I often spend 15 hours or more researching each profile prior to publication. Some have a development period of just a few days, while others have sat in various stages of completion for more than a year. I often work on a piece until I hit a wall, and then shift gears while I wait for a solution. As this project approaches the five-year mark, I have decided to present some work in its incomplete, unpolished state. As an article is finished, I will publish a full-length article and remove it from this page.
The reasons each story is on hold varies. In many cases, I am waiting for my next visit to the National Archives in College Park, Maryland, to obtain unit records which contextualize the servicemember’s experiences, or photos to better illustrate the piece. In other cases, I am waiting to obtain morning reports or personnel files that may shed light on a servicemember’s career. In a few cases, I’m stumped by a mystery and fear publishing inaccurate information.
One of the motivations in presenting these briefs is the hopes that family members of the fallen—or somebody with information about the man or his unit—may stumble across them and provide assistance in getting them across the finish line. Bibliographies and acknowledgments have been omitted until final publication. Completed articles are removed from this page.
1st Lieutenant Edward V. Atwell, Jr. (1920–1944)
Early Life & Family
Edward Victor Atwell, Jr. was born at St. Paul’s Sanitarium in Dallas, Texas, on January 19, 1920. He was the only child of Edward Victor Atwell, Sr. (a real estate broker 1883–1969) and Ida Bakey Atwell (née Ida Mary Bakey, 1883–1933). His birth certificate noted that his parents were residents of Wilmington, Delaware, at the time. On September 30, 1921, Every Evening, a Wilmington newspaper, described Atwell’s father: “During the World War he left Wilmington to enter the military service, and after the declaration of the armistice he went to Texas. Since his return from the South he has resided in Delaware City.” On the other hand, in 1969, the Evening Journal reported that the elder Atwell “was formerly a real estate researcher for the Du Pont Co. Later, he went into the real estate business for himself, occupying an office at 10th and Market Sts.” The paper described him as a resident of Wilmington since 1901, though it appears that the Atwells divided their time between residences in Wilmington and a farm they owned in Cecil County, Maryland.
The Atwells were recorded on the census in April 1930 living at the Du Pont Building on West 10th Street in Wilmington.
Atwell was 13 when his mother died of a cerebral hemorrhage on May 23, 1933. Her obituary gave her residence as Barksdale, Maryland, in unincorporated Cecil County off Barksdale Road, north of Elkton, Mayland, while her death certificate described her as a resident of Elkton itself. Atwell graduated from Wilmington High School in June 1939. Later that year, on October 28, 1939, his father remarried in Wilmington to Emma Whiteman Snyder (née Emma Whiteman Richards, 1886–1973), herself a widow. The 1940 census recorded the Atwells as living in the Fair Hill area north of Elkton, Maryland.
When he registered for the draft on July 1, 1941, Atwell was living with his father on Rural Free Delivery No. 3 in Elkton, Maryland. His occupation was listed as “Farming & Automobile Mechanic” and his employer as Mackenzie & Strickland Automobile Agency in nearby Newark, Delaware. Similarly, his enlistment data card later that year described him as a semiskilled motor vehicle mechanic. The registrar described him as standing about five feet, eight inches tall and weighing 150 lbs., with blond hair and blue eyes and scars on his right elbow. His military paperwork described him similarly, albeit with brown hair.
Upon enlistment, Atwell described his work history as three years of “General Mechanic Work” earning $25 per week (about $525 in 2025 dollars). On the other hand, the Wilmington Morning News reported that “Atwell was an auditor with the Coca-Cola Company here before entering the service.”
Military Career
A portion of Atwell’s personnel file, mostly pertaining to his time as an enlisted man, survived the 1973 National Personnel Records Center fire, meaning some more details about his career are available than many other soldiers. Microfilmed copies of his flight records and morning reports also survived.
Atwell was drafted before the U.S. entered World War II. The Wilmington Morning News reported that on November 17, 1941, Atwell and 14 other men selected by the Local Board, Cecil County, were notified to report for induction into the U.S. Army on November 24, 1941. On November 25, 1941, he went on active duty and was attached unassigned to Company “B,” 1303rd Service Unit, Camp Lee, Virginia. Evidently Atwell expressed interest in the Army Air Forces or was recruited based on his background as a mechanic, but there was a catch: Atwell had to commit to a three-year stint in the Regular Army. As a formality, he was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army on November 26, 1941, and reenlisted the following day. On December 6, 1941, he was transferred to Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, though he did not leave Camp Lee until December 11, shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Upon reporting at Jefferson Barracks on December 12, 1941, Private Atwell was attached unassigned to the 357th School Squadron.
In 1942, Atwell volunteered to become an aviation cadet. On September 7, 1942, he passed a flight physical at the Army Air Forces Classification Center, Nashville, Tennessee.
By May 25, 1943, Atwell had 231.4 hours under his belt as a student pilot, including 171.8 hours as first pilot. In April and May 1943 he was flying the AT-6 and AT-10.
Aviation Cadet Atwell was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army on May 27, 1943, at Blytheville Army Air Field, again as a formality. On May 28, 1943, Atwell was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant.
On May 29, 1943, a set of orders came down transferring 2nd Lieutenant Atwell to the 46th Bombardment Group at Will Rogers Field, Oklahoma. He was authorized to take 10 days of leave prior to reporting by June 10, 1943. He joined the 51st Bombardment Squadron (Light), 46th Bombardment Group (Light). On June 19, 1943, he was transferred to the 673rd Bombardment Squadron (Light), 417th Bombardment Group (Light). He accumulated more hours, mostly flying the A-20 and B-25.
On the morning of October 19, 1943, Lieutenant Atwell was cleaning a pistol but failed to verify that the weapon was unloaded. When he pulled the trigger, it discharged, fracturing the terminal phalanx (bone at the tip) of his left hand. He was treated at the Station Hospital, DeRidder Army Air Base, where physicians debrided the wound and applied a Banjo traction splint. He returned to duty on November 7, 1943.
The Pacific Theater
By May 22, 1944, 1st Lieutenant Atwell had 643 hours, 25 minutes of flight time under his belt, including 365 hours, 55 minutes as first pilot since getting his wings. May 1944 was a particularly busy month. During the first three weeks of the month, Atwell logged 20 flights in A-20s and B-25s, totaling 45 hours.
On May 22, 1944, 1st Lieutenant Atwell and his copilot, 2nd Lieutenant Chester N. Burns (1919–1944), took off from Nagzab, New Guinea, in B-25 serial number 41-29692. In addition to the three crew members, there were seven passengers aboard. Their route would take them over the dense mountains of eastern New Guinea to Saidor, on the northern coast. The bomber was not heard from again. Searches of the rugged terrain along their route turned up nothing.
In a March 11, 1947, letter to State Archivist Leon deValinger, Jr. (1905–2000), the elder Atwell glumly noted: “No further word have [sic] ever been received of my Son, or any of the 10 [sic] others in the Plane with him […] no one seems to know what happened and I doubt now if we ever will.” In 1950, a board of officers declared that Lieutenant Atwell and the others aboard the plane were non-recoverable. However, that was not the end of the story.
According to a summary by the Quartermaster Corps Memorial Division, in May 1959, a Lutheran missionary notified the U.S. consulate in Sydney, Australia, that
certain United States Army publications had been recovered from the wreckage of a plane found by natives at the headwaters of the Sorop and Erap rivers in New Guina. Human remains were reported to be present at the wreckage site.
A U.S. Army search and recovery team based in Hawaii arrived in New Guinea on June 23, 1959. The crash site was deep in the mountainous interior of the island. The town of Naramonke was the closest the team could approach by road. With an Australian guide and locals hired as carriers, the team hiked from village to village along mountain trails. “On 1 July, the Search Party finally reached the site of the wreckage, situated below the tree line at an elevation of 9,500 feet.”
The team was able to recover human remains from at least seven men and some personal effects, including identification tags for Captain Randall M. Dorton, Jr. (1920–1944) and a plate from a flight jacket belonging to 1st Lieutenant Robert J. Arndt (1921–1944). Individual identification proved impossible and in 1960 the remains, which the Army declared were from all 10 men, were given a group burial at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, Missouri.
1st Lieutenant Atwell’s name is honored at the Manila American Cemetery and Veterans Memorial Park in New Castle, Delaware.
Why on hold: Gathering unit records
Staff Sergeant Dougal M. Beatson (1919–1944)
Early Life & Family
Dougal MacLean Beatson was born at the Delaware Hospital in Wilmington, Delaware, on the morning of September 12, 1919. He was the second child of John MacLean Beatson (a painter for the Pennsylvania Railroad, c. 1878–1932) and Florence Beatson (née Florence E. Kilpatrick, 1898–1979). When he was born, the Beatson family was living at 2001 Market Street in Wilmington. Beatson had an older brother, two younger brothers, and a younger sister.
The Beatson family was still living at 2001 Market Street at the time of the 1920 census, though curiously Beatson’s first name was recorded as William. The family had moved to 1810 Washington Street in Wilmington by the time Duncan MacLean Beatson (1921– ) was born on April 4, 1921. The family was recorded at the same address on the 1930 census. Census records indicate that the Beatson family had moved to 2309 Pine Street by April 1, 1935, and was still living there by April 1940. It appears that he lived there until he entered the service.
When Beatson registered for the draft on October 16, 1940, he was working at Giant Tiger Market at 2nd and French Streets in Wilmington. The registrar described him as standing five feet, 3½ inches tall and weighing 123 lbs., with brown hair and blue eyes. According to data later copied onto his induction paperwork from a Selective Service affidavit, dated November 13, 1940, Beatson had one year of experience working as a cashier, earning $18.57 per week. Journal-Every Evening reported that “Beatson was employed at the Pennsylvania Railroad Shops” in Wilmington prior to entering the service.
According to his enlistment data card, Beatson had completed one year of high school. On the other hand, his induction paperwork stated that Beatson had completed eight years of grammar school and four months of “Vocational school, college, or university” (most likely the former). He was Protestant. His brothers John and Duncan both served in the military during World War II.
Military Training
After he was drafted, Beatson was inducted into the U.S. Army in Camden, New Jersey, on August 20, 1942. As was customary for selectees, he was briefly transferred to the Enlisted Reserve Corps on inactive duty. Private Beatson went on active duty on September 3, 1942, at Fort Dix, New Jersey, where he was briefly attached to Company “C,” 1229th Reception Center. He was transferred on September 5, 1942, with a group that included LeMoyne Pierson (1905–1944), another Delawarean destined to die in a crash while serving with the Army Air Forces.
On September 7, 1942, Private Beatson was attached unassigned for basic training with the 577th Technical School Squadron (Special) at the Army Air Forces Technical Training Center, Miami Beach, Florida. He was detached from that unit on September 30, 1942. The following month, he attended flexible gunnery training at Tyndall Field, Florida. He remained with that unit until the following month. An entry in his personnel file recording Beatson’s promotion to sergeant is also faded, but looks like it is dated around November 15, 1942.
