FReeper Canteen ~ Hall of Heroes: David Kingsley ~ 12 February 2024

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[Kathy in Alaska]

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~ Hall of Heroes ~

David Kingsley

Info from this website.

           

KINGSLEY, DAVID R. (Air Mission)

Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army Air Corps, 97th Bombardment Group, 15th Air Force.
Place and date: Ploesti Raid, Rumania, 23 June 1944.
Entered service at. Portland, Oregon.
Birth: Oregon. G.O. No.: 26, 9 April 1945.

Citation:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty, 23 June 1944 near Ploesti, Rumania, while flying as bombardier of a B17 type aircraft.

On the bomb run 2d Lt. Kingsley's aircraft was severely damaged by intense flak and forced to drop out of formation but the pilot proceeded over the target and 2d Lt. Kingsley successfully dropped his bombs, causing severe damage to vital installations. The damaged aircraft, forced to lose altitude and to lag behind the formation, was aggressively attacked by 3 ME-109 aircraft, causing more damage to the aircraft and severely wounding the tail gunner in the upper arm. The radio operator and engineer notified 2d Lt. Kingsley that the tail gunner had been wounded and that assistance was needed to check the bleeding. 2d Lt. Kingsley made his way back to the radio room, skillfully applied first aid to the wound, and succeeded in checking the bleeding. The tail gunner's parachute harness and heavy clothes were removed and he was covered with blankets, making him as comfortable as possible. Eight ME-109 aircraft again aggressively attacked 2d Lt. Kingsley's aircraft and the ball turret gunner was wounded by 20mm. shell fragments. He went forward to the radio room to have 2d Lt. Kingsley administer first aid. A few minutes later when the pilot gave the order to prepare to bail out, 2d Lt. Kingsley immediately began to assist the wounded gunners in putting on their parachute harness. In the confusion the tail gunner's harness, believed to have been damaged, could not be located in the bundle of blankets and flying clothes which had been removed from the wounded men. With utter disregard for his own means of escape, 2d Lt. Kingsley unhesitatingly removed his parachute harness and adjusted it to the wounded tail gunner. Due to the extensive damage caused by the accurate and concentrated 20mm. fire by the enemy aircraft the pilot gave the order to bail out, as it appeared that the aircraft would disintegrate at any moment. 2d Lt. Kingsley aided the wounded men in bailing out and when last seen by the crewmembers he was standing on the bomb bay catwalk. The aircraft continued to fly on automatic pilot for a short distance, then crashed and burned. His body was later found in the wreckage. 2d Lt. Kingsley by his gallant heroic action was directly responsible for saving the life of the wounded gunner.

Friday, October 22, 2004
The gift of life
  By Todd Kepple
Courtesy of the Herald and the News of Oregon

 Phyllis Kingsley Rolison, sister of Second Lieutenant David Kingsley, touches a section of the plane in which her brother died 60 years ago  in Bulgaria. Rolison paid her first visit to the site where Kingsley's  B-17 bomber crashed in 1944. Debris from the plane was used in
construction of a memorial in Suhozem, Bulgaria.



'Second Lieutenant Kingsley made his way back to the radio room, skillfully applied first aid to the wound, and succeeded in checking the bleeding. ...

A few minutes later when the pilot gave the order to prepare to bail out, Second Lieutenant Kingsley immediately began to assist the wounded gunners.'

The Opissonya was struggling to maintain altitude as it flew away from its bombing target at Ploesti, Romania.

The B-17 Flying Fortress carrying Second Lieutenant David Kingsley and eight other members of the U.S. Army Air Force had dropped its payload on an oil storage facility, but had sustained damage from an anti-aircraft shell.

Its number 1 engine was out, and the plane had become separated from the formation of other bombers, leaving it vulnerable to enemy fighters. At some point, cables giving the pilot control over the tail section of the plane were severed.

Making matters worse, German ME-109 fighter planes scrambled from an air field at Karlovo, Bulgaria, and pursued the crippled Opissonya.

As the fighters attacked from the rear, 20-millimeter cannon fire hit tail gunner Mike Sullivan, injuring his head and shoulder, and damaging his parachute harness.

Sullivan crawled from the tail to the mid-section of the plane. Kingsley was asked to dress his wounds.

Kingsley removed the damaged parachute from Sullivan, and managed to stem the flow of blood from his wounded arm.

Kingsley's bomber, the Opissonya, sits at a base before its fateful final mission.

