Francis W O'Reilly
Military ROLL OF HONOURIWM, Roger Freeman Collection
Francis W O'Reilly served as a waist gunner with the 303rd Bomb Group.
Photo caption of FRE 4190: '"England is swell, but I'd rather have Brooklyn," is the message Private Francis W O'Reilly sends to his parents at 472 Baltic Street, Brooklyn, N.Y. as he buckles on a parachute harness at an American Army Air Force station somewhere in England. Francis is 23 years old, was educated at St. Francis Prep School, and worked with Robbins Dry Dock before joining the army.'
O'Reilly was shot down on 14 May 1943 in B-17 #42-5243 'FDR's Potato Peeler Kids'. The aircraft crashed into North Sea near Kiel, Germany, and O'Reilly was Killed in Action (KIA). His body later washed up on 10 August 1943 and was eventually repatriated. Francis O'Reilly is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in New York.
Connections
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Units served with
- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
- Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
People
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 303rd Bomb Group 359th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: O-662289 and 18054662 on enlisting
- Highest Rank: First Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Bombardier
Aircraft
- Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
- Nicknames: FDR's Potato Peeler Kids
- Unit: 303rd Bomb Group 359th Bomb Squadron
Places
- Site type: Airfield
Events
Event | Location | Date | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Enlisted |
Yaphank, NY, USA | 2 February 1942 | At Camp Upton |
Other Killed in Action (KIA) |
North Sea | 14 May 1943 | |
Born |
New York, NY, USA | ||
Buried |
Brooklyn, New York, USA | Holy Cross Cemetery |
Revisions
Added a "-" to the A/C serial number in the "Summary biography" to aid clarity.
Added a Burial event info per Find-a-grave Memorial ID 156453172.
Brought in information from duplicate record. Source:
MACR 15593 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database
See also:
NARA Enlistment record: https://aad.archives.gov/aad/record-detail.jsp?dt=893&mtch=1&cat=all&tf…
Findagrave record: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=o'reilly&GSfn=fra…;
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 15593, Losses of the 8th & 9th AFs Vol. I p. 118 by Bishop & Hey, 303rd BG web site,
href="http://303rdbg.com/rost-nopq.html#N">http://303rdbg.com/rost-nopq.html#N>