I recently made a trip to Greensboro North Carolina. Here I discovered the final resting place of Captain Gaston Ward “Killer” Callum. He was born in Asheville North Carolina to William and Elsie Callum, on June 27^th, 1917. Capt. Callum was five feet nine inches tall with blond hair, grey eyes and a light complexion. By 1930 the family moved to Greensboro where Gaston attended Greensboro High School. He would eventually become a student at U.N.C.

A family friend related a story. Stating that in late 1939 or early 1940, Gaston and a friend went to New York City to enlist in the French Ambulance Corp. However, in May of 1940 France became over run dashing their hopes.[1] On October 16^th Callum registered for the draft. He was living in Wilmington NC at the time, He listed his employer as General Motors Acceptance Corporation. Capt. Cullum would enter the United States Army Air Corps on February 25^th, 1942. He would earn his wings and fly P-40s and P-47s, with the 79th Fighter Group. Callum would serve in North Africa, Sicily and Italy. Capt. Cullum would go on to fly 110 combat missions in 13 months. He would earn the name “killer” when he was flying cover for the Anzio landings. Callum would shoot down two aircraft in four days. During this same time period Capt. Callum would lead his squadron of six fighters against 15 German Messerschmitt’s scoring one of his kills. “According to Walt Brown, Callum followed one of the Luftwaffe fighters all the way to Rome before he was able to complete the kill.”[2]

 While in Italy Callum was shot down and crashed in enemy territory. With his plane destroyed, and suffering injuries the Captain crawled towards friendly ground. He would eventually be picked up by a U.S. patrol then returned to his unit. Capt. Callum would later register a direct hit on a German tank in what he recalled as his closest call. “When we went in on them, we discovered it was a convoy of heavy tanks and every one of them started shooting back at us!” Said Harry Thetford a member of the 79th. [3] Capt. Callum would receive many awards. These included the Distinguished Flying Cross (for the aforementioned action), The Silver Star, and an Air Medal, with as he described “more oak leaf clusters than I can recall,”.[4] His Silver Star was earned for “Meritorious achievement in a bombing mission over Italy”.[5]

Capt. Callum is reported to have made a direct hit on a bridge destroying it in a low level attack. Even though his aircraft was heavily damaged the Capt. would make repeated attacks on multiple targets These included an ammunition dump. In the Spring of 1944 Capt. Callum would be sent stateside to be a flight instructor, He was stationed at Moore Field in Texas. Here he would marry Kyte Trice. “Killer” Callum would later be sent to the USAAF Airfield at Linz, Austria. Here he became the provost. Tragically this is where he met his fate. The Captain was flying a P-47 with a history of maintenance issues. He was waved off his first landing attempt, and on his second Capt. Callum’s engine stalled. He crashed and his aircraft exploded killing him instantly.[6] His remains were sent home, and a graveside service was performed at Green Hill Cemetery on January 26^th, 1949. Let us never forget his sacrifice for our freedom.

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[1] Thetford, Harry. “Remembered” . Harry Thetford, 2019. Pg.371

[2]  Ibid. Pg. 372

[3] Ibid. Pg. 373

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ibid. Pg. 375