SSGT. William B. Brezee was an Aerial Engineer with the 12th Air Force; 57th Bombardment Wing; 310th Bombardment Group; 379th Bombardment Squadron; stationed in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations (MTO).

His Hometown was Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon.

Sunday, 10 October 1943
379th BS: Extracts from Missing Air Crew Report # 1102:

A/C B-25; Serial No. 42-64510; MACR-1102 - missing on Ferry mission;
the MACR and other documents incorrectly identifies the ship as 42-6451;
P Hastings, Herbert L., 1Lt - MIA, DED
CP Lobdell, Ray B., 2Lt - MIA, DED
N None
B None
E Brezee, William B., S/Sgt - MIA, DED
PAX Stoneburner, Lewis T., Capt, surgeon, 45th Gen Hospital - MIA, DED
PAX Todorovich, Steve (NMI), 1Lt, EOD, 235th Explosive Ordnance Bomb Disposal Co. - MIA, DED
PAX Dillon, Frederick H., Capt, EOD, 235th Explosive Ordnance Bomb Disposal Co. - MIA, DED

A message from Algiers to WAR, routine casualty report no. 26121 Nov 43 reported Lt. Hastings and Lobdell and Sgt Brezee as missing non battle casualties. The report further stated that they were members of the 379th Bombardment Squadron, 310th Bombardment Group and that they were missing as of 10 Oct 43 after take off from Algiers, enroute to Tunis on a routine ferry mission. The plane was unreported enroute and not heard from since. They were on Flying Pay status at the time they became missing.

Missing Air Crew Report 1102, 27 October 43 reported that Lt. Hastings and Lobdell and Sgt. Brezee the complete crew of a B-25 aircraft departed from Algiers on routine Ferry mission to Tunis 10 Oct 43.

A message from Algiers 23 Nov. 43 reported Capt. Dillon and Lt. Todorovich both members of the 235th Bomb Disposal Co. had been missing since 10 Oct 43 under unknown circumstances.

A message from Algiers 31 Dec. 43 reported that Capt. Stoneburner, Medical Corps, 45th Gen Hospital was a passenger not in flying status on an authorized mission aboard the aircraft piloted by Lt. Hastings, who with two (2) crew members was reported missing on route from Algiers to Tunis 10 Oct 43, and that two additional passengers, namely Capt Dillon and Lt. Todorovich were aboard the plane. The plane was not seen or heard from again.

++++++++++
AG 704 - Dead (11 Oct 44)
11 October 1944

MEMORANDUM FOR: Chief, Casualty Branch.

SUBJECT: Determination of Status under Public Law 490, as amended.

1. - FACTS

1. The following-named personnel have been carried on the records of this office as missing since 10 October 1943:

Name ASN Grade
Dillon, Frederick H. 0-1548195 Captain
Stoneburner, Lewis T., III 0-402641 Captain
Hastings, Herbert L. 0-668003 First Lieutenant
Todorovich, Steve 0-1550517 First Lieutenant
Lobdell, Ray B. 0-738427 Second Lieutenant
Brezee, William B. 19,004,906 Staff Sergeant

2. A message from Algiers to WAR, routine casualty report number 261, dated 21 November 1943, reported three of the above-named personnel, namely: Lieutenants Hastings and Lobdell, and Sergeant Brezee, as missing, non-battle casualties. The report further stated that they were members of the 379th Bombardment Squadron, 310th Bombardment Group, and that they were missing as of 10 October 1943, after take off from Algiers, enroute to Tunis on a routine ferry mission. The plane was unreported enroute and not heard from since. They were on flying pay status at the time they became missing.

3. Missing Air Crew Report AAF No. 1102, dated 27 October 1943, reported that Lieutenants Hastings and Lobdell, and Sergeant Brezee, the complete crew of a B-25 aircraft, number 42-6451, departed from Algiers on a routine ferry mission to Tunis on 10 October 1943. The plane was not reported enroute and nothing was known of the circumstances of its disappearance. This report stated that there were no passengers on this plane. A covering memorandum, dated 28 October 1943, is attached to the Missing Air Crew Report. This memorandum is from the 310th Bombardment Group to the Commanding General, 47th Wing, and states that “Higher Headquarters were notified immediately of the plane’s failure to reach Tunis on schedule.”

4. A message from Algiers to WAR, routine casualty report number 270, dated 23 November 1943, reported that Captain Dillon and Lieutenant Todorovich, both members of the 235th Bomb Disposal Company, had been missing since 10 October 1943 under unknown circumstances. The message further stated that these officers departed from Algiers on 10 October 1943 to rejoin their unit in Italy; that travel by aircraft or surface vessel was authorized; and that they never rejoined their unit and no trace of them had been found.

5. A message from Algiers to WAR, casualty report number 427, dated 31 December 1943, reported that Captain Stoneburner, Medical Corps, assigned to the 45th General Hospital, was a passenger, not in flying pay status, on an authorized mission, aboard the aircraft piloted by Lieutenant Hastings who, with two crew members, was reported missing enroute from Algiers to Tunis on 10 October 1943; and that two additional passengers, namely, Captain Dillon and Lieutenant Todorovich, were aboard the plane.

6. The AG 201 file of Lieutenant Hastings contains a first wrapper Indorsement, dated 13 January 1944, forwarded by Headquarters, Twelfth Air Force, to the Commanding General, North African Theater Of Operations, in compliance with the provisions of Circular 233, NATOUSA, 1943. This Indorsement states:

“2. Inasmuch as Lt Hastings incurred ‘missing’ status on an unescorted flight, there is no available information other than he took-off on 10 Oct 43 from Maison Blanche, Algeria, on a routine ferry mission to Tunis Tunisia. His plane was not seen or heard from again.”

