25th Bombardment Squadron/40th Bombardment Group Boeing B-29-5-BW Superfortress 42-6281 <i>20th CENTURY UNLIMITED</i> (called <i>Heavenly Body</i> before) at Hsinching Airfield (A-1), China, advanced China Base of the 40th Bomb Group after completion of a raid on Anshan, Manchuria. Mission #4, 29 July 1944. Aircraft was lost on 25 October 1944. While returning from a mission to Omura, she was abandoned due to battle damage. All 11 crewmen (including pilot Jack Ledford) escaped, though flight engineer Harry Miller perished when he reached the ground. Over Omura, Miller and Ledford were wounded. Miller suffered head wounds and was unconscious, though he was a great and loved man. The surviving crewmen named their next aircraft after Miller.
<p>Back row, left to right:
2nd Lt. William L. Gardner, Metamora, Ind, bombardier
1st Lt. Jamez V. Decoster, Portland, Oregon, oo-pilot
Capt. Jack C. Ledford, Zanesville, Ohio, pilot
M/Sgt. Harry E, Miller, Denver, Colo., flight engineer
2nd Lt. Harold T. Oblender, Lancaster, Pa., navigator
Front row, left to right:
Sgt. Gilbert H. Rodencol, Berlin, Wisc., radar operator
Sgt. Thomas A. Clark, Los Angeles Calif., senior gunner
S/Sgt. Charles D. Bacon, New Castle, Pa., right gunner
S/Sgt. D..L. McCullough, Webb City, Mo., radio man
S/Sgt. Russell F. Elwell, Suncook, N.H., left gunner
</p>
T/Sgt. Enrico Pisterzi, Arvados, Colo,, tail gunner
United States Army Air Forces
1944
US National Archives via <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://www.40thbombgroup.org/Schutte2.htm">http://www.40thbombgroup.org/Schutte2.htm</a>