SGT. ECHOLS IS DECLARED DEAD
Sioux Cityan Lost on Bomber Raid in Pacific Area
S. Sgt. Norman C. Echols, son of Mrs. Alida Rose Echols, 215 12th street, who was reported missing in action August 10, 1944, officially has been declared dead, according to a letter received by the mother from the War Department.
Sgt. Echols was a crew member of a B-24 Liberator bomber, which took off from its base on Los Negros island, in the Admiralty group, on a combat mission to Yap island, and was last heard from in the vicinity of the target. Information given by the Japanese indicated that the bomber had been hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire and that two crew members had bailed out and landed on a reef near Yap harbor, where they were captured. Neither was Sgt. Echols. The War Department has not ascertained what became of the two survivors.
Before he entered the service Sgt. Echols was employed in Sioux City. In addition to the mother, survivors are a daughter, Norma Lee; two sisters, Mrs. Francis Cassen and Margaret Anderson; three brothers, Frank, Robert and Willard Echols of Sioux City, and Ernest Anderson, a half-brother, residing in St. Paul.
Source: The Sioux City Journal, March 22, 1946 (photo included)
Norman Cook Echols was born Feb. 21, 1919 to Frank W. and Allida Heacock Echols. He died Aug. 10, 1944 and has a cenotaph in Graceland Park Cemetery, Sioux City, IA and is memorialized at the Walls of the Missing, Manila American Cemetery, Taguig City, Philippines.
Sgt. Echols served in World War II with the U.S. Army Air Corps 371st Bomber Squadron, 307th Bomber Group, Heavy and was MIA/KIA and awarded the Air Medal and Purple Heart.
Source: ancestry.com; abmc.gov
