https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/3787558/james-a-o_brien

Left Blister Gunner: 35371241James Andrew O'Brien SSgt INDIANA

Underwent B-29 aircraft operational training at Smoky Hill Army Air Field near Salina, Kansas.

31 March 1944: Deployed via Africa to the China-Burma-India (CBI) Theatre of Operations and was assigned to 20th Air Force, XX Bomber Command, 58th Bomb Wing, 468th Bombardment ("General Billy Mitchell") Group, 794th Bomber Squadron stationed at Kharagpur Airfield in the Bengal Province of India.

As part of "Operation Matterhorn" to bombard Japan, his B-29 aircraft flew over the Himalaya Mountain Range and logistically staged a bombing mission through Pengshan Airfield (A-7) near Chengdu, China.

On 20 August 1944, he flew in the left blister station as an Aerial Gunner aboard a Boeing B-29-15-BW (Boeing Wichita) Superfortress nicknamed "Calamity Sue" serial #42-6368 tail marking: Two Red Rudder Stripes.

Named in honor of the pilot's daughter (Susan Elyse), Calamity Sue was one of 75 aircraft launched in a multi-group formation to bombard the Imperial Iron and Steel Works at Yawata, Japan. While over the target area, the group formation was attacked by a band of Kawasaki Ki-45 "Nick" fighter planes.

His aircraft was hit by debris from the explosion of another B-29 ("Gertrude C" #42-6334) which had been rammed by one of the Japanese fighter planes. He was killed when his bomber crashed and burned in a forest within Fukuoka Prefecture on Kyushu Island, Japan.

MACR 9685

James A O'Brien