Last Known Activity:
Richard Hopkin Agor was born on April 18, 1922 in Shamokin, Pennsylvania to Joseph and Marie Hoover Agor. Both the US Censuses 1930 and 1940 show the family residing in Shamokin.
Agor enlisted in the Army Air Forces in Philadelphia on June 28, 1942. His NARA enlistment record states he had completed 4 years of high school, and was employed as a photographer.
He was selected for flight duty, and received training as an aerial gunner. He was then promoted to Sergeant and assigned to an operational unit for crew training. He then deployed in 1943 with this crew to England. He flew 8 missions.
On October 8, 1943, he was selected, along with the crew, to bomb the facilities located at Bremen, Germany. Over the target, two bombs hung-up in the racks and failed to release. A flak shell hit the aircraft, that exploded, throwing two men into open air space.
The two made successful parachute landings, but were captured. Eight dead were recovered from the wreckage. These dead were buried in a local cemetery at Waller Friedlof, near Bremen. After the war, they were retrieved and moved to other cemeteries. SSgt Agor presently lies in the Shamokin Cemetery in Shamokin, Pennsylvania.
www.findagrave.com
www.ancestry.com
US Census 1930
US Census 1940
NARA Enlistment Records
Pennsylvania Veterans Compensation, WWII.
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Comments/Citation:
SSgt Richard H. Agor was acting as the ball turret gunner on B-17G # 42-30368, named "Phartzac,"assigned to the 350th Bomb Squadron.
Missing Air Crew Report 947 was issued , and pertains to this loss. Crew rosters show the crew was composed of:
1 Lt Frank H. Meadows p
2 Lt Lloyd W. Evans c-p
2 Lt Frank B. Bush nav
2 Lt William C. Hubbard bomb
TSgt Harold R. Jackson eng/tt gun
SSgt Robert H. Wussow r/o
SSgt Richard H. Agor btg
SSgt James F. Ward wg
Sgt Dexter B. Pate wg
SSgt Vincent D. Sapone tail gun
Ranks and grades as of mission date.
Lt Hubbard and SSgt Ward were the only survivors.
SSgt Wussow was a replacement for Tsgt Leo R. Cannon. Sgt Pate was an addition to the crew.
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