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Elmo
was born 27 Sept '17, the son of Prince Garfield and MAry Huston. Reared on a farm near Salem, Indiana. He moved to the city of Salem in 1928. He graduated from Salem High School in 1936.
At the age of 19, he enlisted
in the Indiana National Guards and served with Co. C, 152nd Infantry
until he entered Purdue University where he graduated in June
1940 with a BSEE degree. He worked for 11 months in mechanical
engineering until the draft board had other ideas.
On
2 June 1941, Huston enlisted in the Army and started training
at Chanute Field, IL. as a cadet in the aircraft maintenance and
engineering course. Upon completion, he was assigned to the Las
Vegas Army Gunnery School. He was en route on 7 Dec '41. He was
commisioned soon after arrival and served as an aircraft maintenance
officer until Aug. '44. After volunteering for several assignments
to see some action, he was sent to Salina, Kansas and the 39th
Bomb. Group.
The
crew flew 15 combat missions including the "Show of Power" on
2 Sept '45. They were very lucky because only one of the 15 of
flak holes encountered caused severe damage. That one caused an
engine failure and they landed on Iwo
Jima for repair.
On
the day Elmo was discharged as a Captain, 1 March '46, he started
working for the Ohio Brass C., Mansfield, Ohio as a development
engineer on mining and electrical equipment. He was trasfered
first to Barberton, Ohio and then to San Francisco where he was
district sales manager until he retired in 1984. Huston started
working again in 1991 and retired again in 2001 after being a
sales repersentative for a company involved with eletric transit.
Elmo
and Cena Bailey were married in 1968 and lived in San Francisco and Oakland
until Cena died in 1994.
In
1980, Cena organized the first reunion
of Crew7. They met on a house boat on Lake Mead, Nevada for
the first time in 35 years to celebrate VJ Day.
On September 11, 2000, (55 yrs after VJ Day) Elmo and fellow crew
members, Chester Juvenal, Ralph A. Hardin and Dan Jesser, Richard
Little, Howard Reed and Ed Reilly represented their crew in a
ceremony hosted by Laredo TX, honoring Crew 7's accomplishments
during their combat missions in their B-29 named "City of
Laredo".
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Click
on the link below to view the Proclamation given to Crew
7 by the City Council of Laredo, TX
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Click
on the link below to view the Resolution given to
1st Lt Elmo F. Huston by other members of Crew 7 at their
55th Annversary Reunion
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Webmaster's Note: Elmo was one of the first 39ers (outside of the Association) I was in contact with (9 Dec. 2000). For over 8 yrs Elmo has been instrumental in providing copies of
various military orders, crew and personal photos from his
collection pertaining to his service with the 39th Bomb
Group for use on this web site, as well as loaning me several
books to aid in the material for the site.
Without his willingness
to share this material and his personal accounts as well
as gather similar information from the other members of the crew, P-7's section would be one of the most complete section of the web site.
Elmo Huston took his final flight on 1 March 2009 (91 yrs of age) at his home in Oakland, CA. - He will be deeply missed. |
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![airmedal.gif [The Air Medal]](../../../images/medals/airmedal.gif)
![br_oak2.jpg [Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster]](../../../images/devices/bolc.jpg){kind=small}
![arpuc.jpg [The Presidental Unit Citation]](../../../images/medals/arpuc.jpg){kind=small}
![amcamp.gif [The American Campaign Medal]](../../../images/medals/amcamp.gif)
![apcm.jpg [The Asiatic-Pacfic Campaign Medal]](../../../images/medals/apcm.jpg)
![star1.gif [Bronze Star]](../../../images/devices/b_star.jpg){kind=small}
