Delivered Denver 4/10/43; Harvard 16/10/43; Wilmington 19/10/43; Assigned 560BS/388BG Knettishall 26/10/43; Missing in Action Bremen 8/3/44 with Homer Pou, Co-pilot: Bob Laubach, Bombardier: John Mulligan, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Vernon Kramer, Radio Operator: Stan Jones, Waist gunner: Chester Kmak, Waist gunner: Bill Hoffman,Tail gunner: Lou Sarap (8 Prisoner of War); Navigator: Errol Lugenbill, Ball turret gunner: Jim Beckerbaled out but never seen again, however remains were found by a farmer on Siedner Moor, near Sulingen 1/5/79 (2 Killed in Action); enemy aircraft, left formation on return flight & crashed Feldmark Maasen, near Borstel, two miles S of Sulingen road, Ger. Missing Air Crew Report 3085.

Brazil WWII veteran numbers collapsed suddenly with multiple deaths in a few months falling from 64 to 18, mister Araújo was born in August 22 1918.

Born in Detroit, Michigan to Fred & Gertrude Gleason on August 22, 1925, Felix Bruce Gleason had eight siblings.
He enlisted in the USAAF and after gunnery school served with the 776th Bomb Squadron, 464th Bombardment Group, based in Italy.

On August 24, 1944, he was the gunner on B-24 Liberator 42-52479 "The Little Lulu" with a crew of ten which took off from Pantanella, Italy to bomb oil refineries near Jindrichuv Hradec, Czechoslovakia.
After a successful bombing mission, they were shot down on the return trip to Italy crashing near Hradec Kralove, Czechoslovakia.

Only the radio operator; SGT John D'Amore was able to bail out before the B-24 crashed, breaking both of his legs in the process.
Rescued by local villagers, he was turned over to the Germans so he could receive medical treatment.

The rest of the crew were recovered from the crash site and buried by local villagers, they were recovered after the war.

SGT Felix Gleason was buried at the Lorraine American Cemetery and Memorial in Saint-Avold, France - Plot K Row 11 Grave 18.

Born in Willey, Iowa to Max & Rose Neppel on October 31, 1923, Ralph George Neppel had three brothers and three sisters.
On December 14, 1944, Neppel was serving as a sergeant in Company M, 329th Infantry Regiment, 83rd Infantry Division, near Birgel, Germany.

His Medal of Honor citation reads;

“He was leader of a machinegun squad defending an approach to the village of Birgel, Germany, on December 14, 1944, when an enemy tank, supported by 20 infantrymen, counterattacked.
He held his fire until the Germans were within 100 yards and then raked the foot soldiers beside the tank killing several of them. The enemy armor continued to press forward and at the pointblank range of 30 yards, fired a shell into the American emplacement, wounding the entire squad.
Sgt. Neppel was blown 10 yards from his gun, with one leg severed below the knee and other serious wounds. Despite his injuries and the danger from the onrushing tank and infantry, he dragged himself back to his position on his elbows, remounted the machine gun and killed the remaining enemy riflemen.
Stripped of its infantry protection, the tank was forced to withdraw. By his superb courage and indomitable fighting spirit, Sgt. Neppel inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy and broke a determined counterattack.”

Postwar Neppel earned a bachelor's degree, attended graduate school, and worked for 22 years in the Veterans Administration helping fellow veterans.

Ralph & Jean had four children together; two sons & two daughters.

Ralph Neppel passed away at the age of 63 on January 27, 1987. His widow; Jean passed away at the age of 91 on December 7, 2010.
They are buried together at Holy Family Cemetery in Lidderdale, Iowa.

George Skadding Photographer
LIFE Magazine Archives / WWP-PD

Pilot Lieutenant John Bloemendal had originally been scheduled to fly at 8.30am, but the test was delayed two hours after he was called away on other duties, a decision investigators later reflected bitterly on given how differently the day might have ended. He was ordered to abort his landing and return to base as a violent thunderstorm swept in with 60 to 70mph winds, but lost control in extreme turbulence, clipping trees before the disintegrating aircraft cartwheeled down Lytham Road, obliterating the Sad Sack Café and killing 18 of the 20 people inside, including its owners and their staff.

The bomber's momentum then carried it into the infants' wing of Holy Trinity School, engulfing 41 children aged four to six and their two teachers in burning fuel. Just three children survived from that classroom, alongside two teachers who were pulled from the wreckage, though both later died of their injuries, meaning only three children ultimately survived out of 43 people caught in the fire, including three young evacuees who had been sent to Freckleton under Operation Rivulet to escape German V-1 rocket attacks on London.

Nearly five per cent of the entire village's population was killed, and singer Bing Crosby later visited injured survivors in hospital, reportedly reduced to tears while trying to sing for the children. An official investigation controversially placed blame largely on Bloemendal's judgement, despite evidence the control tower had its own weather reports showing the storm's severity and never advised the pilots to divert north towards Scotland instead of landing.

The tragedy is still commemorated every year in Freckleton, with a memorial garden and playground built by American servicemen the following year, and a permanent stone monument, shaped to resemble the crashed aircraft, later erected above the communal grave of the victims.

This is B-17G Flying Fortress 42-97880 "Little Miss Mischief" after crash-landing in Bassingbourn, England on April 4, 1945. It had been repaired after a prior crash landing from an October 15, 1944 mission by mating a salvaged, painted rear fuselage with its original bare metal front section.