Loading List 1, Box I




Loading List 2, Box II




Route Map
showing separation of Box 1 and Box 2




Primary Target area around MBS Coordinate (NGZ) wF049569
Extracted from GSGS-4416/AMS-M641 Sheet R1 - "Koln" 1:100:000 Military Topographic Map
(Downloaded from Map Archive of Wojskowy Instytut Geograficzny 1919 - 1939,
GSGS 4416 / AMS M641, 651, 671 Germany, Poland, Middle Danube 1:100,000,
Koln sheet)
(Note: This coordinate and map display represent the Primary Target Location, the Location actually attacked may differ)
(Annotated Full Map PDF)



Post mission reconnaisance
(Photo courtesy of Phil Stanley)

Missing Air Crew Reports, Aircraft Accident Reports, and other incidents

Date	Report		A/C Serial # Type	Mis- sion #	Bomb Sq	Location	Personnel (Status when available)
Sep 29, 1944 Friday	No_Report		43-9452 A-20J	149	670	A-55 Melun/Villaroche, France	Jackson, Chester Ronald (Not Injured) Maltby, Alfred H. (WIA) Burns, Donald E. (Not Injured) Daniel, William John Sr. (KIA)
Sep 29, 1944 Friday	No_Report		43-21810 A-20G	149	670		Brown, Neil Gates (Not Injured) Addleman, Raymond F. (WIA) Tharp, Freeland Madison (Not Injured)
Sep 29, 1944 Friday	No_Report		43-9207 A-20G	149	670		McBride, Leonard Robert (Not Injured) McKee, James C. (Not Injured) Eutsler, Ralph J. (WIA)
Sep 29, 1944 Friday	MACR 9274		43-21724 A-20J	149	671	Julich, Germany	DeMand, Francis Wilhelm (MIA, KIA) Burns, Alwin Caruthers Jr. (MIA, DED) Middleton, Clyde Walton (MIA, POW, RMC, EUS) Troyer, Reuben Junior (MIA, DED)
Sep 29, 1944 Friday	MACR 9275		43-10165 A-20G	149	671	Julich, Germany	York, Robert Walter (MIA, KIA) Ashton, Lewis Alexander (MIA, POW, RTD) Wilds, Harley James (MIA, POW, RMC, RTD)
Sep 29, 1944 Friday	MACR 9276		43-9925 A-20G	149	671	Julich, Germany	Morehouse, Ray Clare (MIA, KIA) Burgess, Arthur James (MIA, KIA) Zygiel, Leonard A. (MIA, KIA)

To view more information regarding an Incident/Report, click on the Report hyperlink.
( = Entries having actual Reports available for review.   = Entries having additional Images or Photos.)
To view an individual's Memorial page, click on the "Name" hyperlink.

Included are Box, Flight and Position; Bomb Squadron; Aircraft Serial Number, Fuselage Code and Model; and Crew Members
transcribed from individual mission Loading List documents by Chris and Mary Adams and Carl Sgamboti.
Some information, such as Squadron, Serial Number, etc. has been expanded from other documents.

Group and Unit Histories

Mission # 149 -- September 29, 1944, Friday PM
Julich, Germany -- Marshalling Yards

"416th Bombardment Group (L) - Group History 1944"
Transcribed from USAF Archives

The planes took off again in the afternoon to attack the Julich marshalling yards east of beseiged Aachen. There was 9/10 cloud cover and almost that much flak too on the bomb run and target. Three flights and part of a fourth dropped their bombs with apprently excellent results. Captain Huff and Major Napier led the two boxes. Three planes, all from the 671st Bomb Sq (L), were knocked down, and almost simultaneously, at the target. All three were in the same flight. Lt F.W. DeMand was leading the flights with Lt A.C. Burns, B-N, in the nose and Staff Sergeants R.J. Troyer and C.W. Middleton in the tail. The plane received a direct hit and exploded in mid-air in the area over the target. Two chutes were observed to emerge from the falling wreck. The plane piloted by Lt R.W. York with Staff Sergeants L.A. Ashton and H.J. Wilds as gunners was seen at the target, diving and losing altitude. The third plane, piloted by Lt R.C. Morehouse with Staff Sergeants L.A. Ziegel and A.J. Burgess as gunners, did the same maneuver, diving and loosing altitude over the target. No chutes were seen to come from the last two planes.

It was the last mission of the month, No. 149, and the end of a day in which 5 crews were lost. We had participated in 16 missions during the month.