On November 10, 1942, Beatson joined the Classification Routing Pool, Army Air Base, Salt Lake City, Utah. He was promoted to staff sergeant on December 26, 1942. On January 10, 1943, he was attached unassigned to the 18th Replacement Wing Detachment, Army Air Base, Blythe, California. He remained with that unit until February 1, 1943. The following day, he joined the 18th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), also located at Blythe.
On April 18, 1943, Beatson joined the 466th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 333rd Bombardment Group, an operational training unit at Dalhart Army Air Field, Texas. Beatson got his first furlough during June 5–17, 1943, returning to duty on June 18. On November 29, 1943, when his unit was disbanded, his name appeared on a list of “instructor personnel.” The change in unit was part of a larger trend in which the Army Air Forces reorganized its stateside training units, disbanding and consolidating training squadrons and groups into base units. Per Special Orders No. 265, Headquarters 333rd Combat Crew Training School, Army Air Base, Dalhart, Texas, dated November 29, 1943, Staff Sergeant Beatson transferred to the 338th Base Headquarters & Air Base Squadron. His next unit, also at Dalhart, is totally illegible due to the fire.
Staff Sergeant Beatson began a furlough on December 28, 1943, returning to duty on January 11, 1944. As of March 1944, Staff Sergeant Beatson’s military occupational specialty (M.O.S.) code was recorded as 612, airplane armorer-gunner.
It appears that on June 15, 1944, he joined Squadron “T,” 328th Army Air Forces Base Unit, a heavy bombardment replacement training unit, at Gulfport Army Air Field, Mississippi.
Beatson went on furlough on June 28, 1944. A few days later, on July 2, 1944, he married Carmen Kimball (1923–1989) in Trinidad, Colorado. He returned to duty on July 13, 1944.
He was relieved from that unit and attached unassigned to Squadron SG, same base unit, on July 15, 1944. As of August 25, 1944, Staff Sergeant Beatson was deemed qualified as an air crew member after completing all training. He was detached on August 30, 1944, and attached unassigned to Squadron S, 302nd Army Air Forces Base Unit (SW, unknown what that abbreviation means) on August 31,1944.
On or about August 31, 1944, he and his crew were dispatched by rail to Hunter Field, Georgia, with orders to report at the Combat Crew Center, 3rd Air Force Staging Wing.
On September 3, 1944, he was transferred to Shipment FK-350-BJ to go overseas.
According to his personnel file, Beatson departed the United States for overseas duty from Grenier Field, New Hampshire, on September 6, 1944. If his journey was by air, as that departure location suggests, his journey was evidently extended by weather or mechanical issues. It appears that the crew might have had intermediate stops in Canada, Greenland, and Iceland. Since he did not arrive in the United Kingdom until September 19, 1944, when his crew landed at Valey, Wales. The following day, he joined the Casual Pool, 70th R.D. (AAF) Station 594.
Sergeant John J. Paisley (1920–1944)
Early Life & Family
John Joseph Paisley was born at 1340 Claymont Street in Wilmington, Delaware, on February 25, 1920. He was the son of Elizabeth May Paisley (also known as Elizabeth Needham, later Denn, and eventually Murphy, 1905–1987). His mother, only 14 at the time, was the victim of rape. She declined to name the father when she applied for a birth certificate for him in 1939. Paisley may have been raised to believe that his mother was his sister, since he described her that way when he registered for the draft.
Paisley was recorded on the census in April 1940 living at 929 East 17th Street with his mother and stepfather, John Murphy. He was described as a truck driver working on a C.C.C. drainage project. Journal-Every Evening reported that Paisley “attended the George Gray School and St. Patrick’s Parochial School.”
Paisley’s enlistment data card described him as a carpenter with a grammar school education.
When Paisley registered for the draft on July 1, 1941, he was still living at 929 East 17th Street with his mother and stepfather, but was now working as a joiner for the Pullman Company in Wilmington. Journal-Every Evening stated that Paisley worked for the company for over a year prior to entering the military. The registrar described him as standing five feet, 10 inches tall and weighing 153 lbs., with brown hair and hazel eyes.
Military Career
After he was drafted, Paisley joined the U.S. Army at Fort Dix, New Jersey, on January 28, 1942. Another Delawarean, Harold T. Hitchens (1915–1944), was drafted in the same cohort as Private Paisley. On April 9, 1942, both men joined Company “B,” 104th Infantry Regiment, 26th Infantry Division, at Camp Edwards, Massachusetts, transferring from the Branch Immaterial Replacement Center, Fort McClellan, Alabama.
The 104th Infantry was originally part of the Massachusetts National Guard. Company “B” had been federalized in Springfield, Massachusetts, on January 16, 1941. The company was understrength at the time, with only 48 enlisted men on the rolls. Draftees flowed into the unit beginning with local conscripts and then, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, those from further afield like Hitchens and Paisley.
During the spring of 1942, the 104th Infantry was scattered across the southeastern United States, patrolling the coastline from Florida to North Carolina. Despite the paranoia that followed the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Germans lacked the amphibious capacity to successfully cross the English Channel, much less the Atlantic Ocean. At most, German submarines could land spies or saboteurs, which happened only a handful of times.
As of May 31, 1942, Private Paisley’s duty and military occupational specialty (M.O.S.) codes were both listed as 521, basic. That indicated he was still in training or not yet qualified for an M.O.S. The last known Company “B” roster to list duty and M.O.S. codes was September 1942. Private Paisley was still listed as a 521.
A 104th Infantry history book published at the end of the war, History of a Combat Regiment 1639–1945, “In January, 1943, the regiment was withdrawn from patrol duty and reassembled on the 27th of the month at Camp Blanding, Florida, for conditioning and amphibious training.” Similarly, Company “B” morning reports state that on January 24, 1943, Paisley and his comrades moved to Wilmington, North Carolina, where they boarded a train, arriving at Camp Blanding early the following morning.
Paisley was promoted to private 1st class on April 1, 1943. On the night of April 17–18, 1943, Company “B” boarded a train and headed back north around midnight. Following a brief stop in Macon, Georgia, Paisley and the others arrived at Camp Gordon, Georgia, that afternoon. At Camp Gordon, the 26th Infantry Division was finally reassembled and continued its training.
Paisley and Hitchens were among a group of enlisted men who went on furlough on June 21, 1943. After returning to Delaware, on the afternoon of June 27, 1943, Paisley married Mary Christine Lentelle (1924–1974) in Wilmington. Paisley was due back by at Camp Gordon by midnight on the night of July 1–2, 1943. Four men including Paisley and Hitchens did not make it back in time and were declared absent without leave (A.W.O.L.). Presumably, their return journey took longer than anticipated and they did not attempt to contact their commanding officer to request an extension, could not get through, or their requests were denied. It may also have complicated matters that on July 2, Company “B” moved a short distance to a bivouac area outside Camp Gordon. There is no indication that the two Delawareans were traveling together since Private 1st Class Paisley returned to duty at 1000 hours on July 3, while Hitchens returned the following day at 1500 hours.
Going A.W.O.L. for any length of time could be extremely damaging to a soldier’s career, with demotions to private and fines common. In Paisley’s case, neither occurred—perhaps his company commander took pity on his newly married soldier—though perhaps not coincidentally, he was selected for a special duty assignment pulling guard duty at the post stockade later that month.
On September 2, 1943, Company “B” departed Camp Gordon by road. After stopovers in Fairmount, Georgia, and Fayetteville, Tennessee, the unit arrived at Camp Campbell, Kentucky, on September 10.
Paisley went on furlough on November 17, 1943. He was promoted to corporal effective November 19, 1943, and returned to duty on November 27. He presumably became an assistant squad leader at that point.
Paisley was promoted to sergeant on January 1, 1944, apparently in anticipation changes to the rifle company table of organization that was officially released the following month, with rifle squad leaders becoming staff sergeants rather than sergeants and assistant squad leaders becoming sergeants rather than corporals. Later that month, on January 22, 1944, the 104th Infantry departed Camp Campbell for the Tennessee Maneuver area near Lebanon.
For the next two months, the 104th Infantry was in the field. Sergeant Paisley and the men of Company “B” were constantly on the move by truck or on foot, participating in various exercises and bivouacking while waiting for the next. History of a Combat Regiment 1639–1945, stated:
Tennessee Maneuvers were “rough.” The problems, with the accompanying rain, snow, and mud, were executed so realistically that men of the 104th later agreed that the only difference between maneuvers and combat was that there was no “hot lead” flying around. The combat battalions marched through a blacked-out countryside, forded small streams, ate K-rations, and slept in the mud. Always it seemed to rain. Support and supply units followed up and performed their duties much the same as in combat. Armies were designated by red or blue helmet and arm bands. Each week a different type of tactical problem of from three to five days was “fought,” with umpires armed with special signal flags and score sheets ruling on the success or failure of local actions and ultimately determining the “victors” in each week’s campaign.
On week-ends, a limited number of men when into troop-crowded Lebanon, Nashville or surrounding towns for showers and a good meal.
Company “B” crossed the Cumberland River during at least two exercises, including one on March 16, 1944. Viewed from above, the meanders of the river north of Lebanon resemble a series of horseshoes lined up from west to east. The land on the interiors of the horseshoes, surrounded by the river on three sides, are known as bends: Cairo Bend, Belotes Bend, Hunters Point Bend, etc.
On the night of March 22–23, 1944, the 104th Infantry Regiment began its last exercise of the Tennessee Maneuvers at Averitts Ferry on the east side of Beasleys Bend. The mission to cross over the river to Puryears Bend must have seemed simple enough. In that area, the Cumberland River is about 400 to 500 feet wide. What they saw that night, however, must have given them pause: swollen by days of rain, the river was a raging torrent.
That night, 23 men, all but one of them from the 104th Infantry, clambered into an assault boat. 17 of the men were from Company “B.” Aside from Sergeant Paisley, the occupants included 1st Lieutenant John N. Dunski (1918 – 1944), the regimental S-1 (personnel officer); 1st Lieutenant Walford T. Nilsson (1915–1985), the Company “B” executive officer; 2nd Lieutenant Richard P. Grosvenor (1919–1944), who had been attached to Company “B” from the 76th Infantry Division on February 11; 1st Sergeant Bernard J. Jackimczyk (1915–1944); and Private Leroy C. Strand (1921–1944), a combat veteran who was wounded during the Battle of Attu in the Aleutians.
Out in the Cumberland River, the boat overturned, throwing the soldiers into the swift-flowing water. Sergeant Paisley and 20 other men drowned. There were only two survivors: 1st Lieutenant Nilsson and Private 1st Class Simon Neurick (1912–2004) from Medical Detachment, 104th Infantry. The Nashville Tennessean reported on March 25, 1944, that the two men were “rescued by another boat after they had struggled to the point of exhaustion in the heavy waters[.]” The article added that “Private Neurick reported that he touched shore on at least three occasions, but could find no foothold that would enable him to crawl ashore.”
Accounts are contradictory about whether the tragedy occurred before or after midnight on March 23, 1944, though officially the men went missing on the 22nd. Recovery efforts continued for weeks afterward. Sergeant Paisley’s wife was notified on March 25, 1944, that her husband was missing. Paisley’s body was recovered on April 5, 1944.
