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Walter J. Hansen Crew

Another photo of the Walter J. Hansen Crew

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Aug 19, 2005

Dad joined up before Pearl Harbor, He made Sergeant pretty quickly when the war broke out and was stationed in El Paso as a surgical technician, and then in a training unit in San Antonio. In 1944 he requested a transfer to combat, and was sent to gunnery school. This is a photo taken in Panama City, Fla. gunnery school.

I enjoyed reading the "First and Last flight" by Walter Hansen. I've attached a couple of pictures of the Hansen crew that my dad ( Randy Billingsley) had. My father was the top turret gunner on the crew. After they went down my father was taken prisoner, held in Stalag luft IV and Stalag Luft I. My father died June 28, 2004. I'd be interested in any information about the their misssions and the planes they flew. 

Like all but one of the Hansen crew he was a prisoner of war. When he entered the service he was 6 foot tall and weighed 190 lbs. The next photo was taken in California in 1945 at the time he separated from he service, approximately 5 months after he was liberated from prison camp. Records showed that he weighed 148 lbs at this time.

Thanks again, William Billingsley

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G. R. Billingsley, 3rd from left, in Los Angeles, 1945. Others unknown.

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