Today is the 70th anniversary of the loss of the Lt. Anthony B-24 crew. We have spent a lot of time over the years searching for this missing B-24 due to the fact that it was shot down directly over the island and two crew members were captured standing on the reef. One of the captured men, Sgt. Gilbert, had been shot down over Yap and rescued just a few weeks prior while on another mission. The two POW’s were either executed on Palau or lost when an American sub sunk the Japanese ship they were on while being transferred. In 2006 Lt. Anthony’s son and three grandson’s joined us on Yap to search for the plane. They left a marble marker on the harbor floor listing the names of the eleven crew members. Here’s more information about the loss: 1. Don A. Anthony 2. Robert D. Baker 3. William C. Galton 4. James H. Cuddy 5. Donld E. Carlson 6. Ernest R. Mayo 7. Richard J. OBrien 8. Norman C. Echols 9. Henry J. Hartman 10. Reynold B. Mooney (Captured) 11. Hilary Gilbert Jr. (Captured) Lt. Don Anthony (371st) and crew failed to return from Yap on August 10th. the plane was last seen entering a front thirty minutes before reaching target. Lt. Anthony, contacted the squadron leader, but the message was a garbled. A gunner from another squadron reported hearing the following message: Am going down in flames over the target. Radio Tokyo reported on August 11th, The Japanese garrison on Yap Island shot down one enemy plane from an enemy formation of nineteen heavy bombers which raided the island yesterday. All searches for the missing crew and plane were negative. It is presumed that Lt. Anthony either dropped below the overcast and was hit by A/A fire or was jumped by the few remaining Japanese fighters while alone. Sgt. Hilary Gilbert was rescued on 17 July 1944 after going down with the Kizer crew on a mission to Yap. He was shot down a second time less than a month later with the Anthony crew on 10 August 1944. He was captured by the Japanese near the mouth of the Yap harbor with Sgt. Reyond B. Mooney after bailing out of the Anthony B-24. On 11 August 1944 the two captured flyers left Yap on board the Special Sub chaser #27 under the command of Ensign Miyake Hito. On August 13 they reached Palau. On August 19 the POWs were put on the Japanese cruiser Kinu at Palau to be transferred to Manila by way of Cebu. The Kinu was likely sunk by American subs as it approached Manila. Yap Island Mission Loss—10 August 1944 missingaircrew/yap/mac/10aug1944.asp Respectfully, -Pat
Posted on: Sun, 10 Aug 2014 14:11:51 +0000
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