499th Bomb Group (VH), 877th Bomb Squadron

AIRCRAFT COMMANDER

AIRCRAFT SERIAL NUMBER

NICKNAME

CAPT JAMES F NEWELL

44-69655

Margie Lou

Additional information can be found at

Case History 328

and

Newell Crew

Tributes to Lt Sisson can be found at :

Scott Muselin's

499th Bomb Group Virtual Cemetery

and

Honor States

The assistance of the following is appreciated :

Jim Bowman
Ed Lawson

John Lehnen
Bob Mann

Scott Muselin
Roy Wall

Air Force Historical Research Agency

POW Research Network Japan

Throughout these pages you will encounter the following abbreviations :

OMPF: Official Military Personnel File

IDPF: Individual Deceased Personnel File

IFR: Individual Flight Record

QMC : Quartermaster Corps

OQMG : Office of the Quartermaster General

Lt Paul Laffyette Sisson was born on 9 November 1918
in Noland, Arkansas.
This town is located about 20 miles south of
the Missouri state line in North East Arkansas.

His parents were Edgar Oscar Sisson ( December 1892- July 1983 )
and Gertrude May Cox ( 1897 - 1988 ).

He was the oldest of their seven surviving children.
His brother William's ( Willie ) name appears in some of the documents.

Sometime between 1920 and 1925 the family moved to Bennington, Kansas.

Bennington is located ~20 miles north of Salina, Kansas,
and Smoky Hill Army Air Field ( SHAAF ).

His father worked as a farmer in both Arkansas and Kansas.
The 1930 and 1940 Census states his occupation as Railroad Section Laborer.

Lt Sisson attended schools in Bennington.

Following his graduation from high school in 1937,
he attended Kansas State College in Manhattan, Kansas,in 1937-1938.
His major was in Mechanical Engineering.

From documents in his OFMP he was working as a barber
in Bennington until April 1941.

He enlisted in the Army Air Corps on 4 April 1941 and
his first assignment was
Basic Training at Jefferson Barracks Military Post, Missouri.

1st Lt Paul Laffyette Sisson was executed at the
Jonan Rifle Range within Osaka Castle on 15 August 1945.

He is buried in Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery, Leavenworth, Kansas.

[ Note: Leavenworth National Cemetery is also located in Leavenworth, Kansas ].

Within Introduction Part 1 are photos of
Bennington Kansas and newspaper clippings.

Introduction Part 2 is divided into three sections:

First Steps, Time Line, and Supporting Documents

Within the Correspondence section are letters and documents
that do not appear in other of THE 55's pages.

Overlaps exist between the Recovery and Identification sections
as well as the Newell Crew and Mission sections.

Below is Lt Sisson's Draft Registration Card
and
a photo from his first flying school at Victory Field, Vernon, Texas.

The designation CLASS 43-F
would follow him through the remainder of his flight training.

DRAFT REGISTRATION CARD

source: Ancestry.com

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CLASS 43-F
VICTORY FIELD
VERNON, TEXAS

source: Army Air Force Collection

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