Staff Sergeant Bronis D. Lipskas, Army serial number 11030969, was born at Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts on February 19, 1922. His surname is Lipsky, but this was changed to Lipskas in military records. His parents were Dominick George Lipsky (15 May 1882 – 9 Jan 1961) and Catherine (Mazukaitis) Lipsky (abt 1885 – 23 May 1963), who were born in Lithuania and immigrated to America about 1911. His parents married at Boston, Massachusetts on July 26, 1914. His father was an electrical worker and motor assembler for the Boston Elevated Railway Company.

He had two sisters: Nelle Angelina (aka 'Nellie Annie') Lipsky (13 May 1915 – unk), and Eugenia Catherine 'Jean' (Lipsky) Grigas (4 Mar 1920 – 19 Dec 1964). The family home was at 684 East 6th Street, Boston, Massachusetts, his home of record.

He graduated from Mechanic Arts High School in Boston in 1940 and worked as a machinist. He was single when he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps at Boston, Massachusetts on July 15, 1941. He was 5 feet 11 inches tall, weighed 153 pounds, and had gray-green eyes and brown hair.

On July 18, 1941 he was assigned to the 45th Bomb Group (Light), an Atlantic coastal defense training unit that flew the Douglas B-18 'Bolo' and Douglas A-20 'Havoc' aircraft. From August 1, 1942 to September 8, 1942 he was assigned to Tyndall Field at Panama City, Florida, where he completed Army Air Forces aerial gunnery school. On September 13, 1942 he was assigned to the 79th Bomb Squadron at Cunningham Field, Cherry Point, North Carolina. The 79th Bomb Squadron was part of the 45th Bomb Group, which was then a medium bombardment group flying antisubmarine missions using the Lockheed 'Ventura' twin-engine medium bomber.

On November 29, 1942 the 79th Bomb Squadron (Medium) was designated the 8th Antisubmarine Squadron (Heavy) of the 26th Antisubmarine Wing, and was equipped with the B-24 'Liberator' heavy bomber. The 26th Antisubmarine Wing was headquartered at Miami, Florida. Its Squadrons flew B-24 antisubmarine patrols from bases in Florida, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Trinidad, British Guyana, Suriname, Brazil, and Ascension Island.

On October 1, 1943 the 8th Antisubmarine Squadron was designated the 839th Bomb Squadron, and was assigned to the newly formed 487th Bomb Group. The Squadron moved temporarily to Pueblo, Colorado; and on November 17, 1943 it moved to the 487th Bomb Group's base at Bruning Army Air Base, Nebraska. In December 1943 the 839th Bomb Squadron moved with the 487th Bomb Group to Alamogordo Army Air Base, New Mexico. Some of the veterans of antisubmarine patrol were assigned to the other three Squadrons in the Group. S/Sgt Lipskas was assigned to the heavy bomber crew of Lt Edward J. Brodsky in the 838th Bomb Squadron of the 487th Bomb Group.

The Brodsky crew completed B-24 crew training at Alamogordo, and deployed with the 487th Bomb Group to England in March 1944. They flew B-24H 42-52581 via the southern Atlantic ferry route—a journey of about 10,000 miles—and arrived in England by mid-April 1944. The 487th Bomb Group was based at Army Air Forces Station 137 near Lavenham, Suffolk, England, and was part of the 8th U.S. Army Air Force in Europe.

On May 11, 1944 S/Sgt Lipskas flew as tail gunner on then Captain Edward J. Brodsky's lead crew in B-24H 42-52763, in the deputy lead position of the 838th Bomb Squadron. Here is the crew roster on that day:

B-24H 42-52763 – 838th Bomb Squadron

• Brodsky, Edward J – Capt – Pilot – POW

• Roberts, John W – Capt – Copilot – POW

• Weiss, Lester – 1/Lt – Navigator – KIA

• Johnson, Lee G – 2/Lt – Navigator – POW

• Pearce, Thomas W – 1/Lt – Bombardier – KIA

• Simoni, Walter – T/Sgt – Engineer – KIA

• Nance, Clifford P – T/Sgt – Radio Operator – KIA

• Tollett, Elton – S/Sgt – Ball Turret Gunner – MIA

• Lipskas, Bronis D – S/Sgt – Tail Gunner – MIA

• Murphy, William J – S/Sgt – Top Turret Gunner – KIA

The primary target for this mission was the railroad marshalling yards at Chaumont, France, southeast of Paris. The secondary target was Troyes. While en route to the target, navigational error resulted in the Squadron flying over accurate German flak guns guarding the airfield at Chateaudun, France. Brodsky's plane was hit by flak in the number 3 engine, which caught fire. The aircraft peeled off to the right. After losing number 4 engine it dove down, and Capt Brodsky successfully crash landed the aircraft on farmland belonging to a Mr. Hubert Bourjois near the village of Gaubert, commune of Guillonville, France, about fifteen miles east of Chateaudun. One crew member, Lt Lee G. Johnson, bailed out safely before the landing. Capt Brodsky and his copilot, Capt Roberts, escaped from the aircraft on the ground, but were unable to suppress a wing fire. Six crew members, including S/Sgt Lipskas, were trapped in the aircraft and died when the fire spread and the fuel tanks exploded, engulfing the aircraft in flames.

