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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:
Ms. Catherine L. Decenzo

At the young age of 21, King became aircraft commander of the B-17 Flying Fortress after being promoted to 1st Lieutenant in Kimbolton, England during WWII. His crew was the first to fly two bombing missions on D-Day, June 6, 1944. During their last mission over Germany on June 18, 1944, his aircraft was hit. King maneuvered his way through the bomb bay to make sure everybody had jumped out. But before he could save two men in the waist of the ship, he was blown out of the burning airplane. Four of his nine-man crew perished. He parachuted into Germany, evading capture for ten hours. German townspeople dragged him through the town, ready to hang him, but soldiers interceded and sent him to Stalag Luft III near the town of Sagan. In January, 1945, he and 10,000 prisoners were marched 50 miles on foot during a blizzard and crammed into box cars which transported them to Stalag VII-A, another POW camp, located in Moosburg, Germany. He remained a prisoner of war until April 9, 1945, when General George Patton's tanks stormed the camp and liberated the prisoners.
King's Air Force career has included participation in the Berlin Airlift in 1948; Chief of Air Operations for the United Nations Mission on Palestine in Beirut, Lebanon; Commander of the 6000th Operations Squadron in Tachikawa, Japan; and C-130 Wing Vice-Commander in Topeka, KS. From 1970-71, King spent 106 combat hours as C-7 Wing Vice-Commander in Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam.
Colonel King retired in May, 1974 and today resides in San Diego, CA where he flies his 1954 Beechcraft Bonanza —just for fun.