McClellan, Walter Adell (Rick), TSgt #118307

The following excerpts were taken from TSgt McClellan’s obituary published in the Pensacola News Journal - Apr. 20, 2010:
TSGT Walter Adell (Rick) McClellan, US Army, 19, of Pensacola, FL, who was Missing In Action, and later declared Killed In Action on April 17, 1945, South of Dresden, Germany. On September 2, 2008 Adell's human remains were recovered from a grave in Burkhardswalde, Germany.

Adell was born on August 28, 1925 in St. Augustine, FL to Amy Elizabeth (Bessie) (Raley) and Robert Harry McClellan. At the age of 7, Adell and his family moved from St. Augustine to Pensacola, FL where he attended local schools. After high school he worked at the Pensacola Naval Station, before he joined the US Army.

During World War II, on April 17, 1945 TSGT McClellan was aboard a B-17G Flying Fortress named the "Towering Titan," which had departed Chelveston, England to bomb a rail depot and enemy marshalling yards in Dresden, Germany. Somewhere south-southwest of the target area the aircraft was struck and damaged by an enemy fighter, crashing south of Dresden. All eight crewmen were declared dead.
TSGT McClellan, was captured, interrogated and later executed by enemy forces and his remains were then buried.

Following the war, the US Army Graves Registration Command attempted to locate and recover the remains of the US personnel lost in Europe, increasing political tension with the Soviet Union precluded productive work in the Soviet-occupied areas.

On May 28, 2007 a German national living near Burkhardswalde contacted the JPAC to report the presence of a grave in the local church cemetery that bore the marker "hier ruht ein unbekannte alliierte Flieger" (here rest an unknown allied Flier). After JPAC reviewed the church register, the church records indicated that the grave held the remains of a 19-year-old American flyer who had parachuted from his aircraft, captured by German SS forces and taken to Burkhardswalde executed and buried in the town of Sportplatz. After the war, the remains were exhumed by the townspeople and reburied in the church cemetery. On September 2, 2008 a JPAC team recovery team traveled to the village of Burkhardswalde and exhumed the grave. The remains recovered were identified as TSGT Walter Adell McClellan.

At the time of his death his parents, Bessie (Raley) and Robert Harry McClellan (now deceased); two sisters, June McClellan Thomas (Joe) of Pensacola, FL, Ann McClellan Meyers (Charles) (both deceased); two brothers, Bob McClellan (Jeanetta) (both deceased), and Bill McClellan of Atlanta, GA, survived Adell. Also cherishing his memory today are five nieces, Elizabeth Meyers of Huntsville, AL, Kathy Martinez of Dallas, TX, Nancy Parker of Pensacola, FL, Judy Meyers of Pensacola, FL and Courtney McClellan of Atlanta, GA; six nephews, Joe Thomas, Jr. of Atlanta, GA, Ottis Thomas of Pensacola, Charles Meyers of Huntsville, AL William Meyers of Tampa, FL, Bret McClellan of Atlanta, GA and Julian McClellan of Atlanta, GA and other cousins.

A funeral cortege will depart Harper-Morris Memorial Chapel at 1:30pm Friday, April 23, 2010 for Graveside Services at 2:00pm at Barrancas National Cemetery with full military honors.
HARPER-MORRIS MEMORIAL CHAPEL is in charge of arrangements.

Additional information about T/Sgt McClellan:

He attended the Pensacola High School and worked in the R and A Department at the NAS Pensacoloa before enlisting in the Army Air Forces on 24 November 1943 at Camp Blanding, Florida (Enlistment Record).

After basic training, he as was sent for radio operator-mechanic training at the AAF radio school at the Sioux Falls Army Air Field, Sioux Falls, South Carolina in March 1944.  After the 20-week course, he was sent to Gulfport Mississippi, for an intensive, 3- month, training course for high altitude bombing, gunnery and navigation on a B-17.  overseas as a crewman replacement to    366th Bomb Squadron, 305th Bomb Group stationed at Chelveston, England (Newspapers, Gulfport; Newspapers, Radio). It is not certain when he got to England, probably by September 1944.

The 305th was activated on 1 March 1942 and deployed to England in September 1942 as part of the 8th Air Force.  On 27 January 1943, the group participated on the first raid on Germany.  It received two Distinguished Unit Citations; in April 1943 for an industrial strike on Pairs and on 11 January 1944 for withstanding severe opposition to bombing aircraft factories in central Germany (305thOperations).

The aircraft came down southwest of the target, in Brux (Most), Czechoslovakia.

It was reported that TSgt. McClellan was captured, interrogated, possibly tortured, and shot by the SS. He was buried in Burkhardswalde, Germany in a local church cemetery bearing the marker "Hier ruht ein unbekannte alliierte Flieger" (here rests an unknown allied Flier).

Crew lost:
2nd Lt. Brainard E. Harris, pilot (Lithia, Florida)
2nd Lt. Earl H. Boyd, co-pilot (Venice, California)
2nd Lt. Herman R. Spurrier, navigator (West Los Angeles, California)
SSgt. Earl A. Leese, bombardier (Saint Louis, Missouri)
SSgt. Louis M. Daybrook, top turret gunner (Aurora, Illinois)
TSgt. Walter A. McClellan, radio operator-gunner
SSgt. Samuel H. Williams, ball turret gunner (Pittsburg, Pennsylvania)
Sgt. Edward Ganschow, tail gunner (Saginaw, Michigan)
(MACR 14172, Towering Titan, Aircrew Remembered)

Technical Sergeant Walter Adell McClellan gave his life in service to his country and should be remembered for his sacrifice and dedication to duty.  Today, he rests in the Barrancas National Cemetery in Pensacola, Florida, in Plot 51 0 57 (Find-a-Grave Barrancas).  A cenotaph for him is in the Evergreen Memorial Gardens in Panama City, FL (Find-a-Grave Evergreen).

A memorial to all of those lost with the 305th Bomb Group was completed in 2007 in Chelveston (Memorial).

Sources:
United States Federal Census 1930 - McClellan Family
United States Federal Census 1940 - McClellan Family
https://www.fold3.com/record/88357462/walter-a-mccellan-wwii-army-enlistment-records
Newspapers, Pensacola News Journal, 12 March 1944, Training as Radio Operator Mechanic
Newspapers, Pensacola News Journal, 19 Nov 1944; Reported at Gulfport
http://www.fortwiki.com/Gulfport_Army_Air_Field
Army Air Corps Museum, 305th Bomb Group
305th Operations Group, WWII History
B-17, 43-38085, Towering Titan
Missing Air Crew Report 14172
Aircrew Remembered, Harris, Brainard, Pilot
Memorial to the 305th Bomb Group
Newspapers, Pensacola News Journal, 18 April 2010; Obituary

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/51303482/walter-adell-mcclellan - Barrancas National Cemetery

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/31982900/walter-adele-mcclellan - Evergreen Memorial Gardens

https://www.fold3.com/memorial/529864318/walter-a-mcclellan

https://www.fold3.com/memorial/637461025/mcclellan-walter-adell-rick-tsgt/stories

https://www.fold3.com/memorial/637407546/mcclellan-walter-adell-tsgt

SBTS Project/Florida/Escambia

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 421,000+ of the US WWII fallen saved on Together We Served and Fold3. Can you help write these stories? These stories will be accessible via smartphone app at any war memorial or cemetery. "If you noticed anything erroneous in this profile or have additional information to contribute to it, please contact me at jeoberho8@gmail.com.

Added by: Jack Oberholtzer (SBTS Historian)