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416th Bombardment Group (L) Leland Carmon "Lee" Ferguson S/Sgt, Airplane Mechanic - Gunner June 29, 1917 - July 23, 2005 668th Bombardment Squadron (L) |
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416th Bombardment Group (L) Leland Carmon "Lee" Ferguson S/Sgt, Airplane Mechanic - Gunner June 29, 1917 - July 23, 2005 668th Bombardment Squadron (L) |
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"Ferguson"
(Photo and Caption courtesy of Lou Prucha collection)
July 29, 2005
Leland Carmon Ferguson
Norman native Leland Carmon Ferguson, 88, of San Diego died July 23 in San Diego. A graveside service is set for 8 a.m. today at Falls Cemetery just east of Norman, where he will be buried next to Bertha Viola (Lewis) Ferguson, his wife of 59 years who died in early May.
Mr. Ferguson was the oldest of nine children, born on June 29, 1917, in Norman to Corlis G. and Minnie Mae (Carmon) Ferguson.
During World War II, he was stationed in France and England, battling German and Japanese forces as an Army Air Corps sergeant. As a self-taught pilot, the engineer gunner for the military also manned the A-26 bomber during attack missions over foreign soil.
After the war, Mr. Ferguson returned to Norman, where he met Bertha Viola Lewis, who also recently had returned to Norman after serving the country during the war as a member of the U.S. Navy's Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES). After a short time, the couple was married July 14, 1946, at a Methodist church that once overlooked Porter Avenue in Norman.
Mr. Ferguson and his wife moved to Texas in 1952, and then to San Diego in 1956. He enjoyed a long career in the aerospace industry, retiring from Lockheed in 1982.
Mr. Ferguson was preceded in death by his parents; his wife; brothers Marvin Ray Ferguson and Corlis Ferguson Jr., both of Norman; and sister Sue Millington of Norman.
He is survived by his daughters Annie Wilson and husband John of Bainbridge Island, Wash., Kathy Witkoff of Fallbrook, Calif., and Elizabeth Altmann and husband Walter of San Diego; brothers James H. Ferguson and Jerry J. Ferguson and wife Glenna, all of Norman; sisters Nancy Madden and Lucile Roberts, both of Norman, and Mary Mero of San Jose, Calif.; and numerous cousins, nieces, nephews and grandchildren.
Online Obituary from "The Norman Transcript" (PDF)