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| Sgt. Gerald Gillies was a tail gunner on the B-17 Chow-Hound. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/63237729/gerald-franklin-gillies http://www.americanairmuseum.com/aircraft/5455 |
Gerald Franklin Gillies never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on July 11, 1919 in Altoona, Kansas. His parents Frank and Abigail were born in Arkansas and Kansas, respectively. His father worked as an express wagon driver and later as a gasoline filling station attendant. Gerald had two younger brothers and two younger sisters. By 1940 Gerald was stilling living at home. He had completed four years of high school and was working as a shipping clerk.
He was drafted into the army on August 27, 1943. He then volunteered for the Army Air Forces and became a sergeant and tail gunner in the 322nd Bombardment Squadron, 91st Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force.
On August 8, 1944 the 322nd Bombardment Squadron was assigned a mission of carpet bombing German front line troops in Normandy, a mere 1,000 yards in front of Canadian troops ready to break through their shattered remains. The plane nicknamed Chow-Hound did not return and all of the crew were reported as missing in action. It was later discovered that a flak shell blew the fuselage in half and the bomber crashed south of Alencon, France. Nine men were killed, including Sgt. Gillies. The navigator may have survived as a prisoner of war.
His grave is at Fredonia City Cemetery in Fredonia, Kansas.
Last year on this date I profiled another B-17 tail gunner, Peter Mrjenovich. You can read about Peter here.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
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