Purple Heart Recipient: The final WWII flight of Scott County's First Lt. Simpson Bull

In the dim morning light of June 29, 1945, on Ulithi Atoll, 24-year-old Simpson Bull climbed into his Curtiss SB2C Helldiver, its red tail marking it as part of the Red Mousie Squadron.

The Arkansas farm boy with an easy smile and soft drawl did not seek fame. He dreamed of returning to Mansfield’s green hills and to Joan, his nurse wife waiting in California, her letters tucked in his flight jacket. “Keep praying, sweetheart,” he wrote in his last letter. “We’ll be home soon.”

At Ulithi’s crowded airstrip, mechanics worked on the Helldiver’s stubborn engine while pilots sipped coffee and shared nervous laughs. Simpson’s squadron, VMSB-245, had been fighting since 1943, bombing Japanese bases from Makin to Majuro.

Now, based at Ulithi’s lagoon, they flew to Yap Atoll, targeting 4,000 enemy soldiers left behind after bigger battles.

These missions were tough, with humid air and hidden guns making every flight risky. Simpson’s group, four Helldivers and two torpedo planes, took off at 5:30 a.m., heading west over the Caroline Islands.

Their job was to scout for submarines or attack enemy positions on Yap’s scarred airstrip.

The sea below sparkled, but danger was near. At 8:45 a.m., 20 miles south of Yap, Simpson’s engine sputtered, likely from wear or damage. “Going down,” he radioed calmly, trying to land on the waves. His plane hit the water and vanished into the deep.

His wingman circled but found no sign of Simpson or his plane in the choppy sea.

Back at base, Joan’s photo waited in Simpson’s locker, showing her smiling in her nurse’s uniform. The news crushed the squadron’s spirit, another name lost just weeks before Japan’s surrender.

Joan, working in a California naval hospital, received the telegram in July, her heart breaking as she folded it away. She later married Dr. Frank Adelman, raising a family in Enid, Oklahoma, but kept Simpson’s memory close, his pilot wings in a locket.

Simpson Bull received several military honors for his service in the Pacific Theater, reflecting his dedication as a dive bomber pilot in VMSB-245. His awards include the Purple Heart, awarded posthumously for his death and presented to his family,

Today, Simpson’s name shines on the Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery, among 36,000 lost heroes. In Mansfield, his niece Nancy tends his cenotaph at Coop Prairie, where locals honor him each Memorial Day.

His missions helped win the war, clearing the way for peace. Joan, who died in 2009, once said at his memorial, “He flew for all of us, and he flew with courage.”

Simpson Bull’s story, etched in stone and sea, reminds us of a small-town hero whose sacrifice helped end a global war.