In an effort to keep the faltering plane aloft, the crew began throwing out unnecessary equipment, but the damage was too severe. The pilot struggled to maintain control, but knew that if the plane began a nosedive, it would be increasingly difficult for its crew to escape.

He signaled for the crew to bail out.

With Sullivan's parachute damaged, and perhaps lost in the confusion, Kingsley took his own parachute off and strapped it on Sullivan. He then helped Sullivan to the bomb bay, and made sure Sullivan jumped safely.

"Carrying me in his arms, Lieutenant Kingsley struggled to get me through the door into the bomb bay," Sullivan told the Oregonian newspaper the following year, when Kingsley was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

"He told me to be sure and pull the rip cord after I had cleared the ship," Sullivan continued.

"I did and as I was floating down I saw the Fort fall off and go into a spin. It crashed, exploded and burned.

"The last time I saw Lieutenant Kingsley, he was standing on the catwalk over the open bomb bay doors."

All eight crewmen who jumped from the plane made it to the ground safely. Seven were captured and held as prisoners of war, while one was hidden by Bulgarians sympathetic to the allied cause.

Sullivan, circa 1995 'Carrying me in his arms, Lieutenant Kingsley struggled to get me through the door into the bomb bay. ... The last time I saw Lieutenant Kingsley, he was standing on the catwalk over the open bomb bay doors.'

The B-17 crashed near the village of Suhozem, a tiny remote village.

A Bulgarian air commander on the ground watched the plane go down and went to the crash site. He found Kingsley's body in the cockpit.

Witnesses on the ground said the plane circled before coming down, indicating Kingsley may have tried to save his own life by making a crash landing in a field.

Bulgarian villagers buried Kingsley in a makeshift grave. He was later reinterred at Arlington National Cemetery.

Two months after the crash of the Opissonya, Russian forces captured the heavily damaged oil field at Ploesti. The captured members of the Opissonya were held as prisoners until being released on September 10, 1944.

Kingsley was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor on May 4, 1945. The award was presented to his brother, Navy Pharmacist's Mate First Class Thomas Kingsley, in a ceremony at St. Michael's Catholic Church in Portland. The ceremony was followed by a high mass.

The Klamath Falls municipal airport, which had served as a naval air station during World War II, was taken over by the Air Force in 1957. It was named Kingsley Field on July 3 of that year.

The U.S. Department of Defense closed its base at Kingsley Field in 1978, but the Oregon Air National Guard reopened the facility in 1980.

Three members of the Opissonya crew gathered for a reunion at Kingsley Field in June 1995. They were pilot Edwin "Andy" Anderson, ball turret gunner Stanley Kmiec, and tail gunner Mike Sullivan, whose life was saved by Kingsley.

Kmiec is the only member of the crew still living.

Over the past 60 years, the Kingsley family cherished fond memories of a brother and the military honored him as a hero.

But there was also mourning in Bulgaria, which became a satellite nation of the Soviet Union. While the story of Kingsley's sacrifice was memorialized in America, it's rarely mentioned that the crash killed members of a Bulgarian family on the ground.

Villagers who knew the family are expected to be among those attending the dedication of a memorial Saturday at the tiny village of Suhozem, Bulgaria.

More about David Kingsley at Home of the Heroes.

Please remember the Canteen is here to honor, support and entertain our troops and their families.  This is a politics-free zone!  Thanks for helping us in our mission!

[PROCON]

Hi Kathy, thanks for tonight's Canteen and for honoring our Hero!

[Kathy in Alaska]

Me, too!!!

[left that other site]

Hi Everybody!

(((HUGS)))

[Kathy in Alaska]

~ Hall of Heroes: David Kingsley ~

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[radu]

Greetings to all at the Canteen!

To all our military men and women, past and present,

THANK YOU
for your service!

[CMS]

Year 41 of never watching a Super Bowl here

[The Mayor]

February 12

Loving Our Enemies

Bible in a Year :

• Leviticus 13
• Matthew 26:26–50

But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

Matthew 5:44

With the American Civil War spawning many bitter feelings, Abraham Lincoln saw fit to speak a kind word about the South. A shocked bystander asked how he could do so. He replied, “Madam, do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?” Reflecting on those words a century later, Martin Luther King Jr. commented, “This is the power of redemptive love.”

