499TH BOMB GROUP (VH), 878TH BOMB SQUADRON

AIRCRAFT COMMANDER

AIRCRAFT SERIAL NUMBER

CAPT WILL F LATIMER, JR

42-24644

Tribute to Sgt Welsh
created by Scott Muselin

499th Bomb Group Virtual Cemetery

Unless otherwise noted, the source of the documents in these pages is :

Sgt John William Welsh's
Individual Deceased Personnel File ( IDPF )

source: National Archives, St Louis
Roy Wall



The assistance of the following is appreciated:

Ed Lawson
Scott Muselin
Jim Bowman
Michael Krehl

National Archives, Maryland and St Louis

Click to reach

Sgt John William Welsh was born on 7 June 1925 in Saginaw, Michigan,
and lived there until his enlistment in the U.S. Army in August 1943.

He was the 6th of 9 children in the Daniel and Ella Welsh family.
In the 1940 Census their ages ranged from 6 to 28 years old.
His father died in 1936.

Following his enlistment, Sgt Welsh's first two assignments were
Fort Custer, Michigan, and Jefferson Barracks, Missouri.

After completing basic training he was transferred to
the Gunnery School at Kingman AAF, Arizona.

A list of his stations from September 1943 through November 1944
is in

Introduction Part II

Within his Individual Deceased Personnel File ( IDPF )
there is minimal correspondence between his mother, Mrs Ella Welsh, and the U.S. Army .

Below is a handwritten letter dated February 8, 1948 followed by the Army's reply.

Corporal ( Cpl ) Welsh arrived at Smoky Hills Army Air Field ( SHAAF ), Salina, Kansas,
in April 1944 and was assigned to the 878th Bomb Squadron, 499th Bomb Group.

At this time the 58th Bomb Wing was departing from its bases in Kansas and
heading East to its bases in India and China.

It would be sometime in May before this transfer was complete.

Corporal John W Welsh was assigned to the Capt Will Latimer Crew
at an unknown date and his position was Right Gunner.

In the
Latimer Crew Section

are a few details of what took place between May and October 1944.

All the crew except Cpl Welsh flew to Saipan in their own B-29 ( 42-24644 ) as part of the Flight Echelon.
They arrived around 14 November 1944.

The Ground Crew Chief was assigned to the crew while it was flying to Saipan.

As a result, Cpl Welsh traveled to Saipan with the Air Echelon.
This began with travelling by rail to Hamilton Field, Novato, California.
The date of his arrivial at Saipan is not known.

Shortly after he arrived on Saipan, Cpl Welsh was promoted to Sergeant on 2 December 1944

The B-29 flown by Capt Will Latimer was lost on 73rd Bomb Wing Mission 42
the night of 13-14 April 1945.

A few details of what took place with the Crew can be found in the

Latimer Crew
and
73rd Bomb Wing Mission 42
sections.

There is duplication of information within

Recovery
and
Identification

Sgt Welsh's remains were recovered in February 1946.

It was not until March 1949 that his identification was formally accepted by the US Army.

Following his identification, his return home began.

These details are in
Coming Home

Within

Case History 111

section are a few of the many documents in this large file connected
with the Yokohama Trials that took place during 1948-1949.

Considerably more pages of of this file are in

CH 111

at Remembering THE 55 .

The complete Yokohoma Trial T078 file contains 2-3000 documents.

In the
Yokohama T078

section

are 4 of the 92 pages from the Review of the Staff Judge Advocate.

LETTER WRITTEN BY MRS ELLA WELSH
FEB 11, 1948
TO
THE US ARMY
PAGE 1

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LETTER WRITTEN BY MRS ELLA WELSH
FEB 11, 1948
TO
THE US ARMY
PAGE 2

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REPLY TO MRS WELSH'S LETTER
WRITTEN BY
MAJOR RICHARD B COOMBS, MEMORIAL DIVISION
1 MARCH 1948

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