I am researching my husbands grandfather's tour of duty with the 37th Bomb Squadron and 17th Bomb Group.  I can't pull up any record of him in the aad.archives.gov which I found strange.  I have his army serial number and info but nothing comes up.  His name was Merle P Vancil and was from Illinois.  I believe he said he was the one that sat in the belly of the planes and released the bombs but I have no idea what planes he was assigned to or his actual title.  Any helpful advice would be great.

http://www.geocities.com/bombgroup17/
http://www.google.com/search?q=17th+Bomb+Group

That's about all I can get you for now... If you find more, drop me a line at ryan at doolittleraid.com

Ryan

webmaster
http://www.doolittleraid.com
http:/http://www.lbirds.com

Rebecca, does the Army Serial Number you have look like O-123456? He might have been a Bombardier, and was then an Officer. I checked at NARA as you did and found several persons from Illinois with the surname Vancil, but no Merle. Do you have any other information; that is, names of airfields/bases in North Africa or the Mediterranean, or France (Dijon)?. Any other crew members names from 37th BS? Names of aircraft? I have many photo scans of aircraft and men from 37th BS, so something might show up when searching these. If you have any photo of the tail of a B-26 (or nose art) this will help. On the tail there is a huge tail number (for 37th BS numbers from 25 to 49, they also had one with tail number 875. The AAF serial number will also be on the tail, f.ex. 134929, which had B/N 30. I have checked the original orders for 17th BG and no Vancil in this.

17th BG bases during WWII:

• Telergma, Algeria December 1942 - May 1943
  
• Sedrata, Algeria May 1943 - June 1943
  
• Djedeida, Tunisia June 1943 - November 1943
  
• Villacidro, Sardinia November 1943 - September 1944
  
• Poretta, Corsica September 1944 - November 1944
  
• Dijon, France November 1944 - June 1945
  
• Linz, Austria June 1945 - September 1945

Some links:

• http://www.web-birds.com/12th/17/17.htm
  
• http://www.b26.com/page/17-bomb-group-villacidro-sardinia-italy-1943-1944.htm
  
• http://www.geocities.com/bombgroup17/
  
• Go to SORTIE NEWS; there is an address for 17th BG Reunion Association. The newsletter SORTIE is issued four times a year, and you can post a request there.

Rebecca,

There are numerous reasons why a person is not listed in the data base at the archives.  The data base was constructed from old IBM punch cards and poorly made microfilms.  More than 1 1/2 million names are not included in the data base.  Several million more are 'misfiled' because of scanning errors.  Follow this link for more info.

Hal

ftp://216.54.96.55/aad_docs/rg64_army_serial_faq.pdf


MORE:  At the top of this page is a tab marked "Gallery".  In the gallery select 'Member Photo Albums'  On the first page you will find an album titled 'Lt. P.R. Donahue'.  That album contains numerous photos from the 17th BG, 37th SQ.
 
AND A LITTLE MORE:  Found this on the internet, appears to be a family tree of sorts.  Scroll down about 1/3 of the way to Merle Phillip Vancil.
http://home.insightbb.com/~pyonker/b306.htm

Hal:
That site you have listed "home insite" lists Vancils, kids ( 4 x daughters) & there children..intersting..
 
Note: NARA does not list Naval personel....so if you have someone who served in the Navy/USNC/USCG he/she wont be listed on the enlistment site..
 
Terry T.

Hi Terry,
 
Yes, I agree, it's an interesting site.  Been paging through it for a while to try to find the beginning or some explanation of who put it together but so far no luck.  It's all so inter-linked, someone did a lot of work to put it all together.
 
Hal

Hal and Terry,
    Yes Paul Yonker is a relative of ours through the Montgomery side and I believe his family lives in O'fallon, IL. The vancils are on the site due to my husband's father's marriage to Charlotte Vancil, Merle's daughter.  I didn't even know PAul had a site.  Thanks for the link.  I have a friend in Veteren affairs here in town that can hopefully find his records for me.  Merle had five daughters after he married Mary and I have the letters he wrote to her from Sardinia, Corsica, Dijon, and Linz prior to their marriage.  I was trying to put together a historical account of what he was doing for the family because of course he couldn't mention any of their missions in the letters.  Mary is still alive and is looking for pictures she is pretty sure are around somewhere, it is just finding them.  I know he was a S SGT and was a bombadier or toggler (if there is a difference, not sure.)  I am trying to find info like what plane he was with and a general account of the missions they did from around January 1943 until the end of the war.  Thanks for the feedback.

deefeater,
         There are no letters in front of the serial, but it is written as a return postmark on all the letters I have from him during that timeframe.  As I just posted to Hal and Terry I know that Merle was stationed at Sardinia, corsica, dijon, and linz before the end of the war but I have no airfields or pictures as of yet.  I am trying to get his enlistment information so I can see when he was assigned to the 17th bomb group which from the letters I have should have been late 1941 or early 1942.  In the letters I have from him he doesn't (and can't) mention anything specific.  The only random info I know is he had a dog named trixie I believe in Sardinia. His wife may remember some other people he was with, but I haven't had a chance to ask her as of yet.  I am also hoping she might have some pictures of him with some of the planes.  Thanks for your help.

Rebecca, as Hal mentions in his post there is a 37th BS Gallery here at AAF.com. I have added details about planes etc to some of those. These scans originated from the original collection of 37th BS Pilot Lt. Donahue, and was made by his longtime neighbour. He took the effort to share the photos for the public.  The link to the album is http://forum.armyairforces.com/albumphoto.aspx?albumid=252&asortType=3&apage=1

The information you added of the serial and rank (S/Sgt) shows that he was not an Officer Bombardier. The duties of a togglier were to fly missions in the bombardier's position in the nose of a B-26. When the flight leader with an Officer Bombardier aboard opened his bomb bays, the toggliers in the following aircraft opened their bomb bays. When the lead aircraft dropped his bombs, the toggliers released their bombs simultaneously.
 
As you mention the locations where he was stationed, the following list gives an approximate overview of his period of combat service (the duty in Austria was not combat duty, will add further details later):

Villacidro, Sardinia November 1943 - September 1944

Poretta, Corsica September 1944 - November 1944

Dijon, France November 1944 - June 1945

Linz, Austria June 1945 - September 1945

Have added a shot from Sardinia, showing to 17th BG men and a dog which is being washed. I have no info about the men and the dog, but it looks like they all are companions.

<message edited by deefeater on 06/23/2008 11:47:38 AM >

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Regarding missions for 17th BG the first one was on December 30th 1942.
To get an impression of how activities were for 17th BG from the beginning you can go here an read 1st Lt. Herschel Davis diary: http://www.b-26marauderarchive.org/DA/DA114/DA114.htm

If you go here: http://forum.armyairforces.com/albumphoto.aspx?albumid=7&asortType=1&apage=1
Martin B-26 Marauder gallery I have uploaded four scans showing 17th BG missions from Dec 30th 1942 until January 29th 1944.
 
Added photo shows a scene from the day for 1st mission.

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