Raymond Aubrey Mitchell was born on October 5, 1918. He was the son of J. Herman Mitchell and Pearl Lee Jane Standridge Mitchell. He served in the 379th Fighter Squadron, 362nd Fighter Group as a Captain during World War II.

On December 12, 1944, the 379th was working a close support mission near Sarreguemines under a 2,500-foot ceiling that afternoon; "Red Leader [Capt. Raymond A. Mitchell] said over the R/T that we would go in while Yellow and Blue Flights circled," said Lt. Marvin Swofford. "We were to go in fast, see what we could find, bomb, hit the deck and get out. Flak was intense. I dropped my bomb on a small village and hit the deck. When I crossed our lines, I pulled up and looked back and saw Red Leader going straight up and burning. He went into the clouds and I thought he was bailing out. He came back through the clouds straight at the ground." Hit by flak from an SS anti-aircraft unit on just his fourth mission, Mitchell and his plane "Dickie Boy" crashed to earth near Reinheim Habkirchen, Germany. He is now buried in the Little Rock National Cemetery, Little Rock, Pulaski County, Arkansas, USA.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, Thunderbolts Triumphant, The 362nd Fighter Group vs Germany's Wehrmacht