In June 1944 an American pilot held his crippled B-24 in the air long enough for 7 men to parachute to safety.
Then his plane went into a power dive and crashed into an English farm.
His body lay 20 feet underground for 79 years.
In 2023 they found him. They buried him at Arlington.
This is the story of William Montgomery..🧵1/5
🧵 2/5
William Baily Montgomery was born in 1919 in Ford City, Pennsylvania. A small steel town along the Allegheny River.
He was a football star at Washington and Jefferson College where he captained both the football and track teams. He pledged Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. He stood almost six feet tall and weighed around 190 pounds.
After graduation in 1942 he enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces. He earned his pilot wings and his lieutenant's bars. He was assigned to fly the B-24 Liberator, one of the main American heavy bombers of the war.
By the spring of 1944 he had crossed the Atlantic and was stationed at RAF Halesworth in Suffolk, England.
He flew with the 844th Bombardment Squadron of the 489th Bombardment Group. Eighth Air Force.
He was 24 years old.
William Baily Montgomery was born in 1919 in Ford City, Pennsylvania. A small steel town along the Allegheny River.
He was a football star at Washington and Jefferson College where he captained both the football and track teams. He pledged Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. He stood almost six feet tall and weighed around 190 pounds.
After graduation in 1942 he enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces. He earned his pilot wings and his lieutenant's bars. He was assigned to fly the B-24 Liberator, one of the main American heavy bombers of the war.
By the spring of 1944 he had crossed the Atlantic and was stationed at RAF Halesworth in Suffolk, England.
He flew with the 844th Bombardment Squadron of the 489th Bombardment Group. Eighth Air Force.
He was 24 years old.
🧵 3/5
June 22 1944. Two weeks after D-Day.
Lieutenant Montgomery took off from Halesworth at the controls of a B-24H Liberator with a crew of 10. Their target was a German airfield at Saint-Cyr-l'École, just outside Paris near the Palace of Versailles.
They dropped their bombs on the target.
Then German anti-aircraft fire tore through the bomber.
The bomber's controls were badly damaged. Montgomery was left with only one rudder and one elevator. The fuel system was hit. The aircraft began losing altitude.
He had a choice.
He could order his crew to bail out over occupied France where they would be captured or killed.
Or he could try to nurse the dying bomber across the English Channel and give his men a chance to parachute over friendly territory.
He chose the Channel.
Somehow he kept the Liberator in the air for the next 100 miles. Over Paris. Over Normandy. Across the open water.
The English coast finally appeared ahead through his windscreen.
He gave the order.
Prepare to bail out.
June 22 1944. Two weeks after D-Day.
Lieutenant Montgomery took off from Halesworth at the controls of a B-24H Liberator with a crew of 10. Their target was a German airfield at Saint-Cyr-l'École, just outside Paris near the Palace of Versailles.
They dropped their bombs on the target.
Then German anti-aircraft fire tore through the bomber.
The bomber's controls were badly damaged. Montgomery was left with only one rudder and one elevator. The fuel system was hit. The aircraft began losing altitude.
He had a choice.
He could order his crew to bail out over occupied France where they would be captured or killed.
Or he could try to nurse the dying bomber across the English Channel and give his men a chance to parachute over friendly territory.
He chose the Channel.
Somehow he kept the Liberator in the air for the next 100 miles. Over Paris. Over Normandy. Across the open water.
The English coast finally appeared ahead through his windscreen.
He gave the order.
Prepare to bail out.
🧵 4/5
Seven of his crew jumped clear and parachuted to safety over the green farmland of West Sussex.
Two men stayed on the plane with Montgomery to try to help him save the aircraft. His co-pilot John Crowther. His flight engineer John Holoka.
Then the B-24 went into a power dive.
It crashed into open farmland near the village of Arundel. The impact created a crater 20 feet deep. Ammunition cooked off underground for hours.
A 9 year old boy named John Seller was getting ready for bed at his family's farm when he heard what he later described as a thunderous scream from the sky.
