Sergeant Charles Andrew McWilliams, Army serial number 17069170, was born at Letts, Louisa County, Iowa, on May 13, 1922, and later resided at Bloomfield, Davis County, Iowa. His nickname was Charlie. He was one of at least seven children of Verne R. McWilliams (29 May 1885 – 23 Jul 1965), who was born at Wapello, Louisa County, Iowa; and Velma M. (Shields) McWilliams (28 Mar 1893 – 6 Apr 1974), born was born at Bloomfield, Davis County, Iowa. His parents married at Davis County, Iowa on July 15, 1912. His father was a tinsmith and later worked as a wallpaper hanger and painter. In 1918 the family lived at Columbus Junction, Louisa County, Iowa. By 1930 the family lived at Bloomfield, Davis County, Iowa. In 1942 the family home was at 201 North Washington in Bloomfield.
He completed four years of high school, and registered for the draft at Bloomfield, Iowa on June 30, 1942. He was 5 feet, 6 inches tall, weighed 125 pounds, and had blue eyes and blonde hair. At that time he lived with his parents and was employed by a Mr Omer Whitacre in Bloomfield. He worked as a semiskilled mechanic or repairman and was single when he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps at Camp Dodge in Herrold, Iowa in October 1942. His home of record was Bloomfield, Iowa.
He completed Army Air Forces aerial gunnery and flight engineer training, and was assigned to the heavy bomber crew of Lt Norman E. Gross. By December 1943 the Gross crew began B-24 crew training at Davis-Monthan Field near Tucson, Arizona. In January 1944 the Gross crew was assigned to the 838th Bomb Squadron of the 487th Bomb Group at Alamogordo Army Air Base, New Mexico. There they completed B-24 crew training and deployed with the Group to England in March–April 1944. They flew B-24H 42-52629 'Sweatin' It Out' from Alamogordo, New Mexico to Lavenham, England via the southern Atlantic ferry route—a journey of about 10,000 miles—and arrived at Lavenham by mid-April 1944. There is a photo of the Norman E. Gross crew that was taken at Herington, Kansas during the deployment to England. 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. Here is the roster of the Norman E. Gross crew on June 6, 1944:
B-24H 42-52629 – 838th Bomb Squadron
• Gross, Norman E – 1/Lt – Pilot – MIA
• Haskell, Willard D – 2/Lt – Copilot – MIA
• Moke, Francis E – 2/Lt – Navigator – MIA
• Levine, Milton – F/O – Bombardier – Buried at Sea
• Huebel Jr, Benjamin A – S/Sgt – Engineer – MIA
• Markowitz, Max I – S/Sgt – Radio Operator – MIA
• McWilliams, Charles A – Sgt – Nose Gunner – MIA
• Benson, Stanley J – Sgt – Top Gunner – MIA
• Allensworth, Harold O – Sgt – Ball Gunner – MIA
• Westhoff Jr, Henry B – S/Sgt – Tail Gunner – MIA
In the early morning hours of June 6, 1944, the 487th Bomb Group dispatched two Squadrons on the first of three missions that the Group flew on D-Day. The Gross crew flew B-24H 42-52629 'Sweatin' It Out' on this mission, and Sgt McWilliams flew as the nose turret gunner. The 487th Bomb Group was assigned to bomb a choke point—a road junction—in Caen, France, to disrupt German transportation. The Group's assembly in the dark over England took five hours, much longer than planned. Then a complete undercast prevented the crews from bombing the target. On the return, the entire heavy bomber force was routed away from the Allied shipping area, to the west of the Channel Islands Jersey and Guernsey. Sgt McWilliams and his nine crewmates went missing in action when their aircraft ran out of fuel and went down in the English Channel. A station at Saffron Walden, England, received a distress call from the crew at 0842, which indicated that the aircraft was about 35 miles northwest of the Cherbourg Peninsula, and all four engines were dead. The aircraft's last reported position was 49°52'N, 02°38'W, some 20 to 25 miles northwest of the Channel Island of Alderney. Other crews almost ran out of fuel before landing at bases near the English coast.
