S/SGT ROLAND D. WATERS, 392ND BOMB GRP

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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.

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Here are two views of his A-11 flight helmet, B-8 googles and A-14 mask.

 

 

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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.

 

 

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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.

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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

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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

 

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Please ignore, duplicate post.