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William E. 'Bill' Whitney Quilcene, WA QCWA # 19786 Chapter 4 |
Name:William Edward Whitney Jr
Gender:M (Male)
Birth Date:24 Apr 1922
Birth Place:Concrete, Skagit County, Washington, United States of America
Death Date:10 Jan 2015
Death Place:Quilcene, Jefferson County, Washington, United States of America
Cemetery:Greenwood Cemetery Burial or Cremation Place:Chimacum, Jefferson County, Washington, United States of America William E. WhitneyQuilcene, Washington
April 24, 1922 - Jan. 10, 2015
William E. Whitney was born April 24, 1922 at Concrete, Washington. He moved to Camas-Washougal with his parents in 1928 where he attended elementary and high school. He attended Whitman College and the University of Portland prior to World War II. During WWII he enlisted in the Army Air Forces as an aviation cadet in July 1942. After training as a B-26 Marauder pilot, he was transferred in April 1944 to the 496th Squadron, 344th Bomb Group, Ninth Air Force, stationed at RAF Stanstead, USAAF Station 169. On his first mission 27 April 1944 he was flying as co-pilot with the 1st Lt Joseph Savko crew. The target was coastal defenses at Fort-Mardyck, France, near Dunkirk. The plane was hit by flak over the target and exploded, he was blown free of the plane and his chute spilled open. He suffered head and back injuries. Of the six man crew 4 were killed and two taken prisoner by the Nazis. After hospitalization Whitney was held at Stalag Luft III at Sagan. He was on the Saga, Nuremberg, Moosburg march. Liberated by elements of the 14th Armored Division a component of Patton's Third Army on 29 April 1945.The full crew complement on this final mission as recorded in Missing Air Crew Report 4144 was as follows:1st Lt Joseph Savko ASN: O-801964, (P) (New York), DED/KIA2nd Lt William Edward Whitney, Jr (Co-P) (Washington) POW Stalag Luft III / RTDS/Sgt Leslie Floyd Lampman, Jr ASN: 17003017 (Bombardier/Gunner) (Iowa), DED/KIAS/Sgt Richard Eugene Whicker, ASN 35092648 (Radio/Gunner), (Indiana), DED/KIAS/Sgt Andrew Brown Whitworth, ASN 12203866 (Eng/Gunner), New Jersey), POW Stalag Luft 17B / RTD. No Obituary found, VA records; born 30 Sep 1923, died 22 May 1994, last residence Passaic, Passaic, New Jersey.S/Sgt Fred Ernest Botti, ASN 33415315, (Tail Gunner), (Pennsylvania), DED/KIAAfter the war he returned to the University of Washington where he received a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering in 1948. After graduate studies, he joined Standard Oil of California (which later became Chevron Oil) and began a 37 year career in Petroleum Engineering and oil field operations. He married Lucile R. Kirwan of Taft, California in 1950.His career work assignments have taken him to 20 different countries. He and his family lived nine years in Alaska and nearly 15 years in the Middle East. At the time of his retirement in 1984, he was on loan from Chevron to the Arabian American Oil Company as General Manager of Drilling and Workover Operations. Upon retirement, he and his wife moved to their vacation home of many years on the Toandos Peninsula, near Quilcene, Washington. His father, a well-known horticulturist hybridizer of rhododendrons, founded Whitney Gardens in Brinnon. His grandfather was an early pioneer to Seabeck, Washington in the late 1800s.Mr. Whitney was a Senior and life member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers. He was a life member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity, the B.O.E.P.E, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, American EXPOW'S and The American Legion. He served in a number of community service positions including the Jefferson County Washington Planning Commission.Mr. Whitney was an active boater with a strong cruising background. He began boating on the Columbia River as a youngster and had his first vessel at age 12. He participated in several long range ocean cruises and had sailing experience in the north, mid and South Pacific Ocean, the Arabian Gulf, the Mediterranean and North Atlantic. In recent years, he specialized in cruising the Northwestern U.S. coast from Washington to Southeast Alaska.He was an active member of the Port Ludlow Yacht Club, the Seattle Yacht Club and the Cruising Club of America. He was Past Commodore of the Port Ludlow Yacht Club and received their highest award, the Excalibur Award in 1999 for outstanding service to the community and yacht club. He was an active member of the Cruising Club of America for the past 25 years, serving as the leader of the Pacific Northwest Station and later as the Commodore of the entire club.Mr. Whitney was a well-known amateur radio operator with the call WO7O. He founded the popular "Northwest Boaters Net" which has approximately 65 regular check-ins of boaters and those interested in marine activities. He was also quite active in computer and internet activities and developed an extensive personal website which can be browsed at www.toandos.com including his shot-down story and patriotic page.Mr. Whitney was preceded in death by his former wife Lucile R. Whitney. He remarried to Barbara Ricketts anticipating many years of quality life.
His immediate surviving family includes: son David W. Whitney of Bakersfield, California, son John R. Whitney of Walnut Creek, California, his daughter Mary Ann Whitney-Hall of West Linn, Oregon, and their families including four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
