Cpl. Elmer Eugene Zobb, a crew chief in the 396th Air Service Squadron, 12th Air Service Group, was lost upon crash of a B-24, #41-23889 (which had been converted to transport configuration), after departure at around noon January 25, 1944, from Barrackpore, India, for a flight to Chabua, India, when the weather closed at Chabua, despite final contact with the unarmed plane via radio at Chabua. Cpl. Zobb was a member of a ground crew and was being transferred from one post to another when the plane went down in bad weather.
Elmer was born July 5, 1921. He worked in the steel industry before entering service in July, 1942. Elmer graduated from the Army Air Forces Technical Training Command School for airplane mechanics, at Gulfport Field, Mississippi, in late 1942 (recorded in local paper on January 8, 1943). Elmer went overseas in November, 1943. He was treated at hospital for an non-battle injury in January, 1944, while overseas. His family was originally told he was missing-in-action "somewhere in India" in February, 1944, just a few weeks after his flight disappeared, but in 1946 his family was informed by the War Department that he was listed as dead. Memorial mass was sung for him on Saturday, March 23, 1946, at the Assumption Church of Bellevue, PA.
A total of 15 members of the 396th Air Service Squadron, 12th Air Service Group, were lost in that crash, as recorded by Elmer Bukey. All told, 22 passengers and crew were lost on the plane.
After the war, Elmer's remains were repatriated on the SS Dalton Victory in early 1949, and a funeral was held for Cpl. Zobb on April 7, 1949, in Washington D. C., at the US Soldiers' and Airmen's Home National Cemetery. He was survived by his parents, three brothers, and a sister, all of the Pittsburgh, PA, area. During the war, one of Elmer's brothers served with the Air Forces in North Africa, and another brother served in the Navy.
