Wilburn C. Rowden
Wilburn Clarence Rowden was born in 24-Apr 1923 in Vienna, Maries County, Missouri. His parents were Ovid Clarence Rowden (1902–1952) and Jessie Jewel McKee (1901–1959). He had two brothers: Harold and Herbert and three sisters: Dorris, Farris, and Carol Ann Faris. He graduated from Vienna High School in Vienna Missouri in June 1941. There were 44 students in his class.
Wilburn received his notice for induction 7-Jan 1943. He joined the Army Air Corps with three of his classmates, and they went through basic training together at Miami Beach, Florida. From Miami, Wilburn was sent to Scott Field Illinois. He recalled, “We’re in Florida, why are they issuing cold weather gear?” He soon found out.
At Scott AFB, Wilburn was trained on electronics, communications, and Morse code. After completion of his training he was sent to Salt Lake City Utah and the 19th Replacement Wing. From there he was sent to Pendleton Field in Oregon and assigned to the 392nd Bomb Group to begin combat training as a crewmember on a B-17 Flying Fortress. The B-17 was one of two heavy bombers in use at the time and crews were badly needed. While in Oregon, they were assigned a ground crew and began training. Wilburn and his crew was assigned to an air base at Moses Lake with the 452nd Bomb Group in Washington. The base trained pilots and crews for P-38 Lightning fighters and B-17 Flying Fortresses. In about November 1943, Wilburn and the crew were moved to Pyote Army Air Field in Texas. Here they began their advanced training which included machine guns, radio, bailout procedures, and communications.
The crew was then sent by train to Grand Island, Nebraska arriving on 16-Dec 1943. Grand Island Army Airfield was opened in 1942 and was one of eleven USAAF training bases in Nebraska during World War II. Here they did additional gunnery training which included shooting skeet. On completion of this training, they were deemed ready for overseas combat assignment.
Those crews who had an assigned plane flew to Fort Dix New Jersey. Wilburn’s crew did not have an assigned plane, due to production shortages, so they boarded a train to Camp Shanks New York arriving 27-Dec 1944. Wilburn and the crew left Camp Shanks bound for England on 4-Jan 1944 aboard the Queen Elizabeth. The Queen was the world’s largest troop ship. It was so fast that it could traverse the ocean without escort and fear of German U-boats. There were so many personnel aboard they had to spent 12 hours on deck and 12 hours in the berth.
On 8-Jan 1944, they docked at a port in Northern Scotland-Glasgow. They left the ship and boarded a train for Norwich England. From the train depot, they went by truck to their assigned base at Deophan Green, England, which was located two miles north of Attleborough, Norfolk, England. Wilburn was a radio operator on a B-17 Flying Fortress flying with the 8th Air Force, 452nd Bomb Group, 731st Bomb Squadron based at RAF Deopham Green.
During the remainder of January, they continued training while they waited the arrival of a plane. In late January a plane arrived, and it was assigned to their crew. They began fitting her out, chose the name “Sleepy Time Gal”, and painted a picture of a lady in a flimsy negligee on the nose. After installation of the guns, it was time for training flights and soon after they began flying missions.
Wilburn completed five missions. On mission number 6 over Berlin, they were shot down and he became a POW.
For more of this exciting story, click on the pdf below.
This museum site also includes William Rowden’s own story “As I Remembers It.” Click on the pdf below.
Note: there are some graphic images of a concentration camp on his version.
Wilburn Rowden WWII As I Remember It
Wilburn in 2023.
