Personnel

CREW



2ND LT BURDETTE L. WILLIAMS          P POW 29 MAY 44 LEIPZIG

2ND LT ELLIE R. NESMITH               CP KIA 29 MAY 44 LEIPZIG

2ND LT WALTER M. PICKETT        NAV POW 29 MAY 44 LEIPZIG

2ND LT VERNON O. BREAZEALE        BOM KIA 29 MAY 44 LEIPZIG

S/SGT MELVIN H. EVANS              ROG POW 29 MAY 44 LEIPZIG

   SGT GORDON L. TRICKER           TTE POW  29 MAY 44 LEIPZIG  WOUNDED

S/SGT LEROY MOORE                   BTG NOC

S/SGT WILLARD V. GOOS              WG KIA 29 MAY 44 LEIPZIG

   SGT ELROY A. YAROCH              WG POW 29 MAY 44 LEIPZIG

   SGT RAYMOND COHEN                  TG KIA 09 MAY 44 LAON/COUVRON AF,& LAON/ATHIES 



418th Sqdn..Crew, as above, joined the 100th on 18 Apr 44. 

Sgt Cohen was killled when a bomb from a B-17 flying above his ship landed in the tail assembly. Ship returned to Thorpe Abbotts where at great risk Cohen was extricated but he did not survive. See p. 61 of Story of the Century and Splasher Six (summer 1974).  That Cohen did not survive does not diminish the valiant effort of Doc Kinder and the others who risked their lives in the attempt to save Sgt Cohen.



Crew on May 29, 1944 

Target: Leipzig

Missing Air Crew Report: #5237

A/C 42-107011  LD-T "Shinning Hour"



Lt Burdette L. Williams     Pilot- POW  

Lt Ellie R. Nesmith           Copilot- KIA, Buried Torgau City Cemetary, Sec C, Row 2,  Grave 7, 

Lt Walter M. Pickett        Navigator-POW

Lt Vernon O. Breazeale    Bombardier-KIA, Ok when he bailed out.  Buried Torgau City Cemetary,  Sec C, Row 2,  Grave 6, 

S/Sgt Melvin H. Evans      Radio Operator Gunner-POW

Sgt Gordon L. Ticker       Top Turret Engineer-POW

Sgt Larry C. Boyer           Ball Turret Gunner-POW

S/Sgt willard V. Goos       Waist Gunner-KIA Drowned in Elbe River, Buried in Mun Cemetary, Torgau Sec C, Row 2, Grave 8

Sgt Elroy A. Yaroch         Waist Gunner-POW

S/Sgt Lyle E. Nord           Tail Gunner-KIA, Buried Torgau City Cemetary,Sec C, Row 2, Grave 6?



On 29 May 44  The target was Leipzig with Col Jack Kidd leading.  The target was the Junkers plant .  Fighters hit the formation over the target and Lt Williams aircraft was lost to enemy aircraft at 1233 hours.  The #2 engine and nose was hit by 20 mm fire. The aircraft peeled out of formation, lost altitude and went into a vertical dive and exploded.  3 chutes were seen.  Sgt Larry C. Boyer was flying in place of Leroy Moore and became a POW. S/Sgt Lyle E. Nord, from the  original crew of E.E.Blakely, was flying in place of Cohen and was KIA.

S/Sgt Nord was killed by a 20mm entering his back, Goos is believed to have survived his jump but landed in water and drowned.  Nesmith was alright when he bailed out and the cause of his death remains unknown. Breazeale was also killed by 20mm fire.





Mission List of Lt Williams Crew



1.     27/04/44    LeCULOT

2.     29/04/44    BERLIN

3.       1/05/44    SAARGUEMINES & WIZERNES (NO BALL)

4.       7/05/44    BERLIN

5.       8/05/44    BERLIN & LaGLACERIE (NO BALL)

6.       9/05/44    LAON/COUVRON (S/Sgt Raymond Cohen Killed)

7.     11/05/44    LIEGE

8.     12/05/44    BRUX

9.     13/05/44    OSNABRUCK

10.   20/05/44    BRUSSELS

11.   24/05/44    BERLIN

12.   27/05/44    STRASSBOURG

13.   28/05/44    MAGDEBURG

14.   29/05/44    LEIPZIG-SHOT DOWN





Answers to your questions are something I've been researching for years.  My dad flew 46 missions from Thorpe Abbotts before being transferred to the ground portion of the Army Air Corps.  Why he was not on that flight is still a mystery.  I cannot find any archived flight records nor did he maintain any diaries of his service.  My mother told me at one time he may have caught shrapnel around one eye, but not enough to affect his vision.  As an armorer (BTG), his only records indicate he flew on the following aircraft;



Messie Bessie (Roberts)  1 mission

Mission Belle (West)  1 mission

Shining Hour (Williams)  16 missions

Silver Dollar (Smith)  1 mission

Rosies Riveters (Rosenthal)  8 missions

Royal Flush (Bently)  1 mission

Return Ticket (Evans)  1 mission

Hard Luck (Silvers)  1 mission

Tondelay Ho  1 mission

Dinah Mite  1 mission

The Natural Crap  1 mission

Dry Martini  1 mission

Anxious Annie  1 mission

Lalani  1 mission

Moonbeam McSwine  1 mission

Luck of the Irish  1 mission

Shamrock III  6 missions



As you can see, he was mostly a substitute when a gunner was needed to be replaced.

Following the 46 missions at Thorpe, he was transferred to the Infantry as a 50cal machine gunner on a reconnaissance vehicle at the tip of Patton's spear in the 603rd Reconnaissance Group.  He landed at Utah Beach roughly a week or so after D-Day as best I can determine and fought through France all the way to the Battle of the Bulge, lastly freeing prisoners from several concentration camps.  His unit remained in a policing mode until they were shipped back home and released from service.

He then married my mom in 1946 and for reasons only he could explain at the time, re-upped and began training for the infantry and eventually shipped to Japan to prepare for the Korea conflict.  His battalion was reported missing at the Kum River and eventually discovered he was KIA in July, 1950.  I was 9 months old at the time and never knew him, but always intensely interested in his history.  Mom never spoke at all about him as we grew up, so I literally have found all this on my own.  Scott & Darlene Moore  moore357@gmail.com