The remains of Flight Officer Levine, the bombardier, were found by the crew of the British ship HSL 192 (High Speed Launch 192) and were buried at sea, in the English Channel, on July 3, 1944. None of the other crew members was ever found.
Sgt McWilliams is memorialized along with his five enlisted crew mates on the Wall of the Missing at Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France. The four officers on the crew are memorialized on the Wall of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery near Madingley, England.
Sgt McWilliams has another cenotaph at Bloomfield IOOF Cemetery in Bloomfield, Iowa, where his parents are buried.
Sources:
1. 487th Bomb Group Association
2. 1920 US Census; Iowa; Louisa County. McWilliams, Vern. 7 Jan 1920 (Verne R. McWilliams, his father)
3. 1930 US Census; Iowa; Davis County; Bloomfield. McWilliams, Verne R. 2 Apr 1930 (his father)
4. 1940 US Census; Iowa; Davis County; Bloomfield Township; Bloomfield. McWilliams, Verne R. 25 Apr 1940 (his father)
5. American Battle Monuments Commission
6. Charles Andrew McWilliams (1922 – 1944) in Melanie Renee Crawford (nee McWilliams) family tree (ancestry.com)
7. Charles Andrew McWilliams (1922 – deceased) on FamilySearch.org
8. de Jong, Ivo. The History of the 487th Bomb Group (H). Paducah KY: Turner Publishing, Oct 2004
9. Enlistment Record of Charles A. McWilliams
10. HQ, 359th Combat Crew Training School, Alamogordo Army Air Base, New Mexico. Special Orders Number 71. 11 Mar 1944 (487th Bomb Group flight echelon orders to proceed from Alamogordo, New Mexico to Herington, Kansas during the deployment to England)
11. HQ, Davis-Monthan Field, Tucson, Arizona. Special Orders Number 1. 1 Jan 1944 (transfer of fifty heavy bomber combat crews, less navigators, from Davis-Monthan Field, Tucson, Arizona to the 487th Bomb Group at Alamogordo Army Air Base, New Mexico)
12. HQ, U.S. Army Air Forces. Sunday Punch in Normandy: The Tactical Use of Heavy Bombardment in the Normandy Invasion (Center for Air Force History Wings at War Series, No. 2. Washington, D.C. 1992)
13. Iowa Births, 1880–1935 (familysearch.org)
14. Iowa Department of Vital Statistics. Birth Certificate of Charles Andrew McWilliams
15. Iowa World War II Service Compensation Board: Application for benefit. 10 May 1949 (filed by his mother)
16. Mundia.com (ancestry.com) profiles of Charles Andrew McWilliams (1922–1944)
17. Swift, Larry C and Kathleen. Personal Communication. Dec 2013 (nephew of Charles A. McWilliams, and his spouse)
18. U.S. Army Air Forces Missing Air Crew Report 5484
19. U.S. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). Service Personnel Not Recovered Following World War II
20. U.S. Department of the Army, Adjutant General Office, Technical Records Section. Individual Deceased Personnel File of Milton Levine, T-123014 (aka '293 File')
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. U.S. World War II Draft Cards, Young Men, 1940–1947 (ancestry.com)
23. World War I Draft Registration of Verne R. McWilliams (his father)
Research by:
Paul Webber
Secretary, 487th Bomb Group Association
Find A Grave member ID 47577572
He completed four years of high school, and registered for the draft at Bloomfield, Iowa on June 30, 1942. He was 5 feet, 6 inches tall, weighed 125 pounds, and had blue eyes and blonde hair. At that time he lived with his parents and was employed by a Mr Omer Whitacre in Bloomfield. He worked as a semiskilled mechanic or repairman and was single when he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps at Camp Dodge in Herrold, Iowa in October 1942. His home of record was Bloomfield, Iowa.
