489th Navigator Jim flew Lead crew with Pilot Gus Gaczi. They flew ‘Pin Up Girl’ for 14 of their 27 missions between May and November 1944. Jim told us that they were not allowed to write home about their missions or how many. He wrote to his sister and to Mary Margaret, who was his girl friend at the time, saying that he was collecting ‘Pin Ups’ as his new plane was named ‘Pin Up Girl’. “One of them offered to send me some, but I told them I had to collect my own. They then decided I was trying to tell them something and eventually came to the right conclusion as to what it was … A Pin Up for each mission.”



Before the war Jim was a teacher. After the war he taught for one year then joined the staff of a local bank while also enlisted with the National Guard. That Unit was activated during the Korean War and Jim served in Korea for eight months.