B-24 A/C 44-40716, 494th Bombardment Group, 866th Bomb Squadron, 7th US Army Air Force

Combat Missions

November, 1944 – May, 1945 Combat Missions from Agaur

Like Emil Turek and Don Marvin, Joe Dubinsky was a pilot of one of the original crews of the 866th Squadron of the 494th Bombardment Group. Dubinsky's crew named their B-24J #44-40731 'Til Then. The men experienced several notable events during and between their combat missions. They were among the first 494th BG crews to fly a combat mission in November, 1944. They flew numerous bombing missions from Angaur, mostly to bomb Japanese-held Philippines. The next February, the men were granted "10-day leave" in Sydney, Australia. When Don Marvin's crew (the original Taloa crew) returned to Anguar from Australia, Dubinsky and Turek’s entire flight crews left for Sydney, and did not return until 25 March. The leave lasted 34 days, extended ~5 days due to "transportation problems", according to Rolf Slen, who reported that it was 30 day assigned leave. Perhaps as a result of the transportation problems, later crews were granted R&R leave to Hawaii rather than Sydney. In May, recorded as one of the worst accidents on Angaur, the Co-pilot undershot the runway and crashed, likely as a result of mechanical failure. Although none of the men were seriously injured,  'Til Then was destroyed. The Squadron reported that the aircraft landed short of the runway without stating the reason. Rolf Slen chuckled over the incident, and recalls being told that sparks flew all the way down the runway and that the story was that the Marines onboard for a joyride were so eager to disembark that they jumped out before the plane came to a stop.  All the pilots involved continued to fly missions immediately after the incident, so it is unlikely that the crash was attributed to pilot error.

Omura Mission from Okinawa, 5 July, 1945 – 494th Bombardment Group Mission #117 

In Secret Operations Orders #138 from Maj. General Woods,  Dubinsky, Marvin and Turek crews were chosen to fly for the 866th on the first B-24 mission to bomb Japan from Okinawa. The 494th Bombardment Group had arrived in strength at the captured Yomitan (Yontan) Airfield in Okinawa less than 24 hours earlier. The Omura mission was flown just 6 weeks before the war ended. Lt. Turek was Dubinsky's Squadron Leader, flying Lonesome Lady. It was Turek's 30th combat mission, and the first B-24 raid on Japan from Okinawa on the main islands of Japan. The Group History notes that within 24 hours of landing on Okinawa in full force, the men were proud to have launched 48 planes in just 48 minutes. Turek was concerned when Dubinsky, flying S/N #980, aborted that mission due to a mechanical problem. Dubinsky was forced by a fuel leak to abort while on the way to Omura and instead bombed an alternate target, Kakeroma Shima (from 8400 feet). If bombs were uselessly salvoed into the ocean then the men were not given full credit for a combat mission and it took longer to be reassigned back to the United States. Turek recorded the mechanical problem with Dubinsky’s crew on #980 that day simply by marking Dubinsky's name out on his Formation Sheet.  

Shanghai, 17 July, 1945 – 494th Bombardment Group Mission #123

Note: the marker at Jefferson Barracks also uses "O" for the middle initial for Baumgartner. "Flanagin" is elsewhere incorrectly spelled “Flanagan” and his mother's first name should have been spelled "Verdea". Johnston has been confused with another POW.

Julius Molnar is shown here, standing at far left.  The online newspaper photo caption states that Baumgartner is 4th from left but misidentified in the photo.

Standing: S. Sgt. Julius Molnar, S. Sgt. Camillious Kirkpatrick, S. Sgt. Charles Allison, S. Sgt. Charles Baumgartner, T. Sgt. David Bushfield, T. Sgt. Walter Piskor

Kneeling: 1st Lt. Rudolph (“Rudy”) Flanagin, 1st Lt. Robert C. Johnston?, 1st Lt. Joesph Dubinsky, 1st Lt. Lawrence Falls?, Photo source: Cleveland newspaper 

Staff Sgt. Charles C. Baumgartner

b. 9 October, 1915, d. 6 August, 1945

Born in Sebring, Mahoning County, Ohio, Sgt. Baugartner was last seen by Lt. Tom Cartwright in the Kempetai Military Police Chugoku Headquarters in Hiroshima, Japan, on 30 August, 1945. He died in Hiroshima very soon after the atomic bomb was detonated over the city on 6 August, along with ~9 other American POWs; 2 other American POWs died days later in nearby Ujina. His remains were returned along with other Americans’ and were buried at the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in Lemay, Missouri.

