36th BS
McDonald Crew

The first combat loss of a crew in the UK. The picture possibly taken in the UK but more probably in the fall of 1943 somewhere in the states (with Shevlin's inset placed at a later date). Shevlin came to the UK as Bombardier to Merrill in the fall of 1943. Gemmel came down with an illness and reported sick the night the crew was shot down, his substitute was Shevlin. McKee, McDonald and Choper had all trained together at Casper, Wyoming before going overseas. At Alconbury they had also bunked together. The crew first appears at Alconbury in Special Orders #75 dated 16 Dec '43, on orders from the 2nd CCRC. Grant and Jennings were dropped from the crew sometime in December of 1943. Most of the crew did not fly their first combat mission until early February of 1944. Though the survivors escaped capture for several weeks, by early May of 1944 only Kelly had made it to the Pyrenees and freedom, all others were captured, some of the captured being sold out by collaborators.

 (15 Megabyte file)

Back Row,L-R:
Norman R.    Gellerman         - Engineer      ASN 37309882   (KIA)
Thomas K.    Kendall           - Navigator     ASN 0690665    (POW)
Donald R.    Gemmel            - Bombardier    ASN 0685798
Frederick C. Kelly             - Copilot       ASN 0681112    (EVR)
James R.     Grant             - Gunner        ASN 37240043   (Orphaned)
Charles E.   Jennings          - Gunner        ASN 15104665   (Orphaned)
Warren L.    Ross              - R.O.          ASN 16082986   (POW)
Edward H.    De Coste          - Gunner        ASN 11087792  
(POW)

In the Jeep,L-R:
Frank G.     McDonald          - Pilot         ASN 0675932    (POW)
Le Roy E.    Goswick           - Gunner        ASN 13090050   (POW)


Inset:
Edward T.    Shevlin           - Gunner        ASN  0679669   (POW)

ASNs so-colored for EMs link to their NARA Enlistment Records.

Incident Aircraft: B24D 42-63792 - An ex-479th ASW plane, it was received from BAD on 5 Jan 1944. Shot down by flak on the night of 2/3 March 1944.

Monument: Hem-Hardinval (Somme), France

Additional Data:

MACR 3436
McDonald Crew Personnel Cards
McDonald Crew Mission Reports

Group-Related Downloads:
"Carpetbaggers" by Parnell

"They Flew by Night" editor Robert Fish
Serial Number Index of B24s
Station 179 Operations Log
(handwritten Apr44-Jul45)
Station 179 Operations Log (transcribed Sep44-Jul45)

Available on Request:
Group Mission Reports Jan-Sep44 (On disk $12ea - $10ea via Paypal)
"Chronology of SOE Operations with the Resistance In France During WWII" by Foot & Boxhall
"Spies,Supplies & Moonlit Skies Vols 1&2" by Ensminger
(On disk $12ea - $10ea via Paypal)

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