https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt0000000ccYdEAI

On August 10, 1944, a B-24J Liberator (serial number 44-40571) took off from Mokerang Airdrome, Los Negros Island, on a combat mission to targets on Yap Island. Carrying eleven crew members, the plane reached the target area and dropped its bombs. Upon leaving the target area, other aircraft in the formation could not establish reliable radio contact with the B-24, and the plane did not return to Mokerang. Further reports indicate the plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire and crashed as a result. Search and rescue efforts to locate the crash site or crew following the mission were unsuccessful. According to Japanese reports, two crew members who parachuted out of the aircraft and onto a reef near Yap Island were taken prisoner and transferred them to a prison camp in Luzon, Philippines; however, the two men could not be located following the war. The other nine crew members are believed to have crashed with the aircraft.

Technical Sergeant Richard J. O'Brien, who joined the U.S. Army Air Forces from Pennsylvania, served with the 371st Bombardment Squadron, 307th Bombardment Group (Heavy). He was the radio operator aboard the B-24 that disappeared after dropping its bombs on Yap Island. His remains have not been recovered. Today, Technical Sergeant O'Brien is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.

Based on all information available, DPAA assessed the individual's case to be in the analytical category of Active Pursuit.

Richard J O'Brien