On Sunday, March 4, 1945, 2nd Lieutenant James Edward Lemon, Jr., service number O-776349, was piloting a 4-engine, twin-tail, Consolidated B-24L "Liberator" heavy bomber with serial number 44-49363. On each side of the olive-drab fuselage behind the waist gunner window was a 4-foot-tall, capital-letter "N", painted in bright yellow, the color of the 777th Bomb Squadron. The 777th Bomb Squadron was one of 4 squadrons flying with the 464th Bomb Group of the 55th Bomb Wing. The 464th Bomb Group was stationed at the 15th U.S. Army Air Force's Pantanella airfield located 9-miles southeast of the town of Cerignola in the Foggia Province, Puglia Region of southeastern Italy. "Yellow-N" was also nicknamed "Lemon Squirts" by the 10-man Lemon crew, most of whom had flown at least 23 missions together. With a full bomb load, they lumbered down the Pantanella runway at 8:10 a.m. beneath a solid ceiling of thick grey clouds. They formed-up with 116 other B-24's from the 55th Bomb Wing over Spinazzola and headed northeast to bomb the German-occupied marshalling yards south of the town of Szombathely, Hungary about 450-miles away as a crow flies. The bomber force of 117 B-24s was escorted by P-51 and P-38 fighters and the 464th Bomb Group rained destruction down on the railyards at 2:30 p.m. from an altitude of 23,500-feet. German flak was very accurate and heavy during the bomb run, damaging 9 of the 36 total B-24s that sortied with the 464th Bomb Group. Yellow-N lost two engines to the flak, one on each wing, and the tail-gunner lost his oxygen supply when hot shrapnel punched through the aluminum fuselage and severed his oxygen hose. To save the gunner from deadly hypoxia, Lt. Lemon dove the plane to an altitude below 10,000-feet where there is sufficient oxygen, making the on-board oxygen system and masks unnecessary. Unable to rejoin the rest of the bomb group, Yellow-N flew alone for 6-hours on 2 engines and with other mechanical failures, arriving over Italy and Allied occupied territory in full darkness where Lt. Lemon ordered all 9 crewmen to bail out through the open bomb bay doors. Two crewmen, Seargent's Dickson and Bingham suffered serious injuries when they landed. 2nd Lt. James Edward Lemon, Jr. flew on alone and crashed to his death about 17-miles south of the town of Spinazzola, Barletta Province, Puglia Region in southeastern Italy and was awarded the Silver Star for sacrificing his life after saving the lives of his 9 crewmen, each of whom survived the war. His remains were recovered and were reinterred in his hometown on Monday, December 13, 1948 in La Verne Cemetery, La Verne, California in the same plot with his father and namesake who died in 1927 when James was 8. The cemetery is only one block away from Bonita High School where James was educated and met his future wife, and just 0.7-miles from his 1940 home at 1881 3rd Street where he lived as a newlywed and worked as a clerk at Frank G. Kalousek's Stop-N-Shop grocery store on D Street. 2nd Lt. James Edward Lemon, Jr. was survived by his wife, Esther Pauline (DeShazer) Lemon, and one daughter born in 1942.

This mission narrative was compiled from multiple sources, including the official mission report and a first-hand account by Yellow-N's radio operator, T.Sgt. William Joseph "Bill" Bingham, published online in 2014 at donmooreswartales dot com (with permission) under the title "The wedding dress that saved airman's life at close of WW II." It was first published in 2003 by the Charlotte Sun newspaper in Port Charlotte, FL. At least two online sources state that B-24L, 44-49363, Yellow-N, exploded (from suspected sabotage) after taking off from Pantanella on this day with all 10 crew KIA. The official mission narrative states that "...44-49363 failed to make the Group form-up and crashed in the vicinity of Spinazzola..." The Missing Air Crew Report (MACR), which might clarify this fog of war, has not been found. J.F.

Members of the Lemon crew in the attached photograph.
STANDING (L-R): 2nd Lt. Stanley Keith Dyer (3 Jul 1924 - 25 Nov 1985); Co-pilot; Air Medal, 21 Feb 1945; Marshfield (now Coos Bay), Coos Co, OR. // 2nd Lt. James Edward Lemon, Jr. (10 Dec 1918 – 4 Mar 1945); Pilot; Air Medal, 8 Jan 1945; Silver Star (Posthumous), 31 May 1945; La Verne, Los Angeles Co, CA (Born in Sulphur Springs, TX). // 1st Lt. Allan Clare "Al" Sanderson (7 Jul 1925 – 10 Sep 2012); Navigator; Wilkinsburg, Allegheny Co, PA. // 2nd Lt. David Robert Pingrey (8 Jun 1923 – 9 Apr 1999); Bombardier; Air Medal, 8 Jan 1945, Oak Leaf Cluster, 28 Mar 1945; Gilbert, St. Louis Co, MN.
KNEELING (L-R): S.Sgt. William Selmer "Bill" Moore (18 May 1925 – 7 Aug 2014); Armorer-Gunner; Air Medal 21 Feb 1945, Oak Leaf Cluster, 13 Apr 1945; Whitefield, Haskell Co, OK. // S.Sgt. Donald Robert "Don" Dickson (19 May 1925 – 2 Mar 2011); Nose Gunner; Air Medal, 21 Feb 1945; Devil's Slide, Morgan Co, UT. // T.Sgt. William Joseph "Bill" Bingham (19 Apr 1924 – 5 Aug 2013); Radio Operator; Air Medal, 12 Feb 1945, Oak Leaf Cluster, 22 Apr 1945; Chicago, Cook Co, IL. // S.Sgt. Paul Wesley Burnside (20 Jan 1925 – 15 Feb 1994); Engineer-Gunner; Air Medal, 6 Mar 1945, Oak Leaf Cluster, 30 Apr 1945; Cincinnati, Hamilton Co, OH. // S.Sgt. Karl Winston Walker (16 Nov 1924 - 27 Dec 2019); Top Turret Gunner & Flight Engineer; Air Medal 21 Feb 1945, Oak Leaf Cluster, 22 Apr 1945, Distinguished Flying Cross, 30 Apr 1945; Mineral Wells, Palo Pinto Co, TX. // S.Sgt. William Henry Agler (13 Dec 1923 – 1 Jun 1999); Tail Gunner; Air Medal, 21 Feb 1945, Oak Leaf Cluster, 22 Apr 1945; Westerville, Delaware Co, OH