Raymond H. Dampman  was the son of  Dora V. and Romanus L. Dampman who lived in Warwick Township, between Honey Brook and Pottstown, Pennsylvania.  He was the oldest of 3 children:  Raymond, Clarence, and Edwin.  The family later moved to Pottstown.  His  mother worked summers as a camp counselor in a Northern Chester County Camp.

 Raymond graduated form Warwick High School in 1931 (then located on Route 23, 3 miles west of route 100).  He obtained employment at the Mayer Pollock construction company of Pottstown.

 Raymond was inducted into the Army Air Corps on March 12, 1942.  He received training at Kessler Field, Mississippi, and fields at Las Vegas,  Nevada, and Greenville, South Carolina.  Raymond was assigned to serve with the 75th Bomber Squadron, 42^nd Bomber Group, Medium - part of what was known as the Jungle Air Force.  Raymond was promoted to the rank of Staff Sergeant and became a Flight Engineer on a B-25 Mitchell Bomber .

 

 

Raymond’s Squadron was shipped overseas to the Pacific Theater of Operations (PTO) in August 1943.  They were based on Guadalcanal and flew missions against the remaining Japanese held islands in the Solomon’s, to neutralize enemy airfields and harbor facilities.

On a mission to attack Rabaul, on New Briton Island  the most heavily defended enemy held base, Raymond’s aircraft went down.

His family received a telegram in February that his son was Missing In Action on a mission over enemy territory.  Two Years later, as in the governments policy, they changed his status to Killed In Action.

Staff Sergeant Raymond H. Dampman, 33, was Killed In Action on January 22, 1944.

Raymond received the Air Medal and Purple Heart.   He is remembered on the Tablets of the Missing in Action at the Manila American Cemetery, in the Philippines.

Both of his brothers served in the Army during the War.

View Raymond's WWII Memorial page.