LOST AT SEA (aircraft shot down)

His name is inscribed on the "Courts of the Missing" at the Honolulu Memorial, inside "Punchbowl" National Cemetery, Honolulu, Island of O'ahu, Hawaii.

James appears on the 1930 and 1940 Censuses with his parents, Daniel and Margaret.

World War II Army Enlistment Records,

documenting the period ca. 1938-1946

GIST, JAMES L

Army serial number: 17019488

Residence: Jackson County, MIssouri

Place of Enlistment: Ft Leavenworth, Kansas

Date of Enlistment: 09 Feb 1941

Rank: Aviation Cadet

Year of birth/state: 1920/Missouri

Education: 2 years of college

Civilian occupation: Paymasters, payroll clerks, and timekeepers

Marital status: Single, without dependents

http://aad.archives.gov

This is the caption, written by SePennartz, for the group picture:

James L Gist (standing back row, first on the left) enlisted as an Aviation Cadet in the Army Air Corps on 9 February 1941 at Fort Leavenworth near Kansas City, Kansas. Graduated from the San Angelo Air Corps Basic Flying Training School; flight training Class 41-G at Goodfellow Field near San Angelo, Texas.

Assigned to the Central Pacific Theatre of Operations, 20th Air Force, XXI Bomber Command, 313th Bomb Wing, 504th Bombardment Group (Very Heavy), 398th Bomb Squadron stationed at North Field on Tinian in the Mariana Islands.

On 10 February 1945, he flew as the Airplane Command Pilot aboard a Boeing B-29 Superfortress (serial #42-24790). It was one of 120 aircraft launched in a multi-wing Group formation to bombard the Nakajima Aircraft Assembly Plant at Ota on the northwest side of Tokyo, Japan.

While over the target area, the Group was attacked by a band of Nakajima Ki-44 single-engine "Tojo" fighter planes. His B-29 aircraft suffered heavy damage to one of the wings, and on the return route home was forced to ditch approximately 275 miles north of Tinian near Pagan Island, resulting in the loss of the aircrew.

My note: Tinian and Pagan are part of the CNMI (Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands), which are south of Tokyo.