1st Lt. William Palmer (Tex) Gunnin

Our Hometown Heroes

William Palmer (Tex) Gunnin

Mother Knew of Death Before Official Notification

1st Lt. William Palmer (Tex) Gunnin was a native of Griffin. Born on January 2, 1923, Gunnin graduated from Griffin High School in 1940. Before entering the US Army-Air Corps, Lt. Gunnin worked at Beaty Auto Parts. He and his family were members of the First Baptist Church. It was said that Tex Gunnin was a, “genius with numbers.”

Upon entering the military service in World War II, Gunnin received flight training at the University of Tennessee; Union City, Arkansas; Maxwell Field in Alabama and Spence Field in Moultrie, Georgia. He received his wings at Jackson, Mississippi in March, 1944. A short six months later he would be Killed in Action in an air battle over England.

Lt. Gunnin was a P-51 pilot. Known of as the “Mustang” the P-51 Mustang was an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II, the Korean War and other conflicts.

In the final stages of World War II, September 1944, the Allied Forces began to mass along the German border, advancing toward Nazi strongholds. Germany in return began to bomb Britain with their V-2 Rocket Flying Bomb. Lt. Gunnin’s “P-51 Mustang” was shot down over Hull, England. William Palmer (Tex) Gunnin was Killed in Action, September 8, 1944, age 21, a month to the day after he told his mother in Georgia goodbye and left for England as a fighter pilot.

In a story published in the Atlanta Constitution, March 24, 1974, it was noted that his mother, Mrs Geneva Carithers Gunnin knew of his death before there was any official notification.

The article reads, “She was sitting in her chair in the middle of the day,’ her daughter (Palmer’s sister Mrs. John J. Mishasek) recalled, ‘when she heard his footsteps. She thought he had been sent back. He (Palmer) walked in her room-this was on North Decatur Road-and laid his hand on her shoulder and said, ‘Don’t cry mother, I’m gone.’ ” The first official word to reach the Gunnin home arrived 19 days later, September 27, 1944.

Lt. Gunnin is buried next to his mother in the West View Cemetery in Atlanta. Inscribed on the grave are the words, “All who knew him loved him.”

Another GS Hometown Hero who was Killed in Action serving our country and preserving the freedoms we enjoy today. A plaque will be installed in Griffin honoring our fallen Hometown Hero.