Place/date of enlistment: Jacksonville, Florida – December 26th, 1941
Service number: O-685331 – 391st Bomb Group/575th Bomb Squadron
1st Lt GATLIN was the pilot of the B-26C-45 Marauder, serial nr 42-107671, nickname "Silver Dollar"

Missing Air Crew Report 11661:

The B-26 took off from A-73 (Roye-Amy airfield, France) on December 23rd, 1944 - Target was Ahrweiler, Germany

The only survivor, 1st Lt Adair John J, remembered the next about the mission of December 23rd:
"From Saint-Vith (Belgium) to the target we caught very heavy flak but our plane to my knowledge was not seriously damaged although we did catch some minor hits. We were on a pathfinder mission but our pathfinder aircraft from our box was forced to leave the formation by flak prior to reaching the target. We then proceeded to the target but missed it on our first run. We then made a 180° to begin our second run; all the time we were cathching heavy flak. Our box bombed the target on the second run and after we started back to our I.P. I called Lt Gatlin on the interphone that I was leaving the nose to come back and work the G-box in the navigator's compartment. I Then passed my equipment to Lt Biezis. It was when we made our turn off of the target that I heard the three enlisted men of my crew talking over the interphone. First I turned the G-box on and put my map case on the table, I then reached for the second G-box switch which was above the navigator's table. It was at this moment that our plane was hit by fighters (FW-190's & Me-190's). The resulting explosion of some incenderies in the bomb bay blew the hatch open which hit me in the back and knocked me upon the navigator's table. I than got off the navigator's table and opened the bomb bay hatch (which was hot enough to burn my hands) and I saw the bomb bay was completely on fire. I than removed my flaksuit and snappen on my chute and moved up between the pilot (Lt Gatlin) and co-pilot (Lt Biezis). I removed one of Lt Gatlin's earphones and hollored into his ear that we were on fire. Lt Biezis also heard me and turned around saw the fire which was now int the navigator's compartment. Lt Gatlin started ringing the alarmbell for the crew to jump."

"1st Lt Schiro told me that he had counted six of us bailing out of our aicraft"

"It is my belief the Lt Gatlin fell into the hands of SS troops or Hitler Jungend who shot him. It is also possible for civilians to have done away with him. "

Following the war, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC) conducted investigations on the loss of Gatlin and his crew and successfully located the crash site, near Manderscheid and Bettenfeld. The remains of two crewmen were recovered.

On May 27, 1999, a U.S. team investigating World War II losses in Germany visited a crash site near Bettenfeld. Two German nationals had researched the crash site and showed the team artifacts that were found and turned over remains collected from the site. Those remains were identified as Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. Joe R. Sanchez, 20, of Los Nietos, Calif. He was accounted for in March 2011, and returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

Between 2011 and 2014, Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) teams traveled to Bettenfeld and conducted operations at the crash site.

To identify Gatlin's remains, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) used forensic identification tools to include mitochondrial DNA, which matched his cousin.

A graveside service with military honors was held on Friday, January 30 2015 at 11:00 A.M. at Florida National Cemetery, Bushnell, and A Celebration of Life was held on Saturday, January 31 at 2:30 P.M. at Hopewell Baptist Church, 6001 CR 39 S, Plant City.