Tail gunner of the B-24 “Lonesome Lady” which took off from Yontan Airfield, Okinawa on 28 July 1945 on a bombing mission against the Japanese battleship Haruna anchored in Kure Harbor by Hiroshima. After dropping their bombs, the plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire and went into a vertical dive, crashing in a field near the town of Ikachi. The entire crew was able to bail out. Abel was the first out the door, so landed far from the others. He was captured and taken to Kure where he was interned and survived the war. He retired from the service in 1968.