WWII · Battle Death Record
Raymond Wilkins
Major, U.S. Army Air Forces · Virginia
Medal of Honor
Personnel File — Core Information
- Name
- Raymond Wilkins
- Entered the Service From
- Virginia
- Rank
- Major
- Service
- U.S. Army Air Forces
- Unit / Regiment
- 8th Bombardment Squadron, 3rd Bombardment Group, Fifth Air Force
- War
- WWII
- Date of Death
- November 2, 1943
- Awards
- Medal of Honor, Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross with three Oak Leaf Clusters, Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, Purple Heart
- Burial / Memorial
- Commemorated on the Tablets of the Missing, Manila American Cemetery and Memorial
- Grave
- Tablets of the Missing
Their story
On November 2, 1943, leading his squadron's B-25 Mitchells in a low-level attack on Japanese shipping in Simpson Harbor off Rabaul, Major Wilkins deliberately placed his aircraft in the position of greatest danger, destroying two enemy vessels. After his stabilizer was shot away and his left wing crumpled by antiaircraft fire, his uncontrollable bomber crashed into the sea, his self-sacrifice enabling the safe withdrawal of the rest of his squadron. His remains were never recovered.
Compiled from American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) and National Archives (NARA) records and public sources.
This record is one of more than 200,000 in our historical archive. Some information may have been corrupted or lost over decades of data conversion. Corrections are welcome — please contact the archive.