MSGT Richard Glassco Tennant (WWII)
Loren worked as a telegraph operator (1920 census) for the railroad. Unfortunately, Loren died in 1927, leaving Pearl unemployed in Farmington with their three children- Ruth (11), Richard (8), and Edna (7), living at Parish Run specifically.
Richard attended Farmington High School, graduating with the class of 1937. While at Farmington High School, he played baseball and football ("Richard Tennant, Lost in May 1943, Is Reported Dead," Fairmont Times). The 1944 Lincolneer Yearbook says of Richard: "Dick," a bombardier has been missing in the Pacific theater of war since May 8, 1943. He is a graduate of our school in the class of 1937. He enlisted in the Air Corps in 1939 and has been in Panama and the South Pacific since that time."
In the 1940 census, Richard is listed as working as a store keeper for the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).
Richard enlisted in the Medical Administrative Corps on September 9, 1940 at Fort Hayes in Columbus, Ohio. His enlistment term was listed as "Enlistment for the Panama Canal Department."
Military Service:
It is unclear via public record as of publication time when Richard made the transition between the Medical Administrative Corps and the Army Air Corps, but during WWII, MSGT Richard Tennant was a member of the 63rd Bomber Squadron, 43rd Bomber Group, Heavy. The motto of the 43rd Bomber Group was "Willing, Able, Ready"-- W.A.R. for short.
Willing, Able, Ready, truly described Richard and his tenacity within service, appropriate for a graduate of Farmington High School, whose mascot was the Fighting Farmers.
In 1942, Richard and his crew were shot down. The Fairmont Times reported: "Last fall (Sept. 12, 1942) while on a bombing mission with the USAAF, Tennant and three members of a bomber crew were shot down over New Guinea. After 10 days of wandering in the jungle and dodging Japanese outposts and patrols, he and his fellow crew members reached an American base. After recuperating from hunger and malaria, Tennant returned to active duty and was promoted to master sergeant" ("Sgt. Tennant Badly Injured," The Fairmont Times).
In April of 1943, he was admitted to the field hospital in New Guinea for wounds to his thorax and hand from shell fragments, but that didn't slow Richard down-- he returned to duty after being discharged from the hospital.
On May 8, 1943, Richard was serving as the bombardier aboard the B-17 Flying Fortress "Fightin' Swede" (#41-24520) as it ran a reconnaissance mission over Papua New Guinea. At 9:00, they reported that they were fifty miles north of Madang and circling a Japanese convoy. They were never heard from again. According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency's directory of missing West Virginians, Richard's remains are unrecoverable. The crew was designated MIA until December 17, 1945, when they were officially declared dead. The wreckage of the Fightin' Swede has never been recovered.
The Fate of the Fightin' Swede
So what happened to the Fightin' Swede? The Aviation Geek Club has an excellent article about what very well might have happened. To include a short tidbit:
"A few days later Radio Tokyo broadcast that on that same day over New Guinea, a Japanese fighter pilot had deliberately rammed a Flying Fortress, bringing it down. This led to an assumption back at Port Moresby that the victim had been Fightin’ Swede."Legacy and Survivors:
Service Members who died on board the Fightin' Swede:
- Bates, William S ~ Sgt, Tail Gunner, NY
- Beerwert, Dilman J ~ S/Sgt, Gunner, IN
- Goodwin, Frank D, Jr ~ Pfc, Photographer, TN
- Kachigian, Charles ~ T/Sgt, Engineer, PA
- Keatts, Robert N ~ Maj, Pilot, ID
- Mannion, John T ~ Corp, Radio Operator, NY
- Murnane, John P ~ 1st Lt, Navigator, NY
- Parker, Bernard E ~ S/Sgt, Gunner, KS
- Tennant, Richard G ~ M/Sgt, Bombardier, WV
- Ward, William E ~ 1st Lt, Co-Pilot, CA
Sources and More Information:
- B-17F-20-BO "Fightin Swede" Serial Number 41-24520: Pacific Wrecks
- The Fairmont Times:
- Missing In Action. The Fairmont Times. 25 September 1942. Accessed with help from the West Virginia Regional History Center.
- Sgt. Tennant Badly Injured. The Fairmont Times.16 April 1943. Accessed with help from the West Virginia Regional History Center.
- Richard Tennant, Lost in May 1943, Is Reported Dead. The Fairmont Times. 28 December 1945. Accessed with help from the West Virginia Regional History Center.
- FamilySearch Profile: Richard Glassco Tennant
- Farmington High School Lincolneer Yearbook: 1944, 1945. Accessed with help from the Marion County Public Library and
- Findagrave Profile: MSGT Richard G. Tennant
- Folmer Sogaard: Oz at War (Several pictures)
- HISTORY OF THE 403D BOMBARDMENT SQUADRON
- Marion County Remembers Facebook Page: Remembering MSGT Richard Glassco Tennant
- Richard G. Tennant: American Battle Monuments Commission
- "The Ki-43 pilot lionized by Japanese as the first to deliberately ram a B-17 likely misjudged the attack approach and hit the bomber" by Dario Leone (Aviation Geek Club): Tells the story of Richard's plane, the "Fightin' Swede"
- US Army Enlistment Records: Richard G. Tennant
- US Census Records:
- West Virginia Memory Project: Richard G. Tennant
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