RE: George
W. Gleason 442nd & later 444th Bomb Squadron of
the 320th Bomb Group January 1944 - February
1945
When my dad, George W. Gleason, flew
his 6th mission on February 13, 1944, he was a tail
gunner for the 442nd Bomb Squadron of the 320th
Bomb Group. There is an error on the mission report
for that day -- plane #28 is showing up for two
different crews, going out at the same time. I
am desperately trying to find out if anyone on dad's
crew knows what plane dad was actually in. I am
doing a book for dad to surprise him on his 87 birthday,
and I would greatly appreciate it if someone could
help me figure out what plane his crew was REALLY
in when they bombed the Bucine Viaduct that day.
Here
is a link to the Mission Summary and Crew Loading
list indicating two #28 planes: Link
to Mission Summary This
mystery is complicated by the fact that dad's plane
#28 does not have the landing time listed...however,
his mission list gave him credit for 5:45 minutes
flying time for that mission...which would have
made that plane one of the 6 that returned late
(from 1415to 1711, dad's being 1429). At first,
I was disturbed because the mission report said
28 planes (not to be confused with plane number
28) took off, and if I counted dad's duplicated
#28 plane, it would have made 29 planes that took
off, but then I noticed one of the planes I counted
did not have a "take off" or "landed"
time...it just said Corsica.
Here is a document
listing my dad's missions: Link
to Gleason Mission List In dad's book
(written just for our family, not for publication
publicly), I have a photo of the planes he flew
in each mission. I am deeply disappointed that
due to a field error, I cannot identify the plane
for February 13, 1944, so that I can have a plane
photo for that mission. I found a photo identifying
plane #28 as being flown by Pilot Conrad on that
date; however, if they used the 02/13/1944 Mission
Report to identify the plane Conrad was flying as
being #28, then it is not certain that they were
actually in plane #28 either since the Mission Report shows
a duplicate entry for another crew.
My dad's
field mission sheet says he was in plane 28, but,
with the 320thbg.org website having a photo of plane
#28 that says a different crew from his on that
mission, I cannot be certain what is correct. Since
they left out at the same time, obviously both crews cannot
have both flown on plane #28. If anyone is still
alive (or their relatives) and has their mission
sheet, I would deeply appreciate it if they would
email me so I could arrange to get a scanned copy
e-mailed or mailed to me (whatever was convenient).
I would deeply appreciate help. There could be
misspellings of names...the mission reports were
not always clear.
February 13, 1944 442nd
Squadron 320th Bomb Group Target: Bucine,
Italy
CONRAD, Pilot DICKERSON, Co-Pilot FREESTONE,
Bomb. KING, Engineer ORGERON, Radio FURNER,
Gunner
HAMPTON, Pilot GARSOWSKI, Co-Pilot GOLDIN,
Bomb. YULE, Engineer MOORE, Radio GLEASON,
Gunner (my dad)
Please contact me and help
me honor my dad's service by having the correct
information on that mission.
Thank you,
Donna
(Gleason) Guidry Daughter of WW2 Vet, George
W. Gleason 7/30/2011