After funeral services at his mother’s home on April 11, 1944, and requiem mass at St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church, Paisley was buried at Cathedral Cemetery.
Paisley’s widow remarried on June 10, 1946, to James Robert North (1926–1995), with whom she raised two daughters.
Paisley’s name is honored at Veterans Memorial Park in New Castle, Delaware, and on a plaque at Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee, commemorating the accident.
Staff Sergeant Charles E. Banning (1921–1944)
Early Life & Family
Charles Edward Banning was born in the Bronx, New York, on October 21, 1921. He was the son of Charles Edward Banning (1892–1950?) and Anna Sabina Banning (née Mark, c. 1891–1951). His father was born in England, immigrated to the United States, became a naturalized citizen, and worked as a bricklayer. He had an older sister, Muriel Barbara Banning (later Fennimore, c. 1917–1997?)
Banning graduated from Pierre S. duPont High School in 1939. He told the Army that the only sport he participated in was boxing.
Little is clear about Banning’s early life. He was not recorded on any known census records from 1930, though it appears that his parents were separated or divorced by then. Banning’s mother was described as a widow on the 1940 census—though this was a common deception at the time due to the shame of divorce—and when consenting to her son’s enlistment later that year, she told the U.S. Army that her husband was deceased.
According to his enlistment paperwork, Banning had worked as a truck driver for five months prior to entering the military, earning $18 per week. On his qualification card, he also stated he had worked for one year of experience as a carpenter apprentice for the Boyce Construction Company in Wilmington, earning $15 per week until he left that job on September 1, 1940. The job included setting floor joists, laying hardwood floors, and installing window sashes.
As of November 5, 1940, when he was examined in Wilmington prior to enlistment, Banning was described as standing five feet, 7½ inches tall and weighing 139 lbs., with brown hair and eyes.
Military Career
Soon after he turned 19, Banning volunteered for the Regular Army in Wilmington, Delaware, on or about November 4, 1940. Since the age of majority at the time was 21, his mother consented to his enlistment. By volunteering, he was able to pick his branch and duty station, something that would be inconceivable soon after when draftees swelled the ranks of the Army. On November 9, 1940, Private Banning enlisted in Wilmington for a three-year term in the Hawaiian Department in the Medical Department.
According to his personnel file, Banning was attached to 3rd Recruit Company from November 12, 1940, until January 4, 1941. After basic training, Private Banning shipped out from Fort McDowell, California, on January 24, 1941, arriving in Honolulu, Hawaii, six days later.
On January 30, 1941, Private Banning was attached to the Division Medical Detachment, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. For unknown reasons—possibly because he was still training—he did not become an assigned member of that unit until February 20, 1941. On March 14, 1941, Banning transferred to the (4th?) Service Company, 11th Medical Regiment, also stationed at Schofield Barracks. On an unknown date, he was transferred to the 44the Pursuit Squadron at Wheeler Field. He was attached to that unit around September 8, 1942, until October 17, 1942, possibly before a transfer. He joined the 333rd Fighter Squadron at Wheeler Field on August 23, 1942. He was attached to Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron, 18th Fighter Group, from October 17, 1942, through January 21, 1943.
On May 1, 1941, Private Banning was rated as a specialist 6th class. At the time, specialist ratings indicated that a private or private 1st class possessed a special skill. His personnel file gave the reason for the rating as Banning being qualified as a clerk. However, he was derated on July 1, 1941.
Banning was promoted to private 1st class on October 2, 1941, and to corporal on an unknown date. The first military occupational specialty (M.O.S.) listed in Banning’s personnel file was 055, general clerk, as of December 1941.
On or about March 10, 1942, Corporal Banning was accused of being drunk and disorderly in Honolulu. He was placed under arrest in his quarters at Wheeler Field, demoted to private, and referred for trial by summary court-martial. On March 23, Banning pled guilty. He was restricted to the base for one month and forfeited $20 in pay. However, he was promoted back to corporal on May 1, 1942. He was promoted to sergeant on July 21, 1942.
He was attached to the 73rd Fighter Squadron from February 18, 1943, through April 15, 1943.
On April 18, 1943, Banning departed Honolulu by sea, arriving at San Francisco, California, on April 27. Around April 28 he joined the 4th Air Force Replacement Depot, Hammer Field, California. On May 23, 1943, he joined the 337th Fighter Squadron at Glendale, California. On May 25, 1943, his M.O.S. was reclassified as 747, airplane and engine mechanic. On July 5, 1943, Sergeant Banning was examined at Sawtelle, California, to determine if he was physically qualified to attend aerial gunnery training. Physicians determined that he did meet the qualifications. Sergeant Banning graduated from Aerial Gunnery and Fire Control School at Wendover Field, Utah, on an unknown date. On September 18, 1943, Sergeant Banning was rated as 748, airplane mechanic-gunner. On December 24, 1943, Sergeant Banning qualified at the expert level with the .45 pistol.
Although he had previously passed on purchasing National Service Life Insurance, on January 6, 1944, Sergeant Banning applied for a $10,000 policy effective February 1, with his mother as beneficiary.
In February 1944, Sergeant Banning went overseas via the southern route. Flying to Europe via the Caribbean Sea, South America, and Africa took significantly longer time than flying over the North Atlantic Ocean, but had generally less hazardous weather and shorter overwater segments.
Banning’s crew departed from West Palm Beach, Florida, on February 1, 1944, arriving at Borinquin, Puerto Rico. They flew to Atkinson Field, British Guiana, on February 2; to Belém, Brazil, on February 6; to Natal, Brazil, on February 7; across the Atlantic to Dakar, Senegal on February 11; and to Marrakesh, Morocco, on February 12. The final segment on February 17, 1944, was the longest, an 11-hour flight to Prestwick, Scotland, bypassing neutral Portugal, Spain, and Ireland, as well as German-occupied France.
Banning was with Squadron “A,” 14th Replacement Control Depot until he was transferred to the 44th Bombardment Group (Heavy) on February 28, 1944. The same day, his crew was assigned to the 68th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) per Special Orders No. 59, Headquarters 44th Bombardment Group (Heavy), and joined the squadron the following day.
Why on hold: He has the largest and most comprehensive B-file that I have ever seen. This a good thing, but it also means a lot of material to go through and incorporate.
2nd Lieutenant Charles D. Campbell (1911–1944)
Early Life & Family
Charles Denard Campbell was born in Selbyville, Delaware, on September 13, 1911. He was the second child of George Campbell (a sawyer in a sawmill) and Elizabeth Hubbard Campbell.
Military Career
Campbell was drafted a few months after the attack on Pearl Harbor. His enlistment data card described him as a manufacturing foreman with one year of college. He was inducted back into the U.S. Army on March 21, 1942, at Fort Dix, New Jersey. That same day, he was attached to Company “G,” 1229th Reception Center at Fort Dix. He left Fort Dix by train for an unknown destination on March 25, 1942. According to his mother’s statement, Campbell was quickly promoted back to sergeant and stationed at Camp Jackson, South Carolina. She added that he moved to Fort Benning, Georgia—probably for Officer Candidate School—and was subsequently stationed at Camp Joseph T. Robinson, Arkansas, and Fort George G. Meade, Maryland.
It appears 2nd Lieutenant Campbell was on detached service at the B.F. Goodrich Army Training School, Akron, Ohio, when the 533rd Armored Infantry Battalion was disbanded on August 31, 1943. He was attached unassigned to Headquarters 534th Armored Infantry Battalion, joining that unit on September 13, 1943, at Camp Chaffee after completing his assignment in Akron. He was transferred from the 12th Tank Group to go overseas as a replacement officer. On October 3, 1943, he was detached from the 534th Armored Infantry Battalion and dispatched to Army Ground Forces Replacement Depot No. 1, Fort George G. Meade, Maryland. On October 5, 1943, he was attached unassigned and joined Headquarters Detachment, 4th Replacement Regiment there. He was assigned the duty of pool officer.
On November 13, 1943, Campbell was transferred to a replacement shipment, GI-633-A., which also included Private Ralph G. Henretty (1925–1944), a fellow Delawarean also destined to lose his life in the Mediterranean Theater. Campbell most likely shipped out from the Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation and arrived in Casablanca, Morocco. On December 4, 1943, he was attached unassigned to Company “B,” 32nd Replacement Battalion (Separate), at Camp Don B. Passage, near Casablanca, Morocco.
Campbell’s movements for the next few months are unclear, but he was with the 2nd Replacement Depot by the summer of 1944. He was attached unassigned to the 405th Replacement Company, 18th Replacement Battalion, 8th Replacement Depot effective July 23, 1944.
Why on hold: Awaiting release of 1945 morning reports and still hoping to get photo from family.
Private Paul O. Miller (1916–1943)
Early Life & Family
Paul Otto Miller was born at 615 Concord Avenue in Wilmington, Delaware, on June 26, 1916. He was the eldest child of Paul William Miller (né Müller, 1889–1979) and Rebecca M. Miller (née Rebecca Morgan Mammele, 1898–1959). His father, who various records recorded as a clerk, salesman, machinist, mechanic, and merchant, was born in Germany but he had immigrated to the United States as a young child and grown up in Wilmington. Miller had four younger sisters and two younger brothers, one of whom died very young.
The Miller family was living in Marshallton, west of Wilmington, on February 20, 1919, when Miller’s younger sister, Elizabeth, was born. The Miller family was recorded on the census on January 17, 1920, living on Lincoln Highway in Representative District 7. At that time, Lincoln Highway was apparently contiguous with Capitol Trail, now Old Capitol Trail, suggesting that the family lived north of Newport, such as the Cranston Heights area, a little to the east of Marshallton.
The family was living in Centerville, Delaware, by the time Miller’s next sibling, William, was born on March 24, 1925. The family was listed as living in Hockessin when Miller’s next sibling, Frederick Mammele Miller, was born on October 19, 1927, but in Centerville when the infant died of hydrocephalus on November 21, 1927. The Millers were living at 200 West 26th Street in Wilmington by August 11, 1929, when Miller’s sister Alma was born. They were recorded there on the next census on April 17, 1930. The elder Paul Miller was recorded as a radio store proprietor.
Miller married Elizabeth Smith in Wilmington, Delaware, on May 2, 1941.
Military Career
After he was drafted, Miller was inducted into the U.S. Army at Camden, New Jersey, on October 22, 1942. According to a statement by his brother, De Witt Miller, Private Miller went on active duty at Fort Dix, New Jersey, on November 5, 1942, and began basic training at Camp Wheeler, Georgia, on November 11, 1942. He added that Private Miller left Camp Wheeler on February 23, 1943, and was briefly at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, during February 25–28, 1943. Miller’s brother stated that Private Miller shipped out from the New York Port of Embarkation on February 28, 1943, arriving in Casablanca, Morocco, on March 14, 1943. Beyond the fact that his brother had moved to Oran, Algeria, he was unaware of any subsequent movements
After arriving in North Africa, Private Miller was assigned to the 1st Infantry Division Training Battalion. On May 7, 1943, he was transferred to and joined Company “A,” 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division. At the time, the Tunisian campaign was winding down. That same day, Allied forces captured the major ports of Tunis and Bizerte, cutting off over 200,000 Axis troops in North Africa from resupply and forcing their surrender. Those ports also proved to be a critical jumping off point to continue the Allied offensive in the Mediterranean by invading Sicily.
