On January 31, 1943, O'Meara was navigator on B-24D #41-11603 named 'Malicious', assigned to the 9th Air Force, 376th Bombardment Group, 513th Bombardment Squadron. Malicious was the lead plane on a combat mission to bomb Messina Harbor in Sicily. Two engines were knocked out of commission by anti-aircraft artillery, but they stayed on their bomb run and hit their target. They were then set upon by German fighter planes and after a running battle, were forced to make a water crash landing into the Tyrrhenian Sea, twenty miles off the coast of Messina, Sicily. Crewmen in other aircraft saw four to six men evacuate the plane into life rafts, but subsequent rescue flights were unable to locate the men.
Because his body was never recovered, he's memorialized on the Wall of the Missing.
O'Meara received the Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal.
O'Meara is also memorialized in Woodlawn Cemetery in Wadsworth Ohio.
Because his body was never recovered, he's memorialized on the Wall of the Missing.
O'Meara received the Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal.
O'Meara is also memorialized in Woodlawn Cemetery in Wadsworth Ohio.
On January 31, 1943, O'Meara was navigator on B-24D #41-11603 named 'Malicious', assigned to the 9th Air Force, 376th Bombardment Group, 513th Bombardment Squadron. Malicious was the lead plane on a combat mission to bomb Messina Harbor in Sicily. Two engines were knocked out of commission by anti-aircraft artillery, but they stayed on their bomb run and hit their target. They were then set upon by German fighter planes and after a running battle, were forced to make a water crash landing into the Tyrrhenian Sea, twenty miles off the coast of Messina, Sicily. Crewmen in other aircraft saw four to six men evacuate the plane into life rafts, but subsequent rescue flights were unable to locate the men.
Because his body was never recovered, he's memorialized on the Wall of the Missing.
O'Meara received the Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal.
O'Meara is also memorialized in Woodlawn Cemetery in Wadsworth Ohio.
Because his body was never recovered, he's memorialized on the Wall of the Missing.
O'Meara received the Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal.
O'Meara is also memorialized in Woodlawn Cemetery in Wadsworth Ohio.
Gravesite Details
Entered the service from Ohio.
Family Members
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