James Homer Wedding

Military

Shot down 22 April 1944 in B-24 #41-29273 'Flak Magnet'. Prisoner of War (POW).

Connections

See how this entry relates to other items in the archive by exploring the connections below.

Units served with

Personnel of the 458th Bomb Group gather around a B-24 Liberator (serial number 41-29303) nicknamed "Liberty Lib" in order to transfer a casualty into a waiting ambulance. Image via Harry Holmes. Written on slide casing: '458th BG.'

458th Bomb Group

  • Unit Hierarchy: Group
  • Air Force: Eighth Air Force
  • Type Category: Bombardment

People

Robert Louis Allin

  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 458th Bomb Group 753rd Bomb Squadron
  • Service Numbers: 37223225
  • Highest Rank: Sergeant
  • Role/Job: Waist Gunner

Cedric Colby Cole

  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 458th Bomb Group 753rd Bomb Squadron
  • Service Numbers: 36721017
  • Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant (3rd Grade)
  • Role/Job: Radio Operator

James Lloyd Fittinger

  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 458th Bomb Group 753rd Bomb Squadron
  • Service Numbers: 39277261
  • Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
  • Role/Job: waist gunner

Peter Kowal

  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 458th Bomb Group 753rd Bomb Squadron
  • Service Numbers: O-810990
  • Highest Rank: Second Lieutenant
  • Role/Job: Navigator

James Frederick Mortinson

  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 458th Bomb Group 753rd Bomb Squadron
  • Service Numbers: 39604346 at enlistment, then O-682501
  • Highest Rank: Second Lieutenant
  • Role/Job: Bombardier

Aircraft

The shark mouth nose of a B-24 Liberator nicknamed "Flak Magnet" of the 458th Bomb Group. Handwritten caption on reverse: '458th B.G.'

41-29273

  • Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
  • Nicknames: Flak Magnet
  • Unit: 458th Bomb Group 753rd Bomb Squadron

Missions

A B-24 Liberator (serial number 41-29155) nicknamed "Picadilly Commando" of the 446th Bomb Group. First handwritten caption on reverse: '446BG B/24 leaving Ruhr on its way home 22 April 1944.' Second handwritten caption on reverse: '22/4/44, 21,000 Ft. Hamm, smoke screen in distance.'

311

  • Date: 22 April 1944

Places

Events

Event Location Date Description

Born

25 January 1921 Cabin John, Montgomery County, Maryland, United States

Enlisted

9 July 1942 Ft Myer, Virginia

Other

Prisoner of War (POW)

22 April 1944 Captured in Ostenfelde, Germany. Interned at Stalag XVIIB in Braunau-Gneikendorf, near Krems, Austria. NARA WWII POW record : “Returned to Military Control 16 July 1945.”

Died

28 October 2000
Washington, DC (while working at the Army War College’s Government Engineers Reproduction Plant)

Buried

James Wedding rests at the Chattanooga National Cemetery in Chattanooga, Tennessee

Revisions

Date
ContributorED-BB
Changes
Sources

MACR 4180
WWII Enlistment records
WWII Draft card
WWII POW records
Downed Allied Aircraft Kampfflugzeug Unterlagen (KU) Reports KU 1487 at https://catalog.archives.gov/id/139542878
Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File

Date
ContributorED-BB
Changes
Sources

MACR 4180

Date
ContributorAAM
Changes
Sources

Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 4180 / MACR 4180 & Page 283 of the book LIBERATORS OVER NORWICH by Mackay, Bailry & Scorza, 2010, D790G4582010 &

href="http://www.458bg.com/crew33spaven.htm">http://www.458bg.com/crew33spaven.htm> / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database