consolidated b-24m liberator (44-50795)

On 12 August the men of the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment headed for the Lipa Airfield after receiving orders to head for Okinawa. They were scheduled to be the first full foreign regiment to step foot on Japan's mainland.

"The Lipa Airfield West had two strips, one of concrete and one that was hard-packed dirt. The concrete strip was 4,140 feet long and the dirt strip measured 4,593 feet in length. At 1700 D-511's 2nd Platoon began loading into B-24 Liberators of the 22nd Bomb Group, 33 Squadron, 5th Air Force ...

"Those still waiting along the airstrip's edges watched several bombers take off, then were shocked when disaster struck. B-24M #44-50795, known as Lady Luck, bounced her right wheel off an embankment and "crashed in a rice paddy." The landing gear was shoved up through the wing and the fuel lines which sparked a fire as she went down hard.

"As fire enveloped the wreckage, the plane's .50 caliber ammunition began to cook off, sending rounds in every direction (all craft were traveling combat loaded). Undeterred, crash survivor 1st Lieutenant Hoadly Ryan, D Company's newly selected CO, carried a wounded comrade to safety then rushed back into the flames, twice, despite attempts by Lady Luck's twenty-year-old pilot Lieutenant Jack Lee Cook of Kansas City, Missouri, and his copilot to restrain him. Hoadly saved several fellow paratroopers and a handful of the aircrew before Lady Luck blew up, nearly in his face, as he ran back for another attempt.

The wounded angel was awarded the Soldier's Medal, but D Company lost nine good men that day, plus one HQ3 man:

1LT Walter E. Kannely
SGT Edward F. Caskin
S/SGT Howard C. Moshier
T-5 Joseph E. Signor
PFC Leonard L. Tillmann
PFC George Zarr
PFC Delbert Hayes
PVT William Woitas
PVT Arthur Justin
PVT Chandler J. Krause (died of wounds the next day)
PVT Kenneth D. Wismer of HQ3 (died of wounds the next day)