JoJo
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Sgt. Jesse A McCue. Jr., 301st, 32nd Sq.
Hello, all - I was married to Jesse McCue's son many years ago. I am researching that side of the family, and discovered his story details. He had told me decades ago that he had been a POW in Germany, and weighed 80lbs when rescued; but never said much more than that. Some of his info: Sgt. Jesse A McCue was assigned to the 15th Command, 301st BG(H), 32nd Squadron. (I believe he was in the 8th previously.) Military Occupational Specialty (MOS): Ball Turret. B17G-10-VE, Serial #42-39982 Enlisted 1941 in Chicago, IL, from Kankakee, IL. Shot down near Spittal, Germany in the *February 25, 1944 bombing run from Foggia Main to Regensburg, on his 22nd mission. The 301st website has the MACR report here: http://www.301bg.com/MacrDetails.cfm?MID=43 The full crew was: John Walker Pilot Anthony Barile Co-pilot John Sant Amour Navigator Charles Anderman Bombardier Robert Oyer Engineer/Gunner Thomas Wages Radio Operator Jack Snoddy Waist Gunner Jesse McCue Ball Turret Willard Kendall Tail Gunner All survived the plane explosion caused by enemy aircraft fire and bailed out, but one died following the bailout; I believe it was Kendall, the tail gunner, if I recall correctly. Jesse was a POW until liberation, and his POW record lists the following camps: Stalag Luft 4 Gross-Tychow (formerly Heydekrug) Pomerania, Prussia (moved to Wobbelin Bei Ludwigslust) (To Usedom Bei Savenmunde) 54-16. What research I could do on his POW experience leads me to believe he was in the Black March, indicated by the numbers 54-16. Jesse survived the war and returned home to Illinois, where he married and had 10 kids (including a set of twins!), and was a machinist. He was a great guy with a sense of humor, and much loved. He passed away January 2, 2004. I haven't been able to locate anything specifically about the plane previous to the crash; no name, photos, etc, but maybe one day something will turn up. Jesse A. McCue, Jr photo: http://twitpic.com/aj96c4/full (Photo disappears when I use the 'insert photo' feature.) * Between February 20–25, 1944, as part of the European strategic bombing campaign, the United States Strategic Air Forces (USSTAF) launched Operation Argument, a series of missions against the Third Reich that became known as Big Week. During Big Week the Eighth Air Force lost 97 B-17s, 40 B-24s, and another 20 scrapped due to damage. The Fifteenth Air Force lost 90 aircraft and American fighter losses stood at 28.
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JoJo
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Re:Sgt. Jesse A McCue. Jr., 301st, 32nd Sq.
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New info:
I have been, with the help of the wonderful 301st website, in touch with Richard Pieter of Austria. He had located this B17 #42-39982 in 1999. Rather than crashing near Spitall, Germany, it was located about 1400 meters up on a hill not terribly far from Seetal, Austria. So this is another case where the MACR was in error on location; but I suppose that's understandable given the circumstances and having to rely on accounts from witnesses who were busy fighting.
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Lowell Thompson
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Re:Sgt. Jesse A McCue. Jr., 301st, 32nd Sq.
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There is a photo out there somewhere because this is information I copied from eBay "B-17 photo" (keywords I use) for sale listing on February 14, 2009: http://cgi.ebay.com/R117-...VWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem R117, PHOTO OF B17 BOMBERS, ETO, TAIL NUMBER 239982 "A" Item number: 280114100127.
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JoJo
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Re:Sgt. Jesse A McCue. Jr., 301st, 32nd Sq.
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Oh, that's pretty amazing. Thank you, Lowell. I will keep my eye out then, and if anyone finds one, please let me know. I thought I was a pretty good researcher, but I never thought of checking Ebay. >.< Does anyone know what the 32nd's tails would have had on them? Wiki says the 301st, prior to April '44, had a square on their tail. Was this red? Also, did they have squadron markings? B-17 markings The B-17's of the 5th Bomb Wing used a simple symbol system on their tail fins, adopted in the fall of 1943 before becoming part of the Fifteenth Air Force (triangle for 97th BG, square 301st BG, diamond 99th BG, and circle 2nd BG). When two additional groups joined the wing in April 1944, the wing then identified its groups by a letter Y on the uppermost area of the tail fin, superimposed on the symbol previously used (in a manner similar to the system used by the Eighth) with the new 463rd BG using a cone-shaped device and the 483rd BG a five-pointed star that was displayed below the Y instead of underlying it.
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Lowell Thompson
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Re:Sgt. Jesse A McCue. Jr., 301st, 32nd Sq.
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I have read many sources that say that the 301st Bomb Group B-17 tail markings after the Square-Y was adapted followed a simple rule of thumb namely: The 32nd BS had a circled-1 below the tail number, the 352nd BS had a circle-2, the 353rd BS had circle-3, and the 419th BS had the circle-4. Sounds good, BUT repeated photo evidence doesn't seem to bear it out. I'd say about 90% of the period photos I've seen of square-Y marked 301st B-17s in the olive drab (pre-dating the natural aluminum B-17s which didn't maybe show up till late March 1944 in the 301st) had the circled number below the tail number, and all but one of those photos (I've ever seen) showed a 4. I have seen one circled 3 in a photo but I think that photo was re-touched for security reasons maybe at the time as the tail number was not for any 301st BG B-17 I know of.
Perhaps there was a policy with the circle-1, 2,3, and 4's that followed this rule for only a very brief time.
On the dorsal fin was a capital letter A, B, C, or D. The "A" seems to only appear on 32nd BS birds, the "B" appears on just the 352nd B-17s, the "C" is on the 353rd BS Fortresses, and finally the "D" shows up on the 419th B-17s only.
The 301st BG tail markings certainly when through some changes over the months between June 1943 and going into 1945. I only wish the surviving photos of the tails and nose art had more often been marked with a date taken!
Lowell
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Lowell Thompson
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Re:Sgt. Jesse A McCue. Jr., 301st, 32nd Sq.
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Well, I no sooner make my post above than out of curiosity I do a google search and find this 32nd BS B-17G Amazin MAZIE with a circle-1 on the tail. The artist dates it April 1944: http://www.markstyling.com/mto_b17s4.htm Now I will have to dig deeper or I won't sleep tonight...
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JoJo
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Re:Sgt. Jesse A McCue. Jr., 301st, 32nd Sq.
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I think I found it, from your first post. The photo of B-17 4239982 with the 'A' on it's tail just might be it. Even though the photo sold in 2009, you can still see it online at Worthing's site. http://www.worthpoint.com...eto-tail-number-239982 The plane went down Feb 25, 1944, so it would have had the older markings on the tail. (They added the 'Y' after April '44, I believe, when so many more planes were added to the BG that they had to add identification-ran out of the old numbers). Everything looked right, the pre-Apr '44 color before they went unpainted, etc, but I have to take the sellers word, because I can't make out the tail numbers on the small-ish photo. I know they did not reassign serial numbers for the planes, so...looks very likely! :::looking thru his link::: Lovely! But he doesn't have any B-17 G-10-VE's there, alas; he skips from G-5 to G15's. If anyone is looking for certain planes - wow, there are a ton on Ebay, and many of them, you can read the tail number! Brilliant tip, Lowell.
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