Published November 15, 2025
By Phil Reyburn
Albert Corbin Warford Jr’s family moved to Quincy in the 1920s. Albert, better known as A. C. or “Ace”, born February 9, 1916, in Knox County, Missouri, was the oldest of five children.
A 1935 graduate of Quincy High School, he was on the track team and elected to the National Honor Society. The 1940 Quincy City Directory reveals that his father was an unemployed laborer and that A. C. was with the Civilian Conservation Corps at Camp Henry, Illinois. The C.C.C. was a New Deal Program that provided work for single and unemployed young men. The pay was $30 a month with $25 being sent to their families.
On October 16, 1940, A. C. registered for the draft. This was the first day all men between age 21 and 35 were required to comply with the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940.
The March 7, 1941, Herald-Whig published a list of 100 men who would be receiving a notice from the local draft boards. A. C. was on the list, and he chose on April 18, 1941, to enlist in the army. After nine months at Camp Forest, he was transferred to Army Air Corps and sent to technical air school at Chanute Field, Rantoul, Illinois where he finished his training in May 1942. His next stop was Ellington Field, Houston, Texas where he was trained as a navigator, and on completion in June 1943, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant.
The last phase of A. C.’s training was at Walla Walla, Washington Army Air Base, which was a major training facility for heavy bomber crews. Ten men were brought together and trained to function as a team. After A. C.’s crew training was complete, they were ordered to go to England and left on September 23, 1943. The crew picked up a new B-17 Flying Fortress, which they christened Sugarfoot and flew across the Atlantic Ocean.
Now part of the Eighth Air Force, A. C.’s aircraft was assigned to the 100th Bomb Group, 351st Squadron and stationed at Thorpe Abbotts Air Base. The 100th was considered a hard luck outfit with a reputation for losing a high number of planes and crews, resulting in the monicker—- “The Bloody Hundredth.” In the October 10, 1943, raid on Munster, 12 out of 13 aircraft the Hundredth sent up were shot down. The one plane that made it back came in on two engines.
Once in England all crews underwent a period of acclimation. Before the new crew flew their first mission, the pilot and co-pilot each flew with a veteran pilot who signed off on their readiness. Once the pilots were checked out the crew was considered combat ready.
During World War II, the Army Air Corps was committed to the doctrine of precision daylight bombing. Early in the bombing campaign the B-17 and B-24 heavy bombers were not adequately protected for raids deep into Germany. Therefore, in 1943 bomber losses were high. In early October 1943 losses were so high that the Eighth Air Force temporarily paused their effort.
Initially, a bomber crewman had to complete 25 missions, and he would be rotated home. As survival rates increased so did the number of missions, going to 30, 35, and finally 50.
Sugarfoot’s crew prepared for their sixth mission on December 11, 1943. The target was Emden, a port in northwest Germany that housed a naval and an air base. Five hundred and twenty-three B-17 and B-24s bombed Emden’s industrial area and seventeen aircraft were lost.
Designated one of five “spares,” Sugarfoot would be called upon to replace an aircraft that had a problem and had aborted the mission. When a plane radioed that it was turning back, Sugarfoot took its place.
The trip over the North Sea was smooth, but a hitch developed when the escort fighters were delayed and would not be able to provide cover from the German fighters.
Near the Dutch coast German flak batteries opened fire on the bombers. Sugarfoot took a direct hit in the right wing between the #3 and #4 engines. High octane aviation fuel poured across the wing and into the plane’s fuselage. A flight of ME-110 fighters came out of the sun and immediately four B-17s were shot down. Sugarfoot was hit again—head on, knocking out communications and starting an oxygen fire. Sgt. Jim Grosskopf, the right waist gunner, attempted to signal and tell others that they had to get out. It was imperative to go now as there was no time for delay. He jumped and believed others were behind him. As he descended, he saw two or three B-17s going down, and he counted twelve parachutes. He watched Sugarfoot spiral into the North Sea.
Sgt. Grosskopf landed on Norderney Island and was immediately captured by a German soldier. He remained a prisoner of war until he was liberated in May 1945. The other 9 crewmen perished with Sugarfoot.
The January 2, 1944, Herald-Whig reported that Lt. Albert Warford “has been reported missing in action since December 11, 1943. . ..” The Herald Whig on July 20, 1944, stated that “the German government through the International Red Cross” verified that Lt. Warford who previously been reported missing in action was killed in action on a bombing mission over Emden, Germany. Warford’s body washed ashore and was found March 17, 1944. He was buried in Langeoog Cemetery.
The air war over Europe’s sky was brutal with death being ever present. A. C. was one of the 26,000 fatalities the Eighth Air Force suffered during World War II. A little-known fact is that this was 6,000 more than the U. S. Marine Corps sustained. Only 14% of the fliers assigned to the 100th Bomb Group in May 1943 made it to their 25th mission. The odds were not much better for those who came in September 1943. After the war it was calculated that only one in four of all airmen completed 25 missions.
Lt. Warford, Jr., was the epitome of a child who came of age during the Depression. Having paid the ultimate sacrifice, he never knew that he was part of what was later called the Greatest Generation. He did know that America entered the war to end the tyranny of dictatorships and to establish basic universal human rights for all.
Phil Reyburn is a retired field representative for the Social Security Administration. He authored “Clear the Track: A History of the Eighty-ninth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, The Railroad Regiment” and co-edited “Jottings from Dixie: The Civil War Dispatches of Sergeant Major Stephen F. Fleharty, U.S.A.”
Sources:
1940 Quincy, Illinois City Directory.
The 100th Bomb Group Memorial, Chatham County, Georgia. Memorial to Sugarfoot shot down over North Sea, 11 Dec. 43 enroute to Emden, Germany.
Albert Corbin Warford, Illinois World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1940-1945.” Enlistment into U. S. Army Record. https://www.familysearch.org.
Atkinson, Rick, The Guns at Last Light, The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2013.
“The ‘Bloody 100th’ Bomb Group,” Article, The National World War II Museum, New Orleans.
“Boys in The Service.” Quincy Herald Whig, October 11, 1942, 7.
Find a Grave, 2LT Albert Corbin “Ace” Warford Jr., Woodland Cemetery, Quincy, Adams County, Illinois.
“Killed In Action.” Quincy Herald-Whig, July 10, 1944, 15.
“Medal, Citation of Lt. Warford Given Mother.” Quincy Herald-Whig, September 3, 1944, 12.
“Meet the Members of the Quincy High School’s Varsity Track Squad.” Quincy Herald-Whig, May 5, 1935, 15.
McDermott, Francis P. “Sugarfoot,” Splasher Six,” Journal of the 100th Bomb Group Foundation. Volume 31, Winter 2000, No. 4.
Miller, Donald. Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought The Air War Against Nazi Germany. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2006.
“Missing In Action.” Quincy Herald-Whig, January 2, 1944, 12.
“News in Brief.” Quincy Herald-Whig, February 1, 1942, 16.
“Our Men in Service.” Quincy Herald-Whig, June 28, 1943, 8.
“Questionnaires Mailed to 100 By Draft Boards.” Quincy Herald Whig, March 7, 1941, 12.
Shadow. Quincy, Illinois Public High School 1935 Yearbook.
