Leigh R. Freeman
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Leigh R. Freeman, 779th 20 October 1973 |
1 February 1924 – 20 October 1973
Leigh R. "Pete" Freeman was born on February 1, 1924, and was laid to rest on October 20, 1973, in Omaha's Forest Lawn Cemetery.
Leigh served as a waist and nose gunner in the US Army Air Corps during WWII with the Fifteenth Army Air Corp, 464th Bombardment Group 779th Squadron, and completed 16 combat missions from the Pantanella Air Base. He was severely injured and shot down by enemy aircraft near Vienna, Austria, on July 16, 1944, and spent approximately 10 months as a Prisoner of War. Five members of his crew did not survive the crash.
He was 49-years old when he passed and was survived by his wife, Jean (O'Mara) Freeman, and his five children (Leigh, Linda, Cheryl, Gary, and Melodee) and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.