Robert A McGee, at age eighteen following his completion of boot camp in 1944. Quarter Master 3rd Class Robert A. McGee was a passenger on USAAF C-47B #45-1085 when it crashed on 3/19/46 killing all twenty-six men on board in the High Sierra. ( Photo courtesy Robert L. Robinson )
 

Colonel Leonard Lydon circa 1944 standing in front of his Eighth Air Force Republic P-47D Thunderbolt. Len Lydon survived for nine days in October 1941 following his bail out from Curtiss P-40 39-194 over Kings Canyon National Park on October 24, 1941. He was tragically killed on May 8, 1945 when he landed on a newly captured Luftwaffe base. Col. Lydon borrowed an army jeep drove off the base, and upon his return failed to hear a sentry say ”Halt”. The sentry shot Colonel Leonard C. Lydon dead. We honor his service, sacrifice, and memory. (Photo courtesy the Lydon Family via Marc McDonald)

2nd Lt. Alfred Parker, Jr. USAAF sitting in the cockpit of a Lockheed P-38 similar to the P-38G 42-13342 that he lost his life in on 3/31/44 north of Fillmore, CA.
(Photo courtesy of Hilda Lassalette, 2nd Lt. Parker’s sister, via Marc McDonald)
 

2nd Lt. Alfred Parker, Jr. handsome in his USAAF uniform. He was killed on an operational training mission in which he may have blacked out or lost control of his P-38G on 3/31/44. He crashed in the mountains five miles north of the Ventura County community of Fillmore on 3/31/44. Less than 1% of the wreckage remains today. (Photo courtesy of Hilda Lassalette, via Marc McDonald)

U. S. Navy Aviation Machinist Mate 3rd Class Charles E. Sellers died in the crash of a USN Beechcraft JRB-4 Bu No 76779 on April 19, 1946.  A/MM3c C. E. Sellers was twenty-three years old and married at the time of his death.  The pilot of the ill-fated JRB-4 was Chief Aviation Pilot Rulon J. Skeen who survived the crash with minor injuries.

The accident occurred at 2120 Hrs. during a flight from Mines Field (now LAX) to North Island NAS. The cause was a rough running engine to which the pilot failed to apply carburetor heat. CAP Skeen was attempting to make an emergency landing at Camp Pendleton Field when his aircraft collided with low rolling terrain and bushes just east of what is now Interstate 5. The JRB-4 was damaged beyond repair. (Photo courtesy Mary J. Sellers-Gallagher) Accident report via Naval History & Heritage Command.

USAAF Assistant Radio Operator Private Vern Bassett Smith lost his life aboard B-24D 41-24262 on December 6, 1942 along with five other air crewmen. The accident was caused by an engine malfunction coupled with heavy clouds and icing conditions near the crash site nine miles southeast of Stewarts Point, CA. (Photo courtesy Jacquelyn Morrison)

B-24D Story
Project Remembrance

USAAF Flight Officer Frank J. Pryor and his wife in photo taken one month before his death in the Crash of B-24J on Mt. Harrison in Idaho. F/O Pryor was the navigator aboard 41-100050. (Photo courtesy Craig Fuller via Marc McDonald)