Hal Neal Wood was born on March 23, 1922. He served in the 68th Bomber Squadron, 44th Bomber Group, as a Sergeant and Ball Turret Gunner 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 Wood is now buried in the Roselawn Memorial Park, Little Rock, Pulaski County, Arkansas, USA.

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