TSgt Alfred W. Young, Jr. - 514th Squadron Radio Operator/Gunner

by Stuart Young
(San Antonio, TX)

Sergeant Young flew his first combat sortie as a substitute Radar Counter Measures (RCM) Operator with the Lt Schmidt crew on January 19, 1945, to hit the Brod, Yugoslavia Marshalling Yards along the Sava River. The crew he was assigned to, the Flight Officer Edward McGlynn crew, was also flying the same mission and they were flying it together as a crew for the first time, but without Young. Young commented in his journal, "No trouble for our ship and a short haul, five hour mission." Unbeknownst to Young, his best friend who was a radio operator with the 450th Bomb Group out of Manduria, Italy, who also subbed with a different crew, but in the Daisy May, ended up MIA for the day after the Daisy May was shot down over the target. Daisy May was hit by flak, flipped over on her back, and spun to earth engulfed in flames. Young didn't find out until February 3rd that his best friend was MIA. And it wasn't until after the war it was discovered, Young's best friend, Charles "Little Mac" MacElRoy perished along with eight of his crew. Only the pilot and flight engineer survived of the eleven aboard. The pilot managed to bail out before the plane exploded and the flight engineer was blown out of the aircraft during the explosion. Both became POWs. The Daisy May was the only ship the 450th lost that day.

Young served as a photographer on some of his missions and kept a collection of bomb photos.