William M Shaw

William M Shaw, September 13, 1921 - August 28, 2011 William Shaw aged 89, on Sunday, August 28, 2011, at 2:10 pm. "Bill" was surrounded by his family as he peacefully passed away at Southeastern Med Hospital in Cambridge, Ohio. Bill has resided at his family home near Fredericksdale, Ohio for the last 31 years. His wife, Jean, preceded him in death. He is survived by his brother, James (Mary) Shaw of Marietta, Ohio; four children, Betty Shaw Brunsman of Columbus, Ohio; William (Hope) Shaw Jr, of Manassas, Virginia; Robert (Janice Lee) Shaw of Bay Village, Ohio and Helen Shaw of the home; seven grandchildren and ten great grandchildren. Mr. Shaw enlisted in the US Army Air Corp in 1942. He was assigned to the USA 8th AF, 447 BG 709 BS as the flight engineer and top turret gunner on the McKay/Fleming crew of a B-17 Bomber. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster. Mr. Shaw also obtained two informal honors that he prized highly. First was the Goldfish award for a crash landing at sea. Returning from his 27th mission over Germany, his plane landed in the English Channel with the entire crew surviving unharmed, save one broken leg of the Radioman, caused when Mr. Shaw extracted him from the escape hatch as the plane was sinking. The second informal award was membership in the "Lucky Bastards Club" given upon completion of his 30th bomber mission at a time of 80% attrition that was endured by WW II B-17 crews. He carried a pair of lucky socks through the war and still had them at the time of his death. He obtained a BS in Animal Science in 1953 and 15 years later, a Masters in Rural Sociology from the Ohio State University. He worked for the Extension Service until retirement in 1980. Mr. Shaw was one of the primary contributors of 4-H Camp Piedmont, which has hosted thousands of children's summer camps. After retirement, Mr. Shaw moved back to the family farm and opened it for friends every year for deer hunting. He also had an avid interest in collecting knives, watches and communication with friends on shortwave radio. Bill was a Life Member in the Ohio Cooperative Extension Agents Association, 60 year member of the Olive Lodge #210 in Mt. Ephraim, a 32nd degree Mason and member of the Ruritan National, Rotary International, Kawanis International and an Aladdin Shriner in McConnelsville and in Woodsfield, Ohio. He also had maintained woodland trails on his farm for all his children, grand children and great grandchildren to explore and continued to maintain the trails up to the time of his death. Visitation will be held Wednesday, August 31, 2011 from 4 to 6:00 pm at the Chandler Funeral Home & Cremation Service, 609 West Street, Caldwell, OH 43724. A memorial service will conclude visitation at 6:00 pm with Pastor Jim Cooper Officiating with a masonic funeral service performed by Olive Lodge #210 F. & A.M. Military honors will be conducted by the Noble County Veteran Service Organizations. A private inurnment will be observed at a later date, by the family in Village View Cemetery in Sarahsville. Friends wishing to express sympathy to the family may send donations in lieu of flowers to the Caldwell United Methodist Church, 537 Main St., Caldwell, Ohio, 43724.

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