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A complete group of medals, uniforms, photos, certificates, badges and many more items to an aeriel gunner andengineerwho served on a B-42 Liberator with the 7th bomb group and who was shot down over Burma and taken prisoner by the Japanese.
The collection are belonged to Tyman Wells.
He joined to Army Air Corps in November 1942 aged 20.
He wasassignedas theengineerand aeriel gunner on a B-24. He and his crewdeparted the United Stated and stopped in South America, The Ascension Islands, Nigeria, Khartoum, Iraq, Agra and then finally to Pendeveswar below Calcutta in India.
He was the engineer and aeriel gunner on B-24 number 42-73435.
The crew wasassignedto the 9th Bomb Squadron 7th Bomb Group and 10th Air Force.
From Penseveswar Wells and his crew flew 26 missions over Burmasupportingthe British in their efforts to hold back the Japanese.
However, on 4th April 1944, Wells B-24 was shot down over Burma with Wells being injured by flack.
The plane was one of three planes on a strike mission again the rail line between Rangoon, Burma and Bangkok, Siam. The plane had dropped two bombs on their first bomb run when they were hit by ground fire. The plane hit the ground and exploded. Only three members of the crew including Tyman Wells and Lieutenant Gene Gambale managed to bail out of the aircraft just before it hit the ground.
The pilot was Warren R Kauffman who was killed.
Warren Kauffman and the other seven members of the crew who were killed were re-interned at Arlington Cemetery after the war.
Please see:
and
The three members of the eleven man crew who survivedand who were bailed out were taken prisoner of war by the Japanese the next day.
They were interned at Rangoon in Burma.
One of the other survivors was Lt Gene Gambale thebombardierof B-24 J- 42-73435.
This link gives some details as to what happened to their aircraft during the mission, where it was operating, and what happened when it was shot down:
Sadly Lieut Gambale was killed by the Japanese prisoner guards in Rangoon prison in August 1944.
More than 5,000 men wereimprisonedin Rangoon When the Japanese started to withdraw only 400 prisoners were left and they were taken on a forced march towards China.
On 29th April 1945 the marching prisoners had made it 20 miles to Pegu rail junction and were marchedstraightinto a tank battle between the Japanese and the British 14th Army under Lord Mountbatton. The British won the battle and Wells was freed but hospitalised.
Upon his return to the US he was honourably discharged on 3rd October 1945. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross with Oak Cluster, the Asiatic Pacific campaign medal with two battle stars, the AirMedal, the Purple Heart (for injuries caused by flak wounds in his left foot), The POW Medal, the Aviation Badge Air Crew and the marksman badge Air to Air Gunnery.
10 years later Wells rejoined the United States Air Force and he served with the Air Force Audit Agency and was honourably discharged in 1978 as a senior master sergeant.
He lived for most of the remainder of his life in Norfolk, England with his wife. He continued to work as the document controlclerkat the 81st supply squadron.
The group includes two service jackets with full medal ribbon bars and all insignia, badges etc, a box of medal ribbons and additional badges, his funeral Stars and Stripes in a wooden box, three service shirts, two pairs ofservicetrousers, all his medals and awards in their original boxes, photos of Wells and his crew (each person named on the reverse), a newspaper clipping confirming that Wells was missing in action, servicephotos, personal photos and albums, photo negatives, certificates from before, during and after the Second World War and many many other items.This is alarge and personalcollection of items and the weight of the collection is circa 20kg.
Internationalpostagecosts is based on UPS Express Saver.
Please let me know if you need any additional photos or details.
Please see my other listings of British and foreign medals and awards.
Thanks and kind regards
