Paul J. Koerner, born around 1917, was son of Mrs. Gertrude Gibbons who resided in Hagerstown, Maryland. He had his tonsils and adenoids removed at Washington County Hospital in June 1938, at around age 21.
Paul J. Koerner enlisted in the Army Air Corps on October 10, 1940, prior to the start of war, in Baltimore, Maryland. At the time of his enlistment, he had graduated from a local catholic high school, and is recorded as being employed as a Office Clerk and also as Single, without dependents. He had been working at Ingrams Clothing Store in Hagerstown.
After training he headed to the China-Burma-India (CBI) theater of war. On his trip to the CBI, on May 9, 1942, he sent a telegram home from Karachi, India, saying he had received "cable letters" from his family, and had offered "mass communion" for all other them. By June 1942 he was doing duty under General Chennault, one of the early group of Americans to serve in China during the Second World War.
While in China he had times over very low morale. On July 31st, 1943, his mother wrote to Chennault in concern for her son's health and emotional status. (At that time he was part of 16th Fighter Squadron).
As recorded in his diary, although T/Sgt. Koerner had flown many missions over the Hump for supplies, etc., even at April 1944, he had still not had a combat mission. He had been shuffled from plane to plane and crew to crew (as had Sayer)--and had been feeling grumpy about that, noting how it damaged moral of those who didn't have a fixed placement--until he finally asked for a transfer to the 374th Bombardment Squadron around April 15. '"Doubt it will go thru. B-24's - would like to make it." On April 28th, he was thrilled to hear that his transfer would happen, although he still has to wait for his specific placement. On April 30, 1944, he wonders when his first combat mission will be. For a time he tags along temporarily with another B-24 crew, training and acting as tail gunner on trips over the Hump:"Like it very much," he notes on May 3. Then on May 11 he pulls his first combat mission. In his last diary entry, May 22, with a sense of satisfaction, he notes that on May 19th he had finally been placed on a specific crew, "put on a reg. combat crew." "My ship is a 'Sniffer' on Radar, a new one & swell crew. They left States in April 44." He closes with "Hope we have good luck." Sadly he was gone three days later.
In his diary, (on a page marked "M.D.V. 3-13-42"), he had hand copied three poems apparently out of the book The Long Chance (1914), by Peter Bernard Kyne, including this poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (the underlining is in his handwritten original):
The Little Cares
The little cares that fretted me,
I lost them yesterday
Among the fields above the sea,
Among the winds at play;
Among the lowing of the herds,
The rustling of the trees,
Among the singing of the birds,
The humming of the bees.
The foolish fears of what may happen--
I cast them all away
Among the clover-scented grass,
Among the new-mown hay;
Among the husking of the corn
Where drowsy poppies nod,
Where ill thoughts die and good are born,
Out in the fields with God.
At the time of his plane went missing, he had been away from the US for 28 months (via Australia and India). At that time his brother, Sgt. Bernard L. Koerner, was stationed in the Southwest Pacific, and the brothers had not seen each other for three years.
Much appreciation for information compiled by Russ Pickett, and others.