He completed Army Air Forces aerial gunnery and flight engineer training, and was assigned to the heavy bomber crew of Lt Norman E. Gross. By December 1943 the Gross crew began B-24 crew training at Davis-Monthan Field near Tucson, Arizona. In January 1944 the Gross crew was assigned to the 838th Bomb Squadron of the 487th Bomb Group at Alamogordo Army Air Base, New Mexico. There they completed B-24 crew training and deployed with the Group to England in March–April 1944. They flew B-24H 42-52629 'Sweatin' It Out' from Alamogordo, New Mexico to Lavenham, England via the southern Atlantic ferry route—a journey of about 10,000 miles—and arrived at Lavenham by mid-April 1944. There is a photo of the Norman E. Gross crew that was taken at Herington, Kansas during the deployment to England. 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. Here is the roster of the Norman E. Gross crew on June 6, 1944:
B-24H 42-52629 – 838th Bomb Squadron
• Gross, Norman E – 1/Lt – Pilot – MIA
• Haskell, Willard D – 2/Lt – Copilot – MIA
• Moke, Francis E – 2/Lt – Navigator – MIA
• Levine, Milton – F/O – Bombardier – Buried at Sea
• Huebel Jr, Benjamin A – S/Sgt – Engineer – MIA
• Markowitz, Max I – S/Sgt – Radio Operator – MIA
• McWilliams, Charles A – Sgt – Nose Gunner – MIA
• Benson, Stanley J – Sgt – Top Gunner – MIA
• Allensworth, Harold O – Sgt – Ball Gunner – MIA
• Westhoff Jr, Henry B – S/Sgt – Tail Gunner – MIA
In the early morning hours of June 6, 1944, the 487th Bomb Group dispatched two Squadrons on the first of three missions that the Group flew on D-Day. The Gross crew flew B-24H 42-52629 'Sweatin' It Out' on this mission, and Sgt McWilliams flew as the nose turret gunner. The 487th Bomb Group was assigned to bomb a choke point—a road junction—in Caen, France, to disrupt German transportation. The Group's assembly in the dark over England took five hours, much longer than planned. Then a complete undercast prevented the crews from bombing the target. On the return, the entire heavy bomber force was routed away from the Allied shipping area, to the west of the Channel Islands Jersey and Guernsey. Sgt McWilliams and his nine crewmates went missing in action when their aircraft ran out of fuel and went down in the English Channel. A station at Saffron Walden, England, received a distress call from the crew at 0842, which indicated that the aircraft was about 35 miles northwest of the Cherbourg Peninsula, and all four engines were dead. The aircraft's last reported position was 49°52'N, 02°38'W, some 20 to 25 miles northwest of the Channel Island of Alderney. Other crews almost ran out of fuel before landing at bases near the English coast.
The remains of Flight Officer Levine, the bombardier, were found by the crew of the British ship HSL 192 (High Speed Launch 192) and were buried at sea, in the English Channel, on July 3, 1944. None of the other crew members was ever found.
Sgt McWilliams is memorialized along with his five enlisted crew mates on the Wall of the Missing at Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France. The four officers on the crew are memorialized on the Wall of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery near Madingley, England.
Sgt McWilliams has another cenotaph at Bloomfield IOOF Cemetery in Bloomfield, Iowa, where his parents are buried.
