Dobbins hosts 26th annual living memorial ceremony Published Sept. 28, 2010 By Senior Airman Danielle Campbell Public Affairs DOBBINS AIR RESERVE BASE, Ga. -- The 26th annual Living Memorial Ceremony was held here Sept. 24 at the POW/MIA Memorial Park. The Air Force Sergeants associations and the Dobbins Chiefs Group hosted the event and Ronald Pearce, a former aviator who evaded German capture was the keynote speaker. Pearce was invited to the podium where he told a portion of his story. He was born and raised in Sydney, Australia and he joined the Australia Army Reserve at age 19. He transferred to the Australian Air Force after Australia declared war in 1939 in support of Britain. Upon his arrival to Britain, Pearce was initially assigned to a Night Fighter unit protecting Irish waterways, but was soon reassigned to the 405th Squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Force as a Bombardier on a British Halifax aircraft. On his 19th mission with the 405th Squadron, Pearce and his crew were forced to fly low level at 7,000 feet where he and his crew were shot down. The crippled plane made it near Leige, Brussels which was occupied by German forces. "I was able to escape capture by German Soldiers and I evaded becoming a prisoner of war thanks to the Comet Line", Pearce said as he addressed the crowd. The Comet Line was a World War II resistance group in Belgium/France which helped Allied soldiers and airmen return to Britain. Pearce said he could recall hiding his parachute under a bridge after the crash when he heard someone calling for help in the distance. It was the radio operator from his crew. Pearce said he propped the operator on a tree and took off for help. By the time he returned, German forces had already come and gone. Later, Pearce said he stumbled upon a nearby farm. "After they fed me, they hid me," Pearce said when referring to the residents there. He said while he was there that evening, headlights shone in the distance and he was made to go upstairs and hide. German forces arrived at the farm and began to inquire about missing aircrew members. These events commenced what would become a two month evasion before Pearce eventually made it back to England and reunited with some members of his crew. During the war, Pearce met his wife, Kathryn. After the war ended, he married her and they returned to her hometown in Savannah, Ga. where Pearce became a U.S. citizen. He was educated as an industrial architect in Georgia where he spent his career as an architect. He and Kathryn have been married 63 years. They are the parents of a son and a daughter and they also have four granddaughters.
