Vern E Archibald was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, on September 29, 1919 but his hometown is listed as Carlin, Nevada. His parents were David and Maudie Archibald. He had two sisters, Twyla and Elda. He graduated from Carlin high school and worked as a fireman on the Southern Pacific railroad company prior to his induction into the military in February 1942.

He enlisted in the Army Air Corps and became a B-17 Bombardier with the Eighth Air Force, 100th Bomb Group in the 418th Bomb Squadron, although his service is also listed with the 95th Bomb Group. He attended bombardier school in St. Angelo, TX and in June 43 took leave to see his mother and sisters.

He was killed in action on January 1944 and received both an Air Medal and a Purple Heart. At the time he was on a bombing mission to Frankfurt Germany.

"His plane, piloted by 2nd Lt James D. Higgins, was last seen while leaving formation at 1030 hour on January 29. The ship had one engine feathered and was under control. There were no fighters in the immediate area when seen returning to base. No report of chutes or other observations were made." - from fieldsofhonor.com

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.