Kingsley -- 2nd Lt David R Kingsley

 

David Kingsley enlisted at Portland in April 1942. He was eliminated from pilot training at Minter Field, Calif., but completed bombardier-navigator training at Santa Ana Air Base, Calif. in April 1943, and was commissioned a second lieutenant. He graduated from the Bombardier School at Kirtland Field N.M., in July 1943. He also attended the Navigation School at Carlsbad. N.M., but drew assignments as a bombardier, going to Europe in April 1944 with the 97th Bomb Group's 341st Squadron.

Lieutenant Kingsley was killed in action June 23 while flying as bombardier on a B-17 bomber to Ploesti, Romania. This was his 20th mission for which he received the Medal of Honor for gallantry at the risk of his own life. He successfully dropped his bombs on the oil refineries at Ploesti, but his plane was damaged on the bomb run and some of the crew members were injured. In addition, the plane was attacked by three ME-109 enemy planes.

The Medal of Honor citation for Lieutenant Kingsley reads, in part: "...He administered first aid to the wounded. On the order to bail out, he helped the wounded put on their parachute harness. In the confusion, the tail gunner's harness, believed to have been damaged, could not be located. . . with utter disregard for his own means of escape, Lieutenant Kingsley unhesitatingly removed his parachute harness and adjusted it to the wounded tail gunner . . . at bailout, and when last seen by the crew members, he was standing on the bomb-bay catwalk. The aircraft continued to fly on automatic pilot for a short distance, then crashed and burned. Lieutenant Kingsley's body was later found in the wreckage. By his gallant, heroic action, he was directly responsible for saving the life of the wounded gunner."

See the
full citation at the Congressional Medal of Honor Society website.