Paul Edward Atkins was the son of Rector A. Atkins and Lallie M. Dale.
2nd Lieutenant Paul E. Atkins was assigned to the 413th Bomber Squadron H, 96th Bomb Group, flying a B-17 out of Snetterton Heath, England. He was declared a Finding of Death on 9 October 1943 and is listed on the Tablets of the Missing, Cambridge American Cemetery, Cambridge, England. He is listed in Army records as being from Knox County.
Aircraft B-17F with serial number 42-30781 was on an operational mission to Gdynia, Poland.
Crew members
Pilot, 2nd Lt William Clarence Hunt Jr.
Co-Pilot, 2nd Lt Paul Edward Atkins
Navigator, 2nd Lt Roy Lee Schott
Bombardier, 2nd Lt Richard Grenville Villochi
Radio Operator, Sgt William Burbank Cheffin
Top Turret Gunner, T/Sgt Warren Harding Strack
Ball Turret Gunner, S/Sgt Robert Swart
Right Waist Gunner, S/Sgt Teddy Aloysius Yurkiewicz
Left Waist Gunner, S/Sgt Joseph Pierce
Tail Gunner, S/Sgt Charles Mass
The Knoxville News-Sentinel, 20 October 1943
A Powder Springs school teacher, who swapped his ruler for the controls of a Flying Fortress, is “Missing in action” after probably participating in the deepest Britain-based penetration of the Axis during the war. Lt. Paul Edward Atkins, 26, of Knoxville and Powder Springs, B-17 pilot, is missing as of Oct. 9. Relatives here say his earlier letters indicate that it probably was only his second raid.
That was the day the Forts pounded German fleet bases and other targets all the way to East Prussia and Poland – almost withing hearing of the Russian front. A graduate of Lincoln Memorial University, Lot. Atkins is the son of R.A. Atkins, of Powder Springs, Grainger County, where the young man was grammar school principal. Just before volunteering, in April, 1940, he came here to live with his sister at 939 North Fourth Avenue, preparatory to teaching in Knoxville schools. The sisters are Mrs. H.L. O’Fallon and Miss Edna Adkins. Lt. Atkins spent two years in the Medical Corps at Camp Forrest, before switching to the Air Force for pilot training. Just before he was reported missing, he wrote here of his satisfaction at participating in his first bombing mission. He had been in Britain about two months.
- Rank: Second Lieutenant
- Date of birth: 9 September 1918
- Date of death: 9 October 1943
- County: Grainger
- Hometown: Powder Springs
- Service Branch: Army/Army Air Forces
- Division/Assignment: 413rd Bomber Squadron, 96th Bomber Group, Heavy
- Theater: Europe
- Conflict: World War II
- Awards: Air Medal, Purple Heart
- Burial/Memorial Location: Cambridge American Cemetery, Cambridge, England
- Location In Memorial: Pillar IX, Top Panel
- Contact us to sponsor Paul E. Atkins
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