Lional F. Coffin
Era: World War II
Military Branch: Air Force
Lional F. Coffin of Duluth, Minnesota, entered the Army Air Corps as a private in May of 1942. He was later commissioned as a pilot, flying the B-29 Super Fortress bomber with the 25th Squadron, 40th Group, 20th Air Force in the China-Burma-India Theater.
He flew over the "Hump" to Formosa and Sumatra in addition to Manchuria and Japan. He parachuted from the bomber in Central China and walked out safely. Six months later his aircraft exploded over its target at Rangoon, Burma, and he spent six months as a prisoner of war of the Japanese.
He was released in May of 1945 and hospitalized at the 142nd General Hospital, Calcutta, India. He returned to the Continental United States and he was re-assigned as flight instructor of B-29 aircraft at Lowry Field in Denver, Colorado.
He received the:
Air Medal with six Oak Leaf Clusters,
Purple Heart, POW Medal,
Presidential Unit Citation,
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Service Medal with six bronze battle stars,
European-African-Middle East Campaign Service Medal
and World War II Victory Medal.
He was separated from active duty in February of 1946.
He retired from the U.S. Air Force Reserve as a lieutenant colonel.
He died September 25, 2002, at the age of 83.
Source: Hometown Heroes: The Saint Louis County World War II Project, page 58.
