398th Bomb Group
Memorial
Association


S/Sgt. James Lafayette Holloway's Diary
Tail Gunner 601st Squadron


The Womeldurf Crew

After a little over 50 years I had lost contact with all my old crew. One day I went to my computer and started to search. I found that three of them was dead, Lynn W. Barnes, nose gunner; Clarence W. Bridges, Engineer and top turret gunner; Glen S. Gagon, navigator. The rest of the crew I contacted and as of now am in contact with all except the Pilot who I haven’t heard from in almost a year.

Following is a list of my crew members as I have it, with their serial numbers, rank and position flown.

Wolmendurf Crew
Name
Position
Serial #
MOS
First Lt. James Womeldurf
Pilot
0799911
1091
Lt. Robert R. Taylor
Co-Pilot
T62943
1051
Captain Glen S. Gagon Navigator
0666648
1036
T/Sgt. Clarence W. Bridges Engineer / Top Turret Gunner
39044537
748
T/Sgt. Ronald F. Moon Sr. Radio man / Gunner
32746965
757
T/Sgt. Edward Kilgore Radio man (replacement) Gunner
13096789
757
S/Sgt. Lynn W. Barnes Nose Gunner
14202995
612
S/Sgt. Donald J. Burritt Ball Turret Gunner
16108074
611
S/Sgt Marvin J. Wood Waist Gunner
39923232
611
S/Sgt. James L. Holloway
Tail Gunner
39923016
611

We had different men fly co-pilot and navigator during our tour and a 2nd Lt. William S. Hartsell Jr., ser: # 0783763, MOS 1051 flew co-pilot on our trip home from England. The airplane we flew home in was a B-17G, ser:# 44-8031 which we left at Bradley Field.

James Lafayette Holloway
January 2003


Notes:
  • S/Sgt. James Lafayette Holloway was the tail gunner on James Womeldurf's 601st Squadron crew.
  • The above transcription was provided by James Lafayette Holloway.
  • This transcription is a careful reproduction of the original except for occasional spelling and punctuation changes. In some circumstances, based on relevancy, some material may not have been transcribed.
  • Clarification of acronyms or special words or guesses of certain words are shown in brackets [ ].

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