Supports 6 facts
Escape and Evasion Report 1613
Military Record · United States Army Air Forces · 1943 · Escape and Evasion Reports
Personal File · AirmanKilled in ActionPassed 01 Aug 1943
Leycester D. Havens.
330th Squadron · Of Breckenridge, Stephens County, Texas, TX.
The Man Behind the Name
§ Biography
S/Sgt. Leycester D. Havens served in the tail gunner position on the Ploesti mission of 1 August 1943 with the 93rd Bomb Group, aboard B-24 'Jersey Bounce' (42-40609), piloted by Worthy Long. Source documents refer to him alternatively as Sylvester Havens and L.D. Havens, a discrepancy that has not been fully resolved.
According to the crew questionnaire, Havens was killed in the turret as the aircraft reached the initial point (I.P.), before the bomb run. He was killed in action prior to the crash landing. Per the book Ploesti (1963) by James Dugan and Carroll Stewart, he was described as the first American to die by enemy hand in that battle. Of the ten crew members, six were killed and four became prisoners of war.
Service record.
§ As Catalogued
Rank
Staff Sergeant
Serial Number
38202168
Hometown
Breckenridge, Stephens County, Texas, TX
Missions flown.
1 catalogued · 01 Aug 1943
The missions below are those we have been able to document for this airman, drawn from flight logs, mission records, and archival sources. It is not necessarily a complete account of every mission flown; gaps may reflect missing documentation, transferred assignments, or records lost to time.
№
Date
Target
Aircraft
№ 115
01 Aug 1943
Ploesti
—
→
Interment.
§ At Rest
Cemetery
Hale Center Cemetery
Location
Hale Center, Hale County, Texas
Burial
A 6 1
Photographs.
2 on file
Read the records.
1 document
Original documents behind what this page says about this airman — reports, records, and histories the archive holds and is free to reproduce. Check the sources for yourself.
Sources.
§ Provenance
United States Army Air Forces · National Archives and Records Administration · 1943
Official record
Second Air Division
Roll of Honor
Published