Before World War II the 1st Infantry Division had been composed of men from the Regular Army. After two campaigns, however, transfers and casualties meant that a significant portion of the unit was made up of men who had volunteered or been drafted in the preceding three years, like Private Miller. As of October 31, 1942, just prior to entering combat, about 64% of Company “A” enlisted men were Regular Army. By the end of May 1943, only about 45% of Company “A” enlisted men were holdovers from the prewar Regular Army.
During the Sicilian campaign, Private Miller was struck in the neck by shell fragments and killed. Private Miller’s wife was notified of his death on August 14, 1943. Even so, as Miller’s mother-in-law wrote to the Adjutant General’s Office on October 9, 1943, that her daughter still held out hope because none of his personnel belongings or dog tags had arrived, explaining: “My daughter, by not receiving these things, is under the impression he is still alive, wounded, or a prisoner. The suspense of all this uncertainty is making her a nervous wreck and is impairing her health.” In fact, dog tags were used to mark the body and grave and not returned to the family, and return of belongings from overseas was often a drawn out process.
Private Miller was initially buried in Gela, Sicily, and later moved to Monte Soprano, Italy. In 1948, Miller’s widow requested that his body be buried in a permanent cemetery overseas. Postwar, the American military cemeteries in Italy were consolidated into two permanent cemeteries, near Florence and Rome. Miller’s body was disinterred and reburied at Nettuno, now known as the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery.
Miller’s widow remarried on January 29, 1949.
Why on hold: Need to gather unit records
Private James J. Giletti (1906–1945)
Early Life & Family
James Joseph Giletti was born Vincenzo Giletti in Wilmington, Delaware, on December 18, 1906. He was the son of John Giletti (c. 1871–1949) and Sabina Giletti (née Colalillo or similar, 1881–1920), Italian immigrants. His father was a stonemason. He had at least five sisters.
A document listing “Infant Baptisms at Italian Mission,” West Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, listed Giletti and one of his younger sisters being baptized on July 16, 1909.
In April 1910, the family was recorded living at 1814 West 7th Street.
The family was at 1916 West 8th Street in January 1920 when recorded on the census. Giletti was recorded as Vicent. It appears that his mother died of complications from childbirth that same year.
In April 1940, Giletti was recorded as Vincent Giletti living with his father and older sister at 406 North Union Street.
When Giletti registered for the draft on October 16, 1940, he was unemployed and living with his father at 406 North Union Street. The registrar described him as standing five feet, 5½ inches tall and weighing 145 lbs., with black hair and brown eyes and a mole on his left cheek. He worked as a roofer before entering the service.
Although he was already 35 years old, Giletti was examined at the direction of Local Board No. 3, Wilmington, and found to be suitable for military service.
Though he served under the name James Joseph Giletti, and it is the most common spelling in other records, his headstone gives his name as James Joseph Gilletti. However, his mother’s headstone uses the spelling Giletti. Another variant seen in some directories is James J. Gillette.
Military Career
After he was drafted, Giletti was inducted into the U.S. Army at Fort Dix, New Jersey, on May 12, 1942. That same day, he went on active duty and was attached unassigned to Company “D,” 1229th Reception Center there. On or about May 16, 1942, Private Giletti left Fort Dix to begin his training. On May 26, 1942, Giletti was assigned to Company “C,” 142nd Infantry Regiment, 36th Infantry Division, at Camp Blanding, Florida. He was placed on special duty with the 36th Division Reception Center, presumably for basic training. On July 8, 1942, he went on detached service with the 36th Division Rear Detachment, Camp Blanding, Florida.
On August 22, 1942, he transferred to Medical Detachment, 142nd Infantry.
The Wilmington Morning News reported on November 21, 1942: “Announcement has been made by Mr. Frank Colonna of the engagement of his daughter, Miss Frances Clonna, to Mr. James Giletti, son of Mr. and Mrs. John Giletti.”
Giletti’s personnel file was among those lost in the 1973 National Personnel Records Center fire, but a few documents pertaining to his service survived, including morning reports, a surgical record from June 14, 1944, his last pay voucher, and a set of special orders pertaining to his transport to a Veterans Administration facility and discharge from the U.S. Army. A June 1944 morning report recorded his military occupational specialty (M.O.S.) code as 657. In the context of a regimental medical detachment, 657s were litter bearers.
On September 2, 1943, Private Giletti and 22 other enlisted personnel from the regimental medical attachment were attached for duty and rations to Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 142nd Infantry Regiment. Although members of the regimental medical detachments worked closely with them, as Medical Department personnel they could not be organic to any infantry unit, only attached. Based on this morning report, Private Giletti most likely served as a litter bearer evacuating 1st Battalion casualties for at least five months.
On March 10, 1944, he went to a rest camp, returning to duty on March 14. On May 10, 1944, Giletti and 33 other medical personnel attached to 1st Battalion were detached from that battalion.
Giletti was severely injured in a jeep accident around 2330 hours on June 10, 1944. He was rushed to the 1st Battalion Aid Station in about 10 minutes. From there, he transferred by Company “B,” 111th Medical Battalion to the care of the 52nd Medical Battalion (?). He arrived at the 38th Evacuation Hospital before 0900 on June 11. His case was handled by Neurosurgical Team No. 1 (N.S. 1) led by Major Charles Edward Dowman (1910–1987) and Captain Warren W. Greene (probably 1912–2003) from the 2nd Auxiliary Surgical Group on detached service at the 38th Evac. The neurosurgical teams consisted of a neurosurgeon, an assistant neurosurgeon, a nurse anesthetist, a surgical nurse, and two technicians, though it appears the team may have been without the nurse anesthetist at the time.
His physicians later wrote:
Seen first on 11 June at which time patient was still groggy from [anesthetic] but was moving his legs slightly, particularly flexio[n] of knees. KJ [knee jerk] & AJ [ankle jerk] were slightly hyperactive, with positive plantar response.
Although his condition was unchanged on June 12, it deteriorated drastically the following day, with the knee jerk and ankle jerk reflexes absent and his legs rendered largely insensitive. Doctors later determined that Giletti suffered a fracture to his T11 vertebrae and traumatic myelitis, inflammation of the spinal cord. At 0815 hours on the morning of June 14, 1944, surgeons spent three hours and 15 minutes performing a laminectomy to try relieve pressure on his spinal cord, but Giletti did not regain the use of his legs and remained paraplegic. Since the injury also paralyzed his bladder, doctors performed a suprapubic cystostomy on June 21, 1944.
It is unclear how long Giletti remained at the 38th Evacuation Hospital since evacuation hospitals often did not maintain morning reports documenting their patients. At some point between June 14, 1944, and June 25, 1944, he was treated at the 59th Evacuation Hospital.
On June 25, 1944, Giletti was admitted to the 32nd Station Hospital in Caserta, Italy, after being transferred from the 59th Evacuation Hospital. At 0800 hours on the morning of June 27, he was transferred to the 64th General Hospital at Maddaloni, Italy. He was admitted there the same day.
On July 2, 1944, Giletti was transferred to the 3rd General Hospital at San Leucio, Italy. The following month, Giletti was evacuated to the United States by air from Casablanca, Morocco. His plane arrived at Mitchel Field, New York, at 0930 hours on August 13, 1944. He was admitted to the Detachment of Patients, Army Air Forces Convalescent Center & Regional Station Hospital, Mitchel Field, New York. On August 18, 1944, a set of orders came down transferring him to Ashford General Hospital in White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia.
Private Giletti transferred to the Veterans Administration Facility, Fort Howard, Maryland, and honorably discharged from the U.S. Army.
Around that same time, his injuries resulted in pyonephrosis, a kidney infection. Damage to his kidneys resulted in chronic uremia around January 1945. Giletti was pronounced dead at 1140 hours on April 5, 1945. Journal-Every Evening reported the following day that funeral services “will be held at 8:30 o’clock Tuesday morning” April 10, 1945, at his former home, “with solemn requiem mass at 9:30 o’clock at St. Anthony’s R. C. Church.” He was buried at Cathedral Cemetery. His father was also buried there after his death.
Even though his death was due to a wartime injury, since Private Giletti had been discharged prior to his death, his name was omitted from the official 1946 list of U.S. Army fatalities compiled for Delaware. However, due to the vigilance of the Public Archives Commission, he is honored at Veterans Memorial Park in New Castle.
On May 18, 1944, Private Giletti and other members of Medical Detachment, 142nd Infantry Regiment were awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge (C.I.B.). This was subsequently revoked because medical personnel were not supposed to be eligible for that decoration. Giletti would have been eligible for a retroactive award of the Combat Medical Badge (C.M.B.) once it was created in 1945, but it is unclear if that ever occurred. That would also have made him eligible to be retroactively awarded the Bronze Star under a 1947 policy that determined any soldier who had earned the C.I.B. or C.M.B. during World War II had also met the criteria for the Bronze Star.
Why on hold: Genealogical mysteries and unit records
Private Raymond E. Garrett (1923–1943)
Early Life & Family
Raymond Edward Garrett was born in Seaford, Virginia, on February 8, 1923. Garrett married Edith Blanch Rainone (1926–1952) in Wilmington on June 7, 1942.
When he registered for the draft on June 30, 1942, Garrett was living with his wife’s family at 116 Brookside Avenue in the Brack Ex area west of Elsmere. The Brookside Avenue address was crossed out at some point and 619 West 4th Street, New Castle, Delaware, was written in. That address was also crossed out. 116 Brookside Avenue was written again at the top of the card, suggesting the couple may have returned to Brack Ex, but none of the alterations were dated. Garrett’s employer was recorded as the Pullman Shops in Wilmington. The registrar described him as standing five feet, five inches tall and weighing 120 lbs., with brown hair and blue eyes.
Military Career
After Garrett was drafted, he was inducted into the U.S. Army in Camden, New Jersey, on January 21, 1943. He attended basic training at Camp Croft, South Carolina, and volunteered for the airborne.
Private Garrett was attached from Casual Company, The Parachute School to the 515th Parachute Infantry Regiment for administration per Special Orders No. 161, Headquarters The Parachute School, dated July 8, 1943. He was placed on special duty as a range guard. The following day, July 9, 1943, he was attached for quarters, rations, and administration to Headquarters & Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 515th Parachute Infantry, while remaining as a range guard.
He was with the 515th Parachute Infantry Regiment until August 5, 1943, when he transferred to the 1st Academy Company, The Parachute School, Fort Benning, Georgia.
He went on furlough October 5–17, 1943.
On November 15, 1943, Private Garrett transferred to the 515th Parachute Infantry Regiment, also located at Fort Benning. He departed from the 1st Academic Company at 1600 hours. The following day he was assigned to and joined Company “A,” 515th Parachute Infantry Regiment.