Technical Sgt. David A. Bushfield

b. 29 July, 1921,  Drafted 25 July, 1942,  d. 28 July, 1945

Before the war, Sgt. Bushfield resided in Monroe County, New York. He died in the crash of the Taloa a day short of his 24th birthday. His mother, Agnes Bushfield resided in Rochester, New York. 

1st Lt. Rudolph Flanagin s/n O-821250

b. 22 November, 1924, d. 28 July, 1945

Rudolph “Rudy” Flanagin was the Co-Pilot and youngest crew member of Dubinsky’s Crew #49. Born in Texas (Denton?), his father, David, Sr., was a barber, his mother, Virdia, was a homemaker, and his brother David, Jr., served as a non-commissioned officer.  

Rudy Flanagin is buried today at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, located in Punchbowl Crater, Oahu, Hawaii, Plot P, grave one-thousand one-hundred thirteen. Virdia Flanagin learned that fact from a letter from the US Army dated 20 July, 1954. Still, she could never accept that her son was identified as dead.

Technical Sgt. Walter Piskor

b. 11 Aug, 1918, d. 28 July, 1945

From Willimantic, Windham, CT, Piskor served as the Engineer on the Taloa.

Sophia and Stanley Piskor were born in Poland, and immigrated to the United States and bore two children, Walter, and Ethel. In 1940, the Piskor parents lived in the third ward of Willimantic City, Connecticut, United States. The Piskors were both laborers in a cotton and silk mill; Walter was an aircraft machinist, born 11 August, 1918. Just at the end of the war, the bereaved Piskor family learned that B-24 Flight Engineer Technical Staff Sergeant Walter and his Taloa Co-pilot Lieutenant Rudy Flanagin were “missing in action in Japan”. The mothers shared letters of concern and hope for their sons’ survival. Later, they must have known that Walter and Rudy might be found together. Mrs. Piskor sent a photograph of their B-24 crew with Walter’s name written on the back.

Walter Piskor was buried in St. Joseph Cemetery in Willimantic.

Capt. Donald F. Marvin

b. 9 September, 1917, d. 28 July, 1945

In 1940, The U.S. Census listed Marvin as a Shearman at a Sheetmetal company near Cleveland, Ohio. His father, Charles, was born in Pennsylvania and resided in Cleveland, working as a taxi driver; his (remarried) mother, Laura Walsh, resided in the Geauga Lake area, today a suburb of Cleveland. 

The cheerful, buoyant, Don Marvin, one of the original pilots in the 494th Bombardment Group was the usual pilot of Taloa. One version of the story of his demise is that by late July, 1945, his crew was credited with 40 combat missions and were eligible to rotate back to the U.S. mainland. However, Marvin missed a mission that was assigned to his crew back in Angaur after he was injured playing (officiating) volleyball. Despite being told that he was cleared to return with his crew to the United States without completing any additional combat missions, Marvin insisted on participating in all of his credited 40 missions.  He chose the 28 July mission to fly aboard "his" Taloa as an observer. Lead Navigator for the 866th on that mission, Rolf Slen, wrote how surprised his squadron flight crew was when Marvin pitched his gear into the truck that would carry Joe Dubinsky's crew to Taloa early that morning––for the Haruna mission. It was a fateful decision. Capt. Marvin was one of the men who was unable to parachute from the Taloa before she crashed in Honshu, Japan, just west of Hiroshima.

A long-told back-story is that Marvin was unassigned but flew the Haruna mission so that he would complete 40 combat missions. It was an honorable, but fateful, and unfortunate decision, since none of the men aboard Taloa returned from the mission. Although he missed one of his crew’s previous missions due to an injury while officiating a volleyball game back on Palau, Marvin knew that he was not required to fly another combat mission and was cleared to return stateside for furlough or reassignment with the rest of his crew. This widely told story that explains why Marvin was aboard Taloa conflicts with an account provided by Dubinsky’s (half-)brother, Branko Stupar to 494th Bombardment Group historian, Dave Rogers. Stupar was a US Navy Officer who was given permission to fly with on Taloa as an observer. According to Stupar, he showed up to the briefing for the Haruna mission, but was bumped off by Marvin. Marvin was asked by a flight surgeon to fly as a relief pilot to Dubinsky, because Dubinsky had been diagnoses with a heart defect. There is some circumstantial evidence to support this account: subsequent 866th Formation Sheets show that Marvin’s crew did, in fact, fly subsequent combat missions. The Missing Air Crew Report that was filed for Taloa records Marvin’s role was “Observer”. That may have been a designation carried over from Stupar’s designation that day, or perhaps it indicated that Marvin was observing Dubinsky.