B:
Bombardier

1st Lt Eugene F Parrish AC

1st Lt Vernon L Kittleson P

2nd Lt Howard F French N

2nd Lt Fred H Siegel B

TSgt Philip Smoller FE

SSgt Ferdinand A Spacal R

Cpl Arthur A Gora CFC

Cpl Lomax S Wiley ROM

Cpl Otto J Marek LG

Cpl Paul W Mihm RG

Cpl John W Meagher TG

2nd Lt Charles E Hibbard AC [ DURHAM ]

2nd Lt Roy Rowland, Jr P [ UBER ]

1st Lt Donald G Lee OBS [ DURHAM ]

2nd Lt Franklin A Schaller FE [DURHAM]

2nd Lt Robert L Vilberg B [ UBER ]

2nd Lt Howard P French N [ PARRISH ]

SSgt Ferdinand A Spacal R

SSgt Lomax S Wiley ROM

Sgt Otto J Marek LG

SSgt Arthur A Gora CFC

Sgt Paul W Mihm RG

Sgt John W Meager TG

The only time that crew members appear in any of the 499th Bomb Group documents
is when the crew arrives on Saipan and when there is either
a ditching or a missing air crew report ( MACR ).

There is no way to determine when the men other than
the Aircraft Commanders were flying on the missions.

The 2nd Lt Charles Hibbard crew was composed of men from three original crews
that arrived on Saipan during November and December 1944 and January 1945.

The above timeline is created from 499th Bomb Group and
878th Bomb Squadron Morning Reports that can be viewed on Page 2.

The Sam Durham crew was the first to arrive on 14 November 1944.

Capt Durham flew five missions from 24 November 1944 through 3 January 1945.
Three of these missions were aborted.

Captain Uber flew two missions on 24 December 1944 and 3 January 1945.

On 17 Jan 1945 both Capt Durham and Capt Uber were transferred
from the 878th Bomb Squadron to XXI Bomber Command on Guam.

Lt Parrish's crew arrived on Saipan 2 January 1945.
His three missions took place during January on the 9th, 14th, and 27th.

Lt Hibbard's first mission as Aircraft Commander took place on
27 January 1945 and his second on 25 February 1945.

There is no documentation concerning who his crew members were until 7 April 1945
when their B-29 was lost on the mission to Target 357 ( Musashino ).

On February 13th Lt Parrish appears in the 878th Bomb Squadron Morning Reprort
as being transferred to the 369th Station Hospital.

Two days later Lt Parrish and Lt Kittleson were transfered to
Trippler General Hospital APO 958, Oahu.

The Morning Report for 2 April 1945 states that Lt Parrish is
relieved assignment Trippler General Hospital and assigned to Med Installation USA.

The 7 April 1945 73rd Bomb Wing Mission report states that V-22 (42-24764 ) was hit by a
phosphorous bomb dropped from above. This took place after the aircraft dropped its bombs.
Bombing altitude was ~15,000 feet

Below is a photo of the Parrish Crew followed by a page from Sgt Meagher's IDPF.
This concise summary was written by Christine Hayden, Investigator.

In there she explains the process of how some of the men were initially identified as a Group
and then individual identification was being considered.

Beneath this is page 139 from the 73rd BW mission report.

Following this are two pages of the MACR from Sgt Meaghers IDPF

The final document is from the 499th Bomb Group Narrative History
that has the names of three crews lost on 7 and 11 April 1945.

In the third page is a report from the POW Network Japan that contains two pages. The information within this report is similar to what appears in documents from the USAAF.

More details concerning the mission are in The Mission section.

1ST LT EUGENE PARRISH CREW

source: Unofficial 499th Bomb Group History
Roy Wall

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SUMMARY BY CHRISTINE M HAYDEN, INVESTIGATOR
23 MARCH 1949

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73rd BOMB WING MISSION #39 REPORT
PAGE 139
NOTE PARAGRAPH 7

source: Jim Bowman
original source: National Archives College Park Maryland

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MISSING AIR CREW REPORT 13625
PAGE 1

source: Sgt John W Meagher IDPF

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MISSING AIR CREW REPORT 13625
PAGE 2

source: Sgt John W Meagher IDPF

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PAGE FROM 499TH BOMB GROUP
NARRATIVE HISTORY
REEL B0666

source: Air Force Historical Research Agency
Maxwell AFB, Alabama

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