William Judson Thames was born Jan 23, 1924 in Fort Smith, Sebastian Co., Ar. to William Judson & Essie Morgan Thames. On Sep 19, 1942 William Thames, Jr. enlisted in the US Army Air Force at Breckinridge, Texas with the rank of Staff Sergeant. His enlistment papers say he had 4 years of high school and was a Fireman at the fire department. He was born in Puerto Rico. S/Sgt Thames was attached to the 380th Bomber Group, Heavy, 529th Bomber Squadron. His military specialty was Gunner. In June 1945, the 380th was placed under the operational control of the 13th Air Force for pre-invasion attacks against Labuan and on the oil refineries at Balikpapan in Borneo. For nearly two weeks, the Group's Liberators kept these targets under a state of aerial siege. S/Sgt Thames' plane, a B-24M Liberator #44-42329, (Photo of his plane at the bottom of the page) was shot down on a bombing mission over Saigon, Indo-China, present day Vietnam. There were no survivors. S/Sgt Thames has a marker at Forest Park Cemetery in Fort Smith, Sebastian Co., Ar. A letter conveying his death to his family S/Sgt Thames' plane B-24M 44-42378 of the 380th Bomb Group, 528th Bomb Squadron Okinawa 1945