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Pfc Raymond W. Slocomb enlisted in Phoenix, Arizona on 21 August 1943.

An account regarding his death can be found in a book called "The Skymen", by Kirk B. Ross.: Munafo desperately wanting to get his .30 caliber machine-gun into action, called to Slocomb, his assistant gunner, to bring up the tripod. Slocomb sprang toward him, dropping down on Munafo's left to set up the tripod. However, Slocomb was up on his knees, completely exposed to enemy fire. "Get down," cried Munafo, who was lying as flat as he could mask himself from the hail of small arms fire. "Get do..." Slocomb lurched and fell, shot by a sniper.

The following biography is written by Edward Q. Bond.

Raymond William Slocomb Jr. was born on 28 January 1925 to Vera Ayer Slocomb and Raymond William Slocomb in Everett, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts. From the time he was born, Raymond William Slocomb Jr., was called by his middle name William which became Billy as a child and Bill when he was older, but never Ray, the name he was known by in the Army.

Bill’s father was a machinist in Everett, but in 1927 on a doctor’s advice to move to a warmer, dryer climate to help his respiratory condition, he moved his family by automobile to the Los Angeles suburb of El Monte, California where soon after arriving in June 1927, he died of pneumonia at age 31.

In 1928, Bill’s mother Vera married James F. “Frank” Bond, a carpenter and cabinet maker. Over the next ten years, his mother and step-father had five more children. In 1938, his stepfather Frank Bond died suddenly from a heart attack making Bill the oldest male in the family. Bill set a good example for his younger brothers and sisters by staying in school, avoiding bad habits, and pursuing sports. His interests included astronomy, reading science fiction novels, and making things like his own 8 foot surf board.

Bill graduated from El Monte Union High School on 28 January 1943 which happened to be his eighteenth birthday. He immediately started work for a small El Monte machine shop making airplane parts for a nearby aircraft manufacturer until he was drafted into the U. S. Army in August 1943.

Bill was much loved by his mother and younger Bond siblings. His mother, Vera Slocomb Bond, died in 1992 at age 93, knowing only that her son was killed in the war and buried in Europe. I was 10 years old when my family received word that our big brother had been killed. For years, I could not hold back the tears that came from the mere mention of his name.