Louie Frank Tillery

Military
media-33777.jpeg UPL 33777 Second page of letter sent to my father (Stanley Vitkavage, the pilot) with a request for him to contact all of the next of kin of his crew on the flight that was shot down over Germany on 27 Feb 1945. Stanley Vitkavage Collection

Original military records from my father's personal collection

Object Number - UPL 33777 - Second page of letter sent to my father (Stanley Vitkavage, the pilot) with a request for him to contact all of the next of kin of his crew on the...

Louie Tillery was Top Turret Gunner 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).

Connections

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Units served with

A pathfinder B-24 Liberator (serial number 42-51681) of the 453rd Bomb Group flies in formation with a fellow Liberator of the 453rd and and a pathfinder Liberator of the 445th Bomb Group. Image via Alan Rowsell.

445th Bomb Group

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

People

Warren Joseph Anderson

  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 445th Bomb Group 701st Bomb Squadron
  • Service Numbers: 39911604
  • Highest Rank: Sergeant
  • Role/Job: Nose Gunner

Allan Henry Burns

  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 445th Bomb Group 701st Bomb Squadron
  • Service Numbers: 33728946
  • Highest Rank: Sergeant
  • Role/Job: Radio Operator

Felix W (Valentine) Kolasinski

  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 445th Bomb Group 701st Bomb Squadron
  • Service Numbers: 35331002
  • Highest Rank: Sergeant
  • Role/Job: waist gunner

Lambert E Koupal

  • 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

Eugene James Smietana

  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 445th Bomb Group 701st Bomb Squadron
  • Service Numbers: 36758482
  • Highest Rank: Sergeant
  • Role/Job: Waist Gunner

Aircraft

42-51506

  • Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
  • Unit: 445th Bomb Group 701st Bomb Squadron

Missions

Places

Signal Squares on the airfield at Tibenham, B-24 Liberators of the 398th Bomb Group are visible in the background. Handwritten caption on reverse: 'Tibenham Signal Squares.'

Tibenham

  • Site type: Airfield
  • Known as: Tivetshall

Events

Event Location Date Description

Born

Cottonwood, Alabama, USA 5 January 1923 the son of William O. and Lilla Bell (Bruner) Tillery

Enlisted

3 April 1943 Fort McClellan, Alabama

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 to Military Control 17 October 1945.”

Other

Honorably discharged

7 November 1945

Died

8 May 2010
Cottonwood, Houston County, Alabama

Buried

Louie Tillery rests at the Columbia Cemetery in Columbia, Houston County, Alabama

Revisions

Date30 Mar 2019 13:26:16
ContributorED-BB
ChangesChanges to middlename, service number, biography, events and place associations
Sources

MACR 12778
NARA WWII Enlistment records
WWII Draft cards
US Census 1930
NARA WWII POW records
Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File
VA Gravesite Locator

Date27 Sep 2014 18:19:05
ContributorAAM
ChangesAAM ingest
Sources

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

Louie Frank Tillery: Gallery (2 items)