Curry was a waist gunner on B-17E #41-9244, assigned to the 5th Air Force, 43rd Bombardment Group, 64th Bombardment Squadron. The plane was nicknamed 'Honi Kuu Okole', which means 'kiss my ass' in Hawaiian.
In the early morning hours of May 21, 1943 the plane took off from Dobodura Airfield in Papua New Guinea to bomb Vunakanau Airfield near Rabaul. before arriving at the target, however, the plane was attacked by a Japanese night fighter and seriously damaged. The pilot turned the bomber southward and ordered the crew to bail out. Only Curry and two other crew members managed to escape before the plane crashed into the ocean. He landed in the sea and made it ashore on the northeastern shore of New Britain Island, about thirty miles south of Rabaul. He was captured and taken to a Japanese POW camp in Rabaul, where he was executed on December 9, 1943.
Because his body was never recovered, Curry is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing. He received the Air Medal and the Purple Heart.
In the early morning hours of May 21, 1943 the plane took off from Dobodura Airfield in Papua New Guinea to bomb Vunakanau Airfield near Rabaul. before arriving at the target, however, the plane was attacked by a Japanese night fighter and seriously damaged. The pilot turned the bomber southward and ordered the crew to bail out. Only Curry and two other crew members managed to escape before the plane crashed into the ocean. He landed in the sea and made it ashore on the northeastern shore of New Britain Island, about thirty miles south of Rabaul. He was captured and taken to a Japanese POW camp in Rabaul, where he was executed on December 9, 1943.
Because his body was never recovered, Curry is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing. He received the Air Medal and the Purple Heart.
Curry was a waist gunner on B-17E #41-9244, assigned to the 5th Air Force, 43rd Bombardment Group, 64th Bombardment Squadron. The plane was nicknamed 'Honi Kuu Okole', which means 'kiss my ass' in Hawaiian.
In the early morning hours of May 21, 1943 the plane took off from Dobodura Airfield in Papua New Guinea to bomb Vunakanau Airfield near Rabaul. before arriving at the target, however, the plane was attacked by a Japanese night fighter and seriously damaged. The pilot turned the bomber southward and ordered the crew to bail out. Only Curry and two other crew members managed to escape before the plane crashed into the ocean. He landed in the sea and made it ashore on the northeastern shore of New Britain Island, about thirty miles south of Rabaul. He was captured and taken to a Japanese POW camp in Rabaul, where he was executed on December 9, 1943.
Because his body was never recovered, Curry is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing. He received the Air Medal and the Purple Heart.
In the early morning hours of May 21, 1943 the plane took off from Dobodura Airfield in Papua New Guinea to bomb Vunakanau Airfield near Rabaul. before arriving at the target, however, the plane was attacked by a Japanese night fighter and seriously damaged. The pilot turned the bomber southward and ordered the crew to bail out. Only Curry and two other crew members managed to escape before the plane crashed into the ocean. He landed in the sea and made it ashore on the northeastern shore of New Britain Island, about thirty miles south of Rabaul. He was captured and taken to a Japanese POW camp in Rabaul, where he was executed on December 9, 1943.
Because his body was never recovered, Curry is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing. He received the Air Medal and the Purple Heart.
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