James Bell "Jim Bell" Dickson (January 19, 1923 - April 8, 1944), a native of

Aberdeen, Mississippi Aberdeen is the county seat of Monroe County, Mississippi, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 5,612. Located on the banks of the Tombigbee River, Aberdeen was one of the busiest Mississippi ports of the 19th century. Cotto ...

, was a pilot in the

U.S. Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

. James Bell Dickson was killed in action April 8, 1944, flying his Mustang fighter-plane P-51B, tail number 43-7147, YF-X. Lt. Dickson was assigned to the 358th Squadron, 355th Fighter Group, 8th AAF Fighter Station at

Steeple Morden Steeple Morden is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England, about south west of Cambridge and west of Royston, Hertfordshire, Royston. It is part of the South Cambridgeshire local government non-metropoli ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross which was pinned on by Colonel Jesse Anton of

Covington, Kentucky Covington is a list of cities in Kentucky, home rule-class city in Kenton County, Kentucky, Kenton County, Kentucky, United States, located at the confluence of the Ohio River, Ohio and Licking River (Kentucky), Licking Rivers. Cincinnati, Ohio, ...

. On April 8, 1944, above and around

Haulerwijk Haulerwijk ( fry, Haulerwyk ) is a village in the municipality of Ooststellingwerf in the east of Friesland, the Netherlands. In 2017, it had a population of around 3,300. The village was first mentioned in 1844 as Haulerwijk, and means "canal of ...

(the Netherlands) a heavy air battle arose between a number of German and American fighter planes. During the fight that unfolded an American aircraft went down. Either hit by enemy-fire or as a result of exposing the plane to too many G-forces, fact is that it disintegrated while still in the air. The pieces crashed into a stretch of farmland about 1 km. southeast of Haulerwijk. The pilot, James Bell Dickson, was found still strapped in his chair. Although initially showing some signs of life, he died almost immediately after the crash. Lt. Dickson's squadron was returning from an escort flight over Germany but got engaged in combat in the skies over occupied Holland with German fighter planes from (probably) station Leeuwarden. On April 11, 1944, James Bell Dickson was buried at the General Cemetery in Haulerwijk. After the war, he was reburied at the request of the family in the United States (Odd Fellows Rest Cemetery, Aberdeen, Mississippi, USA).

Memoriam monuments

There is a monument in the Netherlands in memory of James Bell Dickson (and also Henri Pintaud, one of appr. 700 French paratroopers dropped in the environment of Haulerwijk in order to support the Canadian army in the liberation of northern Holland) at the Eikenhof Cemetery, Eikensingel 42, 8433 JK

Ooststellingwerf Ooststellingwerf (; Stellingwarfs: ) is a municipality in the province of Friesland in the northern Netherlands. It is one of the municipalities of Friesland where the spoken language is not West Frisian; instead, Stellingwerfs, a dialect of Dutc ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. James Bell Dickson is also mentioned on the Roll of Honour of the 355th War Memorial in Steeple Morden (UK).

References

Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United States) United States Army Air Forces personnel killed in World War II 1944 deaths People from Aberdeen, Mississippi 1923 births Aviators killed by being shot down Deaths in the Netherlands Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in Germany {{Mississippi-stub