In the last few weeks I have learned more about my father's service in WWII including finding two pictures of him taken during the war he did not have in his collection, on a web page dedicated to the memory of the nose turret gunner on the same crew by his son.
My father was orginally part of the 10 man crew of the "Lady Esther" a B-24 in the 464BG. His plane and crew was selected to fly OSS covert missions into Yugoslavia and a ball turret gunner and bombardier were not needed. He and his bombardier joined up with the three surviving crew members of the "Pistol Packing Mama", all gunners, and 5 others formed the crew of "Stevonovitch II", piloted by Capt Lewis Perkins. All these men rotated home to the USA after completing their 35 missions in Feb '45.
Back row: Capt. Perkins pilot , My father gunner, TSgt Eudaily flight engineer and gunner, Tom Graf Bombardier, Ssgt Dempsey gunner, SSgt Faniro gunner (Faniro was the first gunner in 15th Air Force to receive the Silver Star)
The "Stevonovitch II" aka Black (N)an continued to soldier on after these men went home. Two months later, flown by a different crew, it was shot down with 9 men lost on April 10, 1945. The war was all but over, it was supposed to be a milk run. The shoot down is one of the most famous photos of WWII. Dad never spoke of his time on this plane, I am guessing it's shoot down and loss of crew bothered him, perhaps survivors guilt.
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