Charles DeForest Bingham

First Lieutenant Bingham received the Air Medal and Purple Heart. He enlisted into the US Army Air Corps on Jan. 21, 1941, in Binghamton, New York. He was assigned to Barksdale Field in Louisiana where he trained with the 88th School Squadron. He was sent to Wheeler Field, Hawaii and helped fend off the Attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. He completed his Advanced Training at Turner Field in Georgia. He was sent overseas to the Pacific Theater and assigned to the 42nd Bombardment Squadron of the 11th Bombardment Group. He became the co-pilot on B-17E s/n 41-2442, nicknamed "Yokohama Express" and flew out of Henderson Field on Guadalcanal. On Feb. 1, 1943, Bingham's crew and 8 other B-17s took off for a bombing mission on Japanese shipping assets in Munda, Solomon Islands. They successfully dropped their bombs on their targets and banked east to return home. The formation was attacked by a number of Japanese A6M fighters and Bingham's B-17 was shot down over Bougainville, reportedly crashing in Shortland Harbor, Solomon Islands. Neither the remains of 1st Lt. Bingham nor his eight crewmates were ever recovered. They were declared dead on Jan. 11, 1946. He is memorialized at Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines.