2nd Lt Anthony J. Goode
WWII B-24 Navigator -  1916-1944
13th AF 5th Grp 72nd Sq, Heavy - KIA

Anthony Goode was born on January 4, 1916, in Barre, Massachusetts, the son of Lithuanian immigrants. One of six children, he grew up during the prosperity of the Roaring Twenties and the hardships of the Great Depression. Like many families of the era, his knew both joy and tragedy, as two of his siblings died in infancy. When America entered World War II, Anthony and his younger brother, Stanley, chose not to wait for the draft. Instead, on September 3, 1942, they enlisted together in the Army Air Forces, hoping to earn commissions as officers and serve their country from the air. 

After completing preflight training, Anthony chose to become a navigator, receiving advanced instruction at Selman Field, Louisiana. Commissioned a Second Lieutenant and awarded his navigator's wings on October 16, 1943, he was assigned to the crew of a B-24 Liberator bomber. Following months of intensive combat training, Anthony and his crew deployed to the Southwest Pacific as part of the 13th Air Force's 72nd Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 5th Bombardment Group. Their arrival came just as General Douglas MacArthur launched his campaign to seize the islands that would become stepping stones to the liberation of the Philippines.

After arriving at Goodenough Island in New Guinea, Anthony's crew continued to Momote Airfield on Los Negros, where they established their operational base. Living conditions were primitive, but the men of the 5th Bombardment Group—known as the "Bomber Barons"—pressed on, flying long-range bombing missions against Japanese strongholds throughout the Southwest Pacific. Their targets included New Ireland, New Britain, Bougainville, Truk, Rabaul, and later Biak Island in preparation for its invasion.   

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