An Airman's Story: Staff Sergeant Stanley Curtis Pillsbury

Staff Sergeant Stanley Curtis Pillsbury was born on January 19, 1919, in Sanford, Maine, and grew up working on the family farm.

Enlisting in the Army Air Corps (U.S. Air Force) on November 12, 1941, during World War II, he was assigned as a gunner for the B-24 Liberator Unit and was sent to the Pacific.

In April 1943, during the Battle of  Funafuti, over Nauru, his plane, the "Superman," had taken heavy fire. Staff Sergeant Stanley Pillsbury had received a severe injury to his leg from enemy rounds, but still managed to shoot down an enemy plane while being bandaged.  The Superman was able to land (never to fly again), and Staff Sergeant Pillsbury retired from the war due to his injuries.

He returned to Maine and provided author Laura Hillenbrand a detailed account of his time in the service, which she used for her book "Unbroken."

Staff Sergeant Stanley  Pillsbury died on July 8, 2008, and rests in the National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona.

Everyday Patriot Military Biographies 

are written by a.d. elliott - Take the Back Roads #TaketheBackRoads 

www.takethebackroads.com

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