Reese Crew / 9 th airforce, 453 th Bomber squadron, 323 th Bomb Group

Reese Crew

The Reese crew was a Replacement Crew. They Replaced the actual "Foster Crew"because they had a day off.

The Reese Crew consisted of the following crewmembers:

Rank:	Name:	ServiceNr:	Regiment:	Unit:	Nationality:	Age:	Crew position:	Status:
2nd LT	Halmyth Carrroll Reese	O-672201	9th AAF	453th Bs, 323th Bg	US	22	Pilot	26 March 1944 14.48 Hours MIA IJmuiden/Velsen Holland 27 September 1944 KIA on 26 March 1944
Major	William C. Berryman	O-401359	9th AAF	453th Bs, 323th Bg	US	29	Co-pilot	26 March 1944 14.48 Hours MIA IJmuiden/Velsen Holland 27 September 1944 KIA on 26 March 1944
Sgt	Paul Raymond Scott	35662878	9th AAF	453th Bs, 323th Bg	US	23	Radio-operator/ Waist gunner	26 March 1944 14.48 Hours MIA IJmuiden/Velsen Holland 27 September 1944 KIA on 26 March 1944
Sgt	Ralph R. Brown	20802695	9th AAF	453th Bs, 323th Bg	US	19	Bombardier	26 March 1944 14.48 Hours MIA IJmuiden/Velsen Holland 27 September 1944 KIA on 26 March 1944
SSgt	Alex E. Sundberg	39309115	9th AAF	453th Bs, 323th Bg	US	26	Armorar/ Turret gunner	26 March 1944 14.48 Hours MIA IJmuiden/Velsen Holland 27 September 1944 KIA on 26 March 1944
Sgt	Donald L. Jacobs	32551395	9th AAF	453th Bs, 323th Bg	US	23	Engineer/ Tail gunner	26 March 1944 14.48 Hours MIA IJmuiden/Velsen Holland 27 September 1944 KIA on 26 March 1944

Airplane Data:	Discription:
Type:	Martin Marauder B-26C-10
Serialnumber:	41-34853
Code:	VT-R
Nickname:	"Toid Boid" --> What means Toid Boid: --> Toid is turd and Boid is bird.-->A bird that shits on the enemy! The Nose art on the plane was a drawing of Jimmy Cariaco, one of Walt Disney's Three Cabelleros, except that he was leaning on a bomb instead of a cane.
Airforce:	9th AAF ( Army Arirforce)
Bomb Group:	323rd BG
Bomb Sqaudron:	453 th BS
Remarks:	White Tails and Bleu Props
First Combat Mission:	16 July 1943
Completed Missions:	66
Last mission Date:	26 March 1944
Last mission discription:	IJmuiden Holland Bombing Penboats
MACR ( Missing Air Crew Report):	3376

Drawing by Tom Anderson Commemorative Air Force

Article in the American WWII Orphans Network Jan 2017

Orginal "Foster Crew"

Gaston Gerard Poulin
323rd Bomb Group, 453rd Bomb Squadron

T-Sgt. Gaston Gerard "Frenchy" Poulin. He was born in St. Joseph de Beauce, Quebec Province, Canada, and his family moved to Skowhegan, Maine when he was very young. He went to high school in Quebec Province, becoming fully bilingual, and playing hockey and other sports. He turned down an opportunity to try out for the Boston Bruins hockey team in order to join the USAAF in October 1941. He was trained at Lowry Field as an armorer. Then at MacDill Field in the summer of 1942, he volunteered to become a gunner and trained at Tyndall Field, Florida. He became a member of the 323rd Bomb Group, 453rd Bomb Squadron flight echelon, and flew to the ETO through the southern route with Captain Travis in the spring of '43.

He participated in the first 323rd mission to the Abbeyville Marshalling Yards on July 17th. In late '43, he was almost court-martialed for sneaking his brother, Joseph Guy Poulin on board a B26 as a tail-gunner. Joseph was a B17 ball turret gunner at the time. As you may imagine, they had more than a few high-spirited discussions on the relative merits of the two airplanes, the B17 and the B26. After flying 50 missions, Gus came home on furlough in May 1944. Returning to duty, he was wounded when a piece of flak pierced his helmet in August. When Paris was liberated, he was sent to the French underground as an interpreter to recover a downed airman. After recuperation, he continued to fly until November 19th, having flown 71 missions, usually as a top turret armorer/gunner.

Gus served in several different planes including 41-34708 VT-J "Miss Safartus Rickenschicker", and 41-31959 VT-S Miss Safartus Rickenschicker 2nd, piloted by A. W. Satterwhite with bombardier A. J. Baker. Later, he flew in 41-34853 VT-R "Toid Boid", piloted by S. M. Foster, with copilot M. MacSound, and bombardier E. E. Larkin. On March 26th, 1944, the Foster crew probably had the day off, because the "Toid Boid" was taken out by a rookie crew (the Reese crew) on a maximum effort raid on Ijmuiden, Holland. They took a direct hit in the bomb bay and went down near Ijmuiden.After that, the Foster crew flew most of their missions in plane #41-31901 VT-A, possibly also called "Toid Boid". The gunners stayed together throughout the crew shifts. They were: radio/gunner C. J. Ketchum, engineer/gunner V. Rogers, and (later) engineer/gunner F. P. Dec. Gus was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with 10 Oak Leaf Clusters, and a Purple Heart.

Gaston Gerard Poulin is sitting in the jeep.

L-R: front row: F. P. Dec (engineer/tail gunner), E. E. Larkin (bombardier), G. G. Poulin (armorer/turret gunner), back row: C. J. Ketcham (radio/waist gunner), S. M. Foster (pilot), M. MacSound (copilot).

source: http://www.b26.com/marauderman/gaston_gerard_poulin.htm

Cpt.Foster is passed away you can find information on this link:

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=6024246