"Attack Bombers, We Need You! A History of the 416th Bomb Group"
Ralph Conte
Pages 155 - 156

Mission #149 - 29 September - PM - Julich Marshalling Yard. These marshalling yard attacks were meant to prevent much needed ammo, equipment, and troops from reaching the front lines, and shoring up the Siegfried Line, designed to defend Germany from attack. The Germans must have felt these yards were important too, since they were very well defended by top gunners, as the 416th found out on this second mission of the day. Captain Huff and Lt. Kupits BN, and Major Napier with Lt. Jones BN led the boxes. Lts. Demand and Corum BN. Lts. Adams and Hanlon BN, Lts. Meagher and Burg BN, Lts. Anderson and Babbage BN, and Lt. Miracle and F/O McCartney BN and Captain Jackson and Lt. Maltby BN, led flights. Only 20 of the 36 planes got to drop their bombs due to weather closing in. Flak was severe, causing three planes to go down.

The bombardiers were instructed to drop their bombs one minute after passing over the aiming point in the event they could not see the primary target, which they did but the results were undetermined.

Captain Jackson from the 670th squadron had his plane pretty well shot up. His tunnel gunner, S/Sgt. W. J. Daniel received a direct hit on one leg, severing an artery, causing excessive bleeding. Jackson gunned his plane in an effort to get the injured man to medical care, but the bleeding was so profuse, and unstoppable, the young man died before the plane could land. This was the first crew member of the group to expire during a mission.

Lt. F. W. DeMand of the 671st squadron received a direct flak burst, and his flight dispersed amid air by the number of hits they received. DeMand got a direct hit to a gas tank, exploding it, causing his BN, A. C. Burns, and gunners, S/Sgts. R. J. Troyer and C. W. Middleton to go down. Lt. R. W. York with gunners S/Sgts. L. A. Ashton and H. J. Wilds and Lt. R. C. Morehouse and gunners, S/Sgts. L. A. Zygiel and A. J. Burgess, all went down. Lts. Greenley and Mitchell, BN, were leading one of the flights. This was, indeed, one of the costliest missions for the group with so many losses. Five planes and crews were lost, and one fatality makes for a serious loss to the group.

The last word in fast light bombers, the new A-26 planes arrived at our group today. They will begin training flights for indoctrination with check outs being conducted with the pilots who had experience in them, who led the new planes to Melun. Those A-26 pilots will become members of the 416th Group. For a period, the glass nosed A-20s will lead all flights, with the A-26 planes forming up the remaining five planes of the flights.

The A-26 "gun" ships had forward firing 50 caliber guns, 16 of them, with two more in the top turret being capable of firing forward. These planes were designed to drop bombs at higher altitudes, and be able to go down to strafe targets, much the same as the A-20s were designed to do, but never got around to it. There is no question in the minds of the pilots that the strafing missions would be a thing of the future. The speed of the planes and the increased bomb load capabilities make these zippy units a thing of envy.

"669th Bombardment Squadron (L) History"
Transcription from USAF Archives

The last mission of the month, on that afternoon, was an attack on the Julich marshalling yards. Haze, 9/10th cloud cover, and almost as much flak covered the target. Capt. Huff and Major Napier led the boxes. Results were unobserved. Flak knocked down three planes and killed a gunner in a fourth, but none of the losses were from our Squadron.

"670th Bombardment Squadron (L) History"
Transcription from USAF Archives

September 29th proved to be one of the most disastrous days the Group had experienced. Two missions were flown on this day and seventeen crew members from the whole group were lost. Our squadron received its share of casualties, having one crew missing in action, and one gunner killed in action. On the morning mission, an attack against the Bitburg Marshalling Yards in Germany, Lt Nordstrom and his crew of S/Sgts Gossett and Miller received a direct hit over the target and the airplane exploded and broke in half. One parachute was observed leaving the ship, believed to have been that of the pilot.

In the afternoon, a mission was sent against troop concentration at Julich, Germany. Flak was extremely heavy, and the aircraft severly damaged. The ship flown by Capt Jackson was badly shot up and his gunner, S/Sgt Daniel was severly hit in the leg, severing an artery. After dropping his bombs, Captain Jackson raced his plane back to the base in an effort to get aid for his stricken gunner, but to no avail. S/Sgt Daniel died before they landed. In this raid, Lts Maltby, McGlohn and S/Sgts Addleman and Eutsler were slightly wounded.

