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| Sgt. James Fitzgerald was B-29 waist gunner in the 505th Bombardment Group. He became a POW in Japan. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/94941758/james-m-fitzgerald https://www.pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/b-29/42-24809.html |
James Michaud Fitzgerald never had a chance to reach 100 years old. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
I began this project on January 1, 2017. It will conclude on September 2, 2020, the 75th anniversary of the end of World War 2. During the intervening time, a different fallen serviceman was profiled every day on his 100th birthday. I have decided to round out the project by profiling one of the fallen born between December 7, 1916 and December 31, 1916. This will result in one of the fallen being profiled for every day America was engaged in World War 2. The total will be 1,366 men and women. That's enough for only 13 stars out of the 4,048 on the Freedom Wall of the World War II Memorial.
James was born on December 9, 1916 in Augusta, Maine. His parents James and Agnes were born in Massachusetts and French speaking Canada, respectively. His paternal grandparents were from Ireland. His father worked as a shoe factory treer and later as a shoe maker. James had a younger brother and sister. By 1940 James was still living at home. He had completed two years of high school and was a shoe factory foreman. He married Claire Buckley in June 1941.
He was drafted into the army on July 9, 1943, after which he volunteered for the Army Air Forces. He became a sergeant in the 482nd Bombardment Squadron, 505th Bombardment Group, 21st Air Force, which was equipped with B-29 Superfortresses.
The 505th BG arrived in the Pacific in late 1944 and started flying bombing missions out of Tinian in February 1945.
On June 5, 1945, Sgt. Fitzgerald was a waist gunner on the B-29 Indian Maid 42-24809. Taking off from Tinian, it was part of a massive 473 bomber mission to drop incendiaries on Kobe. Before it reached the bomb run, Indian Maid was shot down by either AA fire or a Japanese fighter. Five of the crew went down with the bomber, but six got out, including Sgt. Fitzgerald, and taken prisoner by the local military police. On July 21, 1945, Sgt. Fitzgerald and the other waist gunner Harvey Kennedy were taken to the Shinodayama Military Parade Ground near Osaka and executed. The remaining four crewmen, "died of disease" in less than three weeks, as reported by the Japanese Army.
His grave is at Saint Mary's Cemetery in Manchester, Maine. His widow never remarried and died in 2006. Their names share a common headstone for the Fitzgerald family.
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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