Nacogdoches High School Alumni Association

(1st Picture in this album)

Fred Gordon Buckner, Class of 1941

The memory of Fred Gordon Buckner will now live on at the Nacogdoches High School Alumni Association since his cousins recently donated his World War II medals and the United States flag, presented to his family upon his death in 1944. His cousins, Dorothy Ann Adams of Bossier City, LA, and Mary Frances Eckels of Katy, TX, met with Dena Giddens, NHSAA office manager, and board member Peggy Arriola Jasso and reminisced about their legendary cousin who went off to war and never returned.

Fred was born on March 23, 1924 to Fred Browning Buckner and Dorothy Elizabeth Hardeman in Nacogdoches. He had one sister, Helen Jean Buckner. Fred went to public schools in Nacogdoches and graduated from NHS in 1941. During his senior year in high school, he was an outstanding student and leader. He played baseball, was a star end on the Dragon football team, student body president, and a member of the Stone Fort Chapter of the National Honor Society.

After high school, Fred Gordon Buckner went to college at Rice University and Stephen F. Austin before he joined the U. S. Army Air Corps in 1943 to become a fighter pilot. He attained the rank of Second Lieutenant with the 355^th Fighter Squadron, 354^th Fighter Group and was stationed in England and France. In October 1944, his parents were notified by the War Department that he was reported missing-in-action on October 12, 1944. He had only been overseas four months with the Pioneer Mustang Squadron when his P-51 fighter plane, flying from Orconte, France to Debden, England, flew into heavy rain showers over the English Channel and was never heard from again. Fred was 20 years old at the time that he was listed as missing in action and presumed dead.

The medals received by NHSAA include his purple heart, which has an interesting story told by Dorothy. She said when Fred’s parents both died in 1949, all of Fred’s war memorabilia was left to the only remaining child, Helen Jean. Over the years, Helen Jean moved to different locations across the nation, and on one move she left a box of Fred’s memorabilia with a good friend in Nacogdoches who placed the box in her attic. When Helen Jean was settled and asked for the box, the Purple Heart was missing. Years went by, and one day Helen Jean’s friend called to tell her that during remodeling her contractor located the Purple Heart between the rafters in the attic. Apparently, it had fallen from the box and remained in the attic for years. Now, proudly the NHSAA can say that Fred’s Purple Heart, photograph, and flag have a permanent home where his memory can be preserved forever.

Fred Gordon Buckner, Class of 1941

OR

Grady Allen NHSAA Distinguished Alumni 9/17/2010

OR

NHS Homecoming 2010

OR

Distinguished Family 2010: N. Campbell and Peggy Cox

OR

Eddie Orum III - NHS Distinguished Alumni 10/29/10

OR

2009 NHS Alumni Scholarship Recipients

OR

Deborah Dodson Haas Retirement Reception

OR

Kenneth Caldwell - Distinguished Alumnus 9/5/08

OR

Jim Collins - Distinguished Alumnus 9/19/08

OR

Kynan Forney - Distinguished Alumnus 10/17/08

OR

NHS Key Club Honors Alumni / U.S. Veterans

OR

2008 NHSAA Annual Meeting

OR

2007 NHSAA Annual Meeting

OR

2008 NHSAA / Buck Fausett Golf Tournament

OR

2007 Annual Golf Tournament

OR

2007 Distinguished Alumni

OR

Alumni Brick Plaza

OR

Scholarships

OR

Other Photos

OR

Alumni Cheerleaders at Homecoming 2009

OR

Hale-Mathews Tribute, October 21, 2011

OR