The handsome fellow in the picture is Kenneth Queen, shortly after his induction into the US Army Air Corps in December, 1941. An uncle of my wife Patricia, Kenneth was a bombardier in a Mitchell B-25 of the 12th Bombardment Group, flying missions in North Africa, Sicily, Sardinia and Italy – 56 in all.
He was shot down twice, the first time walking 60 miles across the Tunisian desert to Allied lines; along the way the crew was attacked by JU-87 Stukas, strafed by ME-109s and had to evade Italian patrols. Kenneth’s ship, the “June Bug” was also home to one of the USAAF’s few aerial defensive gunnery “aces” – Sgt. Clover shot down nine Axis fighters.
Kenneth sank an Axis ship in the Mediterranean and finished his 56 missions with the Air Medal with nine (!) oak leaf clusters.
Kenneth returned to the US, but could never readjust to civilian life. He suffered from what we now recognize as PTSD – unknown at the time. He drifted, suffered, self-medicated and eventually died in his sister’s basement in Seattle.
On this Memorial Day let us all think on those like Kenneth Queen who went to war to do unimaginable things when their country asked them; those who returned, those who did not and those like Kenneth, who returned only partially. They paid the price for the country and the freedoms we enjoy today, so when we use them, we should remind ourselves that they were bought by sacrifices, some more terrible than we think. Pray for them, thank them, and use the gifts they gave us with care.
(Also posted to Facebook for Memorial Day)