Sources:
1. 487th Bomb Group Association
2. 1920 US Census; Iowa; Louisa County. McWilliams, Vern. 7 Jan 1920 (Verne R. McWilliams, his father)
3. 1930 US Census; Iowa; Davis County; Bloomfield. McWilliams, Verne R. 2 Apr 1930 (his father)
4. 1940 US Census; Iowa; Davis County; Bloomfield Township; Bloomfield. McWilliams, Verne R. 25 Apr 1940 (his father)
5. American Battle Monuments Commission
6. Charles Andrew McWilliams (1922 – 1944) in Melanie Renee Crawford (nee McWilliams) family tree (ancestry.com)
7. Charles Andrew McWilliams (1922 – deceased) on FamilySearch.org
8. de Jong, Ivo. The History of the 487th Bomb Group (H). Paducah KY: Turner Publishing, Oct 2004
9. Enlistment Record of Charles A. McWilliams
10. HQ, 359th Combat Crew Training School, Alamogordo Army Air Base, New Mexico. Special Orders Number 71. 11 Mar 1944 (487th Bomb Group flight echelon orders to proceed from Alamogordo, New Mexico to Herington, Kansas during the deployment to England)
11. HQ, Davis-Monthan Field, Tucson, Arizona. Special Orders Number 1. 1 Jan 1944 (transfer of fifty heavy bomber combat crews, less navigators, from Davis-Monthan Field, Tucson, Arizona to the 487th Bomb Group at Alamogordo Army Air Base, New Mexico)
12. HQ, U.S. Army Air Forces. Sunday Punch in Normandy: The Tactical Use of Heavy Bombardment in the Normandy Invasion (Center for Air Force History Wings at War Series, No. 2. Washington, D.C. 1992)
13. Iowa Births, 1880–1935 (familysearch.org)
14. Iowa Department of Vital Statistics. Birth Certificate of Charles Andrew McWilliams
15. Iowa World War II Service Compensation Board: Application for benefit. 10 May 1949 (filed by his mother)
16. Mundia.com (ancestry.com) profiles of Charles Andrew McWilliams (1922–1944)
17. Swift, Larry C and Kathleen. Personal Communication. Dec 2013 (nephew of Charles A. McWilliams, and his spouse)
18. U.S. Army Air Forces Missing Air Crew Report 5484
19. U.S. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). Service Personnel Not Recovered Following World War II
20. U.S. Department of the Army, Adjutant General Office, Technical Records Section. Individual Deceased Personnel File of Milton Levine, T-123014 (aka '293 File')
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. U.S. World War II Draft Cards, Young Men, 1940–1947 (ancestry.com)
23. World War I Draft Registration of Verne R. McWilliams (his father)
Research by:
Paul Webber
Secretary, 487th Bomb Group Association
Find A Grave member ID 47577572
Sergeant Charles Andrew McWilliams, Army serial number 17069170, was born at Letts, Louisa County, Iowa, on May 13, 1922, and later resided at Bloomfield, Davis County, Iowa. His nickname was Charlie. He was one of at least seven children of Verne R. McWilliams (29 May 1885 – 23 Jul 1965), who was born at Wapello, Louisa County, Iowa; and Velma M. (Shields) McWilliams (28 Mar 1893 – 6 Apr 1974), born was born at Bloomfield, Davis County, Iowa. His parents married at Davis County, Iowa on July 15, 1912. His father was a tinsmith and later worked as a wallpaper hanger and painter. In 1918 the family lived at Columbus Junction, Louisa County, Iowa. By 1930 the family lived at Bloomfield, Davis County, Iowa. In 1942 the family home was at 201 North Washington in Bloomfield.
He completed four years of high school, and registered for the draft at Bloomfield, Iowa on June 30, 1942. He was 5 feet, 6 inches tall, weighed 125 pounds, and had blue eyes and blonde hair. At that time he lived with his parents and was employed by a Mr Omer Whitacre in Bloomfield. He worked as a semiskilled mechanic or repairman and was single when he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps at Camp Dodge in Herrold, Iowa in October 1942. His home of record was Bloomfield, Iowa.