According to a 515th Parachute Infantry history:
From 31 May 1941 till 1 December 1943 the regiment functioned as a replacement pool for The Parachute School. The original cadre of 184 non-commis[s]ioned officers were furnished by the 507 Parachute Infantry Regiment. The officers were drawn from the Parachute Loss and Replacement Pool. The Regiment was kept on cadre strength until it was relieved from duty as an administrative agency, effective date 1 December 1943.
At this time the 1st Battalion was composed of qualified parachutists and the 2nd and 3rd Battalions were composed of unqualified parachutists. Qualification of the 2nd and 3rd Battalions was commenced on 20 December 1943 and the 1st Battalion concurrently began a basic training program.
On December 30, 1943, Private Garrett was killed in a training accident. Journal-Every Evening reported that he died “when his parachute failed to open during a paratroop training jump[.]”
After funeral services at his in-laws’ home on January 4, 1944, Garrett was buried in Silverbook Cemetery in Wilmington.
Technical Sergeant Harry N. Russell (1924–1944)
Early Life & Family
Harry Nutter Russell was born in Elsmere, Delaware, on October 24, 1924. He was the third child of Harry Lee Russell and Bessie Russell (née Snowberger). At the time, his parents were residents of Bridgeville, Delaware, where his father was a farmer. Russell had two older sisters, a younger sister, and a younger brother.
The Russell family was recorded on the census in 1930 living at 718 Monroe Ave in Plainfield, New Jersey. The elder Harry Russell was working as a foreman for a concrete contractor.
According to census records, the family had returned to Bridgeville by April 1, 1935. When the family was recorded on the census in April 1940, Russell had completed two years of high school and his father was working as county director for the W.P.A. Russell attended Bridgeville High School, but dropped out after completing three years. He worked as a butcher before entering the service.
Military Training & Marriage
Soon after he turned 18, Russell volunteered for the Army Air Forces, enlisting at Camden, New Jersey, on October 31, 1942. According to a document in his individual deceased personnel file (I.D.P.F.), Private Russell was briefly stationed at Fort Dix, New Jersey, beginning on November 1, 1942. On November 5, 1942, he was dispatched to Basic Training Center No. 7, Army Air Technical Training Command, Atlantic City, New Jersey. The same day, he was attached unassigned to Flight “A,” 988th Technical School Squadron (Special).
If Atlantic City was a comfortable place to be for basic training, Private Russell’s next assignment was anything but. On November 23, 1942, Private Russell headed west to attend the Radio Operator & Mechanic(s?) Course, Sioux Falls, South Dakota. As of March 10, 1943, found him assigned to the 605th School Squadron. According to his I.D.P.F., Russell was stationed at Sioux Falls until May 1943, when he moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana. Around May 15, 1943, he moved to Laredo Army Air Field, Texas.
Private 1st Class Russell attended the Army Air Forces Flexible Gunnery School at Laredo. Upon completing the course, he was promoted to sergeant. His military occupational specialty (M.O.S.) code changed to 757, Army Air Forces radio operator-mechanic-gunner. Around August 1943, he was attached unassigned to the 18th Replacement Wing, Army Air Base, Salt Lake City, Utah. On September 10, 1943, he was detached from that unit and attached to an operational training unit, the 470th Bombardment Group (Heavy), Mountain Home, Idaho. The following day, Sergeant Russell was further attached to and joined the 803rd Bombardment Squadron (Heavy).
By November 13, 1943, Sergeant Russell was a member of a crew led by 2nd Lieutenant John Crotty Rush (1921–1988). Although he was on furlough at that time, a set of orders came down effective upon his return transferring his crew by rail to the 399th Bombardment Group (Heavy) at the Army Air Base, Wendover Field, Utah.
On November 23, 1943, Russell was attached unassigned and joined the 606th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 399th Bombardment Group (Heavy), Wendover Field, Utah.
However a set of orders dated November 28, 1943, transferred the crew to 801st Bombardment Squadron (Heavy).
Per his I.D.P.F., he was at Wendover Field, Utah, during November 25–26, 1943, before returning to Mountain Home.
On February 1, 1944, Sergeant Russell and his crew were detached from the 801st Bomb Squadron and transferred by rail to the 1st Search Attack Group, Langley Field, Virginia. On February 7, he was attached to that group’s 2nd Search Attack Squadron.
On March 4, 1944, Sergeant Russell married Elizabeth “Betty” Ann Culver (1924–2013), a stenographer from Laurel, Delaware, at the base chapel at Langley Field. His bride was from Laurel, Delaware. His best man was a member of his crew, Sergeant Vernon Elroy Teel, Jr. (1921–2007). Journal-Every Evening reported: “The bride wore a navy blue dress with white accessories and carried orchids and baby’s breath.”
Squadron morning reports do not mention any furlough for Sergeant Russell that month, suggesting the couple was not able to go on a honeymoon. However, a morning report noted that effective March 13, 1944, Russell was on separate rations from his unit, which may indicate that the couple had moved into off-base housing together.
On April 9, 1944, Russell was promoted to staff sergeant. The following day, the 2nd Search Attack Squadron and 1st Search Attack Group were disbanded as part of a larger Army Air Forces program to reorganize stateside training units. Russell and other personnel from his squadron were transferred to the new 111th Army Air Forces Base Unit (Search Attack & Staging).
On April 26, 1944, Staff Sergeant Russell and his crew—which no longer included Teel—were transferred to the Army Air Base, Morrison Field, Florida, to go overseas.
Combat in the China Burma India Theater
Overseas, Russell and his crew joined 375th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 308th Bombardment Group (Heavy). The squadron’s morning reports prior to August 1944 went missing before they could be microfilmed, but they had arrived prior to June 13, 1944, when group records record that Lieutenant Rush flew his first combat mission.
Russell’s squadron was based at Chengkung Air Base. Located east of a large lake near Kunming, Yunnan, in south-central China, the base was initially a terminal for cargo aircraft flying “The Hump” to resupply China by air after Japanese advances closed all practical land and sea routes. The two squadrons of the 308th Bombardment Group (Heavy) in March 1943 gave the base an offensive mission. Its B-24s could reach much of the Japanese-occupied portions of eastern China, French Indochina, Thailand, and Burma, as well as the critical sea lanes between the Japanese Home Islands and its resource-rich conquests to the south.
By August 29, 1944, when his crew went on detached service to A.P.O. 430, Russell had been promoted to technical sergeant. They returned to duty on September 2.
Russell was awarded the Air Medal per General Orders No. 70, Headquarters Fourteenth Air Force, dated September 22, 1944.
At 1615 hours on November 20, 1944, Technical Sergeant Russell and his crew took off in B-24J 42-100267 on a two-bomber antishipping mission to the Gulf of Tonkin and South China Sea. The Liberators patrolled as far south as Hainan Island without any sign of Japanese shipping visually or on radar. On the way back, they attacked land targets in Japanese-occupied China. Lieutenant Wind attacked Fort Bayard (Zhanjiang) while Russell’s crew attacked the docks at Kowloon, Hong Kong. Japanese searchlights briefly illuminated Russell’s plane. They released their bombs around 2130 hours. All missed the target, but they managed to escape before enemy antiaircraft batteries opened fire.
During the return flight, the Liberator lost one of its four engines. Just before 0330 hours on November 21, 1944, while on approach to Chengkung, the plane lost another engine. It is unclear if the pilots transmitted a bail out signal, some of the crew including Technical Sergeant Russell thought the aircraft was doomed and bailed out into the moonless night. Despite losing half their engines, the pilots managed to nurse the plane back to the field, where they crash landed it. The mission report stated:
Plane No. 267 crashed upon landing. No. 1 engine had failed, and as the plane approached for landing No. 3 engine ran out of gas. The auxiliary hydraulic system could not be used because in the confusion the engineer had bailed out without turning the star valve. The plane made a belly landing and is fit only for salvage.
The four men who remained aboard the B-24 survived unharmed, as did one of the four men who bailed out. Technical Sergeant Russell and two others were never seen again. The men had bailed out over friendly territory. Chinese soldiers and civilians readily provided aid to downed American airmen, their allies against the Japanese. Investigators concluded that the three men likely landed in Lake Dian (Kunming Lake). Captain Leon Spector wrote: “It is not known whether they had sufficient time to open their parachutes or if they might possibly have landed in a lake and were unable to make shore.”
The day after his disappearance, Technical Sergeant Russell was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross per General Orders No. 90, Headquarters Fourteenth Air Force. He was also posthumously awarded the Purple Heart.
Russell’s personal effects included two Bibles, 21 foreign coins, his marriage certificate, 12 photographs, and two pairs of Chinese slippers.
Private 1st Class William H. Hall (1924–1945)
Early Life & Family
William Henry Hall was born in Wilmington, Delaware. He was the son of George Marshall Hall (1895–1967) and Sarah B. Hall (née Black, 1899–1940). He had two older sisters, an older brother, George Marshall Hall, Jr. (1921–2001), and a younger brother, John Black Hall (1926–1940).
When Hall was 15, his mother died at the family home, at 1303 Lancaster Avenue, on February 11, 1940. The rest of the family was recorded on the census on April 8, 1940, living there. Hall’s father was working as a telephone company lineman, while his oldest sister was a waitress.
Another tragedy struck the family later that year on November 5, 1940, when a teenager shot Hall’s younger brother, John B. Hall, at the Canby Park quarry. The Wilmington Morning News reported on November 19, 1940, that the shooting “was caused by the ‘deliberate recklessness and negligence’ of Robert Miller, 16, a coroner’s jury said last night.” The teenager claimed to have been shooting targets at the quarry and denied seeing hall see John B. Hall. Other witnesses testified that the fatal shooting occurred after two groups at the quarry had fired their weapons dangerously close to one another, though “There was no quarrel, the five boys testified.” During the same incident, another child was struck by an air rifle and another narrowly escaped injury when a round passed through his legs.
Journal-Every Evening reported that “Hall attended Brown Vocational High School[.]” Hall’s enlistment data card described him as having completed three years of high school and listed his occupation as “unskilled machine shop and related occupations.” When he registered for the draft on June 30, 1942, Hall was living at 805 Wilmington Avenue in Elsmere and working for the Pennsylvania Railroad in Wilmington. The registrar described him as standing about six feet tall and weighing 135 lbs., with brown hair and blue eyes.
His brother, George M. Hall, Jr., was also an infantryman in the U.S. Army during World War II but was medically discharged.
Military Career
Hall was drafted in early 1943. He was inducted into the U.S. Army in Camden, New Jersey, on February 18, 1943. A family statement for the State of Delaware Public Archives Commission suggested that he went on active duty on February 23, 1943. Most soldiers who entered the Army from Delaware began their careers attached to the 1229th Reception Center, Fort Dix, New Jersey. According to the family statement, Private Hall was assigned to the Cavalry at Fort Riley, Kansas, where he was stationed from late February 1943 through June 18, 1944.
Private Hall was most likely one of 84 enlisted men assigned on April 3, 1943, to Troop “I,” 29th Cavalry Regiment, at Fort Riley, Kansas. The 29th Cavalry had been activated there on January 23, 1943. Although the identities of those 84 men are not recorded in the troop morning reports, Hall first appeared on the troop payroll at the end of the month.
