He engaged the Germans who
subsequently fled. Lt. Gilbride was awarded the
Silver Star for this action.
On 10 October, he was
assigned P-38H CY-L 42-67053, which he named "Vivacious
Vera", after his wife.
(Photo courtesy of
Russ Abbey,
www.55th.org)
Lt.
Gilbride was probably with the 55th when it
first came to England. He did not join in the
first two missions. He flew his first mission,
the 55th's 3rd, on 17 October 1943, which was a
sweep over the Dutch Islands.
After that
he flew on the following missions. On one, at
this time it is not known which, he won his
Silver Star.
19 October
1943 Sweep - Amiens Area
20 October 1943 Duren
24 October 1943 St. Andre L'Eure
3 November 1943 Wilhelmshaven
5 November 1943 Gelsenkirchen
7 November 1943 Sweep - Ostend-St. Omer Area
7 November 1943 Sweep - Lille Area
10 November 1943 Montdidier Airdrome
On 29
November 1943, he would fly his 10th mission, a
fighter escort to Bremen. It would be a bad day
for the 55th. Of the 7 P-38's that were lost
that day, the 55th lost 5. Lt. Gilbride was one
of them.
Capt. R.C.
Franklin, Jr. of Mojave, California, 343rd
Fighter Squadron reported: "On 29 December 1943,
my wingman, Lt. J.W. Gilbride, and myself
participated in an engagement in which Major
Joel, C.O. of the 38th Fighter Squadron, and his
wingman, Lt. Garvin, were lost and possibly this
statement might shed some light on their
disappearance.
"The main body of the group was proceeding
toward home when Major Joel was heard calling
for help from far behind us. Lt. Gilbride and I
turned back to help but it took several minutes
for us to reach the fight. As we drew near we
could see five P-38s engaged and each had from
one to three Me-109s on its tail. Just before we
went into the fight one P-38 rolled over and
went down with its left engine leaving a very
long and very heavy trail of black smoke and
with a 109 directly behind. As my wingman and I
flew into the middle of the engagement the E/A
were surprised into rolling away from the ships
they were attacking and we were all able to take
a heading for home. At this time there were four
P-38s left besides my wingman and myself. As we
started home we were followed by E/A and we
tried to out run them. One of the four P-38s ran
away from the rest and disappeared. The five of
us remaining were eventually caught by the E/A
and engaged again."
"After we saw the one P-38 go down smoking I did
not again recognize Major Joel's voice on the
radio. The five of us that later were engaged by
the pursuing E/A were, Capt. Ayers, Capt. Beaird,
Lt. Erickson, Lt. Gilbride and myself. On this
attack I lost one engine that had been going bad
and when I recovered the only other P-38 visible
in the area was piloted by Lt. Erickson. We came
out together."
Lt. Gilbride was last sighted by Capt. Franklin
at 14.40 approximately 10-15 miles west of
Meppel, The Netherlands. Lt. Gilbride had to
leave his stricken P-38. He jumped out of his
plane but his parachute failed to open. His
plane crashed near Koekange, the Netherlands.
After the
war, Lt. James Gilbride was buried at Camp
Butler National Cemetery, Illinois.
(Picture
courtesy of F. Birtciel via Russ Abbey,
55th.org)
(Photo courtesy of
BJJ, findagrave.com)
Camp Butler
National Cemetery,
New York
See Also:
All Casualties of the
55th
Fighter Group killed in the Netherlands or buried at Margraten
Sources and
Acknowledgements:
Mr. Russ Abbey (55th.org)
BJJ
Mrs. Diane Kessler
NARA AAD
Findagrave.com
Macr 1272
Directions to Camp
Butler National Cemetery
Posted 27
March 2009
If you have any suggestions, comments or
additional information, please
contact me.
This website is
dedicated to the men and women who died
and/or are buried in The Netherlands during
World War II.
Home |
Search |
Research |
About