Ben Thornton - Leon Cemetery - Leon, OK
N 33° 52.882 W 097° 25.611
14S E 645485 N 3750116
A cenotaph to SSgt Ben Thornton is located behind the headstone marking the final resting place of his mother, Burnice Thornton, in Leon Cemetery, Leon, OK.
Waymark Code: WM11QT8
Location: Oklahoma, United States
Date Posted: 12/05/2019
Views: 1
SSgt Thornton's cenotaph is directly behind his mother's headstone, also made of red granite, with a simple inscription:
In Memory of
Ben Thornton
June 9, 1918
July 27, 1945
Declared Missing in Action
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There is no indication as to when the cenotaph was placed, but if it was put here just after his mother passed on, it would have been in the 1950s, when we probably had little information as to his fate. While SSgt Thornton certainly was declared "Missing in Action" -- his remains were not recovered, and he is listed on the Courts of the Missing in Honolulu -- we do at least know his fate today. His Findagrave memorial (see Website, below) provides some background.
He served on B-29A #42-94098, 28th Bomber Squadron, 19th Bomber Group, Very Heavy, U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. After a successful bombing mission against Omuta on July 27, 1945, his plane was damaged by flak and destroyed, with several crew members parachuting to safety. A prisoner of the Japanese, SSgt Thornton was one of thirty-three American airmen who were executed -- some beheaded -- at Fukuoka, Japan on August 15, 1945, despite their captors being aware of the imminent surrender of Japan.
SSgt Thornton was posthumously awarded the Air Medal, a Purple Heart, and Prisoner Of War Medal.