A portion of Private Hall’s official military personnel file survived the 1973 National Personnel Records Center fire which destroyed the vast majority of U.S. Army personnel files from the World War II era. Surviving documentation includes stateside medical records, insurance paperwork, award paperwork, and correspondence from the War Department to Hall’s father.
On May 1, 1943, Private Hall applied for a $5,000 National Service Lice Insurance policy payable to his father. Several months later, on August 4, 1943, Hall was on a wagon at a stable loading hay when he fell, fracturing his left wrist. He was treated at the Station Hospital, Fort Riley, Kansas, where a physician applied a plaster cast. After his injury healed, Hall was discharged from the hospital and returned to duty on October 15, 1943. He was promoted to private 1st class on October 28, 1943. Hall went on furlough during November 8–23, 1943, presumably returning to Delaware.
With the obsolescence of the horse cavalry, the U.S. Army Cavalry branch’s role had shrunken drastically. The 1st Cavalry Division had converted into an infantry unit and the 2nd Cavalry Division was disbanded. Some mechanized cavalry reconnaissance troops, squadrons, and groups remained active during the war. On May 1, 1944, Private 1st Class Hall transferred to Troop “C,” 128th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron (Mechanized), which had been activated that same day at Fort Riley. On June 13, 1944, Private Hall and 19 other men from his troop transferred to the 70th Infantry Division at Camp Adair, Oregon.
On June 22, 1944, the Wilmington Morning News reported that Private 1st Class Hall and Private 1st Class Donald C. Hammond (1923–1996) of Wilmington
have been transferred from the cavalry to the infantry at their own request, it was announced today by Col. Thomas W. Herren, commandant of the Cavalry School, Fort Riley, Kan. The infantrymen, who entered the service last February and trained with the 128th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, […] have been sent to Camp Adair, Ore., for their infantry training.
On June 20, 1944, Private 1st Class Hall joined Company “G,” 276th Infantry Regiment, 70th Infantry Division. His military occupational specialty (M.O.S.) code was recorded as 745, rifleman. An undated physical examination performed soon after described Hall as standing five feet, 9½ inches tall and weighing 140 lbs. It noted that he had a benign heart murmur, full dentures, and eyeglasses. On June 26, 1944, Hall began an 18-day furlough.
They later moved to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.
In late November 1944, the 276th Infantry moved to Camp Myles Standish, Massachusetts. Private 1st Class Hall and his comrades moved to the Boston Port of Embarkation on December 6, 1944, shipping out that afternoon.
The 276th Infantry Regiment arrived in Marseille, France, on December 15, 1944. Just over a week later, the regiment began moving north by train and truck to Alsace. Hall and the rest of 2nd Battalion went into the line on December 29, 1944, along the Rhine near Soufflenheim, France. On December 31, 1944, the Germans tried to capitalize on their earlier failed offensive through the Ardennes with another offensive in Alsace and Lorraine: Operation Nordwind.
New Year’s Day 1945 found the 276th Infantry as the VI Corps reserve, and the regiment was temporarily attached to the 45th Infantry Division the following day. 1st Battalion was hit hard by a German attack on January 4, 1945, which captured Wingen-sur-Moder, France. While 1st and 3rd Battalions dealt with Wingen, Hall’s 2nd Battalion, which had been attached to the 313th Infantry Regiment of the 79th Infantry Division, captured nearby Lichtenberg, France.
Private 1st Class Hall was awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge per General Orders No. 1, Headquarters 276th Infantry, dated January 24, 1945.
Hall was listed as missing in action on March 8, 1945. On April 13, 1945, the War Department changed his status to killed in action as of the date he went missing. According to his burial report, Hall suffered fatal shell fragment wounds. His personnel effects included a black Fitchhorn flute, a pair of eyeglasses with case, a money belt, a tobacco pouch, a Ronson cigarette lighter, a glass ash tray, a key, and two sewing kits.
Journal-Every Evening reported that Hall’s father received confirmation of his death on April 14, 1945. Hall was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart.
Private 1st Class Hall was initially buried at an isolated grave outside Schœneck, France. After the war, his body was disinterred, identified from his dog tags, and reburied at nearby Saint-Avold cemetery on January 21, 1946.
After the war, Private 1st Class Hall’s father requested that his son’s body be interred at an overseas military cemetery. The numerous temporary overseas cemeteries were consolidated to a handful of permanent cemeteries. Even at those cemeteries earmarked to become permanent ones, significant reburials were necessary since many bodies originally buried there were repatriated to the United States. On March 30, 1949, Hall was reburied at Saint-Avold, now known as the Lorraine American Cemetery.
Private 1st Class Hall’s name is honored on the Pennsylvania Railroad’s World War II memorial at Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station and at Veteran’s Memorial Park in New Castle, Delaware.
Why on hold: Release of 1945 morning reports to the National Archives Catalog
Private William F. Lynn (1908–1945)
Early Life & Family
William Francis Lynn was born on July 14, 1908, at 209 West 6th Street in Wilmington, Delaware. He was the child of William Francis Lynn (1874–1934) and Mary Frances Lynn (née Duffy, 1878?–1961?). The Wilmington Morning News reported that the Lynn family undertaking business had been founded in Wilmington in 1835, and was one of the oldest continually operating businesses in the state by 1932. Lynn had an older sister, a younger sister, and a younger brother.
The Lynn family was recorded at 209 West 6th Street on the 1910 and 1920 censuses, which the Wilmington Morning News reported was also the location of the undertaking firm. On April 15, 1930, the Lynn family was recorded at 207 Linden Court. Lynn’s occupation was recorded as embalmer, presumably at his father’s business.
Lynn married Lucy F. Fucella (1909–1988) in Baltimore, Maryland, on December 11, 1930. The couple had one son, also named William Francis Lynn (1932–2005).
On June 27, 1934, Lynn was driving with his father and four aunts near Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, when his father suffered a fatal heart attack.
He worked as an undertaker before entering the service.
Some fields in his enlistment data card may have been garbled when the document was digitized. He was described as having completed three years of high school. He was also listed as separated, without dependents, which may be supported by the fact that when he registered for the draft, Lynn listed his mother rather than his wife as a point of contact.
Lynn’s younger brother, John Patrick Lynn (1923–1968) served in Company “C,” 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division in the U.S. Army during World War II.
Military Career
After he was drafted, Lynn was inducted into the U.S. Army on December 22, 1942. His wife’s statement for the State of Delaware Public Archives Commission indicates that he went on active duty on December 29, 1942, at Fort Dix, New Jersey. Private Lynn was assigned to the Medical Department. His wife stated that her husband was stationed at Fort McClellan, Alabama, from January through April 1943. He then transferred to Fort Meade, Maryland, until September 1943, when he moved to Fort Bragg, North Carolina. She wrote that he remained there until March 1944, when he moved to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey. That suggests he went overseas from the New York Port of Embarkation in early 1944. The only unit she listed was the 45th Field Hospital, which was activated around September 1943 and arrived in England in March 1944. The hospital landed in France on June 10, 1944, four days after D-Day, and Belgium in September 1944.
Private Lynn went A.W.O.L. while assigned to the 238th Station Hospital at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland. He was apprehended and confined at Fort DuPont, Delaware, where a guard was dispatched to retrieve him on June 11, 1943.
On July 27, 1943, a set of orders came down from Headquarters 3rd Service Command in Baltimore, Maryland, which transferred a large portion of the 238th Station Hospital’s complement to the 239th Station Hospital, also stationed at Fort George G. Meade. On August 1, 1943, Private Lynn and 172 other men joined the 239th from the 238th.
As of September 6, 1943, when he began a nine-day furlough, Private Lynn was a member of the 239th Station Hospital at Fort Bragg. On January 22, 1944, Private Lynn transferred to the 45th Field Hospital, also stationed at Fort Bragg.
A morning report established Private Lynn’s military occupational specialty (M.O.S.) as 861, surgical technician.
Aside from morning reports, very few textual records for the 45th Field Hospital survive in the National Archives. Private Lynn is not mentioned in the hospital’s extant general orders. The only other set of textual records is a 1945 report by Major Max W. Wolf pertaining to the 45th Field Hospital’s First Hospitalization Unit. The report does not reveal the movements of additional hospitalization units nor its members. Morning report indexes suggest the hospital split into two or three hospitalization units in December 1944.
Private Lynn was probably, but not definitely, a member of First Hospitalization Unit, as its location matches the location where he reportedly died. The unit began 1945 in Fallais, Belgium, but moved to Malmédy on January 17. From January 19, 1945, until February 26, 1945, they treated casualties resulting from the American counteroffensive against the German advance known as the Battle of the Bulge. After John P. Lynn was wounded in the head by artillery shell fragments in January 1945, Lynn was able to visit his brother.
First Hospitalization Unit of the 45th Field Hospital moved to Euskirchen, Germany on March 8, 1945, where its members treated casualties from the Battle of Remagen, in which American forces captured the Ludendorff Bridge over the Rhine. Three days later, the unit moved closer to the Remagen bridgehead, setting up at Bad Neunahr, Germany. The 102st Evacuation Hospital took over for the unit on March 14, 1945, and they staged at nearby Ahrweiler until crossing the Rhine to Niederbieber on March 26, 1945.
Major Wolf wrote in his report:
On March 26 this unit moved to Neider Beiber, where we set up in tents in support of the 2nd Infantry Division. We received no casualties and the following day moved to Montabaur. Here we took over a german [sic] hospital containing about 115 recovered Allied Prisoners of War. In addition, we also functioned as an evacuation hospital, supporting troops from V-Corps.
According to a March 29, 1945, 45th Field Hospital morning report, Private Lynn died at 0100 hours from a coronary occlusion. He was just 36 years old.
Lucy Lynn remarried on September 21, 1946, in Wilmington to Lloyd S. Malzer.
Why on hold: Incorporating newspaper articles from prewar, and waiting for 1945 morning reports
Private Claude B. Wiles (1916–1942)
Early Life & Family
Claude B. Wiles was born on February 5, 1916, in Rock Creek Township or nearby Roaring River, both in Wilkes County, North Carolina. He was the 10th child of farmers Ambrose Wiles, Sr. () and Alice Wiles (née Privette or Prevett). Three older siblings died very young prior to his birth.
Wiles was recorded on the census in January 1920 living with his parents and four older siblings on a farm in Cecil County, Maryland. Census records indicate that Wiles and his family moved to Representative District 8 in unincorporated New Castle County, Delaware, prior to April 1, 1935. When the Wiles family was recorded there in April 1940, Wiles was unemployed. When he registered for the draft—the card was undated but it was presumably on or about October 16, 1940—Wiles was living in Eastburn Heights, Marshallton, Delaware, and working for the Reading Railroad Marine Department.
Wiles was living in Eastburn Heights when he entered the service. According to his enlistment data card, he was a chauffeur or driver before he joined the military.
Military Career
Wiles volunteered for military service. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in Wilmington, Delaware, on January 27, 1942. Like many soldiers who entered the service in Delaware, Private Wiles was initially stationed at Fort Dix, New Jersey. Many Delawareans spent about a week there before being transferred to other bases to attend basic training. He was not formally assigned to any unit but was attached to the 1229th Reception Center.
