SSgt. Rudolph E. Shields, U.S. Army Air Forces
SSgt. Rudolph E. Shields, U.S. Army Air Forces
“Rudolph Shields, son of Bedney and Anna Shields and my cousin, was a gunner on a B-17 bomber. They had made a raid on Naples, Italy, and were hit by enemy fire. The pilot called for his crew to abandon the plane since it appeared they were going to crash. Rudolph was last seen parachuting into the shark-infested Mediterranean Sea. There is a monument to his memory, since his body was never recovered, in the Pittsville Pentecostal Holiness Church Cemetery at the Pittsville community near Gretna, Virginia.”
— by Dail Yeatts, from p. 179 of his book Along the Dry Fork Road.
See also:
Purple Heart and Air Medal
Images are provided by Rudy Shields of Burke, Virginia, nephew and namesake of SSgt. Rudolph E. Shields. The official Missing Air Crew Report is provided through the research assistance of William D. Wheeler, volunteer at the Virginia War Memorial, Richmond, Virginia.
This website is sponsored by Mitchells Publications, Chatham, Virginia.