Lost on 10 May 1944 on mission to Wiener Neustadt, Austria, with Lt. Raymond J. Scranton Crew.

2nd Lt. Raymond J. Scranton - Pilot (KIA)

2nd Lt. Donald R. Ewing - CoPilot (POW)

2nd Lt. William K. Moyer - Navigator (POW)

2nd Lt. Richard M. Schooler - Bombardier (POW)

T/Sgt. William G. Mays - Engineer/Gunner (POW)

T/Sgt. John P. Kempf - Radio Operator (POW)

S/Sgt. Joseph P. O'Donnell - Ball Turret Gunner (POW)

S/Sgt. Carmelo A. Torres - Waist Gunner (POW)

S/Sgt. Horace E. Stewart, Jr. - Waist Gunner (KIA)

S/Sgt. Orville L. Stark - Tail Gunner (POW)

Raymond Scranton Awards

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Target: Wiener Neustadt, Austria

Targets in and around Wiener Neustadt, Austria included the marshalling yards, the Wiener Neustädter Flugzeugwerke (WNF) aircraft factory (effectively an extension of Messerschmitt) and the Raxwerke plants of Wiener Neustädter Lokomotivfabrik (two of which used forced labor from the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp).

The three WNF plants (W.N.F. Fischamend, W.N.F. Klagenfurt, W.N.F. Bad Vöslau) were targets of the Combined Bomber Offensive against the German aircraft industry. WNF manufactured Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters and repaired Junkers bombers and heavy fighters (German: Zerstörer). The Hirtenberger Patronen Zündhütchen und Metallwarenfabrik was an ammunition factory nearby.

815th History

The squadron was activated at Ephrata Army Air Base as the 815th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) on 20 September 1943 as one of the four original squadrons of the 483d Bombardment Group. In November, the squadron moved to MacDill Field, Florida, where it trained with Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses under Third Air Force.

The 815th deployed to the Mediterranean Theater of Operations, where it became part of Fifteenth Air Force at Sterparone Airfield in Southern Italy. The squadron's air element flew its Flying Fortresses to Sterparone via Tortorella Airfield, while the ground element moved to Sterparone via troop ship. It began operations in April 1944 with an attack on a cement factory in Split, Yugoslavia.

The squadron engaged in long-range strategic bombardment of enemy military, industrial and transport targets, including factories, oil refineries, marshalling yards, airfields, and troop concentrations in Italy, France. Southern Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and the Balkans. In June 1944, the squadron participated in a shuttle mission, departing Italy and landing in the Soviet Union, attacking targets en route and on the return flight. This enabled attacks on targets too far from the squadron's base to strike and return home. The squadron received a Distinguished Unit Citation for combat action two months later. On 18 July 1944 the squadron, along with the other elements of the 483d Group, bombed the objective, an airfield and installations at Memmingen, engaging numerous enemy aircraft in the target area despite a lack of cover from its planned fighter escort. It received a second citation for braving fighter assaults and flak to bomb tank factories at Berlin on 24 March 1945.

The squadron was occasionally diverted from the strategic attack on Germany. It struck targets in southern France in preparation for Operation Dragoon, the invasion of August 1944. The group also supported ground forces in northern Italy during the Allied offensive in April 1945.

After V-E Day, the unit moved to Pisa Airfield, where it operated under the control of Air Transport Command's Green Project which was the movement of troops back to the United States. The squadron carried troops from Pisa to a staging area in Morocco. Its B-17s were disarmed with flooring and seats for 25 passengers installed. It carried passengers from Pisa to Port Lyautey Airfield, French Morocco for further movement them across the Atlantic.The squadron was inactivated in Italy in September 1945.

Source: Wikipedia

Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that men have died to win them. Franklin Delano Roosevelt