Lt. James C. Harrison and B-26 “Wingless Victory”
The target that day - November 21, 1944 - was a railroad bridge over the Rhine river. During the approach the group overflew a railroad marshaling yard and were engaged by 105-MM flak aimed optically.
A B-26 usually had a 7 man crew but the day of the crash there were 9 onboard (flying as Box 2 Leader). Harper, Pagano, Kelley, Harrison, Stephens, Ottenheimer and Mote all had exceeded their mission quota and were due to be sent home. LT. Andrews and Wolf were relatively new.
The only survivor was tail-gunner Howard W. Mote, who was taken prisoner and after the war some of our family visited while he was being treated in a military hospital in Washington DC. At the time the Doctors said we should talk about anything except the war so we didn’t find out much and he passed away not long afterwards.
Here are Harper, Stephens, Harrison, Kelley, Ottenheimer, and Pagano in front of the original Wingless Victory.
Another squadron crew borrowed and wrecked Wingless Victory (after “she” had flown 53 missions).
Here’s a picture of Wingless Victory II - the painted armor panel was salvaged and mounted on her replacement:
On the day the original crew of Wingless Victory were lost they were flying B-26 “204-T” instead of Wingless Victory II. 204-T did not have any nose art.
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From German records:
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Ralph Pagano’s nephew went to Germany in 2010 and found the crash site and talked to two local farmers who visited the site that day as young boys.
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The crash-site was behind enemy lines until early 1945 so there was a delay in confirming the loss location and details. In the meantime members of the family wrote letters:
This is the paper Gold Star flag that was hung in our family’s front door after the news arrived (it came from the Charlotte Observer newspaper).
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The mother of Laurence Harper committed suicide shortly after she heard the news of the confirmed loss of her only child.
Aunt Catherine Harrison never remarried, saying she had never met another man equal to her “Jimmy”:
When the family visited the Overseas Air Replacement Depot in Greensboro North Carolina for the medal ceremony, they were invited to eat in the chow hall. While there, Aunt Ruth (youngest of the Harrison family - teenager) noticed a “beautiful” blond-haired, blue-eyed muscular young man serving in the chow line. He was very friendly-acting but wouldn’t say anything. Ruth did her best to talk with him with no luck... eventually he turned around and everyone noticed the large letters “P W” stamped on the back of his shirt - he was a German “Prisoner of War”. My Grandmother quickly put an end to this encounter.
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James was buried in Margraten (Holland) National Military Cemetery:
Six bodies were returned in 1949 but there was no way to tell which was which so they are buried together in Zachary National Cemetery, Louisville KY:
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My father Tony idolized his older brother and after high school also wanted to volunteer for the Army Air Corps.
Even our family dog “Speed” supported the war effort...
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Here’s a great book on the history of the 394th Bomb Group in WWII:
And a wonderful website about the 394th - WW2 Buddies
Feel free to contact me at briankn4r@gmail.com