In calling disciples of Christ to love their enemies, King looked to the teachings of Jesus. He noted that although believers might struggle to love those who persecute them, this love grows out of “a consistent and total surrender to God.” “When we love in this way,” King continued, “we’ll know God and experience the beauty of His holiness.” 

King referenced Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in which He said, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:44–45). Jesus counseled against the conventional wisdom of the day of loving only one’s neighbors and hating one’s enemies. Instead, God the Father gives His children the strength to love those who oppose them.

It may feel impossible to love our enemies, but as we look to God for help, He’ll answer our prayers. He gives the courage to embrace this radical practice, for as Jesus said, “with God all things are possible” (19:26). .

Reflect & Pray

Who is your enemy? If you feel conflicted about loving those who oppose you, how could you submit those feelings to God?

Loving God, You’ve made me—as well as those who hurt me—in Your image. Help me to see them as You do.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, ML...((HUGS))...hope you and Tippy had a good walk today. Has her training stayed with her?

[radu]

Never watched a Super Bowl in my life and certainly don’t want to mess up a perfect record tonight. LOL

Watching Ghost Hunters episodes on YT. Much more to my liking. :-)

[luvie]

2nd Lt. David Kingsley
6-27-1918 to 6-23-1944
Medal Of Honor Recipient

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty, near Ploesti, Rumania, while flying as bombardier of a B17 type aircraft.Gave his parachute to a fellow soldier and sacrificed his own life.
What a hero he was!

[Kathy in Alaska]

41 years...WOW!

I used to watch the NFL, but their total disrespect for the United States stopped that in its tracks. Never again.

[radu]

Howdy, luvie.

A hero, he most certainly was. What a choice to make but he did it without hesitation.

I hope your day went well.

[luvie]

Hey there, radu!

Yes, it was a good day even though it was darn chilly. Damp and breezy and got down to the mid-30s by 6pm. It’s going to be freezing early tomorrow morning. And then 73 on Wednesday. Gotta wonder! At least it didn’t snow like it did not more than 80 miles north of us. That, I’m thankful for!

How were things there? When is the cold front supposed to head your way?

[radu]

Ooooooooo, BRRRR!!! Doesn’t sound like pleasant weather down there. I reckon the kitties are holed up tonight.

It was cloudy and a little cool this afternoon and it rained for an hour or so just after dark. Might get a little more overnight, then a break, then another round of heavy rain tomorrow.
Might get a little snow mixed with the rain tomorrow night but it won’t stick. The cold front isn’t really going to hit us very much. Highs in the 50s and 60s all week but the lows will be in the 30s.

[luvie]

Yeah, it was quite a contrast to what we have been seeing for the past week or two. We were expecting mid-to-high 40s and the 30s were a surprise, especially that early in the day. It’s very short-lived, though, so we can live with it. The kitties have their warm spots for sure.

I hope you don’t get much snow or cold temps. 50s and 60s sound pretty good! I keep remembering that the worst and most wide-spread ice storm Texas ever experienced was the last week of February, so one never knows, huh!

[radu]

It’s not fun when it gets colder than you expect but the weather is fickle.

As of this morning, any snow in TN would be way north but tonight, they say it will snow farther south. It won’t stick if we get any because the ground’s way too warm so I’m not concerned.

But they haven’t changed the forecast for the week as far as temps go. It’ll be a decent week.

We’ve had snow and hard freezes in March. Heck, we’ve had snow in mid-April. We’re far from being in the clear.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, radu...is it still raining? Hope your water table is enjoying the rain.

I had an inch+ on my deck this morning. I went out just a bit ago, shoveled it off, fed the ducks and almost fell. It was dry yesterday, but slick with ice today. Spikies are now back on my crocs.

[E.G.C.]

A very pleasant good Monday morning and ((HUGS)) to everyone at the Canteen and to all our military at home and abroad. Thanks for your service to our country.

We did get to spend a few minutes out at Comanche Lake before the rain turned to snow yesterday. Here are the pics from the visit.

We got a dusting of snow last night.

How's everyone doing this morning?

[radu]

Hey there, Kathy.

We had a dry afternoon but it’s been raining a little since just after it got dark tonight. Just sprinkling now. We’ve had a little over 2 1/2 inches the last three days and have one more day to go. Very good for the water table.

Yikes! Glad you didn’t fall tonight! That would NOT have been fun. With your temps going up, down, up, down this week, ice is going to be an issue. That kind of weather is typical for us during winter. It can make stepping outside a gamble. LOL