Wiles went absent without leave (A.W.O.L.) on February 9, 1942, and apparently made his way back to Delaware. On the afternoon of February 15, 1942, Private Wiles was discovered with a gunshot wound to his head. He was pronounced dead at Wilmington General Hospital. An autopsy concluded that he had died by suicide.
Journal-Every Evening reported that Wiles’s funeral “will take place [at] the Smith Funeral Home, Twenty-fifth and Market Streets, Thursday afternoon [February 19, 1942,] at 3 o’clock. Interment will be in St. James Cemetery, Stanton.”
Sergeant William L. Nelson (1918–1943)
Early Life & Family
William Lloyd Nelson was born on the evening of February 22, 1918, near Dover, Delaware. He was the eldest child of John Clarence Nelson (a farmer, 1892–1983) and Carrie Nelson (née Phillips, 1895–1965). He had a younger sister, Dorothy M. Nelson (later Dorothy Davis and eventually Dorothy Davis McCafferty, 1920–2003).
The Nelson family was recorded on the census in January 1920 living on a farm outside Dover. (The census record said they were on the Dover and Hazelville Road, but it was most likely the Dover-Hazlettville Road). Nelson was recorded as Lloyd Nelson on the next census in April 1930. The family was living on a farm along Chesapeake City Road in unincorporated New Castle County, Delaware, south of Glasgow.
On April 29, 1932, Nelson’s parents purchased a farm along Cedar Lane Road between Jamison Corner and Armstrong Corner, north of Middletown, Delaware. Nelson was recorded living with his parents there at the time of the 1940 census. Later that year, when he registered for the draft on October 16, 1940, Nelson was working for the Hercules Powder Company in Wilmington. The registrar described him as standing five feet, 10 inches tall and weighing 155 lbs., with brown hair and blue eyes. He was Protestant.
Journal-Every Evening stated that Nelson “graduated from the Middletown High School and Beacom Business College and when drafted January, 1941, was employed in the Order Department of the Hercules Powder Company, Wilmington.” On the other hand, the 1940 census and Nelson’s enlistment data card described him as a high school graduate, not a college graduate. Nelson’s wife’s statement for the State of Delaware Public Archives Commission described him as an accounting clerk.
Military Career
Nelson was drafted before the U.S. entered World War II. He was inducted in Trenton, New Jersey, on January 9, 1941. His wife stated that her future husband spent 10 days at Fort Dix, New Jersey, before he was dispatched to Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Like many men joining the rapidly-expanding U.S. Army at that time, he was assigned directly to a unit for his initial training. In January 1941, he joined Company “H,” 60th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division. The June 1941 roster, the earliest to include duty codes, listed Private Nelson’s as 521, basic.
During a furlough back home to Delaware, Nelson married Rebecca Pyle at the First United Presbyterian Church in Wilmington on the evening of September 8, 1941.
A January 1942 roster listed a change in Nelson’s duty and military occupational specialty (M.O.S.) codes to 607, mortar gunner or light mortar crewman. The following month, he was promoted to private 1st class. The May 1942 roster indicated that Nelson had been promoted to corporal and reflected a change in his duty and M.O.S. codes to 603, gunner. (This seems to have been a blanket reclassification since no 607s were listed in the company roster for the month.) The June 1942 roster recorded another duty and M.O.S. code change to 653, squad leader. The July 1942 roster listed Nelson’s M.O.S. as 653 but his duty code as 228 (instrument man, surveying). There were no further changes recorded through September 1942, the last month on which duty and M.O.S. were recorded in extant rosters.
Combat in the Mediterranean Theater
Nelson was promoted to sergeant on January 7, 1943. He must have become a section leader at that point.
Journal-Every Evening reported Sergeant Nelson’s death on May 18, 1943.
Sergeant Nelson’s personal effects included a Bible, two prayer books, an Elgin wristwatch, a pair of glasses, a pipe, a French-English dictionary, a swimsuit, and a four-leaf clover.
Sergeant Nelson was initially buried in the II Corps cemetery on August 13, 1943. In 1947, Sergeant Nelson’s widow requested that his body be repatriated to the United States. Nelson’s casket returned to the New York Port of Embarkation aboard the Barney Kirschbaum.
Rebecca Pyle Nelson remarried.
During his career, Sergeant Nelson earned the Medal of Honor, the Purple Heart, the Good Conduct Medal, the American Defense Service Medal, and the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with two bronze service stars for the Algeria-French Morocco and Tunisian campaigns. (Distinguished unit badge)
Aviation Cadet Leroy A. Wilkins (1921–1942)
Early Life & Family
Leroy Alvin Wilkins was born in Milford, Sussex County, Delaware, on the morning of August 3, 1921. He was the second child of Leroy Wilkins (a carpenter and later building manager at Milford High School, 1899–1993) and Nellie Wilkins (née Marvel, 1901–1965). He had an older sister, Doris Wilkins (later Greenly, 1919–2013). Wilkins was nicknamed Nehi, apparently after the soft drink.
Wilkins attended school with Charles D. Holzmueller, Jr. (1920–1942), destined to become Milford’s first serviceman lost during World War II when a U-boat sank his vessel on May 2, 1942. Journal-Every Evening reported:
Wilkins and Holzmueller graduated from Milford High School in 1939. Both were well known among sports fans in lower Delaware as members of a Milford school basketball team which was undefeated for two seasons. Wilkins was captain of the team in his senior year, and was also captain of the football team during that year. He was also a member of the town’s baseball team.
A June 13, 1939, Journal-Every Evening article stated:
At a meeting of the Milford High School Alumni Association held yesterday it was decided to present the scholarship fund to Leroy A. Wilkins of this year’s graduating class.
The association presents a sum of money to a member of the graduating class every year who is worthy and outstanding in school work to assist that scholar towards a higher education.
The paper later reported that “Wilkins attended the University of Delaware for a year where he also was active in athletics.” His enlistment data card stated that he had completed two years of college, and indeed, he would have needed two years of college to enlist as an aviation cadet at the time that he did.
The Wilkins family was recorded on the census in April 1930 living on East Front Street in Milford. On the next census in April 1940, the family was recorded living at 10 East 2nd Street in Milford.
Military Career
On December 18, 1941, just eight days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Wilkins enlisted as an aviation cadet in the U.S. Army Air Forces in Wilmington, Delaware. Given the application process to become an aviation cadet, it is likely that he had already volunteered before the attack.
According to his sister’s statement for State of Delaware Public Archives Commission, Aviation Cadet Wilkins began his training at Maxwell Field, Alabama, where he remained until January 1942. He then moved to Ocala, Florida. In March 1942, he transferred to Greenville Army Flying School, Mississippi. She wrote that in May 1942, he transferred to Craig Field, near Selma, Alabama. On the other hand, The Selma Times-Journal reported that Wilkins had arrived at Craig Field on June 2, 1942. By July 9, 1942, he had accumulated 169 hours and 35 minutes of flight time, including 39 hours and 20 minutes in the North American AT-6A Texan trainer.
At Craig Field, Wilkins joined the Cadet Detachment, 382nd School Squadron.
The Wilmington Morning News reported on July 14, 1942, that the day before, “City stores were closed and the American flag in Plaza Square lowered to half-mast today during the funeral service for Leroy A. Wilkins, Jr.” The paper added:
The body arrived here yesterday [July 12, 1942], accompanied by Thomas Bennett, a classmate of Wilkins, who also is stationed at Craig Field. A military funeral was held previously at the Army base.
The Rev. Marion A. Hungerford, pastor of Calvary Methodist Church, conducted the service at the home of the youth’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Leroy A. Wilkins, Sr.
His sister’s posthumous brother-in-law was Orlando Greenly.
Wilkins is honored at the University of Delaware’s World War II memorial in Newark, and at Veterans Memorial Park in New Castle, Delaware.
Why on hold: Flight records and looking for photo.
Private Charles R. Wilson (1921–1943)
Early Life & Family
Charles Raymond Wilson was born in rural Milford Hundred, Kent County, Delaware, on the afternoon of July 16, 1921. He was the third child of Raymond Wilson (a laborer) and Beatrice Wilson (née Carey). It appears that that his oldest sibling was stillborn or died very young.
Wilson was recorded on the census in April 1930 living with his parents and sister on Saint Agnes Street in Frederica, Delaware. His father was a road construction laborer at the time. The next census in April 1940 found Wilson living with his parents and cousin on David Street in Frederica.
Although the 1940 census stated that Wilson had only completed the 8th grade, his enlistment data card from the following year described him as a high school graduate. His occupation was “semiskilled chauffeurs and drivers, bus, taxi, truck, and tractor.” His family’s statement for the State of Delaware Public Archives Commission listed him as a laborer.
Military Career
Wilson volunteered for the U.S. Army Air Corps in Dover, Delaware, on March 17, 1941. The Wilmington Morning News reported that Wilson was one of six men who enlisted in the U.S. Army “at the Dover office setting a record for one day’s enlistments there.” The paper reported that Wilson and three others, including Charles M. Plummer, also of Frederica, would be joining the 33rd Pursuit Group at Mitchel Field, New York. Little is clear about his military career. A photograph from c. 1942 shows Wilson wearing corporal’s stripes, though he must have subsequently been demoted back to private. His mother wrote that “at time of his death in April 1943 he was station[ed] at Atlantic City.”
He is known to have been a member of the 306th Material Squadron, 91st Air Base Group.
Private Wilson’s last pay voucher indicated that he was attached unassigned to the 715th Training Group. The U.S. Army Finance Department officer who filled out the voucher was assigned to Basic Training Center No. 7, U.S. Army Air Forces [Technical Training Center?], Atlantic City, New Jersey.
On the night of April 24, 1943, Wilson was driving on U.S. Route 13 in Delaware not far from home when he had an accident. The Wilmington Morning News reported: “State police stated that Wilson missed a curve and the car went into Drawyer’s Creek, a short distance north of Odessa.” The crash fractured his skull, leading to a fatal subdermal hematoma. Although rushed to the Delaware Hospital in Wilmington by “the country ambulance,” he “was pronounced dead on arrival there” shortly before midnight.
Wilson’s last pay voucher stated his death was not in the line of duty under Article of War 107. Unfortunately, that does not reveal why, since that article covered absences without leave, use of drugs or alcohol, and disease or injury due to the soldier’s own misconduct.
Wilson was buried at Barratts Chapel Cemetery in Frederica.
Private (John) Willard Chandler (1917–1943)
Military Career
After he was drafted, Chandler was inducted into the U.S. Army on April 2, 1941. His enlistment data card was one of approximately 13% that could not be digitized. However, his mother told the State of Delaware Public Archives Commission that her son joined the Army at Trenton, New Jersey. Indeed, selectees typically had their initial induction at Trenton and after a delay of a few days to a few weeks, went on active duty at Fort Dix, New Jersey. After a brief time at the reception center there, many were dispatched to basic training facilities, mostly in the South. Especially in the early 1940s, however, they sometimes were assigned directly to a unit for training.
