William H O'Leary

Military

Member of Rapp crew 

Combat Missions 30. I remember he told me that before debriefing they were given a large glass of whiskey first if they wanted - two if someone passed. Also as he got closer to the end of his missions it was bad luck to be assigned to his crew because his number was up. 

List of missions 1. 19 Sep 44 Koblenz, Germany 2. 25 Sep 44 Ludwigshafen, Ger 3. 26 Sep 44 Bremen, Germany 4. 3 Oct 44 Nurnberg, Ger 5. 5 Oct 44 Munster, Germany 6. 6 Oct 44 Berlin, Germany 7. 14 Oct 44 Cologne, Germany 8. 15 Oct 44 Cologne, ' 9. 17 Oct 44 Cologne, ' 10. 4 Nov 44 Neukirchen, ' 11. 5 Nov 44 Kaiserslautern, ' 12. 6 Nov 44 Neununter, ' 13. 9 Nov 44 Thionville, ' 14. 10 Nov 44 Wiesbaden, ' 15. 16 Nov 44 Area #2, Duren, ' 16. 6 Dec 44 Merseburg, ' 17. 10 Dec 44 Koblens, ' 18. 11 Dec 44 Giessen, ' 19. 12 Dec 44 Dermstadt, ' 20. 16 Dec 44 Stuttguart, ' 21. 3 Jan 45 Aschaffenburg, ' 22. 5 Jan 45 Tactical, ' 23. 7 Jan 45 Hamm, ' 24. 18 Jan 45 Kaiserslautern, ' 25. 1 Feb 45 Wessel, ' 26. 3 Feb 45 Berlin, ' 27. 6 Feb 45 Chemnitz, ' 28. 14 Feb 45 Chemnitz, ' 29. 15 Feb 45 Rbeine, ' 30. 26 Feb 45 Berlin, Germany 

Air Medal w/Oak Leaf Clusters, Purple Heart, DFC

Connections

See how this entry relates to other items in the archive by exploring the connections below.

Units served with

A diagrammatic layout of AAF Station 174 - the USAAF codename for Sudbury airfield - while the 486th Bomb Group were stationed at the airbase as of the 22 June 1944.
  • Unit Hierarchy: Group
  • Air Force: Eighth Air Force
  • Type Category: Bombardment

Aircraft

Damaged B-17 Flying Fortresses including (serial number 44-6146) of the 401st Bomb Group, and of the 486th Bomb Group. Handwritten caption on reverse: 'IN-R, 401BG.' A veteran has handwritten on reverse: 'Winter of 1944. This plane's bombardier was my best friend in high school. We joined the aviation cadets together in fall of 1942. Plane is from the 486th Bomb Group. It was struck in the rear by another plane in formation and tail gunner fell to his death over Germany. The Germans buried him and sent ph
  • Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
  • Nicknames: Sleepy Time Gal
  • Unit: 486th Bomb Group 833rd Bomb Squadron

Events

Event Location Date Description

Born

24 June 1918

Died

2 August 2001

Buried

Other

Returned (RTD)

10 November 1944

Revisions

Date
Contributorjmoore43
Changes
Sources

Added " / " in the "Role/job" field as a Separator to aid readability.

Added some Punctuation in the "Summary biography" to aid readability.

Date
ContributorAAM
Changes
Sources

Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 10339 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database / WWW.486th.org roster