Lambert Leonard Preston, Jr.

Name:

Leonard Preston, Jr. Lambert

Rank:

Sergeant

Serial Number:

18202589

Unit:

68th Bomber Squadron, 44th Bomb Group

Date of Death:

1944-04-21

State:

Texas

Cemetery:

Cambridge American Cemetery, United Kingdom

Plot:

C

Row:

5

Grave:

17

Decoration:

Purple Heart

Comments:

Leonard Preston Lambert, Jr. was born on May 16, 1925, in Lamesa, Texas. He was the son of Leonard Preston Lambert and Winnie Davis Giesecke Lambert.

Leonard Jr. enlisted on November 2, 1942, in Abilene, Texas. He served in the 68th Bomber Squadron, 44th Bomber Group, as a Sergeant and Engineer on the B-24 #41-29418 'Pappy's Chillun' during World War II. On April 21, 1944, their aircraft was on its way on a bombing mission to the German town of Zwickau, when during assembly north of Norwich, the aircraft encountered bad icing conditions. As it was climbing about 155 to 160 mph through overcast skies, it suddenly shuddered and bore sharply to the right and then back before canting over into a spin, with its tail and right-wing finally twisting off. The pilot and his co-pilot were tossed into the cockpit roof and then thrown out of the plane when it disintegrated still in flight. Both men were injured but, none of the other eight crew members survived.

Sgt Lambert is now buried in the Cambridge American Cemetery, Cambridge, United Kingdom.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, geograph.co.uk