BEAST Posted May 5, 2010 Share #1 Posted May 5, 2010 This was a group that I picked up on eBay a few years ago. It was sold by a couple of different dealers who bought it from the estate sale. The only piece that I missed was his Aerial Gunner's wings. Roland D. Waters was from From Fort Wayne, Indiana and enlisted in December 1942. He attended aerial gunnery school and was assigned as a waist gunner to the 392nd Bomb Group flying on 2LT Robert Ault's crew. Photo from http://b24.net/aircrew/wnames.html Unfortunately I have not been able to track down his missions. He earned two battle stars and a Air MEdal with oak leaf cluster. He returned to Fort Wayne after the war, but was recalled for the Korean War. During Korea, he served as a firefighter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEAST Posted May 5, 2010 Author Share #2 Posted May 5, 2010 Here are two views of his A-11 flight helmet, B-8 googles and A-14 mask. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEAST Posted May 5, 2010 Author Share #3 Posted May 5, 2010 His ID bracelet helped me identify this auction lot as belonging to Waters. Without it, the history of these items would have been lost forever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEAST Posted May 5, 2010 Author Share #4 Posted May 5, 2010 There were also other ribbons which I'll show below that are quite confusing! Look at the attachements for Distinguished Unit Citation and the EAME ribbon. Also I have not shown the throat mike that came with the group. I am still continuing to research Waters in hopes of finding the missions in which he flew. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEAST Posted October 14, 2019 Author Share #5 Posted October 14, 2019 I was doing some more internet searching on this vet and found a video interview. http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/story/loc.natlib.afc2001001.31322/mv0001001.stream Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEAST Posted October 15, 2019 Author Share #6 Posted October 15, 2019 Continuing to research Waters, I found the following list of missions credited to him. He served as the right waist gunner for each mission. AIRMEN RANK POSN SQDN A/C# DATE TARGET Waters, R.D. Cpl. RW 576 409 10-Mar-1945 Bielefeld Waters, R.D. Cpl. RW 576 409 11-Mar-1945 Kiel Waters, R.D. Cpl. RW 576 650 12-Mar-1945 Swinemunde Waters, R.D. Cpl. RW 576 340 14-Mar-1945 Gutersloh Waters, R.D. Cpl. RW 576 709 15-Mar-1945 Zossen Waters, R.D. Cpl. RW 576 991 21-Mar-1945 Hesepe Waters, R.D. Cpl. RW 576 991 22-Mar-1945 Schwabish Hall Waters, R.D. Cpl. RW 576 650 23-Mar-1945 Rheine Waters, R.D. Cpl. RW 576 650 25-Mar-1945 Hitzacker Waters, R.D. Cpl. RW 576 916 30-Mar-1945 Wilhelmshaven Waters, R.D. Sgt. RW 576 916 07-Apr-1945 Krummel Waters, R.D. Sgt. RW 576 589 09-Apr-1945 Leipheim Waters, R.D. Sgt. RW 576 770 11-Apr-1945 Regensburg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BEAST Posted August 18, 2023 Author Share #7 Posted August 18, 2023 Please ignore, duplicate post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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