He was called Emery to distinguish him from his father, Hazen. Graduating from North Fremont High School in Ashton, Idaho, in 1942 he joined the service in March 1943. In October 1943, after training as a tail gunner, he was given unexpected leave to come home. It was the last time his family would see him.

He probably went overseas some time in November or December, where the crew was assigned to the 66th Squadron, 44th Bombardment Group, stationed at Shipdham Field. His crew, put together during their training, flew under pilot Glenn Folsom in a B-24 christened Ice Cold Katy. Their first mission was flown February 13, 1944 to Raye-Sur-Authie & Petit Bois Tillencourt, France (V-1 sites). There were three more missions in February, all against targets in Germany. Two missions on March 3 and 4 were recalled and one on March 5, 1944 was apparently scrubbed.

On March 7, 1944 he went up with a short crew on a training mission for new crews after a mission to Lippstadt was scrubbed. According to an eyewitness flying off the left wing, they were approaching the field from the west when a P47 fighter plane suddenly appeared. The pilot banked hard left and down in an attempt to avoid collision but struck Katy outboard of #4 engine. No one knows if the P47 pilot was making a nose-on fighter pass or may have been blinded temporarily by the sun and did not see the B24's until too late. The pilot, Charles H. Screiber, who was also killed, was with the HQ65 Fighter Wing, HQ & HQ AAF 370, based at Saffron Walden, 30 miles south of Cambridge.

The B24 flipped hard right into a tight 2-1/2 turn right spin and exploded on impact. At such a low altitude, the crew had no chance to parachute to safety. Emery had celebrated his 20th birthday less than a month before the crash.

Those killed in the crash are indicated with an *

Back row, left to right: Eugene Gilligan, Engineer*; John Parlapiano, 3rd Engineer; Hazen "Emery" Hawkes, Tail Gunner*; Theodore Bessen, Radio Operator*; Ed Lawrence, Assistant Engineer; Albert Abercrombie, Armor Gunner.
Front row, left to right: Paul Purdue, Co-pilot*; Charles Mauk, Navigator*; P. F. Baum, Bombardier; Glenn Folsom, Pilot*.

Also killed in the crash was Thomas G. Barber, a Gunner. He is not shown in the photograph, and it is possible he was a replacement on the training flight.

Four of the original crew survived the crash:
-P.F. Baum , the navigator, would later be killed in action.
-John Parlapiano, the 3rd Engineer, was suffering from frostbite, a common ailment on the flights.
-Albert Abercrombie, the Armor gunner, had been suffering from jaundice for some time and Captain Folsom finally sent him to the base hospital the morning of the flight.
-Ed Lawrence, Assistant Engineer, was also suffering from frostbite.

Ed Lawrence corresponded with my grandparents and several of Uncle Emery's friends during and for awhile after the war. In 1990 I was able to talk to his widow, and also to John Parlapiano and Albert Abercrombie, who had both survived the war. Mr. Parlapiano died not long after I spoke with him without fulfilling his desire to return to Shipdham some day.

Mr. Abercrombie said he had had jaundice for some time before he went to the hospital and went only because of Captain Folsom's insistence and the fact this was a training mission.

Both emphasized the sense of comradeship and friendship they had forged with the other members of the crew. After the crash they both served as replacements on various other crews, but avoided making close personal friends on those crews.

While trying to find information on Shipdham and the base in 1990, prior to a trip to Scotland and England, I was fortunate enough to stumble on the 8th AAF Association and from there to the 44th Heritage Memorial Group and its long-time historian, Will Lundy. Will found records of the missions my uncle was on, witnesses to the crash and photographs of the crash itself. We owe him a great debt of gratitude for his work, as well as his years of voluntary service in making sure this part of WWII history is preserved.

During our trip my Mother and I were taken on an escorted tour of the Shipdham Base by a local military history buff and volunteer,Paul Wilson, and Tony North, from the 8th AAF Memorial Room at the Norwich Library. Armed with blueprints of the original base layout, they showed us where the base had been and some of the remaining facilities, including the original control tower, which has been partially restored. All the "temporary" buildings are now on private property and used as farm outbuildings, but Paul and Tony had received permission to visit several where we were able to see the marvelous art painted on the whitewashed walls by homesick American soldiers.

Efforts are being made to preserve the drawings here and other bases throughout the area before time and nature cause them to disappear.