James Patrick Sullivan
MilitaryOriginal military records from my father's personal collection
James Sullivan was Co-Pilot on board of B-24 42-51506 on the 27 February 1945 mission to the Halle Marshalling Yards, Germany. Crashed Betzenhausen, 1,5km NW of Freiburg-im-Breisgau, Germany. Prisoner of War (POW).
From the biography of his father, John Jeremiah "Lefty" Sullivan (1894-1958), baseball player,
at : https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/22fde3cf
* "He and his wife, Anna, were still struggling to begin their family, having lost their first four children in infancy to lung and heart problems. The couple were heartbroken, but their devout Catholic faith helped them persevere. In 1922 a healthy son was finally born, named James Patrick."
* "In 1945, his son James – a former football player at Marquette University who later married his college sweetheart, Mary Claire, and became a steelworker – was shot down over Germany on a bombing mission while serving in the 8th Air Force during World War II. He was liberated from a prisoner-of-war camp after several months."
Connections
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Units served with
- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
- Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
People
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 445th Bomb Group 701st Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 39911604
- Highest Rank: Sergeant
- Role/Job: Nose Gunner
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 445th Bomb Group 701st Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 33728946
- Highest Rank: Sergeant
- Role/Job: Radio Operator
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 445th Bomb Group 701st Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 35331002
- Highest Rank: Sergeant
- Role/Job: waist gunner
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 445th Bomb Group 701st Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: O-2072788
- Highest Rank: Second Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Navigator / Bombardier
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 445th Bomb Group 701st Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 36758482
- Highest Rank: Sergeant
- Role/Job: Waist Gunner
Aircraft
- Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
- Unit: 445th Bomb Group 701st Bomb Squadron
Missions
- Date: 27 February 1945
Places
- Site type: Airfield
- Known as: Tivetshall
Events
Event | Location | Date | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Other captured |
27 February 1945 | in the immediate vicinity of Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, after he baled out of B-24 42-51506 | |
Other Prisoner of War (POW) |
27 February 1945 | Interned in Germany. NARA WWII POW records : “Returned October to Military Control on 17 October 1945.” | |
Born |
Chicago, Illinois, USA | the son of John Jeremiah Sullivan and his wife Anna | |
Enlisted |
Chicago, Cook County, Illinois |
Revisions
From the biography of his father, John Jeremiah "Lefty" Sullivan (1894-1958), baseball player,
at : https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/22fde3cf
* "He and his wife, Anna, were still struggling to begin their family, having lost their first four children in infancy to lung and heart problems. The couple were heartbroken, but their devout Catholic faith helped them persevere. In 1922 a healthy son was finally born, named James Patrick."
* "In 1945, his son James – a former football player at Marquette University who later married his college sweetheart, Mary Claire, and became a steelworker – was shot down over Germany on a bombing mission while serving in the 8th Air Force during World War II. He was liberated from a prisoner-of-war camp after several months."
Birsic MACR 12778 / Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 12778 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database