A unit roster indicates that in May 1942, Private Chandler joined Battery “B,” 169th Field Artillery Battalion, 43rd Infantry Division at Camp Shelby, Mississippi. The 169th Field Artillery Battalion was activated there on February 19, 1942, following the breakup of the 103rd Field Artillery Regiment. At the time, all the noncommissioned officers in the unit were federalized guardsmen, as were many of the rest of the enlisted men. However, as time went on, vacancies were mostly replaced by draftees. The battalion was equipped with 105-mm howitzers.
Monthly rosters from June through September 1942 describe Private Chandler’s military occupational specialty (M.O.S.) code as 745, rifleman, suggesting he qualified as one during earlier training. However, since Field Artillery units did not have any riflemen, his duty code during those months was listed as 351. The usual meaning of that code was bookkeeping machine operator. It is unclear what a 351 would have done in the context of a Field Artillery unit. There were men who performed fire control computations, but these were in the headquarters batteries, and at a grade higher than private. Eventually, he probably requalified with an M.O.S. specific to Field Artillery, possibly whatever 351 meant.
Combat in the Pacific Theater
In a historical report, Lieutenant Colonel Wilber E. Bradt wrote:
On the 11–12 September 1943 the Battalion (less Battery “A”) moved from the New Georgia mainland to Piru Plantation on Ondongo Island and took over positions occupied by Batteries of the 140th Field Artillery Battalion. The occupation of position was most unusual in that the exchange of Batteries was effected without interfering with the firing. This was accomplished by substituting the base piece of the 140th Field Artillery Battalion Battery and while the remainder of the Battery of the 140th Field Artillery Battalion continued to fire, the base piece of the Battery of this Battalion was registered on the base point. The registration completed, the remaining three howitzers of each Battery were exchanged and the firing taken up by this Battalion. This procedure was employed both on the 11th September 1943, when Battery “B” relieved Battery “A”, 140th Field Artillery Battalion and on the 12th September 1943 when Battery “C”, relieved Battery “C”, 140th Field Artillery Battalion.
Ondongo is actually a peninsula rather than an island.
Private Chandler was killed in action early on September 12, 1943. In an operations report, Lieutenant Colonel Wilber E. Bradt wrote:
At 0330, 12 September, Battery “B” while engaged in firing a night harassing mission had a premature burst from the #4 howitzer. The round burst about 50 feet from the muzzle, killed one man, wounded three, and damaged the #3 howitzer. Shell high explosive, fuze M54 set for percussion action was being fired at the time and it is believed that the round had not been accurately set on safe. The battery had arrived at the position late in the afternoon and the ammunition had been prepared after dark.
The wounded were three federalized guardsmen from New England: Sergeant Halsey W. Buehler (1921–1967), Sergeant George W. Decoteaux (1917–1976), and Private Anthony DeMaio (1918–1999).
Technician 5th Grade Hiram J. McRae (1918–1945)
Hiram Johnson McRae was born in Alabama on March 23, 1918.
His foster mother was Louise McRae (later Louise McRae Crittendon) of Columbus, Georgia, sister Essie Bostic (born Alabama c. 1909, spouse Erelzia Bostic, children Dorthy and Erelzia Jr.) of Newark, New Jersey. He was Protestant according to his dog tags.
He was living in New Castle County, Delaware, when he entered the service. After McRae was drafted, he joined the U.S. Army in Camden, New Jersey, on July 23, 1942. Many selectees were briefly transferred to the Enlisted Reserve Corps on inactive duty for a few weeks to wrap up matters in their civilian lives. Private McRae went on active duty on or about August 5, 1942, when he was attached to Receiving Company “E,” 1229th Reception Center, Fort Dix, New Jersey.
Around August 18, 1942, he was attached unassigned to Company “C,” 8th Engineer Training Battalion, Engineer Replacement Training Center, Fort Belvoir, Virginia. He went absent without leave (A.W.O.L.) from October 5–9, 1942.
On October 24 or 25, 1942, Private McRae was released from attachment to Company “C.”
Payroll records indicate that McRae was paid at Camp Stoneman, California—staging area for the San Francisco Port of Embarkation—on November 2, 1942; November 30, 1942; and December 31, 1942. He went overseas on January 23, 1943.
On February 14, 1943, McRae joined Company “B,” 811th Engineer Aviation Battalion, a segregated unit with black enlisted men and white officers. The 811th had been activated at Langley Field, Virginia, on December 1, 1941. Enlisted cadre transferred into the unit from the 94th Engineer Battalion (Separate), as well as from Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, and Fort Belvoir, Virginia. The unit went overseas soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor, shipping out on January 23, 1942. Their convoy arrived in Melbourne, Australia, on February 26, 1942. The following month, the battalion arrived at Nouméa, New Caledonia, which was under Free French control and would soon become one of the largest Allied bases in the South Pacific. The battalion primary built and maintained airfields. Occasionally they constructed roads and railroads, and transported crated aircraft from the port to assembly areas. Service in the South Pacific, at the end of very long supply lines, required a certain degree of improvisation, as a unit history observed at the conclusion of two years on New Caledonia:
Having fixed the roads, they drove their trucks over them for more than eleven million miles. The mechanics had their own opinion of those miles. It was their duty to keep in running order vehicles which had not been new when they were put aboard, and it was nothing unusual to see one trundling about with its third engine and its second speedometer. No one gave it a second thought, any more than they gave a second thought to using salvaged aircraft armor for patching material, or tailoring a truck motor to fit a grader when the grader’s own motor gave out.
McRae was promoted from private to technician 5th grade on April 8, 1943. Later that year, McRae was hospitalized at the 31st Station Hospital. His condition was severe enough that he was transferred to Detachment of Patients, 31st Station Hospital, effective November 29, 1943. After recovering, he was transferred back to his unit on December 31, 1943, rejoining Company “B” at 1300 hours that afternoon. On February 24, 1944, McRae was temporarily appointed to the grade of corporal. This was not a promotion per se, since both were the same pay grade, although by that time a corporal had the authority of a noncommissioned officer whereas a technician 5th grade did not.
On March 23, 1944, the 811th shipped out for Guadalcanal. A unit history stated that 72% of the unit “were charter members” who had been with the unit since 1941, meaning McRae was among the 28% of personnel who were replacements.
After arriving at Guadalcanal on April 1, 1944, the men of the 811th performed general construction work while assigned to the Thirteenth Air Force. Their projects included building a camp, a flagpole, quarters at a hospital, a bridge, runway maintenance, and a new tower at Carney Field. They also performed work improving the drainage at various installations. Perhaps tongue-in-cheek, the unit history for April 1944 recorded that “None of the projects were particularly noteworthy except one priority 1 AA – RUSH assignment which arrived at noon and instructed us to produce by four that afternoon, one volleyball court for the Commanding General.”
The battalion also built a tennis court and a baseball field, and a battalion garden for the unit’s men to supplement their rations by growing fresh produce for themselves. The unit history noted (A0246 pg. 193):
The battalion garden fulfilled its promise by providing sweet corn, watermelon, cantaloupe, egg plant and assorted greens to the mess tables. The corn was excellent, better in fact that much that is sold in markets at home, since this is fresh picked. The Battalion Surgeon found it expensive. A skeptic by instinct and training, he had bet five dollars that it would not come up to its name of “Sixty-Day Corn”, only to have a steaming ear set before him on the sixtieth day.
On June 18, 1944, men of the unit responded when a B-25 ditched near the Company “C” camp, helping to rescue the crewmembers half an hour before crash trucks and ambulances arrived.
A hospital admission card indicates McRae was briefly hospitalized for colic in July 1944.
The main body of the 811th shipped out for Honolulu, Hawaii, on September 21, 1944, aboard the U.S.A.T. Cape Meares, arriving there on October 4, 1944. The unit was briefly stationed at Hickam Field before moving to Bellows Field (apparently as a result of a false accusation that the men of the unit had been in involved in “a disturbance in the civilian workers barracks – half mile down the road from our location.”). The move was not reversed, though the unit did work all across Oahu at Kwaloa, Kipapa, Hickam, and Wheeler, as well as Bellows.
Company “B” began training at the Jungle Training Area (Jungle Unit Training Center?) beginning on December 10, 1944. This training included amphibious operations and the use of various weapons, including one just issued to the battalion: the M16 Multiple Gun Motor Carriage, a halftrack equipped with a quadruple .50 machine gun turret. The training, and extra firepower perhaps hinted that their next assignment would be more hazardous. (Unit records appear missing February – April 1945)
It appears that the unit shipped out from Hawaii on or about March 28, 1945, and arrived on Iwo Jima on April 20, 21, or 22, 1945, and was assigned to VII Fighter command. (A0246, pg. 217)
The unit history reported:
The announcement of peace was received here, as elsewhere on the Island, with a curious quiet. The first broadcast at 2200 woke the camp out of its slumbers and there was sporadic cheering as area after area got the news. Nobody slept much after that. Next day the radios were crowded with listeners. When the final announcement came through, most hearers heaved a deep sigh and walked off with a rather groggy expression. There was no work that day and very little the next. There were ball games, which were well attended, but for the most part everyone sat back and relaxed. Almost everyone complained of a hollow feeling inside, as though something important had vanished overnight.
Work continued, albeit “on a greatly curtailed schedule.”
Technician 5th Grade McRae suffered a skull fracture in a vehicle accident on Iwo Jima. He died on September 2, 1945, the same day Japanese representatives signed the instrument of surrender in Tokyo Bay. He was initially buried in the 4th Marine Division Cemetery on Iwo Jima on September 3, 1945.
His personnel effects included his wallet, a Lucite pendant, a deck of playing cards, his unemployment compensation and draft registration cards, two rings, two New Zealand florins, three Bibles, 19 cowrie shells, $116.34, and 269 personal letters.
The Army attempted to reach Technician 5th Grade McRae’s sister, and then his foster mother through the American Red Cross. The Red Cross contacted Louise McRae to have her fill out the disposition paperwork. She wrote a notarized letter to the Office of the Quartermaster General dated May 13, 1948:
After careful consideration I have decided that I would not have my son’s remains returned to the States.
He was my foster-son, and now that he has been interred overseas, I am satisfied with the arrangements.
I do not care to complete forms.
Edna Mattox of the American Red Cross wrote the Office of the Quartermaster General Memorial Division on October 13, 1948:
Our Columbus, Georgia, chapter worker advises that Mrs. Louise McRae Crittenden states the serviceman was never legally adopted by her. The decedent was given to her by a brother who had obtained him from the boy’s mother. Efforts to locate the boy’s mother have been unsuccessful.
McRae was buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii on November 23, 1949.
Although McRae entered the service from Wilmington, Delaware, the Adjutant General’s Office report of death listed his home address as “Wilmington, N. C.” The error may have originally been due to some paperwork using N. C. as an abbreviation for New Castle County, or because Wilmington, North Carolina, is a better known city than Wilmington, Delaware. Regardless, his headstone erroneously lists North Carolina as his state of residence.
Why on hold: Waiting for release of 1945 morning reports to the National Archives Catalog to complete reconstruction of his military history
If you have materials that may help me finish any of these articles, please contact me.
Last updated on January 7, 2026
Delaware's World War II Fallen 