"671st Bomb Squadron (L) Unit History"
Gordon Russell and Jim Kerns

September 29th, 1944

The 416th and the 671st had one of its most disastrous days on the 29th of September 1944 running of missions No. 148 and 149. Moderate to intense accurate heavy flak was met on both morning and afternoon attacks on marshalling yards inside Germany. In the morning sortie Lt. Boukamp of the 669th Squadron and Lt. Nordstrom of the 670th Squadron were shot down over the target area. In the afternoon the 671st caught the wrath the Germans flung up. Lt. Francis W. De Mand, Lt. Robert W. York and Lt. Ray C. Morehouse and their crews were knocked out of the air by a flak barrage that tore their flight apart just over the target. Lt. De Mand's ship, which was leading the third flight in the second box, received a direct hit on the gas tank, and the plane exploded in mid-air. The other two planes were seen going down over the target.

The personal loss of Lt. De Mand and his crew was one of the greatest that could hit this Squadron. Lt. De Mand joined the Group in July of 1943 and saw the 416th move from training to combat in which he played a most important part. Known as "Frenchie" to his pilot pals, he had piled up 53 sorties and had been leading flights since June. It is a sure bet that Lt. De Mand will find himself a bright spot in the Pilot's heaven...cause they don't come any better.

Lt. De Mand's bombardier-navigator, Lt. Alwin C. Burns, just joined this outfit in August, but had chalked up nine missions, and the De Mand/Burns combination was shaping up as a top flight team. De Mand's two gunners S/Sgt. Reuben J.Troyer and S/Sgt.Clyde W. Middleton, were two of the oldest gunners in the Squadron and were among the best liked. Troyer was a member of the original 671st Bomb Squadron formed back at Will Rogers Field in February of 1943, while Middleton joined the Squadron at Laural, Mississippi in December. S/Sgt. Troyer had 57 missions to his credit while S/Sgt. Middleton had 53.

1st Lt. York and his gunners, S/Sgt. Harlay J. Wilds and S/Sgt. Lewis A. Ashton, and Lt. Morehouse and his gunners, S/Sgt. Arthur J. Burgess and S/Sgt. Leonard A. Zygiel came to the 416th as replacements in the early part of May and had turned into combat veterans. They were an integral part of the 671st . Lt. York racked up 42 missions and Lt. Morehouse, 35 missions. S/Sgt.

Wilds had 37 sorties, S/Sgt. Ashton had 42, S/Sgt. Burgess and S/Sgt. Zygiel both had 35.

In the morning the Havocs went to the Bitburg marshalling yard and warehouse 15 miles north of Trier. They struck in direct support of the U.S. ground forces. Major Price led the Group and his flight layed an excellent pattern of bursts on the yards. Lt. Adams and Lt. Hanlon led the 671st flight, but a camera malfunction prevented results from being obtained. Flak started one minute before the I.P. and continued to the target. Eight heavy guns were known to be present and it is believed that the enemy moved in railway guns also. After their experience in France, the Nazis will probably give transportation centers and choke points high defense priority.

The afternoon assault by the A-20s was against the Julich marshalling yards, 10 miles inside the German-Holland border and 25 miles west of Cologne. Object of this Operation was to destroy troops and supplies being shipped through this M/Y for reinforcement of the Seigfried Line. The Julich depot is on an important railway and highway leading from Cologne to the Aachen sector.

Clouds covered the target area when the 416th went over. Flight leaders were instructed to drop their bombs one-minute after passing the target area when targets could not be picked out through the clouds. Therefore results are not know, but damage was believed to have been done.

Intense accurate heavy flak was encountered at the target and between Kerkrade and Eschweiler. The flak at the target probably came from Railway guns placed in the Marshalling yard. The flak enroute was possibly from mobile guns as there are two Panzer Divisions located near the area.

"671tst Bombardment Squadron (L) History"
Transcribed from USAF Archives

One of the most disasterous events in its history befell the squadron on 29 September 1944. While attacking a target near Julich, Germany that afternoon an intense heavy flak barrage accounted for three of our aircraft. Lt. DeMand's ship, leading the third flight of the second box received a direct hit in the gas tank and exploded in mid-air. As a result of the same barrage the ships flown by Lt. York and Lt. Morehouse were seen going down in the target area. Other men missing were Lt. A.C. Burns (N-B), S Sgt. R. J. Troyer, S Sgt. C. W. Middleton, S Sgt. H. J. Wilds, S Sgt. L.A. Ashton, S Sgt. A. J. Burgess and S Sgt. L. A. Zygiel.

[September 29, 1944], HQ Twelfth Army Group situation map Map showing Western Allies and Axis troop position details in Western Europe as of approximately 1200 hours, September 29, 1944 World War II Military Situation Maps Collection Library of Congress

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