Killed in Action.



This crew member was the Flight Engineer on 2/Lt. W.R Sewell’s aircrew flying in B24J 42-99990, Call Letter "Bar B" nicknamed "SHORT SNORTER". An article in the December 1999 edition of the 392nd BG News provided this information: "We were the perfect example of the phrase 'If you see the flak, it won't hurt you,' said 2/Lt Wade Sewell, pilot. "We were approaching the French coast on the return flight and thought we were clear of the flak areas that we had been briefed about when a burst went off under us and we lost three engines and 5000 feet of altitude before I could get the a/c under control. We went all the way back across the Channel on the one remaining engine. The navigator, 2/Lt W.J. Richards, gave us a heading for Manston, and when we broke out of the overcast at about 400 feet it was right in front of us. I was able to make a 180 degree turn, but with the one engine I could not line up with the runway, so we came down in a potato field about a fourth of a mile from the field. A hedge row finally stopped us. The first man on the scene was the owner of the potato patch, who demanded to know who would pay for his ruined potatoes. Our only casualty was S/Sgt Abshier." He is interred at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, Section 79 Site 57. (Note: On the 18 September 1944 Holland DZ supply drop, this entire crew suffered fatalities and other casualties.