Cree, Ronald Ross, Capt

"Captain Cree was the pilot of a F-51D Mustang night fighter with the 67th Fighter Bomber Squadron, 18th Fighter Bomber Wing. On June 5, 1951, while on a combat mission, his aircraft received a direct hit by anti-aircraft fire and crashed lying upside down in a rice paddy near Chinnampo, North Korea. His remains were not recovered. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial...Source: American Battle Monuments Commission, The Korean War Honor Roll, http://www.abmc.gov

"Aircraft Type: F-51D, Tail Number: 45-11705, Crewmembers Associated With This Loss: Cree, Ronald R. Capt, USAF KIA, No egress noted, Circumstances of Loss: Hit by AAA, crashed in inverted position near Chinnampo." Source: Korwald Loss Incident Summary, http://www.dtic.mil

"It was his 91st combat mission in Korea. He was hit by enemy ground fire even before he could release his bombs and rockets; his airplane simply rolled over onto its back, and he drove his Mustang twenty feet into a fertile rice paddy of North Korea." Source: http://www.truckbustersfromdogpatch.com

Ronald Ross Cree was born in Colorado, the son of Joseph Wheat Cree and Elsie A Schwencke. He attended Garwood High School and Jonathan Dayton Regional School. Based on information available he enlisted in 1941. He was likely in the Enlisted Reserve until 23 February 1943 when he enlisted in the Army Air Corps as a Private. He was discharged as a Captain in 1945. He re-enlisted in 1946 as a Sergeant and eventually worked his way back to a Captain. By January of 1951 he had completed 75 successful missions before sent back to the Philippines for R&R in January of 1951. Soon it was required to complete 100 combat missions, so he returned in May of 1951 to complete his 100 combat missions with the 39th Fighter Bomber Squadron. On May 24, 1951 he was seriously wounded by 50 caliber machine gun fire. This was his 90th mission and the injury kept him grounded until he could convince the flight surgeon he was healed enough to complete his 100 missions and go home. On June 1st he convinced the flight surgeon his arm was healed enough to return to duty. He died on June 5, 1951. Sources: U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946, Ancestry.com, Truckbusters from Dogpatch - The Combat Diary of the 18th Fighter-Bomber Wing in the Korean War, http://www.truckbustersfromdogpatch.com, & "Missing in Korea - Capt Ronald Cree Air Force Pilot, Reported in Crash, The Cranford Citizen and Chronicle, Thursday, June 14, 1951, http://archive.cranfordlibrary.org