He completed Army Air Forces aerial gunnery and flight engineer training, and was assigned to the heavy bomber crew of Lt Norman E. Gross. By December 1943 the Gross crew began B-24 crew training at Davis-Monthan Field near Tucson, Arizona. In January 1944 the Gross crew was assigned to the 838th Bomb Squadron of the 487th Bomb Group at Alamogordo Army Air Base, New Mexico. There they completed B-24 crew training and deployed with the Group to England in March–April 1944. They flew B-24H 42-52629 'Sweatin' It Out' from Alamogordo, New Mexico to Lavenham, England via the southern Atlantic ferry route—a journey of about 10,000 miles—and arrived at Lavenham by mid-April 1944. There is a photo of the Norman E. Gross crew that was taken at Herington, Kansas during the deployment to England. 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. Here is the roster of the Norman E. Gross crew on June 6, 1944:
B-24H 42-52629 – 838th Bomb Squadron
• Gross, Norman E – 1/Lt – Pilot – MIA
• Haskell, Willard D – 2/Lt – Copilot – MIA
• Moke, Francis E – 2/Lt – Navigator – MIA
• Levine, Milton – F/O – Bombardier – Buried at Sea
• Huebel Jr, Benjamin A – S/Sgt – Engineer – MIA
• Markowitz, Max I – S/Sgt – Radio Operator – MIA
• McWilliams, Charles A – Sgt – Nose Gunner – MIA
• Benson, Stanley J – Sgt – Top Gunner – MIA
• Allensworth, Harold O – Sgt – Ball Gunner – MIA
• Westhoff Jr, Henry B – S/Sgt – Tail Gunner – MIA
In the early morning hours of June 6, 1944, the 487th Bomb Group dispatched two Squadrons on the first of three missions that the Group flew on D-Day. The Gross crew flew B-24H 42-52629 'Sweatin' It Out' on this mission, and Sgt McWilliams flew as the nose turret gunner. The 487th Bomb Group was assigned to bomb a choke point—a road junction—in Caen, France, to disrupt German transportation. The Group's assembly in the dark over England took five hours, much longer than planned. Then a complete undercast prevented the crews from bombing the target. On the return, the entire heavy bomber force was routed away from the Allied shipping area, to the west of the Channel Islands Jersey and Guernsey. Sgt McWilliams and his nine crewmates went missing in action when their aircraft ran out of fuel and went down in the English Channel. A station at Saffron Walden, England, received a distress call from the crew at 0842, which indicated that the aircraft was about 35 miles northwest of the Cherbourg Peninsula, and all four engines were dead. The aircraft's last reported position was 49°52'N, 02°38'W, some 20 to 25 miles northwest of the Channel Island of Alderney. Other crews almost ran out of fuel before landing at bases near the English coast.
The remains of Flight Officer Levine, the bombardier, were found by the crew of the British ship HSL 192 (High Speed Launch 192) and were buried at sea, in the English Channel, on July 3, 1944. None of the other crew members was ever found.
Sgt McWilliams is memorialized along with his five enlisted crew mates on the Wall of the Missing at Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France. The four officers on the crew are memorialized on the Wall of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery near Madingley, England.
Sgt McWilliams has another cenotaph at Bloomfield IOOF Cemetery in Bloomfield, Iowa, where his parents are buried.
Sources:
1. 487th Bomb Group Association
2. 1920 US Census; Iowa; Louisa County. McWilliams, Vern. 7 Jan 1920 (Verne R. McWilliams, his father)
3. 1930 US Census; Iowa; Davis County; Bloomfield. McWilliams, Verne R. 2 Apr 1930 (his father)
4. 1940 US Census; Iowa; Davis County; Bloomfield Township; Bloomfield. McWilliams, Verne R. 25 Apr 1940 (his father)
5. American Battle Monuments Commission
6. Charles Andrew McWilliams (1922 – 1944) in Melanie Renee Crawford (nee McWilliams) family tree (ancestry.com)
7. Charles Andrew McWilliams (1922 – deceased) on FamilySearch.org
8. de Jong, Ivo. The History of the 487th Bomb Group (H). Paducah KY: Turner Publishing, Oct 2004
9. Enlistment Record of Charles A. McWilliams
10. HQ, 359th Combat Crew Training School, Alamogordo Army Air Base, New Mexico. Special Orders Number 71. 11 Mar 1944 (487th Bomb Group flight echelon orders to proceed from Alamogordo, New Mexico to Herington, Kansas during the deployment to England)
11. HQ, Davis-Monthan Field, Tucson, Arizona. Special Orders Number 1. 1 Jan 1944 (transfer of fifty heavy bomber combat crews, less navigators, from Davis-Monthan Field, Tucson, Arizona to the 487th Bomb Group at Alamogordo Army Air Base, New Mexico)
