Kennard Robert Wiggins
(1924-2002)
Aerial Gunner
Korean War Veteran
Distinguished Flying Cross
Air Medal and Two Oak Leaf Clusters
Soldiers Medal
Kennard R. Wiggins was a machinist, tool and die maker and gunsmith. His first contribution to Delaware Aviation was joining his father Charles in the employ of Bellanca Aircraft Company as a teenager working the night shift while attending H. Fletcher Brown High School.
He enlisted into the Army on 18 February, 1943, at age 18. He went to Miami, Florida for basic training, followed by gunnery school at Davis Monthan Field, near Tucson, Arizona as an aerial gunner. A short course in radio operation at Salt Lake City was followed by crew training at McCool AAF Base in Nebraska. Kennard was assigned to the 781st Bombardment Squadron, 465th Bomb Group, flying B-24 Liberator bombers. He would fly his first mission as a ball turret gunner on May 5 against Yugoslavia. He flew 27 missions against targets in the Balkans" ,southern Germany, southern France, Italy, Romania, and Austria.
Wiggins was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. During July he was credited with the destruction of an Me-109 Messerschmidt fighter. During a mission over Ploesti on July 22, his aircraft was repeatedly attacked by fighters and flak and, once again, they were forced to crash land. Kennard was uninjured. He and another crewman pulled the remaining crew from the burning wreckage, earning him the Soldiers Medal. It was his 35th and last mission.
He was awarded the Air Medal and two oak leaf clusters for his aerial achievements. After the war, on September 6.1946, he and his brother Lawrence became charter members of the 142nd Fighter Squadron, Delaware Air National Guard. They were later joined by another younger brother Eugene.
Kennard served until the Korean War as a machinist with the Air Guard before separating in 1950.
