Personnel

CREW



1st Lt Ralph D.Horne,Jr      P POW   19/5/44  BERLIN

1st Lt John M.McGrath     CP POW   19/5/44  BERLIN sn# O-697436                                                   

2nd Lt Douglas L.Hiley     NAV POW 19/5/44  BERLIN  TAPS: 23 AUG 2004

2nd Lt Jack T.Evans       BOM POW 19/5/44  BERLIN  TAPS: 16 MAR 1990

S/Sgt Robert L.Fosdick   TTE  POW 19/5/44  BERLIN  TAPS: 08 FEB 1979

S/Sgt Lawrence C.Wiley  ROG POW 19/5/44  BERLIN TAPS: 10 NOV 1975

Sgt Carlee G.Hunt           BTG POW 19/5/44  BERLIN TAPS: 30 MAY 1950

Sgt Joseph Perinsky,Jr.   RWG POW 19/5/44  BERLIN  TAPS: 22 JAN 1971                             

Sgt Shelly M.Hall,Jr.        LWG POW 19/5/44  BERLIN                                                           

Sgt Joseph G.Staron,Jr.    TG POW 19/5/44  BERLIN  TAPS: 25 JUL 1969



349th Sqdn.  Crew,as above,joined the 100th Group on 9/3/44.

MACR #4948 Micro fiche #1768

A/C #42 97607



Little specific information to the 1oss of this a/c is available. The following is quoted from a letter from Birger Hansen of Copenhagen,Denmark to this writer in March 1984:..jb



"An unknown a/c was observed under control and apparently in no serious trouble at 1508 hours near 5420N   1200E heading for Sweden. The a/c had passed  Lolland Island just shortly before it was hit by FW 190s. The pilot managed to ditch the a/c 8 km south of Glacno Island,and the crew successfully paddled ashore in the dinghys.  Standard ditching  procedures were used with all but the pilot and co-pilot in the radio room. Thre were no injuries from the combat action or the ditching except for a slight scratch on Sgt Joseph G. Staron's head. Lt's Horne and Evans and T/Sgt's Willey and Fosdick were taken POWs in Nyrup town on the 20th May at 0900 hours and the rest of the crewmembers became POWs in Snedinge town the same day at 1000 hours."  The crew was on their 20th mission,  having flown their first mission too  MARQUISE, MIMMOYEQUES (NOBALL) on 19 Mar 1944.



EMAIL = jackandrita@optonline.net

UNAME = John M Mc Grath

CONNECTION = I am a 100th veteran



FEEDBACK = Feedback:"I would like to correct and add to the bio of my crew under 349th SQ- crews. Ralph and I were both 

1st Lieutenants when we were shot down. It was also our 20th mission.  We were hit by FW190's from 12 o'clock high. The number 3 and 4 engines were hit and lost all power. We tried to feather the two props but to no avail. That's why we looked like we were in no serious trouble.  As we dropped out of formation we were attacked from the rear. The tail sedction was severly damaged. How Joe Staron escaped with a scratch is a miracle. As I glanced out my side window the FW190 was overtaking us and was no more than 20 yards off our right wing. He must have been  wounded, no sane pilot would come that close and slow. He continued slowly to pass us and continued in a slow left turn in front of us where the bombardier and navigator finished him. We were losing altitude fast and our navigator said with our rate of decent we would never reach the channel, but we might reach Sweden. We opted for Sweden but never made it. We ditched as stated, were captured in Denmark and spent the rest of the war in various German POW camps"



Mission List of 1st Lt John M. McGRATH, CP 



1.   19/03/44   MARQUISE, MIMMOYEQUES (NOBALL)

2.   22/03/44   BERLIN

3.   28/03/44   CHATEAUDUN

4.     8/04/44   QUACKENBRUCK

5.   10/04/44   MALDEGEM (RHEIMS)

6.   11/04/44   ROSTOCK

7.   12/04/44   LEIPZIG

8.   13/04/44   AUGSBURG

9.   19/04/44   LIPPSTADT

10. 20/04/44   FLOTTEMANVILLE

11. 22/04/44   HAMM

12. 24/04/44   NECKARSULM

13. 26/04/44   BRUNSWICK

14. 27/04/44   FLOTTEMANVILLE (NOBALL)

15. 27/04/44   LeCULOT

16.  1/05/44   WIZERNES (NOBALL)

17.  1/05/44   SAARGUEMINES

18.  7/05/44   BERLIN

19.  9/05/44   COUVRON

20. 19/05/44  BERLIN (SHOT DOWN)





PURPOSE: Submit information

EMAIL: stuh@mindspring.com

NAME: Stuart Hiley

INTEREST: Relative of veteran

COMMENTS: Additional information for your TAPS database.  Douglas L. Hiley died on August 23, 2004. Thank you for the information you provide.

Stuart Hiley (Son of Doulas)

Crews 21st Mission.  Aircraft ditched near Glacno Island and crew succesfully paddled ashore on dinghys.  Entire crew was POW





Douglas L Hiley

O-814316

349th Bomb Squadron

100th Bomb Group

Douglas Hiley was the Navigator for the Ralph D Horne Crew – he was on board when they were shot down on the way to Berlin for his 20th(or 21st) mission. One of the pictures attached to this post shows his mission long with “Closed – Missing in Action” written alongside his mission date.

The story of how his aircraft (42-97607) went down on the 19thMay 1944 was described by the co-pilot John McGrath:

“We were hit by FW190's from 12 o'clock high. The number 3 and 4 engines were hit and lost all power. We tried to feather the two props but to no avail. That's why we looked like we were in no serious trouble. As we dropped out of formation we were attacked from the rear. The tail section was severely damaged. How Joe Staron escaped with a scratch is a miracle. As I glanced out my side window the FW190 was overtaking us and was no more than 20 yards off our right wing. He must have been wounded, no sane pilot would come that close and slow. He continued slowly to pass us and continued in a slow left turn in front of us where the bombardier and navigator finished him. We were losing altitude fast and our navigator said with our rate of decent we would never reach the channel, but we might reach Sweden. We opted for Sweden but never made it. We ditched as stated, were captured in Denmark and spent the rest of the war in various German POW camps".

(Information from the 100th Bomb Group website)

The crew landed in the sea and paddled to the shore in life rafts, they then split between enlisted men and officers and attempted to evade capture. Both parties were captured an hour apart on the morning off the 20thMay.

After going through his transit camp, Hiley was sent to Stalag Luft 3. In his paperwork there is an original copy of the complaints made by Colonel Alkire (the original commander of the 100th Bomb Group) regarding the conditions at the camp in February 1945. Hiley would suffer from frost bite in the same month and would eventually be one of the many allied POW’s that were force marched to Stalag VIIA (Moosburg).

Present within this grouping is Hiley’s original POW cards which have become incredibly rare. I believe the photos of Moosburg were available to purchase by the POW’s after the war was over alongside the copy of book titled “Stalag Luft III” that contains sketches of the camps.

Upon receiving his copy of “Contrails”, the 100thBomb Groups Unit History, Hiley took the time to label and annotate his crew.

He would sadly pass away on the 23rd August 2004 at the age of 82.