Kenneth Chester Amick was fired up with patriotism when he joined the United States Army Air Forces during his senior year at Stonewall Jackson High School. Two years after enlisting he went to England to fight in World War II. In 1943, he married Edith Sayre and wrote her the entire time he was overseas. He served as a flight engineer and tail gunner with the B-24 Liberators, 68th Squadron, the 44th Bombardment Group whose logo was the "Flying Eight Balls."
Staff Sergant Amick returned home safely after the war and joined the West Virginia National Guard. In 1944, he and his wife had one son, Robert Blair Amick, but their marriage ended in divorce in 1949. Amick along with eighteen other National Guardsmen were killed when their C-47 slammed into a mountain at the Kanawha Airport on April 8, 1951. Edith remarried in 1953 to James L. Massie.
In 2001, Staff Sergeant Amick's ex-wife Edith Amick Massie accidentally met Jean Lacey whose husband was to be on that fatal National Guard flight. She and Jean, who was from England, talked about a trip Edith and her granddaughter Heather were going to take to England. After talking with Jean, she retrieved her husband's letters from England that were in a cedar chest and decided to visit the airfield where he had been stationed.
During the May 2002 trip to England Ms. Massie had difficulty in finding the airfield that was located somewhere in the Shipdham countryside, so she stopped in a tavern and asked for directions. While at the tavern a retired Royal Air Force pilot showed Edith and Heather pictures of the 44th Bombardment Group taken from 1942 to 1945 that were still displayed on the tavern walls.
When they reached the last of the photographs Ms. Massie could hardly believe her eyes upon seeing Sergeant Amick's picture and joyfully exclaimed, "Heather! Heather! There he is!" The tavern owner gave them the photograph and also informed them about D.D. Dodd who operated a museum dedicated to the 44th Bombardment Group. After visiting the museum, Mr. Dodd took them on a grand tour of the airfield and the remaining hangar and Edith took photographs of the symbolic "Flying Eight Balls" logo that was still painted on the control tower.
Heather returned home to Maryland with a substantial amount of information about her grandfather that she shared with her brothers, Cameron and Mark, and her father, Staff Sergeant Amick's son, Robert Blair "Bob" Amick who had been only six when his father died.
Much of the above information was taken from West Virginia House Concurrent Resolution No. 103 requesting that the Division of Highways name bridge number 20-79-1.95 on Interstate 79 in Kanawha County, the "U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Kenneth Amick Memorial Bridge".
Staff Sergant Amick returned home safely after the war and joined the West Virginia National Guard. In 1944, he and his wife had one son, Robert Blair Amick, but their marriage ended in divorce in 1949. Amick along with eighteen other National Guardsmen were killed when their C-47 slammed into a mountain at the Kanawha Airport on April 8, 1951. Edith remarried in 1953 to James L. Massie.
In 2001, Staff Sergeant Amick's ex-wife Edith Amick Massie accidentally met Jean Lacey whose husband was to be on that fatal National Guard flight. She and Jean, who was from England, talked about a trip Edith and her granddaughter Heather were going to take to England. After talking with Jean, she retrieved her husband's letters from England that were in a cedar chest and decided to visit the airfield where he had been stationed.
During the May 2002 trip to England Ms. Massie had difficulty in finding the airfield that was located somewhere in the Shipdham countryside, so she stopped in a tavern and asked for directions. While at the tavern a retired Royal Air Force pilot showed Edith and Heather pictures of the 44th Bombardment Group taken from 1942 to 1945 that were still displayed on the tavern walls.
When they reached the last of the photographs Ms. Massie could hardly believe her eyes upon seeing Sergeant Amick's picture and joyfully exclaimed, "Heather! Heather! There he is!" The tavern owner gave them the photograph and also informed them about D.D. Dodd who operated a museum dedicated to the 44th Bombardment Group. After visiting the museum, Mr. Dodd took them on a grand tour of the airfield and the remaining hangar and Edith took photographs of the symbolic "Flying Eight Balls" logo that was still painted on the control tower.
Heather returned home to Maryland with a substantial amount of information about her grandfather that she shared with her brothers, Cameron and Mark, and her father, Staff Sergeant Amick's son, Robert Blair "Bob" Amick who had been only six when his father died.
Much of the above information was taken from West Virginia House Concurrent Resolution No. 103 requesting that the Division of Highways name bridge number 20-79-1.95 on Interstate 79 in Kanawha County, the "U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Kenneth Amick Memorial Bridge".
