Memorial

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1st Lt Edward F. Riley Jr. graduated from La Salle Academy. He was employed by Brooklyn Edison Company.
He joined the New York National Guard in June 1939.
The mission was a secret supply & personnel drop near Linz, Austria. Target was reached and contents of plane dropped according to schedule. Seven minutes (20 miles) south of Linz, Austria on the return trip to base the plane was attacked by a night fighter. The fighter made one pass from below firing rockets, small cannon and machine guns. First blast set plane (B-24) afire in nose and flight deck. It probably killed crew members on flight deck as plane immediately went out of control.
Four men bailed out successfully before the plane exploded in midair. Was told by Germans that plane crashed and bodies of four men had been found with men killed included.
The investigation revealed that laborers, under the direction of German soldiers, had buried the four victims were they fell, in three separate graves, on the afternoon of 26 April, 1945. Graves were marked with wooden crosses. A grave containing two victims was marked "2 American flyers fallen 26 April 1945." Two other graves were nearby. The wreckage of the plane was scattered over a 1 square mile area. The fuselage was located bearing the number 295131 which was Mag Drop's tail number. The report contains a hand drawn map of the crash site including the locations of the graves and wreckage.