Arthur Francis Connors was born 21 May 1917 in Butte, Silver Bow county, Montana to Cornelius and Esther P. Connors; he had two younger sisters. He graduated from the Butte High School, very much involved in athletics. He also had three years at the Montana School of Mines, being part of the Theta Tau fraternity. He registered for the draft on 16 October 1940 standing 6’3” tall, weighing 185 pounds with brown eyes and hair; he was working for the Anaconda Copper Company. He was a steward at the mine. Arthur enlisted in August of 1942, receiving his wings in May 1943 and was sent oversea in May 1944.

2Lt. Arthur Francis Connors (service number O-694859) was assigned to the 526th Bomb Squadron, 379th Bomber Group as a navigator. The squadron flew strategic bombing missions with targets including industrial sites, oil refineries, storage plants, submarine pens, airfields, communications centers, aircraft factories; they also took place in attacking flying bomb and rocket launch sites in preparation for Operation Overlord, Normandy. While returning from one of these missions, 2Lt. Arthur Connors’ plane crashed into the sea due to damage from enemy flak on 17 July 1944. He is listed on the Tablets of the Missing, Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial, England.

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen saved on Together We Served and Fold3. Can you help write these stories? to this, there will be a smartphone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

SOURCES: Find-a-Grave; Ancestry.com; HonorStates.com

Arthur F Connors