7. In the AG 201 files of Captain Dillon and Lieutenant Todorovich are copies of a first wrapper Indorsement from the 142nd Ordnance Bomb Disposal Squad, to the Adjutant General’s Office, North African Theater of Operations, dated 15 May 1944. This Indorsement reads, in part, as follows:

“a. On 8 October 1943 officer concerned left Palermo, Sicily
by M/a on T/D, for approximately 3 days. * * *

“b. On 10 Oct 43 officer departed Algiers by m/a for Bizerte.

“c. Investigation conducted by Provost Marshal General
NATOUSA reveals aircraft missing on operational flight.

“d. Organization authorized by NATOUSA to drop officer
from rolls as missing.”

8. In response to an inquiry from the Adjutant General’s Office for all available information concerning the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of Captain Stoneburner, a message from Algiers to WAR, W-159, dated 14 January 1944, was received in this office. This message stated that the only information available concerning Captain Stoneburner revealed that he was a passenger on aircraft number 4264510, piloted by Lieutenant Hastings, which took off on 10 October 1943, on an operational flight to Tunis from Maison Blanche, Algeria, and had not been heard from since and that a search was conducted with negative results.

9. The AG 201 file of Captain Stoneburner contains a letter, dated 4 February 1944, from Colonel Perrin H. Long, Medical Corps, Office of the Surgeon, Headquarters North African Theater of Operations, addressed to Captain Stoneburner’s father. This letter explains the lapse of time between the date when Captain Stoneburner became missing and the date when he was first reported as missing, almost three months later. The following statements are extracted from the letter:

“ * * * Lewis had done such good work * * * that I asked the Surgeon, NATOUSA, if he might not be attached to my division to help me with certain problems.
“ * * * This work entailed visiting all the hospitals in this theater. * * * he decided to start off to visit the remainder of the hospitals on or about the 10th of October.

“It was estimated that it would take about 10 weeks to finish up his mission and when we talked it over he asked me if I wanted him to write to me, and I told him no, * * * * that I would be in and out of the office while he was gone, and if he did write, my answers would probably not catch up with him, because he would be moving about.

“ * * * About a month later I went to Italy and did not return to my office until just before Christmas. When Christmas passed and Lewis had not returned, I began to wonder where he was, but not wishing it to appear as though I was checking up on him, I did nothing until about the 30th of December, when I put out discreet inquiries. Upon the next day our office was queried by the casualty section as to whether or not we had a Captain Stoneburner attached to our organization because they had information that he had been aboard a plane which had been missing since October 10th.

“My own information is as follows: Upon the 10th of October Lewis went to the airport with his ticket and priority, but when the transport plane’s passenger list was made out, he found that his priority was of such a grade that it did not stand up * * * Wishing to get away that day he went around * * to operations and found that an operational flight was going where he wanted to go, and that he could ‘hitch’ a ride on this plane. Upon such flights ‘hitch hiking’ passengers names are sometimes not put on the manifest of the flight. The flight which he went out on was never reported again and is now officially listed as missing. It was definitely know however in the final check up on this flight that he was on it.”

10. The AG 201 files and the Casualty Branch files of the officers and enlisted man named in paragraph 1 were carefully examined, but not information of value in this review, other than that set forth above, was found.

11. The Memorial Division, OQMG, and the Prisoner of War Bureau, PMGO, were requested to furnish any information available in their files on these persons. Both replied that they had no record of any of these officers or the enlisted man. The Officers’ Branch, AGO, in reply to a similar request in the cases of the officers, stated that the latest reports in that office showed them as missing.

12. There is no report or record showing that any of these officers or the enlisted man are prisoners of war or internees, or that they have returned to duty.

II. - CONCLUSIONS

1. This case concerns five officers and one enlisted man who became missing on an unescorted routine flight from Algiers, Algeria, to Tunis, Tunisia, on 10 October 1943. Two of the officers and the enlisted man were members of the crew of the plane. The other three officers were passengers.

2. Algiers is on the north coast of Africa and Tunis is about 500 miles to the east, also on the coast. The course of the flight was due east over territory which was under control of Allied forces. Any attempt to state what happened to this plane and the men it carried would be based on pure conjecture, inasmuch as the plane was not contacted after it left Algiers, and a search failed to reveal any trace of it.

3. Twelve months have elapsed since the time when these officers and enlisted men were reported missing. If they were alive, some information concerning them should have been received. The absence of such information, together with the facts surrounding their disappearance, leads to the conclusion that they may not reasonably be presumed to be living.

III. - RECOMMENDATION

It is recommended that findings of death be made in the cases of the officers and enlisted man named in paragraph 1, Part 1, hereof, and that these findings show the presumed date of death as 11 October 1944.

/i/ D.H.C
DORIS H. CUILLIER
Investigator, Status Review and Determination Section.

/i/ D.P.R.
/i/ D.P.P. DAVID P. RICHARDSON
CONCURRED IN: DANIEL P. POTEET Captain, A.G.D., Colonel, A.G.D., Status Review and Officer in Charge, Determination Section Status Review and Determination Section.

APPROVED:

/i/ GFH
GEORGE F. HERRERT, Colonel, A.G.D.,
Chief, Casualty Branch.

William B Brezee