36th BS

McDonald Crew

First Carpetbagger crew lost in combat

Monument: Hem-Hardinval (Somme), France

801st/492nd Honor Roll Listing

MACR 3436

Picture Details: Picture possibly taken in the UK but more probably in the fall of 1943 somewhere in the states.  The crew first appears on Special Orders from  Alconbury dated 16 Dec '43, on orders from the 2nd CCRC.  Grant and Jennings were dropped from the crew sometime in December of 1943. Most of the crew did not fly their first combat mission until early February of 1944.  Though the survivors escaped capture for several weeks, by early May of 1944 only Kelly had made it to the Pyrenees and freedom, all others were captured, some of the captured being sold out by collaborators.

Back Row, L-R:
Norman Gellerman     - Engineer       (KIA)
Thomas Kendall       - Navigator      (POW)
Donald R. Gemmel     - Bombardier     
Frederick Kelly      - Copilot        (EVR)
James R. Grant       - Gunner         (Orphaned)
Charles E. Jennings  - Gunner         (Orphaned)
Warren Ross          - Radio Operator (POW)
Edward DeCoste       - Tail Gunner    (POW)

In the Jeep, L-R:
Frank McDonald - Pilot                (POW)
LeRoy Goswick - Dispatcher            (POW)

Inset: Edward Shevlin, picture a cutout from the Merrill crew picture.  

Status: Augmentation Crew, arriving at Alconbury in mid-December 1943. 
  
Combat Period: Jan-Mar 1944 (5 missions)

Crew Info: Shevlin came to the UK as Bombardier to Merrill in the fall of 1943. Gemmel came down with an illness and reported sick the night the crew was shot down, his substitute was Shevlin.  McKee, McDonald and Choper had all trained together at Casper, Wyoming before going overseas.  At Alconbury they had also bunked together. 

Incident Aircraft: B24D 42-63792

An ex-479th ASW plane, it was received from BAD on 5 Jan 1944.  Shot down by flak on the night of 2/3 March 1944.

Aircraft Details Credits: Tom Brittan

Picture Credits: Don Fairbanks

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