Kenneth Chester Amick was fired up with patriotism when he joined the United States Army Air Forces during his senior year at Stonewall Jackson High School. Two years after enlisting he went to England to fight in World War II. In 1943, he married Edith Sayre and wrote her the entire time he was overseas. He served as a flight engineer and tail gunner with the B-24 Liberators, 68th Squadron, the 44th Bombardment Group whose logo was the "Flying Eight Balls."
Staff Sergant Amick returned home safely after the war and joined the West Virginia National Guard. In 1944, he and his wife had one son, Robert Blair Amick, but their marriage ended in divorce in 1949. Amick along with eighteen other National Guardsmen were killed when their C-47 slammed into a mountain at the Kanawha Airport on April 8, 1951. Edith remarried in 1953 to James L. Massie.
In 2001, Staff Sergeant Amick's ex-wife Edith Amick Massie accidentally met Jean Lacey whose husband was to be on that fatal National Guard flight. She and Jean, who was from England, talked about a trip Edith and her granddaughter Heather were going to take to England. After talking with Jean, she retrieved her husband's letters from England that were in a cedar chest and decided to visit the airfield where he had been stationed.
During the May 2002 trip to England Ms. Massie had difficulty in finding the airfield that was located somewhere in the Shipdham countryside, so she stopped in a tavern and asked for directions. While at the tavern a retired Royal Air Force pilot showed Edith and Heather pictures of the 44th Bombardment Group taken from 1942 to 1945 that were still displayed on the tavern walls.
When they reached the last of the photographs Ms. Massie could hardly believe her eyes upon seeing Sergeant Amick's picture and joyfully exclaimed, "Heather! Heather! There he is!" The tavern owner gave them the photograph and also informed them about D.D. Dodd who operated a museum dedicated to the 44th Bombardment Group. After visiting the museum, Mr. Dodd took them on a grand tour of the airfield and the remaining hangar and Edith took photographs of the symbolic "Flying Eight Balls" logo that was still painted on the control tower.
Heather returned home to Maryland with a substantial amount of information about her grandfather that she shared with her brothers, Cameron and Mark, and her father, Staff Sergeant Amick's son, Robert Blair "Bob" Amick who had been only six when his father died.
Much of the above information was taken from West Virginia House Concurrent Resolution No. 103 requesting that the Division of Highways name bridge number 20-79-1.95 on Interstate 79 in Kanawha County, the "U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Kenneth Amick Memorial Bridge".
Staff Sergant Amick returned home safely after the war and joined the West Virginia National Guard. In 1944, he and his wife had one son, Robert Blair Amick, but their marriage ended in divorce in 1949. Amick along with eighteen other National Guardsmen were killed when their C-47 slammed into a mountain at the Kanawha Airport on April 8, 1951. Edith remarried in 1953 to James L. Massie.
In 2001, Staff Sergeant Amick's ex-wife Edith Amick Massie accidentally met Jean Lacey whose husband was to be on that fatal National Guard flight. She and Jean, who was from England, talked about a trip Edith and her granddaughter Heather were going to take to England. After talking with Jean, she retrieved her husband's letters from England that were in a cedar chest and decided to visit the airfield where he had been stationed.
During the May 2002 trip to England Ms. Massie had difficulty in finding the airfield that was located somewhere in the Shipdham countryside, so she stopped in a tavern and asked for directions. While at the tavern a retired Royal Air Force pilot showed Edith and Heather pictures of the 44th Bombardment Group taken from 1942 to 1945 that were still displayed on the tavern walls.
When they reached the last of the photographs Ms. Massie could hardly believe her eyes upon seeing Sergeant Amick's picture and joyfully exclaimed, "Heather! Heather! There he is!" The tavern owner gave them the photograph and also informed them about D.D. Dodd who operated a museum dedicated to the 44th Bombardment Group. After visiting the museum, Mr. Dodd took them on a grand tour of the airfield and the remaining hangar and Edith took photographs of the symbolic "Flying Eight Balls" logo that was still painted on the control tower.
Heather returned home to Maryland with a substantial amount of information about her grandfather that she shared with her brothers, Cameron and Mark, and her father, Staff Sergeant Amick's son, Robert Blair "Bob" Amick who had been only six when his father died.
Much of the above information was taken from West Virginia House Concurrent Resolution No. 103 requesting that the Division of Highways name bridge number 20-79-1.95 on Interstate 79 in Kanawha County, the "U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Kenneth Amick Memorial Bridge".
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