First Sergeant Gerald Sacre 17122357 KIA

First Sergeant Gerald Sacre 17122357 United States Army Air Corps. He was born on January 29, 1923. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Jess Sacre. He entered the service on October 23, 1942, at the age of 19. He received six months of training at Scott Field, Illinois . Then served as an instructor there for 2 years. he then had two months training at Hamilton Field, for radio and gunner . He went overseas as radioman on a plane. He served in New Guinea and Darwin, Australia. He was killed at Darwin Australia January 17, 1945, while coming back after a test flight at the age of 21. He had almost most finished all the required missions and would have been entitled to return to the states in a short time. He was buried with full military honors at Darwin, Australia. On January 17, 1945, B-24J-15-CO Liberator, #42-73134 “Milady”, of the 531st Bombardment Squadron of the 380th Bombardment Group crashed after take-off on the Cox Peninsula west of Darwin in the Northern Territory. All of the crew were killed in this tragic accident. Some remains of the wreckage of “Milady” can still be seen on Cox Peninsula today. The other men on the plane when it crashed were 2nd Lt. Bobby T. Neal, 2nd Lt. Walter E. Scanlon, Jr., 2nd Lt. William G. Ward, Jr., 2nd Lt. Richard W. Walsh, Sgt. Francisco Caballero.

 

Also if you would like to learn more about B-24J-15-CO Liberator, #42-73134 “Milady” here is an article about it from another website

https://wagait.nt.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/The-crash-of-the-Milady-January-17-1945-70-years-on-2015-Compiled-by-Jack-Ellis-Lorraine-Gardner-and-Jill-Mumme.pdf

 

 

 

 

1- LaPlata Missouri

2- La Plata Home Press Feb 8, 1945

3- https://aad.archives.gov/aad/record-detail.jsp?dt=893&mtch=1&cat=all&tf=F&q=Gerald+Sacre&bc=sl&rpp=10&pg=1&rid=1431350