The remains of S/Sgt Lipskas were never recovered. There is no evidence that his remains were ever removed from the burned aircraft wreckage, and he is still listed as missing in action. Here is a statement in his Individual Deceased Personnel File: "Due to explosion and burning of the entire plane, it is very possible that remains of one of the crew may have been entirely cremated."

One other crew member, ball turret gunner S/Sgt Elton Tollett, is also still missing in action. He was thrown from the plane during the landing. Captured German records reveal that he suffered a severe head injury, and died at a German Air Force hospital in Orleans, France on May 12, 1944. He was buried at the Memorial Cemetery ("Heroes Cemetery") in the row for prisoners of war, Section K, at Orleans, France. After the war, a search failed to identify his remains.

S/Sgt Lipskas is memorialized on the Wall of the Missing at Brittany American Cemetery in Saint-James, France.

Sources:

1. 45th Bomb Group History

2. 487th Bomb Group Association

3. 1920 US Census; Massachusetts; Suffolk County; Boston; Ward 9. Lispky, Dominick [sic]. 15 Jan 1920 (his father)

4. 1930 US Census; Massachusetts; Suffolk County; Boston; Ward 6. Lipsky, Dominic [sic]. 16 Apr 1930 (his father)

5. 1940 US Census; Massachusetts; Suffolk County; Boston; Ward 6; 684 East Sixth St. Lipsky, Domenik [sic]. 13 April 1940 (his father)

6. American Battle Monuments Commission

7. (The) Boston Globe. Obituary of S Sgt Bronis Lipskas. Boston MA, 20 May 1945

8. de Jong, Ivo. The History of the 487th Bomb Group (H). Paducah KY: Turner Publishing, Oct 2004

9. Dominick G. Lipsky (1882 – 1961) in Sykes/Pennell Family Tree (ancestry.com)

10. Enlistment Record of Bronis D. Lipskas

11. HQ, 6th Heavy Bomber Processing, Herington Army Air Field, Kansas. Orders Number 370.5 # 254 (131-17): Movement Orders, Heavy Bombardment Crew Number 5254-17, To Overseas Destination. 23 Mar 1944. (Transfer orders for Capt Edward J. Brodsky's crew from Herington, Kansas to Air Transport Command at Morrison Field, West Palm Beach, Florida; thence to overseas destination)

12. HQ, 359th Combat Crew Training School, Alamogordo Army Air Base, New Mexico. Special Orders Number 71. 11 March 1944 (487th Bomb Group flight echelon orders to proceed from Alamogordo, New Mexico to Herington, Kansas during the deployment to England)

13. Massachusetts Births, 1841–1915: Nellie Annie (Nelle Angelina) Lipsky born 13 May 1915; parents: Dominick Lipsky and Katie Mazukitis

14. Massachusetts, State Vital Records, 1841-1920: Augenia Catherine Lipsky born 4 Mar 1920; parents: Dominique Lipsky and Catherine Marshukaitis

15. Petition for Naturalization in U.S. District Court of Massachusetts. Lipsky, Dominik George. 13 Jul 1923 (his father)

16. U.S. Army Air Forces Missing Air Crew Report 4783

17. U.S. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). Service Personnel Not Recovered Following World War II

18. U.S. Department of the Army, Adjutant General Office, Technical Records Section. Individual Deceased Personnel File of Bronis D. Lipskas, 11030969 (aka '293 File')

19. U.S. Department of the Army, Adjutant General Office, Technical Records Section. Individual Deceased Personnel File of Elton Tollett, 18137302 (aka '293 File')

20. U.S. Rosters of World War II Dead, 1939–1945

21. U.S. War Department. World War II Honor List of Dead and Missing Army and Army Air Forces Personnel. Washington, D.C., June 1946

22. World War I Draft Registration of Dominic George Lipsky. 12 Sep 1918 (his father)

23. World War II Draft Registration of Dominick George Lipsky. 27 Apr 1942 (his father)

Research by:

Paul Webber

Find A Grave member ID 47577572

Last edited 11 Mar 2024