Ray Ewing Walters was born at Memphis, Tennessee, the son of William Walter Walters and Cary Alice Mitchum.
Aircraft B-24D with serial number 41-23785 departed from Benina Main in Libya on a bombing mission to Calania Airdrome, Calabria in Italy. This aircraft collided with aircraft 41-11806 in mid-air. They fell together, both spinning to the right. Half of the stabilizer and one vertical fin came off of one aircraft. One of the planes dove into the sea and disappeared immediately; the other made an attempt to recover from the spin. Both planes hit the water with great force about twenty-five or thirty feet apart. The second plane remained afloat for possibly a minute but the top escape hatch remained closed. Neither parachutes nor survivors were observed. The area was thoroughly searched for two hours in a radius of five miles at a low level; however, nothing was seen except one empty life vest which subsequently disappeared, and about twenty or thirty oxygen bottles which drifted away from the rapidly spreading oil slick.
The aircraft were lost over the Mediterranean Sea.
Crew members
Pilot, 1st Lt Keith Kenneth Phillips
Co-Pilot, Major William Charles Jones
Navigator, Captain, Gerhard H.A. Thomas
Bombardier, 1st Lt William Lynn Moffatt
Engineer, T/Sgt Roy B. Marshall
Radio Operator, T/Sgt Raymond E. Dallas Jr.
A.E. S/Sgt Daniel P. Farley
A. R., S/Sgt Daniel P. Farley
A.R. S/Sgt Ray E. Walters
Gunner, S/Sgt Clements Frantz
O. , Captain Robert J. Aho
Memorialized at the North Africa American Cemetery, Carthage, Tunisia
The Jackson Sun, 24 June 1943
Mrs. S.Y. Bryant of the Old Medina Road has received word of the death of her nephew, Staff Sgt. Ray E. Walters, son of Mr. and Mrs. W.W. Walters of 1964 McLemore Ave., Memphis, in Africa on June 13th. Sgt Walters was acting as waist gunner in a B-24 Liberator bomber at the time of his death and had had more than 60 hours of combat flying to his credit. He was a graduate of Central High School of Memphis and was a teller in the National Bank of Commerce of Memphis before entering the Army in May, 1942. He had been overseas since February of this year. He was fond of acthletics and was a member of the Bowling Team of the Bank of Commerce and while in High School played halfback on the football team. He was a member of the Second Presbyterian Church, Memphis.
- Rank: Staff Sergeant
- Date of birth: 27 January 1918
- Date of death: 13 June 1943
- County: Jefferson
- Service Branch: Army/Army Air Forces
- Division/Assignment: 345th Bomber Squadron, 98th Bomber Group, Heavy
- Theater: North Africa
- Conflict: World War II
- Awards: Air Medal with Three Oak Leaf Clusters
- Burial/Memorial Location: North Africa American Cemetery, Carthage, Tunisia
- Location In Memorial: Pillar XII, Bottom Panel
- Contact us to sponsor Ray E. Walters
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