Target: Brunswick - 15 March 1944 - Mission #51

Briefing for this first mission to Brunswick was held between 0400-0530 hours. The 576th was assigned lead with Lt Amoss the Bombardier. At 0730(26) aircraft began take-offs on what was to be a PFF led mission due to overcast target weather. A total of (1,352) 100 ft bombs were released through 9/10th undercast with results classified as fair. No enemy aircraft were sighted but (10) aircraft were damaged by flak. One aircraft was MIA on this mission from the 576th Squadron, another Gotha mission aircraft and aircrew. Airplane ft 976 ‘D’ for Dog with 1st Lieutenant B. D. Miller’s crew aboard peeled off after the bomb run with bomb bay doors open, and fell behind at 1118 hours. The aircraft was last seen at 1128 at position 5151°N-1020°E under control and no chutes having been observed. The remaining aircraft began recovery at base around 1430 hours.

MISSING AIR CREW REPORT SECTION

15 MARCH 1944 - TARGET: BRUNSWICK

MISSING AIRCREW REPORT: #03184 AIRCRAFT: #42-99976 "POCATELLO CHIEF" "D" 18th Mission

AIRCREW: MILLER    *    SQUADRON: 576th

CREW POSITIONS AND STATUS:

P   1/LT Miller, Bert D.             KIA
CP  2/LT Wilson, William E.          KIA
N   2/LT Williamson, Charles A. Jr.  KIA
B   2/LT Wishbow, Gabriel E.         KIA
R/O S/S  Della Betta, Prosdocino J.  KIA
EnG S/S  Lynch, James M.             KIA
BG  S/S  Rice, Thomas L.             KIA
WG  S/S  Mayer, Henry T.             KIA
WG  S/S  Roberts, Truman F.          KIA
TG  S/S  Lemily, Gerard P.           KIA

MISSION LOSS CIRCUMSTANCES: Eye-witness records from returning 392nd crews stated this aircraft had peeled off after the bomb run with bomb bay doors open and falling behind at 1118 hours. The ship was last seen at 1128 hours at position 51-51 N, 1 0-20E, apparently under control with no parachutes having been observed. German Report, # KU1195 recorded the finding of this crashed aircraft and all (10) crewmembers who had perished. Time of downing was listed as 1215 hours on this mission date, at a location given as Riddinghausen-Ennepo District Ruhr. An enemy fighter was given as the cause of the plane’s crash.

INDIVIDUAL ACCOUNTS OF CREWMEN FATES: None. All crewmembers perished in the aircraft’s crash.

BURIAL RECORDS: The German Report above listed the burial of all (10) crewmen in the interment which took place on 21 March 1944 at 0800 hours in Cemetery for POWs in Dortmund, Germany. One crewmember was listed as an unidentifiable "unknown" (which later turned out to be the body of the Navigator, Lt. Williamson). Initial burials in the Dortmund Cemetery were as follows, all being interred in Section 5 there: Lemily in Grave #151; Mayer, Grave #152; Wishbow, Grave #153; Rice, Grave #154; Roberts in Grave #155; Lynch in Grave #156; Miller, Grave #157; Wilson, Grave #158; Della Betta, Grave #159 and the "unknown" (Lt. Williamson) in Grave #160. U.S. National overseas Cemetery listings note the following members of this crew being recovered and buried in the ARDENNES Cemetery, as follows: Wilson (Grave C-9-5); Williamson (Grave D-24-7);Mayer (Grave C-17-9); Rice (Grave D-27-12) and Roberts (Grave D-27-8). All are noted to have been awarded the Purple Heart. There are no records on the re-interments by U.S. authorities in the U.S. overseas National Cemetery listings on Miller, Della Betta, Lynch, Lemily and Wishbow, who ostensibly were recovered and returned to the States at the request of families involved.

NEXT OF KIN DATA IN WWII: Available information is as follows: Miller (Wife, Minnie M., Abilene, Texas); Wilson (Wife, Peggy A., Santa Rosa, California); Williamson (Father, Charles R., Encinitas, California); Wisbow (Father, Louis, Lawrence, New York); Della Betta (Wife, Dora, St. Louis, Missouri); Lynch (Mother, Mary F., Sioux Falls, South Dakota); Mayer (Wife, Edith M., Bellmore, New York); Rice (Father, Harry W., Meridian, Mississippi); Roberts (Wife, Jacqueline A., Batesville, Arkansas); Lemily (Mother, Catherine A., Brooklyn, New York). This crew was a newly formed one and this was their second mission together having flown their first sortie, a No-Ball mission, on 12 March 1944.

CREW LOADING LIST - MISSION #51