36th/856th/857th/859th BSs
Reilly Crew

Larger picture highly desirable!

Data transcribed from Special Orders #234,dtd 11Dec44 and SO224-Sta594,dtd 11Aug44.

Os:
Edward F.      Reilly,Jr.    - Pilot        ASN 0675290   (KIA)
Irwin T.       Kelly         - Copilot      ASN T-61455
Clayton W.     Pluff         - Navigator    ASN T-127085  
Jack H.        Scott         - Bombardier   ASN 0750097   

EMs:
Leslie Le Roy  Turner        - Engineer     ASN 31318529  (KIA) 
John C.        Proaps        - R.O.         ASN 19088738  (M)
James C.       Johnson       - Gunner       ASN 37580956
Nolland J.     Griffin       - Gunner       ASN 33900150
Merle R.       Harlin        - Gunner       ASN 33740049  (Orphaned)
Joseph C.      Mick          - Gunner       ASN 13112848  (Orphaned)

Replaced Kelly:
Thomas         Zinkand       - Copilot      ASN 0832313   (KIA)

Errata: Of the 300+ WWII Honor Roll entries for the Group, only Proaps is listed as plain missing (M).

Reilly's ASN links to his NARA Honor Roll card.

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

Crew Details: A crew with a most curious history. They arrived in part or whole, sometime before the reorganization of the Group in August of 1944. Reilly flew a short crew on gas haul operations and on 21Sep44 nosed over B24 42-50444 at the A-73 (Roye/Amy,France) airfield. Following that there were six more gashauls for the crew.

Between then and 11 December of 1944 they seem to have been transferred to the 857th BS, perhaps after many of that squadron had completed their tours. In the orders above, issued from Harrington, they are again transferred, this time to the 859th BS. On 17 December 1944 Reilly and crew departed Harrington for Italy when the squadron was sent on DS to the 15th Air Force. In April of 1945, they were one of the last B24s to be brought down by the enemy, killing Reilly, Proaps, Turner and Thomas Zinkand, Copilot who had replaced Irwin T. Kelly.

Reilly and Scott flew mission 1737 as observers in August of 1944. The next month, Reilly was part of the crew on C-47 mission #23. Kelly flew four missions in September 1944, all in B24s. None of the other crew members are listed as having flown any combat missions out of Harrington. However, they may have flown some of the gas-haul missions of late September, which were later qualified as combat missions.

Additional Crew Data Sources:
Reilly Crew Personnel Files
Reilly Crew Incident Papers