My Uncle was a member of the 873rdSquadron and the 498th Bomber Group.All I have been able to find out is he was lost at sea and has his name on a Memorial in Honalulu. Einar Nelson,Sgt.17154726.I dream of having a picture of him and his plane to pass on.Thank you very much.

Google is your friend.  Here's a link on his sister squadron which will give you the flavor of the times
 
http://www.atkinsopht.com/atk/saipan.htm
 
If you Google the "73rd Bombardment Wing" which his group was part of you may get lucky, lots of hits.  And look for a reunion and go.  Lots of old albums turn up at reunions.  Good luck.
 
Ron

Son of Ron Macdonald Flying Sgt. 59th OTU RAF (Hurris & Spits, Dieppe raid), Lt. with 346thFS/350thFG North Africa (P-39s). Shot down at Kasserine. Instructor with the 1053 BFTS Randolph, 2138 BU Craig, 2532BU Randolph, & 2543 BU Waco (AT-6s & B-25s).

Hello, echo3axial ~

I'm in a similar situation regarding a cousin who is also listed on the Tablets of the Missing in Honolulu. Unfortunately, he died before I was born. The people in this forum have been magnificently helpful. I think we landed in the best place possible for the information we're looking for.

I suggest as a first step that if you haven't already done so, go to the American Battle Monuments Commission site. There are several things that they can do for you without charging any money -

1. Provide a B & W photo of the section of the wall where your uncle's name is carved. They sent me my cousin's name affixed to a large lithograh of the entire Honolulu Memorial and a booklet about it. There is no charge for inquiring family or friends.

2. See that you receive your uncle's "Individual Deceased Personnel File (IDPF)". This isn't his entire military file, that must be obtained through the National Archives, but it's a file concerning the circumstances of his death/missing staus. Where the craft was last seen, what's known about the flight, search done, names of the crew (at least in my cousin's), and other useful information.

The man I spoke to was well-trained, empathetic, and helpful. He told me my package would take about 6 months to recieve, but it only took about 2.

Home: http://www.abmc.gov/home.php

WW 2 registry search page:
#1. http://www.wwiimemorial.com/default.asp?page=registry.asp&subpage=search
#2. http://www.abmc.gov/search/wwii.php

Tribute pages:
#1. http://www.wwiimemorial.com/registry/mia/search/pframe.asp?HonoreeID=804038&popcount=3&tcount=5
#2. http://www.wwiimemorial.com/registry/wardept/pframe.asp?HonoreeID=1218903&popcount=2&tcount=5
#3. the second search page above will give a third tribute page for Mr. Nelson

Services available (photo, IDPF) and contact info: http://www.abmc.gov/services/index.php

On to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) -

On the home page towards the top, there's a tan box "Most Requested" - select "Military Service Records" to find out what you need to know. You have Mr. Nelson's service number, so you shouldn't get any flack about them not finding him, like with my father. I haven't sent for my cousin's records yet, so I don't know how it goes when they DO have information.

There are some online databases at the NARA site. Einar Nelson was born in 19X3 in North Dakota, was a carpenter, enlisted Oct 30, 1942, etc. He's there; if you don't get a result, it's because you typed in info before reading HOW they want it entered, like I did! Follow the examples they give you, but honestly, I only used his name. Enter the last name followed by a space, then the given name followed by a space, then he middle initial. However, your Einar Nelson didn't use a middle intial.

Home: http://www.archives.gov/

Access to Archival Databases (AAD): http://aad.archives.gov/aad/

Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File, ca. 1938 - 1946 (Enlistment Records): http://aad.archives.gov/aad/fielded-search.jsp?dt=893&cat=GP23&tf=F&bc=sl

I hope you find enough to give you the closure that you seek. All the best, Julia

Julia,

Outstanding post. I copied and saved it into a separate document for future reference. Thanks.

Reed

You have been very helful Thank you very much.

  B-29, 42-24767 (T square 10) no name,was the third aircraft to carry to T10 tail code. It was lost on January 17th 1945 due to damage to the electrical system and an inability to transfer fuel. There is an extensive account from the last plane that saw them before ditching in the 873rd unit history. I will transcribe it for you and pass it along if you contact me with your e-mail address. 
   There is rather sad photo of the plane with two engines out taken just prior to its ditching. I have it, I will forward you a copy via e-mail. I also belive I have a photo of the aircraft parked on Saipan and possibly one of it in flight in my collection, or at least I can scan the crew picture that is in the unit history for you.
Here is a list of those lost as listed in the unit history:
 
2nd Lt.   William F. Beyhan      Aircraft commander
2nd Lt.   Norman F. Holridge     Pilot
2nd Lt.   Charles N. Jones        Navigator
2nd Lt.   Charles E. Parlette     Bombardier
1st Lt.    Charely A. Bride        Flight Engineer
Sgt.       Thomas A. Waldron   Radio Operator
Sgt.       Einar Nelson             Radar Operator
S/Sgt.    Frank E. Murphy       Central Fire Control
S/Sgt.    Roy J. Crawford        Left Gunner
S/Sgt.    Stewart B. Johnson   Right Gunner
S/Sgt     Stanley J. Woch        Tail Gunnner (survived loss of T8 on Nov 8, 44)   

Best regards
Chris

"But my mom told me I was smart and cute....... she wouldn't have lied to me..........would she?"

The following in an exact transcript from the 873^rd BS history published in December 1945.
 
(On January 27, 1945, Target #357, Nakajima Musashima Aircraft Plant, just west of Tokyo)
 
Fifteen minutes after the formation of B-29’s left the mainland of Japan, Lt. Beyhan’s pane, T-10, was observed to be in trouble. Lt. John W. Rawlings, Jr. pilot of a plane in another squadron, was an eye witness to the subsequent ditching of T-10 and related the following story at interrogations.
 
“I was about fifteen minutes flying time of the coast of Japan when my tail gunner saw an aircraft with number one and two engines out and in trouble. I turned around, got behind him and started to fly on his tail. The aircraft as T-10, Lt Beyhan aircraft commander. HE radioed that his electrical system was cut and he could not transfer fuel. He started do descend at about 300 feet a minute doing 165 miles per hour on a heading of 175 degrees. I was flying directly behind him but ran into bad weather so that I had to use radar to continue following him. At about 17:55 o’clock (Saipan time) about an hour after we ran into bad weather, we broke out of it at about 3,000 feet. It was beginning to get dark so Lt. Beyhan started to let down a little faster, about 500 feet a minute. Realizing he could not make it back, he decided to ditch while there was a little daylight left. He asked for wind direction (360 degrees-20 knots) and decided to ditch into the wind. He asked if we had a good fix on his position and told him we did. At the time I could not contact super dumbo. At about 18:05 o’clock, he said he was going to ditch and went on down. I was about 800 feet above the water, and although the sea was rough, Lt. Beyhan appeared to effect a good ditching. The airplane broke in two right after impact, and the tail end sank almost immediately. Except for the right wing tip, which was broken off, the forward part of the fuselage and wings appeared to be all right. As I passed over the wreckage, both large life rafts popped open. I made a 360 degree turn, and coming around a second time saw two men in a large life raft, and three men in individual life rafts. On this run I threw out an extra life raft. I came around a third time and threw out a smoke grenade.  On my fourth and final run over the wreckage, I threw out extra emergency equipment. At this time it was almost dark, and I could only make out the survivors by a light that they flashed. I left the scene of the ditching at about 18:20 o’clock but worked back so that I could get a better fix, and then headed for home.”
 
Despite days of searching by air sea rescue units as well as planes of the 873^rd, no trace was ever found of the missing men.