Robert Jerry Camden Sr., 87, lucky veteran of WWII bombing missions
Fortune smiled on gunner Bob Camden and the rest of the crew of Big Alice from Dallas, a B-24 Liberator bomber they flew on raids against Nazi targets in World War II.
The crew of 10 completed 37 missions between May 20 and Aug. 24, 1944. Their U.S. Army Air Corps superiors gave them double credit for their last 13 missions because they were so hazardous, upping their official mission total to 50.
Yet throughout their perilous three months of combat duty, Mr. Camden and his mates never suffered so much as a scratch, said his wife of 67 years, Mega Camden.
Not every airman in their bombing group, the 485th, based outside Venosa in south-central Italy, was so lucky. The crew that replaced Mr. Camden and his mates in Big Alice from Dallas never returned from its very first mission, she said.
In fact, of the 2,500 airmen of the 485th who went into combat from April 1944 through April 1945, 475 were killed in action and 250 were shot down and spent the rest of the war in German prison camps.
One measure of the harrowing nature of Mr. Camden's missions is the number of decorations he accumulated during his service -- five Bronze Stars and a Distinguished Flying Cross unit citation, the latter for the 485th's successful raid on the Florisdorf Oil Refinery close to Vienna, Austria. Braving heavy flak and fierce fighter opposition, the 485th's bombers pounded the refinery, significantly reducing enemy fuel production at a key point toward the end of the war.
Robert Jerry Camden Sr., 87, died Friday at his Stone Mountain home of respiratory failure. His graveside service will be at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Memorial Gardens in Poplar Bluff, Mo. The family will receive friends between 3 and 5 p.m. Sunday at A.S.Turner & Sons funeral home in Decatur.
Born in Ellington, Mo., Mr. Camden met his wife in 1938 when the two were 14-year-olds in school there. They were married in 1944 while he was in training before shipping out to duty in Europe.
At war's end, he returned to Missouri and became a sales representative for Curtiss Candy Co.
Transferred to North Little Rock, Ark., he had a notable experience with one of his retail clients. "That guy was one of the tightest store owners I ever saw," Mr. Camden later told his son, Robert Camden Jr. "He's always asking me for discounts on what I sell him."
However, he told his son, the client did propose an opportunity to invest in an expansion that he planned. Unfortunately, it required a stake of $1,000, which Mr. Camden didn't have at the time.
It turned out the merchant with the grandiose plans was Sam Walton. "Dad had to pass up a chance to get in on the ground floor at Walmart," his son said.
In 1967 Mr. Camden switched to representing Nabisco's candy brands, necessitating a move to the Atlanta regional office. Seven years later, he and his wife resettled in Boston, where he became national manager of its candy sales.
However, his son said, Mr. Camden much preferred the Atlanta area to Boston, so the Camdens returned in 1979, and here he retired from Nabisco in 1988.
In retirement, Mr. Camden indulged his enthusiasm for golf, playing mostly at the Mystery Valley Golf Club. "Dad was part of the early crowd there," his son said. "They called themselves the ‘dew-sweepers.'"
Also surviving are three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
