https://www.honorstates.org/index.php?do=q&state=AR&county=Sebastian&county=Sebastian&war=World+War+II https://www.fieldsofhonor-database.com/index.php/en/component/search/?searchword=fort%20smith,%20arkansas&searchphrase=all&Itemid=769 https://www.onwar.com/wwii/chronology/194406.html https://1-24thmarines.com/the-battles/saipan/d3/ Jun 18, 1944 http://www.americanairmuseum.com/unit/401 (Liberator 445 Bomber Group) The following is a list of total U.S. casualties that occurred during the Battle of Guam between July 21, 1944 and August 10, 1944. https://www.nps.gov/wapa/learn/historyculture/guam-armed-forces-casualties.htm The battle at Saipan 17 Jun 1944 https://1-24thmarines.com/the-battles/saipan/d2/ the USS Cooper was there. below on Ancestry U.S., Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Unaccounted-for Remains, Group B, 1941-1975 https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/62207/ =================================== Dan C. Jefferies US Marines Cpl. Purple Heart marker - Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S., National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific Guam 9th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division -------------------- Full Name: Charlie W Berry enlisted in Seb Co. lived Okla Army Serial Number: 38147555 Enlistment Place: Ft Sill Oklahoma Enlistment Date: 25 Feb 1944 Army Branch: No branch assignment Branch:Army Race or Ethnicity: White Residence: Sebastian County, Arkansas Enlistment Term: Enlistment for the duration of the War Selectees (Enlisted Men) Level of Education: Grammar school Occupation: Cooks, except private family Marital Status: Divorced, without dependents Birth Date: 1914 Birth Place: Arkansas Hospital Full Name: Berry, Charlie W Race: White, includes Mexican Admission Age: 29 Admission Date: Apr 1944 Admission Type of Injury: Disease Military Service Number: 38147555 Rank: Enlisted Man Branch: Infantry, General or Unspecified Length of Service: 0 Year(s), 1 Month(s) Injured in Line of Duty: In line of duty Medical Diagnosis: Diagnosis: Pneumonia, primary, atypical, etiology unknown Discharge Type: Duty Discharge Date: May 1944 Hospital Full Name: Berry, Charlie W Gender: Male Race: White (includes Mexican) Admission Age: 30 Admission Date: Apr 1945 Admission Type of Injury: Injury Type: Battle casualty; Service Number: 38147555 Rank: Enlisted Man Infantry, General or Unspecified Length of Service: Unknown Medical Diagnosis: Diagnosis: Wound(s), character not stated (includes Wound(s), multiple, Not Elsewhere Classified; Wound(s) unqualified) with no nerve or artery involvement; Location: Thorax, generally; Location: Neck, generally; Causative Agent: Artillery Shell, Fragments, Discharge Date: Apr 1945 Discharge Place: Not in Medical Installation Prior to Death =================================== Carl Coley negro Name: Carl Coley Gender: Male Age: 28 Birth Year: abt 1909 Residence: Fort Smith, Sebastian, Arkansas Spouse's Name: Fannie Rose Flanogon Spouse's Gender: Female Spouse's Age: 27 Spouse's Residence: Fort Smith, Sebastian, Arkansas Marriage Date: 16 Jun 1937 Marriage License Date: 29 May 1937 Marriage County: Crawford 1940 Name: Carl Coley Age: 28 Estimated Birth Year: abt 1912 Gender: Male Race: White [Negro (Black)] Birthplace: Arkansas Marital Status: Married Relation to Head of House: Lodger Home in 1940: Fort Smith, Sebastian, Arkansas Full Name: Carl Coley Army Serial Number: 38176589 Enlistment Place: Cp Josepth T Robinson Little Rock Date: 27 May 1942 Army Branch: Branch Immaterial - Warrant Officers, USA Branch: Army Race or Ethnicity: Negro Residence: Sebastian County, Arkansas Enlistment Term: Enlistment for the duration of the War w Source of Army Personnel: Civil Life Army Component: Selectees (Enlisted Men) Level of Education: Grammar school Occupation: Skilled meat cutters, except in slaughtering and packing houses Marital Status: Married Birth Date: 1909 Birth Place: Oklahoma Private Branch US Army Cause DNB - Died Non-battle ------------------------------------------------ *********************** ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Inscription CPL 744 BOMB SQ 456 BOMB GP(H) ARKANSAS ------------------------------------------------- Army Ground Forces Unit: 160th Inf Regt A/S Infantry Company: Co. L =============================== Name: Eloyd H Davis Junior Muskogee, Okla Birth Date: 10 Aug 1925 Death Date: 18 Mar 1945 Origin State: Arkansas Cemetery: Fort Smith National Cemetery ======================================= …Lester…Paul M maybe ============================================================================== Army Air Corps survivors & casualities ---------------------------------------------------- Martin, Robert (Fort Smith) Robert Martin Too many with that name. the plane may have been shot down but Robt wasn't on it. Crew of Little Joe Front Row from left to right LT R.E. Hulling - Bombardier St Lewis Lt. Herb Learson- Navigator - Connecticut Lt. D.W.Dreger- Co-Pilot -Cleveland Ohio Lt. M. P. Yanney - Pilot - Illinois Back Row Left -Right O Orstead - Engineer - Wisconsin C Haiasy - Nose Turret - Michigan G.H. Johnson - Radio Operator - Brooklin NY A.J. Mills - Martini Turret & Assistant Engineer - New Jersey Robert Rose Martin - Ball Turret & Armorer - Fort Smith Arkansas A Lewis - Tail Turret - Wisconsin The photo of my uncle Robert Martin in front of Little Joe was taken in Topeka Kansas and says it was later shot down June 24 1948 - May 12 1949 • Germany Berlin Airlift Korean War? ========================================= FAG really VB just went to flight school at Jr College in Fs Lieut Lawrence Whittaker BIRTH 3 Nov 1922 DEATH 2 Jul 1944 (aged 21) BURIAL Forest Park Cemetery Whittaker, Lawrence he attended FSHS 1939 lived in VB also Whittaker, Lawrence D., 2nd LT, 744th Bomb Squadron, 456th Bomb Group, downed 7/2/44 near Kapolnasnyek, Hungary, excellent details on the search for remains, translated records, details on mission but no MACR, confusion over receipts of two DFC’s (Fort Smith, AR) name: Lieut Lawrence Whittaker Van Buren - attended FSJC after HS On phone book FS 1938. Birth Date: 3 Nov 1922 Death Date: 2 Jul 1944 Death Place:Arkansas Cemetery: Forest Park Cemetery Fort Smith, Sebastian County, Ar Father: Louis A. Whittaker Mother: Amy Morris she was from FS ------ Bill’s blog archive: Daily Posts Six B-24s From Baker Box Downed
The men – the boys, really – were right from Central Casting. An All-American crew. Ready and able for the mission of July 2, 1944. The pilot was 2nd LT Laurence Whittaker, of Little Rock, Arkansas. His fellow officers were Flight Officer Ernest C. Phillips, copilot, from Chester, Pennsylvania. The navigator was 2nd Lieutenant John F. Wark, of Dorchester, Massachusetts, and the bombardier was 2nd LT Russell M. Sharples, of Thorton, Ohio. Only LT Sharples was married.

