Hi everyone,
 
First time poster.
 
My grandmother's brother was on a B-24 bomber crew and was killed in the war. His name was Joseph Andrescavage, and I've been working on finding out more details about where he served, what he did, how he was killed etc.
 
My grandmother didn't have a lot of info, but what she did have got me started on my search and I eventually found enough to work out that he served with the 9th Bombardment Squadron. The plane was #44-40846 and the pilot was Harleth Falk. The plane crashed August 7 1944 in China, killing all aboard.
 
I've sent for his service records and his Individual Deceased Personnel File and plan to send for the MACR (can anyone tell me the MACR number? aviationarchaeology.com didn't list it and the record doesn't come up in the MACR search here on armyairforces.com). Does anyone know the name of the plane? I would love to see pictures of the plane and crew as well.
 
Any help you guys can provide would be much appreciated.
 
Eric

S/Sgt. J. S. Andrescavage, Service #33621134, temporary burial site at Mausoleum #2, Territory of Hawaii, later moved at request of next of kin to a permanent burial site somewhere in the state of Pennslyvania.
 
Mike 

Eric....here is a contact for the 7th BG...
 
Mr. Thomas 'Tom' Sledge
1301 Bay St N.
Texas City,TX, 77590-6409
Ph..409-045-9735
VFW 08-02
 
Jim :-)

James S. Peters Sr. T/Sgt
B-17 Flt Engr, 27 missions
99 BG, 348BS, 5th Wing, 15th AAF
Tortorella, (Foggia#2), Italy
My Tour was from 12/03/44-06/19/45
M/Sgt USAF (Retired)

Thanks for the info, Mike. Where did it come from? I do know where he was re-buried. In his hometown of Shenandoah PA. I didn't know about the temporary burial though.
 
Thanks for the contact info Jim. I'll get in touch with him and see what he can tell me. 

Hi Eric,
I would take a guess that there may not have been a MACR created, as this is listed as KCR (Killed in CRash).  Because this occured in China (probably not in enemy occupied  territory) a MACR might not have been filed. 
I think contacting the association that Jim provided is a great place to learn more. 
Good Luck!!
-Keith

-Keith Hardie
Nephew of John David Hardie, 447th BG waist gunner.
www.447bg.com

Eric,
 
Here's some information you might find useful; thought I had a lead on a photograph but no joy.
 
Good luck in your search.
 
Andy
 
 
 
http://aad.archives.gov/aad/record-detail.jsp?file_id=3475&data_layout_id=494&coll_id=null&table_id=893&tot_rec=1&pg=1&lmt=0&sort=rowid
 
 
 
Enlistment Record on file at National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
 
 

ARMY SERIAL NUMBER 33621134     

NAME ANDRESCAVAGE, JOSEPH S.   

PLACE OF ENLISTMENT ALLENTOWN PENNSYLVANIA 

DATE OF ENLISTMENT DAY 25     

DATE OF ENLISTMENT MONTH 03     

DATE OF ENLISTMENT YEAR 43     

GRADE: ALPHA DESIGNATION PVT#   Private 

GRADE: CODE Private 

BRANCH: CODE No branch assignment 
 
TERM OF ENLISTMENT Enlistment for the duration of the War or other emergency, plus six months, subject to the discretion of the President or otherwise according to law 

SOURCE OF ARMY PERSONNEL Civil Life 

YEAR OF BIRTH 20     

RACE AND CITIZENSHIP White, citizen 

EDUCATION 4 years of high school 
MARITAL STATUS Single, with dependents 

COMPONENT OF THE ARMY Selectees (Enlisted Men) 

 
http://www.rootsweb.com/~paschuy2/wwIIdead.html
 
SCHUYLKILL COUNTY’S HERO DEAD OF WORLD WAR II
Pottsville Republican

"On this occasion of the anniversary of Armistice Day of World War I, the Republican presents a shocking list of county boys who gave their lives to their country in World War II.

There are 963 of them.It indicates the great part Schuylkill Co. played in the winning of these two wars, across the Atlantic and across the Pacific.

While every effort has been made to make the list complete, there is no thought that it is so.

We undoubtedly have missed many young heroes who gave their lives.We would greatly appreciate such names in order to make this unusual historical record complete.

These boys our Nation honors.These boys their home neighborhoods mourn.Their names are entered on the scrolls of the Nation’s List of Honored Dead.

All America salutes them."

  
 
 
http://www.lithuaniangenealogy.org/databases/pa/lourdes/
Our Lady of Lourdes Cemetery in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania
 
 
Andrescavage, Josesph S.
Date of Birth: 1920
Date of Death: 1944
PlotID#: 7
Inscription/Remarks:
SSgt Air Corps WW II

Not sure if you looked in Accident reports at Av Arch. but it's there.



440807 
 B-24J
 44-40846
9BS 
7BG
 
10 
KCR 
1415 
Falk, Harleth D 
CHI
 
Luliang/ 20mi S

I have this on 44-40846:
During a gasoline hauling operation to China, the plane left Liuchow, China enroute to Luliang, China at 1545 IST.  The plane crashed on a mountain top twenty miles south of Luliang.  Crew all killed.  Crash site at 24-43N - 103-43-15E.

I have all the crewmembers names.  If you would like them, drop me an email.  Unfortunately, I don't have a crew photo of this crew on the 7thBG Web Site.

JimBob
Webmaster
7th Bomb Group (H) Web Site

P.S.  I know Tom Sledge personally and he usually will forward these email requests to me if he doesn't have any info.

Jim Augustus
http://www.7thbg.org
http://www.navylib.com

Thanks for the information Keith, Andy, Glenn and Jim.
 
I did see the info at aviationarchaeology.com, that's why I asked about the MACR. They don't include that with the rest of the info. Because of the location and circumstances, it would make sense that there may not be an MACR, but the Av Arch looks like they're selling a report on the crash. If it's not an MACR, could it be some other kind of report?
 
I've emailed you for the names, Jim. Thanks. From that info it doesn't sound like the plane was shot down. More like it just crashed into a mountain because of mechanical trouble, bad weather, pilot and/or navigation error. Does it seem that way to the rest of you?

Eric,
 I would have to say in the absence of any other information, that the plane crashed for what  may be a number of reasons....fuel, mechanical failure...weather, crew error.....aircraft lost.....we may never know......but doesn't sound like enemy action was involved.
JimBob

Looking at aviationarchaeology again I see that they actually list it under Aircraft Accident Reports rather than Missing Air Crew Reports. I missed the distinction before. So there wouldn't be an MACR.

I went out to my grandmother's yesterday and went through a bunch of here old papers and found some interesting stuff, including a half dozen letters Joe had sent to the family. One he wrote right before he left the US and the rest were from overseas. They don't really have a lot of details in them and are mostly just small talk and how he misses everyone. The last one (written only a few days before he was killed) mentions that he'd flown his 14th mission.