Flight Officer & Navigator Abrham Elhai

US Army Air Force, 390th Bomb Group (H), 571st Squadron

On November 30, 1944, the B-17 bomber (No. 4437519) known as “Da Joker” left Framlingham, Suffolk, England, and flew towards its target – the Leuna Oil Refinery in Merseburg, Germany. Among the crew on board was 23-year old Flight Officer and Navigator Abraham Elhai (Serial No. T-127651), from Brooklyn, New York. It was his 18th combat mission.

The factories and refineries at Meresburg were part of Germany’s synthetic fuel industry. The area, a major target for the Allies, was one of the most protected. But destruction of the refinery and subsequent loss of refined petroleum products would help defeat the Nazis. As “Da Joker” approached this important target, it was hit by anti-aircraft fire. Since it was still carrying a full load of bombs when it crashed, “Da Joker” exploded on impact.

“The last time I saw F/O Elhai, he was okay, and was fastening his parachute,” wrote 2nd Lt. Herbert Gates in Missing Air Crew Report (MACR) No. 11133. “He and I were in the nose of the ship as it began breaking away from the rest of the ship….I did not see Elhai again.”

Surviving members of “Da Joker’s” crew hoped that Abraham had survived. When 2nd Lt. Gates reunited with Staff Sergeant William Long and Sergeant Bruce Greeno at a transit POW camp in Wetzler, Germany, Elhai was unaccounted for. But the one-page casualty questionnaire on Abraham Elhai included in MACR No. 11133 states that it is not known if he bailed out: “Either he jumped and was captured, killed and buried in unknown grave, or has lost memory, or was burned up completely.”

Beginning in April 1946, the Elhai family made several inquiries about Abraham’s status with the National Jewish Welfare Board’s Bureau of War Records (BWR). During World War II, the BWR attempted to document the role of the more than 550,000 Jewish-American service personnel.

Abraham Elhai was one of those service personnel. He had been born on 10 November 1922 in Manhattan, New York City, to Isaac Elhai and Molly Benson, who were originally from Greece. He had a younger sister Elaine. The family eventually moved to Brooklyn, Kings County, New York, and that is where, on 30 June 1942, 19-year old Abraham registered for the draft.

On his Draft Registration Card, Abraham recorded his birth date as 15 November 1922. The 5 feet, 10 inches tall young man weighed 155 pounds, had brown eyes, black hair, and a dark complexion. A family photo shows he had a wonderful smile. His home address was recorded as 5810 21st Avenue, Brooklyn, New York.

While the details of Abraham’s final moments are not known, records show that his family eventually learned the sad news that his status was determined to be “Finding of Death (FOD).” In the absence of a recovered body, soldiers were determined to be dead under Public Law 490 if, after at least one year from time of disappearance, there was either conclusive proof the person was dead or overwhelming evidence the person could not have remained alive.

In October 1948, the family received permission to erect a tombstone in Mt. Hebron Cemetery in Flushing, Queens County, New York. Flight Officer Abraham Elhai – a recipient of the U.S. Army Air Medal for meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight – is remembered there at Grave No. 4, Line No. 12, Lot 264, Block No. 110.

_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 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold 3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen’s name and read his/her story.

++SOURCES++

https://archives.cjh.org. “National Jewish Welfare Board Bureau of War Records.”
www.ancestry.com. “1922 Index of Births, Manhattan, New York City;” “Draft Registration Card for Abraham Elhai;” “Photo of Abraham Elhai,” "Index Image, Find a Grave, Abraham Elhai."
https://dmna.ny.gov/historic/reglist. New York State Military Museum & Veterans Research Center. “Elhai, Abraham, Flight Liaison Officer, Kings County,” Notation indicates “Finding of Death.”
www.familysearch.org. “Abraham Elhai: United States World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946.”
www.fold3.com. “Individual Casualty Questionnaire, Elhai, Abraham (NMI)” and “Casualty Questionnaire completed by 2nd Lt. Herbert B. Gates, pages 1-2,” included in Missing Air Crew Report (MACR) No. 11133.
www.withmilitaryhonors.com. “List of Dead and Missing, State of New York,” page 46. Published by War Department, June 1946. Notation indicates “Finding of Death.”
www.newspapers.com. “Additional Heroes’ Names for Brooklyn War Memorial,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 12 December 1950.
www.warfarehistorynetwork.com. “390th Bomb Group’s Risky Run Over Merseburg,” by Milton J. Eliot III. Published online 11 August 2015. Background information on the 390th Bomb Group and its 30 November 1944 combat mission over Merseburg.
www.wikipedia.org. “National Jewish Welfare Board,” Photo of Army Air Medal.

Abraham Elhai.jpg

Army Air Medal

Abraham Elhai - Back of 1942 Draft Registration Card

Abraham Elhai - Front of 1942 Draft Registration Card

STORIES ABOUT OTHER "DA JOKER" CREW MEMBERS:

**Edwin C. Booth, Jr., **https://www.fold3.com/page/653605815-1lt-edwin-c-booth-jr
**John E. Walsh, **https://www.fold3.com/page/653605487-john-e-walsh
**Quentin L. Davidson, **https://www.fold3.com/page/653605609-the-last-flight-of-da-joker
**Joseph D. Jackson, **https://www.fold3.com/page/653605608-sgt-joseph-d-jackson