308th Bombardment Group

Sgt. Vern P. Martin posing with helmet and carbine in China during WWII. In China, mostly 1944, at only two postings, Luliang and Chenggong, near Kunming. In service period from November 6, 1942 to January 18, 1946. He was a member of 308th Heavy Bomb Group of the 14th Air force, serving in China during 1943 & 1944 "as a...

1st Lt. Phillips Gardner Huffman was lost on a flight on March 21, 1943, over the Hump on B-24 "The Pregnant Swan," #42-40069, while enroute from Pandaveswar, India to Kunming, China. During the flight there was no radio "advice" sent out from the crew indicating any trouble. The craft simply disappeared on this, their first, flight over the treacherous altitudes...

B-24 Nip Nipper in flight during WWII. (Image courtesy of Angela Keane via Alan Starcher.)

Funeral of 16th CCU cameraman Richard Dille “Dick” Arbogast in Kunming on June 2, 1944. The full crew died when their B-24 crashed into a mountain between Lingling and Kweilin in August of 1944. (It is possible most of the flag-draped boxes shown in the images here are from this same crash.) Sgt. Dick Arbogast, whom Hal Geer called "my...

Sgt Richard Dille “Dick” Arbogast, killed along with the rest of the B-24 crew during crash 28 May 1944, in China. (Photo courtesy of Vindicator I.) See background of crash here. Sgt. Arbogast was 23 years old. His family received a last letter from him dated April 10, 1944. See more of his personal story at USAAF Memoriam.

American flyers and mechs gathered around B-24 'Doodlebug' in a revetment in Sichuan, China, likely in preparation for a mission. Courtesy of https://collections.lib.uwm.edu/digital/collection/agsphoto/id/7805.

We will soon provide here the story of B-24J L.A.B. bomber #42-100040 and crew that disappeared on May 26, 1944. Crew names were: 2nd Lt. Rex D. Arnold - Co-Pilot (OK) 2nd Lt. Seymour Goldsmith - Navigator (NY) S/Sgt. Matthew O. Kelsey - Gunner (CA) T/Sgt. Paul J. Koerner - Gunner (MD) S/Sgt. Anthony S. Kryscio - Radar Operator (PA)...

2nd Lt Harold Filer was lost on return flight after a bombing raid in eastern China on 13 Dec 1944. His B-24 bomber could no longer stay in the air because of flak damage and mechanical problems, and he and the rest of the crew bailed out. All of the rest of the crew eventually returned to duty, but no...