
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| Family Information: |
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Parents: Joe L. and Dicie H., Wife: Velma M., Children: Kenneth C., Robert C., William A. |
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| Hometown: |
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Knoxville, TN |
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| Date Entered Service: |
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March 4 1941 |
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| Service Number: |
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14037938 |
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| Bomb Group: |
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462nd |
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| Squadron: |
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769th |
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| Location of Unit: |
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Walker Field, KS April 1944 |
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| Missions Flown: |
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230 (During War, 49 Bombing) 183 (Post-War) |
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| Hump Missions Flown: |
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61 (19 in B-29, 42 in C-109) |
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| Targets: |
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Bangkok, Yawata, Anshan, Hingyang, Shinchiku, Saigon, Singapore, Nagoya, Tokyo, Yokohama, Kobe, Toyohashi, Kure, Osaka, Chiba, Sendai. |
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| Awards/Decorations: |
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American Theater Service Medal with 1 Bronze Star, American Defense Medal with 1 Bronze Star, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with 5 Bronze Stars, Good Conduct Medal, Air Medal with 4 Bronze Clusters, Distinguished Flying Cross, Distinguished Unit Badge |
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| Service Schools Attended: |
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Basic Training, Fort Moultrie, S.C. Mar 1941-May 1941; Morse Code/ Radio Oper., France Field, Panama, CZ Aug 1941-Mar 1943; B-29 Crew Training, Walker Field, KS Jun 1943-Apr 1944 |
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| Military Specialty(ies): |
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MOS 757-Radio Operator-Mechanic-Gunner, AAF |
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| Rank Upon Discharge: |
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Technical Sergeant |
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| Crew Type: |
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Flight crew |
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| Airplane Serial No.& Name: |
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42-6347 King Size |
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| Were you a POW? |
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No |
| If so, where? |
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| Were you interned? |
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No |
| If so, where? |
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| Date Transferred from the 58th: |
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October 25 1945 |
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| Date Discharged from the 58th: |
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June 15 1947 |
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| Post-WWII Military Service: |
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43rd Bomb Group, 64th Bomb Squadron -- MacDill AFB 2/28/46 to 4/4/46 -- Roswell AFB 4/24/46 to 5/19/46 -- Davis-Monthan AFB, Tucson, AZ 7/16/46 to 6/15/47 |
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| Post-WWII Civilian Occupation(s): |
| My Father died on June 15, 1947, in what I have recently found is a well-documented B-29 crash at Hawks Mountain, Vermont. To my knowledge, this job, an Airman, was the only occupation he ever had, and, had he lived, the only one he would have held. |
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| Thoughts on the 58th Bomb Wing: |
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Although I was only three years old when he died, and have no memory of him, I feel fortunate that my Father left a detailed written record of his years in the U. S. Army Air Corps. Besides having his complete, hand-written flight log detailing the dates and times of every mission and serial numbers of every plane he flew in, I have his daily diary of his first two years in the service.
I feel his last entry in this diary (dated 3-14-43) might be best quoted to summarize what his future service in the 58th Bomb Wing would mean: "So I guess this is the end of this little story. Or I should say, the end of what is being written, for I feel that there is much more to come, but come what may, I will try to be prepared for it, and if I go down it will be for the biggest thing on this earth." |
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| Comments: |
| In the years after my Father's death, my Mother, who never remarried, chose to speak very little of him and the past. I realize now this was her way of dealing with her grief and looking to the future as a single mother of three young boys. So I grew up with only a few photos to provide a memory of a father I never knew.I have only in the last few years become interested in who he was, what he did, and what his short life was like. The more I have learned, the more I want to still know. Your organization and others like it across this great country have been invaluable to me in this quest. Thank you, Dennis & Mike, and all the men working to restore "Jack's Hack." |
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| The crew of King Size |
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| Clayton Knight |
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