WWII Item - A Memory...

A Two Part Post. - Due to character length.

Hello again all... This thread is one of my usual WWII item threads for discussion... Except this one is just a little different. As there is no Item to discuss. Only a Memory. And how a Memory can turn into something. You will just have to follow along to even try to understand and I hope that you enjoy it as much as I have researching it.

(FYI - I do have a item on the way and it's thread will have a lot of other items related to it, But we will just have to wait on that one.)

Back to a Memory.

I was bored and raised in a small farming community called The 16th Section. My family is buried there dated way back to the 1800's and I have lots of family members buried there.





In this cemetery was a grave marker that I can remember ever since I was a child. I have never forgotten it. For some reason it has stuck with me throughout the years. I guess it is because I have always had this WWII interest.





It says:

In Loving Memory of SGT Roy Edward Ridgway
Born Dec 25, 1922 (Christmas Day)
Killed Mar 25, 1945 (Notice that they chose the word killed and not died)
In World War II when his plane fell into the Bay or Bengal. Body never recovered.

Every time I visit my family I always stop and Roy Edwards marker. It has fascinated me all these years. I have always wondered many things. What was he like?, What happened, What Plane? What did he look like? It was just something that I always just marked up to the fact that some things we may just never know.

As time goes on and many years later I still wondered. The closed that I ever got was a family member of his said on a facebook group that they remember his unkle said: "I took him to the train station and I that was the last time that I ever saw him."

Collecting WWII is one thing, and researching it is another. If you remember in my last WWII thread I posted this item that I bought.. A Pilots log book. Who fly C-47's, in Combat out of Calcutta...




Wait a Minute I thought... Calcutta is right by the Bay Of Bengal? This started my research again for a Memory of a headstone in the 16th Section Cemetery.


It started with findagrave.com... just a simple search lead me to this... I found a picture of Roy Edward Ridgeway.




I couldn't believe it... a Picture of him. After all these years... I was and still am amazed.

I was able to start searching further... and then I found out a More... Way more...

RIDGEWAY, Roy E, Sergeant,
U.S. Army Air Forces, Service# 38445897,
d. 25-Mar-1945, Air Medal, Purple Heart
676th Bomber Squadron, 444th Bomber Group, Very Heavy,


676th Bomber Squadron, 444th Bomber Group... Wow.. Even a service number. Now I have a place to start looking.

Now I was able to search the 444th Bombardment Group.
During World War II, the 444th Bombardment Group was a United States Army Air Forces combat organization. The group was the first Boeing B-29 Superfortress Group formed for the 58th Bombardment Wing, and served in the China Burma India Theater and Pacific Ocean Theater as part of the Twentieth Air Force. The group's aircraft engaged in very heavy bombardment operations against Japan. The group received the Distinguished Unit Citation for its combat operations on three occasions.

So searching 676th Squadron of the 444th and specifically searching for missing aircract I was able to find his Plane... Another WOW.

Date - 25-MAR-1945
Time - night
Owner/operator: 444th BGp /678th BSqn USAAF
Registration: 42-65202
MSN:
Fatalities: Fatalities: 9 / Occupants: 9
Other fatalities: 0
Aircraft damage: Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Location: Halliday Island, south east of Kolkata near the mouth of the Matla riv - India
Phase: En route
Nature: Military
Departure airport: USAAF Base B-6, Piaradoba, India

Narrative:
Martin-Omaha B-29-1-MO Superfortress 42-65202: Built under licence by Glenn L. Martin Company, Omaha, Nebraska. Delivered to the USAAF 26 May 1944. Departed CONUS (CONtnentsal US) for CBI (China Burna India Theater of Operations) 2 July 1944, and issued to the 444th Bomb Group. Assigned to 676th Bomb Squadron, 444th Bomb Group: Named ‘Satan’s Angel’.

Written off (destroyed) when collided in midair with another B-29 (42-24507) on March 25, 1945 near Calcutta, India while on training flight and crashed into the Bay of Bengal. (MACR 13445). Nine crew killed. Other plane involved landed safely.

And that lead to this. The Plane.




Here is the PLanes registration number... The Diamond on the Rear rudder signified that this aircraft was part of the CBI. (China, Burma, India Theater of operations.




Notice the Mission Markings... The Camels represent their missions flying the hump into China. and the bombs represent the amount of bombing missions as of that time.

"The Hump" was the nickname Allied pilots gave the airlift operation that crossed the Himalayan foothills into China. It was the Army Air Force's most dangerous airlift route, but it was the only way to supply Chinese forces fighting Japan




But still, I am not there yet.. But we are off to a great start..