Target: NoBall Febvin Palfart #87 - 26 March 1944 - Mission #57

The Group was assigned a target of Oschersleben originally for this mission. At the last minute before briefings, NoBall #87 was designated with new briefings for the lead crews completed at 1030 hours. Lieutenant Wolff of the 579th and Lieutenant Amoss, 576th Squadron, were assigned lead Bombardier tasks. At 1215 hours, (24) aircraft began take-offs. The target area was visual, and all ships but one bombed the target, releasing (276) 500# GP weapons, achieving excellent results. One aircraft and crew from the 579th Squadron was lost. Ship #814 with 2nd Lieutenant W. F. Lowry and crew was hit on the bomb run by flak at 1509 hours. The right wing was blown off and the aircraft was last seen spinning to the ground with no chutes observed. Though no enemy aircraft were seen, AA fire was intense and accurate causing (7) other aircraft battle damage. All remaining ships returned safely, landing around 1730 hours.

It was later learned that this mission had further casualties. The Bombardier of 1st Lieutenant R.E. Fletcher's crew, Lieutenant G.W. Judd, flying #415, had been killed with the airplane being landed at Thorney Island having other wounded aboard. In #027, 2nd Lieutenant D.D. Prell landed his badly damaged B-24 at Tangmere. Both 1st Lieutenant A.E. Schildknecht in airplane #517 and Captain Everhart in #544 returned to base with wounded crewmembers, also.

MISSING AIRCREW REPORT: #03486 AIRCRAFT: #42109814 "JIVE BOMBER" "D-Bar" 11th Mission

AIRCREW: LOWRY    *    SQUADRON: 579th

CREW POSITIONS AND STATUS:

 
P   2/LT Lowry, Walter F.     KIA
CP  2/LT Victor, Albert I.    KIA
N   2/LT Hynes, James J. Jr   KIA
B   2/LT Replogle, Wendell G. KIA
R/O T/S  Clark, James V. Jr   KIA
EnG S/S  Cashman, Clair A.    KIA
BG  S/S  Farlow, Lynn B.      KIA
WG  S/S  Kenney, Joseph A. Jr KIA 
WG  S/S  Delaney, Paul E.     KIA
TG  S/S  Isbell, Kenneth L.   KIA

MISSION LOSS CIRCUMSTANCES: Returning aircrew sightings reported that this aircraft "received a direct hit by flak, the right wing was blown off and the plane went down in a spin and was seen to crash and explode, no chutes seen". A German Report #A.V. 894/44, "Personnel Casualty Report Nr. 32", dated 22 April 1944, reported (10) Americans killed in action and shot down at the northern border of St. Pol on 26 March with type of aircraft being a ‘Liberator’. It was noted additionally that (4) men were listed as "unknowns" and (3) others were "probably under the (plane) ruins", and the ship’s crash was followed by an explosion of bombs. The names of (3) deceased crewmen found and identified were: Lt. Hynes, and Lt. Replogle along with Sgt. Kenney.

INDIVIDUAL ACCOUNTS OF CREWMEN FATES: No further details other than the above are available. Time shot down: 1509.

BURIAL RECORDS: The German Report above stated that all deceased crewmen were buried in the British Cemetery of St. Pol (France). The "unknowns" originally listed were later identified as: Cashman, Clark, Delaney, Farlow, Isbell, Lowry, and Victor thus accounting for all (10) deceased members. A later German Report #KU1230, Hqs Dulag-Luft, Wetsler, confirmed the same information. All crewmen were buried in this location on 26 March 1944. A search of U.S. National overseas Military Cemetery lists reflects that one member, Sgt. Kenney, is interred at the ARDENNES Military Cemetery, Grave A-9-7. He was awarded the Air Medal, and the Purple Heart. S/Sgt Farlow is buried in Marietta National Cemetery, Section G Site 8312-C. 2/Lt Victor, S/Sgt Clark, and S/Sgt Cashman are buried at Zachary Taylor National Cemetery, Section F Site 185.

NEXT OF KIN DATA IN WWII: The information available is as follows: Lowry (Father, Henry F., Richmond, Virginia); Victor (Father, Selig of Springfield, Illinois); Replogle (Mother, Lena of Toledo, Ohio); Hynes (Mother, Mary A., Argo, Illinois); Clark (Wife, Mrs. James V., Overland Park, Kansas); Isabell (Wife, Ruby J., Tulsa, Oklahoma); Delaney (Father, William J., New Hartford, Connecticut); Cashman (Wife, Rosetta L., Altoona, Pennsylvania); Farlow (Father, Bryant N., Tarrent, Alabama); and Kenney (Father, Joseph A., Youngstown, Ohio).

CASUALTIES NOT LISTED IN MACR

1/Lt Judd, Garland W. (B) 578th KIA

1/Lt Judd was the bombardier on 1/Lt R.E. Fletcher's crew flying in #42-52415, nicknamed Fairy Belle II. According to tail gunner S/Sgt Joseph McNiel, the flak on this mission was the worst they had ever faced. When 1/Lt Judd did not respond to routine interphone checks, navigator 2/Lt Keck opened the nose turret door to check on him and found he was dead, killed instantly by shrapnel to his head. S/Sgt McNiel was wounded when flak exploded just below his tail turret and shrapnel went through his leg in two places. Pilot Fletcher landed at an RAF base where S/Sgt McNiel was in the hospital for five days. Before he was moved to a U.S. Army hospital, a British doctor there told him that the flak was from an 88 mm shell and gave McNiel a piece that had been removed from his leg as a souvenir.

CREW LOADING LIST - MISSION #57