Otto Henry Moreland

Military
media-23690.jpeg UPL 23690 Westrope Crew, 708th Squadron, 447th Bomb Group. Photo taken at Rattlesden. Standing in front of B-17 "Satchel Lass" (42-31185). Judging from the mission marks on the plane, this was taken after April-May 1944; probably autumn 1944. Satchel Lass crash-landed near Honington, England on September 9, 1944 and was repaired at Rattlesden and returned to combat duty. The presence of Sgt. Robert Orlosky, the crew chief for "Milk Wagon" (43-37756), which the Westrope crew flew for the last third of their combat tour, suggests that the photo was taken at the end of that tour in late October, 1944. Satchel Lass was simply a convenient backdrop.

Back Row: Otto Moreland, Robert Westrope, Harold Motz, Warren Callahan, Oscar Flores; Front Row: Joseph Pfeiffer, Robert Orlosky, Edwin Wells, Harold Woods. Missing from photo and thus probably the photographer, Willard "Bill" Lawrence.

As far as has been determined, this crew never actually flew this aircraft. It is interesting that in contrast to the official crew photo taken before the Westrope crew left the US for England in which officers and enlisted men are in separate rows, in this photo officers and enlisted men are mixed together.

Timothy Motz

Object Number - UPL 23690 - Westrope Crew, 708th Squadron, 447th Bomb Group. Photo taken at Rattlesden. Standing in front of B-17 "Satchel Lass" (42-31185). Judging from the...

Mr. Moreland had been employed by the United States Postal Service office at Smithville as a rural letter carrier for many years until retiring in 1980. Prior to that, he had worked for Koch in North Kansas City, Mo.; Ford Aircraft, Claycomo, Mo.; and Benson Manufacturing, Kansas City.



Born in Arley, Mo., he was reared and attended school in Paradise, Mo. He was a graduate of the Smithville High School, and served in the Air Force during World War II and among the medals he received was a Distinguished Flying Cross (CG #868, 3d Bomb Div, 21 Oct 1944) "for extraordinary achievement while serving as waist gunner on many high altitude heavy bomardment missions against the enemy over Continental Europe, during a period ending 18 October 1944. Sergeant Moreland repelled numerous hostile fighter attacks by his excellent marksmenship, thereby assuring the safety of the crew and aircraft."



SSgt Moreland was inducted into the "Lucky Bastards Club" on 18 October 1944 for flying no less than 30 successful missions as Waist Gunner on the Flying Fortress "Milk Wagon", "for having braved the hazards of Hun Flak, for bringing Hitler and his cronies tons of bombs, for bending the Luftwaffe's back; all through the courtesy of the VIII Air Force.



Mr. Moreland was a member of the First Baptist Church, Smithville, where he served as a deacon, head usher and on various committees.



On Dec. 10, 1948, he married Anna Dolores Helvey. They made their home near Smithville. She survives him in Kearney, Mo as of 12 Oct 2019.

Connections

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Units served with

Missions

  • Date: 13 August 1944
  • Date: 11 August 1944
  • Date: 8 August 1944

Places

Events

Event Location Date Description

Born

Clay County, MO, USA 11 August 1913

Died

Smithville, MO 64089, USA 30 April 2000

Enlisted

Revisions

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Contributorjpmoreland
Changes
Sources

AAFRS Form 2-72 dtd 2/27/1944, signed by James A. Smith, Jr., Major, Asst Personnel Officer transcribed by Colonel James P. Moreland, USAF (retired), [email protected], 12 Oct 2019

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Contributorjpmoreland
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I, Col Jamese P. Moreland, USAF (retired) am the nephew of O.H. Moreland, and am in possession of his military records, having received them from his wife, Anna Dolores Moreland of Kearney, MO as of 12 October 2019.

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Contributorjpmoreland
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I am O.H. Moreland's nephew and am in possession of his service records, having received them from his wife, Anna Dolores Moreland.
James P. Moreland, Colonel, USAF, MSC (retired), [email protected]

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Contributorjpmoreland
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O.H. Moreland is my uncle and I am in possession of his service records. (James P. Moreland, Colonel, USAF, MSC (retired). [email protected]

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Contributortimothymotz
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Timothy Motz, from 447th loading lists

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Contributortimothymotz
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Timothy Motz; from a mission list kept by Harold Motz, compared with Doyle Shields, "History of the 447th Bomb Group"

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Contributortimothymotz
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Timothy Motz

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Contributortimothymotz
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Name corrected; birth and death dates and locations added by Timothy Motz from obituary:
http://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Moreland&GSfn=Otto&GS…;

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Contributortimothymotz
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Sources

Timothy Motz from notes on a crew photo from Harold Motz, 2016

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ContributorLucy May
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Otto Henry Moreland: Gallery (33 items)