406th/858th BSs
Prather Crew

 

Standing, L-R:
Denzil L.   Prather      - Pilot            ASN 0815547
Louis A.    Fehr         - Navigator        ASN 0712138
Milbert L.  Larson       - Copilot          ASN 0705972
Melvin J.   Durand       - Bombardier       ASN 0703471

Kneeling, L-R:
Vernon L.   Gross        - Gunner           ASN 18194675
Patrick J.  Gormican     - Engineer         ASN 35796350
Thaddeus J. Duczyminski  - R.O.             ASN 36123313
John A.     Pruet        -
Gunner           ASN 38370780

Not pictured:
Joseph A.   Yates,Jr.    - Gunner           ASN 13184568       (Orphaned)
Cuyler D.   Leach        - Gunner           ASN 32723181       (
Orphaned)
Harry       Urkowitz     - Mickey Operator  ASN 0708022

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

The Prather crew arrived at Harrington in July of 1944 as a filler crew for the older 406th BS members who had departed and to make up for the losses of May 1944. By the end of September they had flown 18 missions, not enough to go home,and they remained at Harrington for the winter, departing only in March of 1945. The Late Period Log has 12 entries for the crew.

Preferred Aircraft: 42-40362 "T-Time"
The plane lasted out the war and was returned to the Zone of the Interior in July of 1945.

Additional data sources:
Prather Crew Personnel Files

Group-Related Downloads:
AAFRH-21 "AAF Aid to European Resistance"
Allied Leaflets Index
"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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