Staff Sergeant Charles Dean McGinley

Air Medal w/ 5 Oak Leaf Clusters

Charles Dean McGinley, the son of Charles and Nora McGinley, was born in Monahans, TX on September 16, 1921. He graduated from Monahans HS in 1939 and the next fall he enrolled at NMAMC in the College of Arts and Sciences. After one year he left school and was inducted into the USAAF on June 8, 1941. He was trained as a flight engineer and flew on B-25 Mitchell bombers. In 1943 his crew was deployed to the SW pacific theater and assigned to the 75th Bomb Squadron, 42nd Bomb Group then stationed in the Solomon Islands. In October 1943 the group moved their base to Stirling Island, a small islet just south of Bougainville. During this period the group attacked Japanese airfields and shipping in the central Solomon’s. Beginning in January 1944 the group engaged primarily in the neutralization of enemy airfields and harbor facilities on New Britain. Such was the mission flown on April 28, 1944. SSgt McGinley had completed over 31 combat missions at this time and was flying as the flight engineer on B-25H #43-4512. The plane was piloted by Major "Jimmy" Yeoman, who had assumed command of the 75th BS only a short while previously. The plane was part of a 2 ship formation flying over New Ireland. The pilot flew a low run over a small plantation, then climbed and circled again for another look. The plane was on its second low level pass when it was apparently struck by small arms fire from the ground. The pilot struggled to regain altitude for approximately 5 miles until the plane crashed into the sea and broke apart approximately 1 mile off shore in Katherine Harbor. There were no survivors. Staff Sergeant Charles Dean McGinley, the only son of his parents, was 22 years of age. Today he is memorialized in the Manila American Cemetery Tablets of the Missing.