There were six gunners: Staff Sergeant Hugo O. Perttola, of Detroit; Staff Sergeant James A. Riley, of New Rochelle, NY; Technical Sergeant Gordon O. Nyen, of Atlanta; Sergeant Warren C. Klein, of Queens; SGT Carl F. Sutter, of Rochester, New York; and Sergeant Archie L. Hyslop, like SSGT Perttola, also from Detroit. Sergeants Perttola, Klein and Sutter were all married.

One member of the crew was not aboard their B-24 as it warmed up on the runway at Stornara, Italy. He was 2nd LT Paul Edlund. LT Edlund had been badly wounded on a previous mission and was fighting for his life in the base hospital. The flight crew’s target on this day was the Shell Oil Refinery at Budapest, Hungary. It had been attacked before, and the German Luftwaffe was ready.

By the end of the day, 20 US Army Air Corps aircraft were destroyed. From LT Whittaker’s unit, the 456th Bomb Group alone, six B-24’s were downed. That evening, 1st LT Marvin E. White, the Squadron Intelligence Officer, tried to make sense of the huge loss suffered on the raid. His report read:

“On July 2, 1944, six of our B-24 bombers from Baker Box were seen shot down in the target area…Reporting crews were unable to distinguish between these aircraft as to number, and as result a definitive report cannot be made on each individual ship. It was reported, however, that two aircraft were seen to disintegrate in mid-air, two seen going down with engines on fire, one with wing broken off and one with tail shot off.” Two years later, the only two survivors of the Whittaker crew were asked by the Air Corps to provide a report regarding their slain crew mates. The two, 2nd LT Wark, and Staff Sergeant Riley, provided brief, poignant testimony. Of LT Sharples, one testified, “I cannot understand why he was not saved as I think he got out of the plane all right.”

Of LT Whittaker, on his 26th mission, the report said that he “did not have a chance to get his chute on” and that he was later seen dead on the ground, pulled from the wreckage of the bomber.

For SGT Hyslop, the facts provided were perhaps the most grim. No one knows how he died, but one speculated that he “may have blown out of the ship.” His remains were found on the ground, decapitated.

LT Edlund, the crew member fighting for his life at the base hospital, survived, and after the War, became the Mayor of his hometown, Garrett Park, Maryland. ---------------------------------------------- Williams, Robert (Fort Smith) too many to chose from ---------------------------------------------------- Robert Ray Williams is in Lavaca too many to choose from ------------------------------------------------