Benjamin A. Wagner

World War II

Benjamin Wagner was born at Templeton on May 10, 1925, to Benedict and Florence (Trecker) Wagner. The 1930 census indicates the family was living in Baker City, MT. Benedict Wagner died in 1933 and Benjamin returned to Templeton to attend school. The 1940 census indicates Benjamin and his sister were living at Templeton with their grandparents. Benjamin graduated from Sacred Heart High School with the class of 1943.

Benjamin registered for the military draft on May 10, 1943, while still a high school student. He was inducted into the US Army Air Corps at Camp Dodge near Des Moines on July 19, 1943. He was assigned serial number 37 675 427. He was sent to Buckley Field, CO for his basic training where he was a member of class B-413 of the 765th Technical School Squadron. After basic, he moved to Bozeman, MT where he attended air cadet college at Montana State College.

Benjamin then attended gunnery school at Yuma Army Air Field, AZ. That training was completed on June 24, 1944, and he was promoted to PFC (private first class). After a furlough in Templeton on July 11, 1944, Benjamin was sent to Muroc Army Airfield (now Edwards Air Force Base) in California for additional training. He was hospitalized briefly in September, 1944, for a foot ailment.

He left the United States on December 15, 1944, for duty in the Pacific. Benjamin was a part of the 421st Bombardment Squadron of the 504th Bombardment Group. This unit had been training together for many months and became active in the Pacific in early 1945. Their mission was strategic bombing of the Japanese Home Islands and the destruction of Japan’s war-making capability. Those missions were flown in the B-29 Superfortress.

While the bulk of the 421st Bombardment Squadron was on Tinian Island, Benjamin was assigned to Hawaii for additional training before joining the rest of the squadron. He had now been promoted to Corporal. On March 9, 1945, Benjamin was a turret gunner assigned to a flight of B-24M #44-42144. The flight took off from Barking Sands Air Field on the island of Kauai.

Little is known about the flight but it was likely to familiarize the crew with ocean flight. The flight went southwest from Kauai and crashed in the ocean about 500 miles southwest of Johnston Island. The Missing Aircraft Report does not indicate the mission or the cause of the accident. There were 10 crew members on board. The navigator and the engineer survived and were rescued from a life raft. The remaining eight crewmen, including Benjamin, did not survive. Their bodies were never recovered. Benjamin was declared dead on March 13, 1945. He was 19 years old.

A memorial service was held at Sacred Heart Church in Templeton on April 12, 1945. A grave marker was placed in Sacred Heart Cemetery in Templeton. There is also a grave marker for Benjamin in Honolulu Memorial Cemetery in Hawaii.