Hugh Fuller Houghton was born on December 31, 1919, in Beijing, China. He was the son of Henry Spencer Houghton, MD and Caroline 'Carrie" (Carmack) Houghton of Westchester County, New York.

In the 1930 census 10 year-old Hugh is living with his parents and six siblings (4 older, 2 younger) at 629 South Capitol Street, Iowa City, Johnson County, Iowa. His father is the Dean of the Medical School at the University of Iowa.

Hugh entered Princeton University in 1938. He cut his college short when he enlisted 23 Dec 1941 at Pine Beach, New Jersey. He was ultimately assigned to the 379th Fighter Squadron of the 362nd Fighter Group. The 362nd Fighter Group was based at Headcorn, England. Headcorn is in far southeastern England 45 miles southeast of London.

Captain Houghton was the pilot of P-47 42-75867 "Curtain Call". He was assigned as the Operation Officer to the squadron. He was flying his P-47 on 10 May 1944 when he took off from Headcorn on a dive-bombing mission to Reims airfield in France. He was shot down by flak and small arms fire. His aircraft crashed, exploded and burned in the center of Reims airfield, due north of Bethany. Captain Houghton is now buried in the Epinal American Cemetery, Dinozé, France.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, www.abmc.gov