12. HQ, U.S. Army Air Forces. Sunday Punch in Normandy: The Tactical Use of Heavy Bombardment in the Normandy Invasion (Center for Air Force History Wings at War Series, No. 2. Washington, D.C. 1992)
13. Iowa Births, 1880–1935 (familysearch.org)
14. Iowa Department of Vital Statistics. Birth Certificate of Charles Andrew McWilliams
15. Iowa World War II Service Compensation Board: Application for benefit. 10 May 1949 (filed by his mother)
16. Mundia.com (ancestry.com) profiles of Charles Andrew McWilliams (1922–1944)
17. Swift, Larry C and Kathleen. Personal Communication. Dec 2013 (nephew of Charles A. McWilliams, and his spouse)
18. U.S. Army Air Forces Missing Air Crew Report 5484
19. U.S. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). Service Personnel Not Recovered Following World War II
20. U.S. Department of the Army, Adjutant General Office, Technical Records Section. Individual Deceased Personnel File of Milton Levine, T-123014 (aka '293 File')
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. U.S. World War II Draft Cards, Young Men, 1940–1947 (ancestry.com)
23. World War I Draft Registration of Verne R. McWilliams (his father)
Research by:
Paul Webber
Secretary, 487th Bomb Group Association
Find A Grave member ID 47577572
He completed four years of high school, and registered for the draft at Bloomfield, Iowa on June 30, 1942. He was 5 feet, 6 inches tall, weighed 125 pounds, and had blue eyes and blonde hair. At that time he lived with his parents and was employed by a Mr Omer Whitacre in Bloomfield. He worked as a semiskilled mechanic or repairman and was single when he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps at Camp Dodge in Herrold, Iowa in October 1942. His home of record was Bloomfield, Iowa.
He completed Army Air Forces aerial gunnery and flight engineer training, and was assigned to the heavy bomber crew of Lt Norman E. Gross. By December 1943 the Gross crew began B-24 crew training at Davis-Monthan Field near Tucson, Arizona. In January 1944 the Gross crew was assigned to the 838th Bomb Squadron of the 487th Bomb Group at Alamogordo Army Air Base, New Mexico. There they completed B-24 crew training and deployed with the Group to England in March–April 1944. They flew B-24H 42-52629 'Sweatin' It Out' from Alamogordo, New Mexico to Lavenham, England via the southern Atlantic ferry route—a journey of about 10,000 miles—and arrived at Lavenham by mid-April 1944. There is a photo of the Norman E. Gross crew that was taken at Herington, Kansas during the deployment to England. 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. Here is the roster of the Norman E. Gross crew on June 6, 1944:
B-24H 42-52629 – 838th Bomb Squadron
• Gross, Norman E – 1/Lt – Pilot – MIA
• Haskell, Willard D – 2/Lt – Copilot – MIA
• Moke, Francis E – 2/Lt – Navigator – MIA
• Levine, Milton – F/O – Bombardier – Buried at Sea
• Huebel Jr, Benjamin A – S/Sgt – Engineer – MIA
• Markowitz, Max I – S/Sgt – Radio Operator – MIA
• McWilliams, Charles A – Sgt – Nose Gunner – MIA
• Benson, Stanley J – Sgt – Top Gunner – MIA
• Allensworth, Harold O – Sgt – Ball Gunner – MIA
• Westhoff Jr, Henry B – S/Sgt – Tail Gunner – MIA
In the early morning hours of June 6, 1944, the 487th Bomb Group dispatched two Squadrons on the first of three missions that the Group flew on D-Day. The Gross crew flew B-24H 42-52629 'Sweatin' It Out' on this mission, and Sgt McWilliams flew as the nose turret gunner. The 487th Bomb Group was assigned to bomb a choke point—a road junction—in Caen, France, to disrupt German transportation. The Group's assembly in the dark over England took five hours, much longer than planned. Then a complete undercast prevented the crews from bombing the target. On the return, the entire heavy bomber force was routed away from the Allied shipping area, to the west of the Channel Islands Jersey and Guernsey. Sgt McWilliams and his nine crewmates went missing in action when their aircraft ran out of fuel and went down in the English Channel. A station at Saffron Walden, England, received a distress call from the crew at 0842, which indicated that the aircraft was about 35 miles northwest of the Cherbourg Peninsula, and all four engines were dead. The aircraft's last reported position was 49°52'N, 02°38'W, some 20 to 25 miles northwest of the Channel Island of Alderney. Other crews almost ran out of fuel before landing at bases near the English coast.
