James A. Weiss (Daddy) became a bombardier for the B-24 airplane and was commissioned as a second lieutenant August 8, 1943 out of Clovis, NM. The rest of his crew was – Jerome O-Toole – P, Royce Turnbow – CP, Walter Popovitch – N, Michael Martz – AAG, William Miller – AEG, Harold Bourgeois – ROG, Charles Strausser – AAEG, William Wheat – AROG, Americo Bonanni – AG. Upon completion of their training the crew left together by train from Biggs, TX bound for Topeka. Before leaving the states Daddy received marksmanship certification for 45 cal pistol. The crew took off from US soil in B-24 s/n 42-109810 on 21Jan44 and the flight (including stops) took 70 hours. Upon arrival in England they were part of squadron 409, 93rd Bomber Group(H), 8th Army Air Force, 2nd Air Division, 20th Bomb Wing. Squadron CO was Col. T. D. Brown.
They flew out of Hardwick, England starting 11Mar44 and completed 30 missions 12Jul44. They were in daylight raids over occupied Europe including Berlin, Munich, etc. They bombed Pas de Calais on D-Day giving them credit for participating in the Normandy Invasion. During these missions Daddy was awarded 3 oak leaf clusters, 1 air medal, and 1 Distinguished Flying Cross. The letters do not describe the specific action or flight which resulted in recognition, it just says “extraordinary achievement …great courage and skill fighting from his gun position has warded off many enemy attacks and has materially aided in the skillful completion of each of these missions…”.
All told the crew accumulated 395 flying hours, 195 in combat, with 13 missions as group or squadron leader.
Andrea (daughter)
In the picture Daddy is back row, 2nd from left. Also on back row I believe Turnbow is 1st, O’Toole is 3rd from left, and Popovitch 4th.
