Missing information?

Do you have any additional information you would like to share about a soldier?

Submit

Personal info

Full name
WELLS, Millard Chandler Jr
Date of birth
18 September 1922
Age
21
Place of birth
Bourbon County, Kentucky
Hometown
Georgetown, Scott County, Kentucky

Military service

Service number
O-808625
Rank
Second Lieutenant
Function
Co-Pilot
Unit
856th Bombardment Squadron,
492nd Bombardment Group, Heavy
Awards
Purple Heart,
Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster

Death

Status
Killed in Action
Date of death
7 July 1944
Place of death
Westeregeln, Germany

Grave

Cemetery
American War Cemetery Henri-Chapelle
Tablets of the Missing
* This soldier has been accounted for. A rosette has been placed next to his name.

Immediate family

Members
Millard C. Wells (father)
Ava A. (Dotson) Wells (mother)
Paul G. Wells (brother)
Hugh E. Wells (brother)
Melissa Wells (sister)
William D. Wells (brother)
Marjory L. Wells (wife)
Wayne Wells (son)

Plane data

Serial number
44-40145
Data
Type: B-24J
Destination: Bernburg, Germany
Mission: Bombing of the Junkers-Zweigwerke aircraft factory
MACR: 7231

More information

2nd Lt Millard C. Wells Jr. was a farmer before he joined the Air Corps of the U.S. Army Reserve in Lexington, Kentucky on 4 May 1942.

On the way back from the mission, the Luftwaffe caught the Group without any fighter protection. The 492nd lost a dozen of their planes.

The initial MIA report thought the crew might had gone down in the Baltic Sea. Later reports suspected they had gone down in the North Sea. Almost sixty years later the wreckage was discovered near the initial battle zone.

The excavated remains of the crew were sent to Hawaii for DNA identification. Evereyone in the crew was positively identified except for S/Sgt Cotey. However his ring and dogtags were found in the wreckage and forensies were able to conclude his remains are among the parts from which DNA could not be extracted.
Leonard Ray was buried in Maryland on 5 October 2007. Robert Flood was buried in Pennsylvania on the following day. Hyman Stiglitz was buried on 28 December 2007 in Tucson, Arizona. The other four identified through DNA were buried at Arlington on 12 June 2008 along with a mass buriel for the entire crew which contains all of the remains that could not be identified.

Source of information: Raf Dyckmans, Peter Schouteten, 492ndbombgroup.com, MACR 7231, Sue

Photo source: Michel Beckers, 492ndbombgroup.com, Sue, Peter Schouteten