Born on 16 Dec 1920. From Newark, NJ. Rutgers University class of 1943. Entered the service on 9 August 1942. 1st Lt James J. Hamblin, pilot of the C-47 42-24077, took off from station 474 in Welford, UK to drop paratroopers over DZ-C as part of Operation Albany during the Normandy invasion. Their target time was 0120. Their plane was the last of five waves to cross the Cotentin, over air defenses now on full alert. To complicate matters, there were heavy clouds at 1500 feet, gone unreported due to the strict radio silence. Some pilots decided to pull up and find their DZs with the Eureka-Rebecca system, others went low to obtain a visual of their DZs, and a rare few stayed the course through the cloud bank. While approaching DZ-C, flak hit the last three planes, including the 42-24077. The plane crashed in the Norman countryside, killing all aboard.