Richard Lynwood Connell

Sergeant Richard L. Connell was born on March 25, 1923, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, to Wenzel and Alice Connell. He joined the US Army Air Forces on Dec. 10, 1942, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, after only one year of college. He trained for 8 months at Lowry Field and spent a year testing the B-29 in Kansas and Florida. He likely deployed overseas in October 1944 and was assigned to the 881st Bombardment Squadron of the 500th Bombardment Group, flying missions out of Saipan. On Nov. 27, 1944, Sergeant Connell was serving as the right waist-gunner for his B-29 (s/n 42-24662) as he and his squadron went on a bombing mission targeting the Musashino and Nakajima factories near Tokyo, Japan. His plane was hit badly, and they were forced to ditch in the ocean after running out of fuel. Their last known location was approximately 200 miles north of Saipan. The crew was never recovered, despite thorough efforts by the Army Air Forces and the US Navy. He is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial in Honolulu, Hawaii.