He slipped out to the crash site the next morning.
He found very little debris on the surface. Just dirt around five craters. He could still hear ammunition exploding underground.
Co-pilot Crowther's body was found a few yards from the crash site.
Montgomery and Holoka were 20 feet down in the earth with the wreckage of their bomber.
In May 1950 the United States Army officially declared William Montgomery non-recoverable.
His name was carved on the Wall of the Missing at the Cambridge American Cemetery in England alongside thousands of other Americans never brought home.
Seven of his crew jumped clear and parachuted to safety over the green farmland of West Sussex.
Two men stayed on the plane with Montgomery to try to help him save the aircraft. His co-pilot John Crowther. His flight engineer John Holoka.
Then the B-24 went into a power dive.
It crashed into open farmland near the village of Arundel. The impact created a crater 20 feet deep. Ammunition cooked off underground for hours.
A 9 year old boy named John Seller was getting ready for bed at his family's farm when he heard what he later described as a thunderous scream from the sky.
He slipped out to the crash site the next morning.
He found very little debris on the surface. Just dirt around five craters. He could still hear ammunition exploding underground.
Co-pilot Crowther's body was found a few yards from the crash site.
Montgomery and Holoka were 20 feet down in the earth with the wreckage of their bomber.
In May 1950 the United States Army officially declared William Montgomery non-recoverable.
His name was carved on the Wall of the Missing at the Cambridge American Cemetery in England alongside thousands of other Americans never brought home.
🧵 5/5
He stayed there for 79 years.
In 1974 a British aviation historian named Andy Saunders began investigating the crash.
A local farm worker told him that in 1944 someone had picked up a bracelet inscribed Montgomery from the wreckage. The bracelet was lost.
Saunders kept searching for decades.
In 2012 he mentioned the case to an officer from the American Defense POW MIA Accounting Agency at a conference. The Americans began their own investigation.
They excavated the site in 2017 and 2019 and found nothing definitive.
In June 2021 they dug deeper.
They pulled fragments of bone, a preserved boot with bones inside, a single tooth, and a slightly bent Phi Kappa Psi fraternity ring out of the dirt 20 feet underground.
The ring was the only personal effect they found.
The DNA on the bones matched a relative back in Pennsylvania.
On January 10 2023 the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency officially identified the remains as those of First Lieutenant William Baily Montgomery.
On September 13 2023 he was buried at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.
A 76 year old man named William Montgomery, the lieutenant's nephew, received the folded American flag. He had been named after the uncle he had never met.
The football star from Ford City who flew his bomber across the English Channel for his men.
Who stayed at the controls so they could live.
Who came home 79 years later.
I post a story like this every single day. Most people never see them. Follow so you don't miss the next one.
He stayed there for 79 years.
In 1974 a British aviation historian named Andy Saunders began investigating the crash.
A local farm worker told him that in 1944 someone had picked up a bracelet inscribed Montgomery from the wreckage. The bracelet was lost.
Saunders kept searching for decades.
In 2012 he mentioned the case to an officer from the American Defense POW MIA Accounting Agency at a conference. The Americans began their own investigation.
They excavated the site in 2017 and 2019 and found nothing definitive.
In June 2021 they dug deeper.
They pulled fragments of bone, a preserved boot with bones inside, a single tooth, and a slightly bent Phi Kappa Psi fraternity ring out of the dirt 20 feet underground.
The ring was the only personal effect they found.
The DNA on the bones matched a relative back in Pennsylvania.
On January 10 2023 the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency officially identified the remains as those of First Lieutenant William Baily Montgomery.
On September 13 2023 he was buried at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.
A 76 year old man named William Montgomery, the lieutenant's nephew, received the folded American flag. He had been named after the uncle he had never met.
The football star from Ford City who flew his bomber across the English Channel for his men.
Who stayed at the controls so they could live.
Who came home 79 years later.
I post a story like this every single day. Most people never see them. Follow so you don't miss the next one.
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