Samuel Allman Bush was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee to Nicholas “Nick”Pope Bush and Anna Venice Allman. He married Helen Elizabeth Graham in 1926. Their son Billy Graham Bush was born 2 years later in 1928. Samuel and Helen divorced in 1937.
Corporal Samuel A. Bush #14134088 US Army Air Forces served with the 820th Bomber Squadron, 41st Bomber Group Medium, flying in a B-25, with serial number 42-64893, 7th Air Force in the Pacific Campaign. His unit was based in the Marshall Islands at the time of his death on 2 January 1944. The entire crew was declared killed in action. They are listed on the Tablets of the Missing, Honolulu Memorial, Hawaii.
Corporal Bush left a son, Billy Graham Bush.
Pilot, 1st Lt. Gerard J. Galvin
Co-Pilot, 2nd Lt. John T. Moyer
Navigator, 1st Lt. Charles F. Jennings
Radio Operator, T/Sgt Steve J. Miko
Gunner, S/Sgt John W. Major
Gunner, Cpl. Samuel A. Bush
MIA January 2, 1944
From the Pacific Wrecks web site:
Mission History
Took off from Tarawa Airfield. One of nine B-25’s flying at low altitude for a strike at Emiej Island part of Jaluit Atoll. Struck by anti-aircraft fire, and damaged. Reportedly losing part of its right wing, which struck the tail and caused the plane to invert, and then crashed into the lagoon off Imroij. After the war, the Japanese reported all died in the crash.
Wreckage
The debris field of this aircraft was discovered in 1998 by Matt Holly. Interviews with locals by Matt Holly reveals that the bodies were originally brought onto the beach, and personal effects removed, then dumped on the far side of the reef, near the crash site by the locals under orders from the Japanese.
The Chattanooga Daily Times, 21 April 1944:
Cpl. Samuel A. (Billy) Bush, well-known Chattanooga businessman and a former athlete, previously listed as missing in action in the South Pacific, yesterday was reported killed in action in a telegram received from the War Department by his sister, Mrs. Venice Bush Waller. Cpl. Bush,who was 39 years of age, was the son of the late Nick P. Bush, a former sheriff of Hamilton County and for many years a city detective, and Mrs. Bush. He received his preparatory education at Baylor School, graduating in 1926, after which he attended the University of the South at Sewanee for a year. He then entered the business field here and was connected with the Davidson Clothing Company. After several years with this firm he became associated with the Koblentz Store. He left this organization to join the Jantzen Sportswear Company. After five years with this company, he became connected with a bedspread manufacturing company at Dalton, Ga. He left this company in August, 1941, to volunteer for the army air force. At Baylor School he starred in football and basketball and for two years served as captain of the football team. He was on the freshman team during his year at Sewanee. His son, Billy, 16, is now a student at Baylor School. Cpl. Bush, who was a gunner on a B-25, met death at Jaluit, an atoll in the Marshalls, on Jan. 2. His sister and friends here were prepared for the shock of official notification of his death as a result of a letter Maj. W.A. Hanson, his commanding officer, had written to Pvt. Nick Bush Jr., who is serving with the air transport command, stationed at a North Atlantic base. In the letter, which was forwarded to the sister here, the officer stated that further investigation had made it necessary to change the initial report of “missing in action” to “killed in action.”Cpl. Bush took his training at Buckley Field, Calif., and was later stationed at Charleston, S.C., at an army air base. He had been on foreign duty since October, 1943.
- Rank: Corporal
- Date of birth: 8 October 1904
- Date of death: 2 January 1944
- County: Hamilton
- Hometown: Chattanooga
- Service Branch: Army/Army Air Forces
- Division/Assignment: 820th Bomber Squadron, 41st Bomber Group, Medium
- Theater: Pacific
- Conflict: World War II
- Awards: Air Medal, Purple Heart
- Burial/Memorial Location: Honolulu Memorial, Honolulu, Hawaii
- Location In Memorial: Pillar XI, Bottom Panel
- Sponsored by: John Bush, grandson
Image Gallery
Click a thumbnail below to view at full size.