The remains of Flight Officer Levine, the bombardier, were found by the crew of the British ship HSL 192 (High Speed Launch 192) and were buried at sea, in the English Channel, on July 3, 1944. None of the other crew members was ever found.
Sgt McWilliams is memorialized along with his five enlisted crew mates on the Wall of the Missing at Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France. The four officers on the crew are memorialized on the Wall of the Missing at Cambridge American Cemetery near Madingley, England.
Sgt McWilliams has another cenotaph at Bloomfield IOOF Cemetery in Bloomfield, Iowa, where his parents are buried.
Sources:
1. 487th Bomb Group Association
2. 1920 US Census; Iowa; Louisa County. McWilliams, Vern. 7 Jan 1920 (Verne R. McWilliams, his father)
3. 1930 US Census; Iowa; Davis County; Bloomfield. McWilliams, Verne R. 2 Apr 1930 (his father)
4. 1940 US Census; Iowa; Davis County; Bloomfield Township; Bloomfield. McWilliams, Verne R. 25 Apr 1940 (his father)
5. American Battle Monuments Commission
6. Charles Andrew McWilliams (1922 – 1944) in Melanie Renee Crawford (nee McWilliams) family tree (ancestry.com)
7. Charles Andrew McWilliams (1922 – deceased) on FamilySearch.org
8. de Jong, Ivo. The History of the 487th Bomb Group (H). Paducah KY: Turner Publishing, Oct 2004
9. Enlistment Record of Charles A. McWilliams
10. HQ, 359th Combat Crew Training School, Alamogordo Army Air Base, New Mexico. Special Orders Number 71. 11 Mar 1944 (487th Bomb Group flight echelon orders to proceed from Alamogordo, New Mexico to Herington, Kansas during the deployment to England)
11. HQ, Davis-Monthan Field, Tucson, Arizona. Special Orders Number 1. 1 Jan 1944 (transfer of fifty heavy bomber combat crews, less navigators, from Davis-Monthan Field, Tucson, Arizona to the 487th Bomb Group at Alamogordo Army Air Base, New Mexico)
12. HQ, U.S. Army Air Forces. Sunday Punch in Normandy: The Tactical Use of Heavy Bombardment in the Normandy Invasion (Center for Air Force History Wings at War Series, No. 2. Washington, D.C. 1992)
13. Iowa Births, 1880–1935 (familysearch.org)
14. Iowa Department of Vital Statistics. Birth Certificate of Charles Andrew McWilliams
15. Iowa World War II Service Compensation Board: Application for benefit. 10 May 1949 (filed by his mother)
16. Mundia.com (ancestry.com) profiles of Charles Andrew McWilliams (1922–1944)
17. Swift, Larry C and Kathleen. Personal Communication. Dec 2013 (nephew of Charles A. McWilliams, and his spouse)
18. U.S. Army Air Forces Missing Air Crew Report 5484
19. U.S. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). Service Personnel Not Recovered Following World War II
20. U.S. Department of the Army, Adjutant General Office, Technical Records Section. Individual Deceased Personnel File of Milton Levine, T-123014 (aka '293 File')
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. U.S. World War II Draft Cards, Young Men, 1940–1947 (ancestry.com)
23. World War I Draft Registration of Verne R. McWilliams (his father)
Research by:
Paul Webber
Secretary, 487th Bomb Group Association
Find A Grave member ID 47577572
Inscription
Wall of the Missing:
MC WILLIAMS CHARLES A • SGT • 838 BOMB SQ 487 BOMB GROUP(H) • IOWA
Gravesite Details
Entered the service from Iowa.
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