Inside the travel bag was a poignant reminder of one soldier’s sacrifice to his country. The folded up program, slightly yellowed from age, and with a crease down its center, came from a tribute of honor ceremony for an airman that went missing in 1944. More than three-quarters of a century later, the airman lives on in memory.
This post is part of an ongoing series called ‘Workplace discoveries’, which documents interesting Second World War related artifacts that I discover at work. My regular job is to manage an estate sale company. Artifacts documented in this series are not necessarily in my possession, and may been saved by the homeowner or sold to another customer. Any item I do buy has first been made available to the general public.
Lost somewhere over the Pacific
In the morning hours of 7 June 1944, six B-24J Liberators of the Army Air Force’s 72nd Bombardment Squadron took off from Los Negros Island, Papua New Guinea. Their mission was to strike the Japanese airfield on Eten Island in the Truk Lagoon. The squadron’s lead aircraft piloted by Lt. James J. Faunce disappeared en-route to the target, lost without a trace. Its ten man crew declared missing in action until 1946.
The flying conditions that day were far from ideal. A large weather front formed along the mission’s route, reducing visibility to nil. Pilots had to rely on their instruments once inside the weather. Many aircraft from various squadrons could not complete the mission, and several stragglers joined the 72nd’s formation to the target. Last to have radio contact with Lt. Faunce was his second element leader at approximately 0920 hours. He saw Faunce fifteen minutes later straight ahead of him at 200ft above. When the formation emerged from the front at about 1000 hours; however, Faunce was nowhere in sight. Radio contact to reach him failed.
A two-day search of its last known coordinates, 03°20’N 150°50’E, found no debris or survivors from the missing aircraft. On 9 June a raft consisting of three barrels was spotted, but no visible occupants were inside.1
Onboard B-24J, serial number 42-110140, when it went missing in action on 7 June 1944:2
Abdo, Edward S ~ Capt, Navigator, MI
Blaskovits, Victor R, Jr ~ S/Sgt, Gunner, NY
Faunce, James J ~ 1st Lt, Pilot, MA
Gendering, Nathan ~ 1st Lt, Co-Pilot, NY
Gilmore, Walter F ~ T/Sgt, Engineer, RI
Linville, Jimmy F ~ S/Sgt, Gunner, WV
Lock, John H, Jr ~ T/Sgt, Radio Operator, NY
Meyerson, Joseph ~ S/Sgt, Gunner, NJ
Sikorski, Francis W ~ S/Sgt, Gunner, NY
Smith, Edwin R, Jr ~ 1st Lt, Bombardier, TX
A postwar ‘tribute of honor’
Serving as the engineer onboard the missing aircraft was T/Sgt. (Technical Sergeant) Walter F. Gilmore of Hoxsie, Rhode Island. A 1940 graduate of Aldrich High School, he played basketball and ran track for all four years. His classmates described him as quiet. He began civil engineering studies at the Rhode Island School of Design but never finished. The war took him away from his native New England and into the Army Air Forces.
Reporting for duty in September 1942, Walter trained as an aerial gunner at Laredo Army Airfield. Following which he completed advanced B-24 crew training in Pueblo, Colorado. Next came the Pacific Theater where he went on to fly over fifty missions, becoming a seasoned combat veteran. He was twenty-three at the time of his disappearance.
Walter and his fellow crewmates were listed as missing in action for the duration of the war. As far as the government was concerned, the airmen could have successfully bailed out from their airplane and be in Japanese captivity. Olympic athlete-turned-aviator Louis Zamperini had been adrift in a life raft for 47 days before being rescued by the Japanese. The war ended and with no physical traces of Walter found, the government declared him officially dead on 9 February 1946. A month after his change-of-status his church held a tribute of honor ceremony for their parishioner.
Amongst Walter’s military awards are the Air Medal, with four oak leaf clusters, and Purple Heart. Both awarded posthumously.
Sources
- Details of the aircraft’s disappearance are found in its missing air crew report, which includes a statement from the last person to have radio contact with Lt. Faunce. Missing air crew report, aircraft serial number 42-110140, uploaded by Fold3, viewed at: https://www.fold3.com/image/28635502 (accessed 22 March 2022).
- The list of names and biographies were compiled by Russ Pickett on Findagrave.com.