John William (J.W.) Shepherd, born January 13, 1924 in Bear Creek Valley 7 miles east of Osceola, Missouri to Clifford Franklin Shepherd and Minerva (Daugherty) Shepherd.
The son of a farmer, J.W. joined the Army Air Corps in 1942 shortly after the United States entered World War II. J.W. served as a waist gunner and radio operator for a B-24 Liberator called the Dazzling Duchess. He rose to the rank of Tsgt. and flew 10 missions over Germany, Bulgaria, Romania and German occupied northern Italy.
Tsgt. Shepherd and the valiant crew of the Dazzling Duchess was shot down over Bucharest, Romania while on a mission to bomb the Polesti Oil Fields, Germany's largest oil depot. J.W. landed in the Danube River and was soon captured by German forces. He spent 4 months in a German P.O.W. camp. until released when Russian forces drove the Germans out of the Balkans.
Following W.W. II, J.W. returned home to his beloved Bear Creek Valley and took up where his father left off by farming the Shepherd homestead until 1965.
J.W. is survived by his wife Norma Sue (Crabtree) Shepherd of 54 years, of Iconium, Mo. and one son Charles D Shepherd of Springfield, Mo.
Dad was a good man, a good husband, a good father and a decorated war hero. He will be missed.
