1st lieutenant Lucius Gerald Penick 0-413487
1st lieutenant Lucius Gerald Penick O-413487 (enlisted service number 18019170) US Army Air Corps KIA. He was born on December 4, 1916, in Madison, Georgia, he was the son of Edgar Cohen Penick and Martha Elizabeth Wiggins Penick. In 1930 he was living with his family in Randall County, Texas. He enlisted in the Army on September 9, 1940. He trained all around the Untied States he spent the majority of his training in Salt Lake City Utah. While in Salt Lake he met Ruth Erma Garrett. He married Ruth Erma Garrett on June 16, 1941, in Salt Lake City, Utah, they had one child during their marriage. He served with the 435th Bombardment Squadron, the 19th Bomb Group, at Fort Douglas Utah and in Queensland, Australia.
On July 16, 1942 he took off from Coen Airfield bound for Horn Island Airfield. Aboard were five U. S. Army passengers from the 104th Anti-aircraft Artillery AW Battalion plus a salvage crew and replacement parts including landing gear, propeller blades, brake assembly and tools to repair B-17E “Sally” 41-2633 that was damaged on July 4, 1942. While attempting to land in windy conditions near dark, this B-17 was lining up to land on the wrong side of a flare path. Realizing the error, the B-17 attempted to pull up quickly and the heavy replacement parts inside that were not properly stowed to shift, causing the bomber to dive into the ground killing the entire crew on impact. This B-17 was officially stricken from the register on October 31, 1944. According to John Wallace Fields, “Lucius G. Penick, a good friend of mine, had been killed in a B-17 crash with (Major) McPherson, with a load of Australians on board (note not Australians US Army passengers from the 104th Anti-aircraft Artillery AW Battalion). They had spun-in in their B-17, and it killed all of them.” John Wallace Fields, had flown with both Penick and McPherson before and he said “When I heard of that accident, I had a pretty good idea of what had happened, because McPherson was a person that just took everything out of an airplane that it had in it. Penick was a classmate of mine, and I know that McPherson didn’t let him fly very much; he wasn’t as fortunate as I had been with Harry Spieth. The word was out that Penick was flying the airplane and was going to land it, and they overshot the runway and made a very steep turn and dug a wing in the ground. That sounded to me like something that McPherson would pull because he was pretty caustic; he probably just took the airplane over and made a sharp turn and dug a wing in the ground on his go-around. Anyway, nobody will ever know, because they were all killed.” Penick died on July 16, 1942, at the age of 25, and was buried in Lemay, Missouri after the War.
B-17E #41-2421
Pilot Major Clarence E. “Sandy” McPherson, O-22396 (KIA, BR) Sandpoint, ID
Co-Pilot 1st Lt. Lucius G. Penick, O-413487 (KIA, BR)
Engineer MSgt Louis T. “Soup” Silva, R-45343 (KIA, BR)
Passenger SSgt Marvin C. Bond, 6912315 (KIA, BR)
Passenger Sgt Walter F. Schofield, 6581360 (KIA, BR)
Passenger MSgt Walter W. Weisner, 6754182 (KIA, BR)
Passenger Sgt William C. Wood, 6914948 (KIA, BR)
Passenger SSgt Charles B. Baxter (KIA, BR)
Passenger Pvt Richard W. Purcell (KIA, BR)
Passenger Sgt John Stevenson (KIA, BR)
Passenger 1st Lt. Albert McCabe Hart, O-346934 104th AAA (KIA, BR) WY
Passenger Pfc Rufus B. Humphries, 20467589, 20467589 (KIA, BR)
Passenger Pvt Phillip R. Mills, 34102201, 34102201 HQ, 104th Coast Artillery Battalion (KIA, BR) AL
Passenger Pvt Albert Washington Moore, 34102085 104th Coast Artillery Battalion (KIA, BR) Sylacauga, AL
Passenger T/5 Atwell E. Moore, 20487595 (KIA, BR) AL
1- Photo of Lucius came from Julie Davis, Julie’s grandmother was Marsene Penick Ford the sister of Lucius
2- https://aad.archives.gov/aad/record-detail.jsp?dt=893&mtch=1&tf=F&q=18019170&bc=&rpp=10&pg=1&rid=1507324
3- 1920 United States Federal Census
4- 1930 United States Federal Census
5- 1940 United States Federal Census
6- the Utah, Select Marriage Index
7- Photo of his grave from babygirldobbs69 user on ancestry Sent to Lee by his Cousin ~ Sue (Penick) Rodgers
8- https://www.ozatwar.com/ozcrashes/qld50.htm
9- https://pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/b-17/41-2421.html
10- July 31, 1941 Army Directory
11- 7th Bombardment Group/Wing, 1918-1995 By Robert F. Dorr