406th/858th BSs
James McLaughlin Crew

 

Due to an I.F.F. (Identify-Friend or Foe) error an Allied AAA battery brought this crew down over the continent on the final night of Carpetbagger Operations in September 1944. The crew had only recently been brought into Harrington, being transferred from North Pickenham when the daylight 492nd was integrated with the old 801st Provisional BG.

Names HAVE NOT been attached to faces - and a better picture is desirable. Some names may not be in the picture above.

James M.     McLaughlin    - Pilot            ASN 0690133
Carl D.      Lee,Jr.       - Copilot          ASN 0758500   (KIA)
George F.    Bradbury      - Navigator        ASN 0699118   (KIA)
Ernest C.    Skwara        - Bombardier       ASN 0746915   (KIA)
James M.     Pirtle        - Tailgunner       ASN 39328818  (KIA)
Merrill C.   Brewer        - Dispatcher       ASN 31005952  (KIA)
Alfonse A.   De Vries      - Engineer         ASN 36420245  (KIA)
Henry        Stec          - R.O.             ASN 32832390  (WIA)
Anthony      Tuzzolino,Jr. - Engineer         ASN 34546954  (Orphaned)
Ray E.       Bowers        - Engineer         ASN 39558330  (Orphaned) 


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

McLaughlin was uninjured and returned to the crash site to identify bodies the next day. Stec was not among them and was presumed missing but he had parachuted safely, though hung up in a tree for several hours and badly wounded. He returned to duty in January of 1945, to be returned to the states almost immediately. In a strange twist of fate, his prior crew, that of Pitsenbarger, had all been killed in a training accident while he was in hospital.

Below: James McLaughlin circa 1944



Additional crew data sources:
 James McLaughlin Crew MACR 9493
James McLaughlin Crew Personnel Files
James McLaughlin Crew Mission Reports
James McLaughlin Crew Honor Roll Cards

Group-Related Downloads:
 801st/492nd Personnel Mission Report Index(Jan-Sep44)
AAFRH-21 "AAF Aid to European Resistance"
 "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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