Histories

The following is an excerpt from a remembrance of Ron Wilder's life in an April 2019 article in the Dwight, Illinois "The Paper" newspaper about Ron's military service during World War Two as told by his daughter, Ronda Wilder:

He served in WWII as a radio operator and gunner.  He not only flew more missions than were required — 51 around Romania, Germany, Southern France and the Mediterranean — but he survived a near plane crash and saved his crew from disaster.

He was on a B-17 bomber over an oil refinery in Munich when the bomb bay doors got stuck. The bomb kept ticking, so the only thing that could be done was harness him and send him out on the catwalk to hand-crank the doors open. He crawled back into the plane while flying 25,000 feet above ground and passed out for lack of oxygen. He was revived and put on a portable oxygen tank for the trip back to base.

He received four Air Medals and a Presidential Citation for his three years in service.

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