Memorial

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Sgt Felix B. Gleason joined the Air Corps of the U.S. Army Reserve in Erie, Pennsylvania, on 20 August 1943.

On the way home, the airplane was attacked by Uffz. Willi Reschke of I./JG 302. Sixty years later, Mr. Reschke wrote: “I selected a B-24 and closed in on it from the rear with a clear height advantage. I opened fire, primarily aiming to disable the tail gunner, streaming his bursts towards me. My second burst hit the inboard port engine, which immediately started to burn. At that moment, my engine had been hit by several rounds, so I had to break my attack.” The bomber was then finished by Fw. Hubert Engst of II.(Sturm)/JG 300.

Radio operator Sgt John F. D’Amore was the only survivor of Little Lulu. Nine other crew members were killed. He recalls:
"On August the 24th, after successfully dropping our bombs on the target, we were starting on our way back when we were attacked by several Me 109 fighter planes. As the radio operator my battle position was the left waist gun, the attack came from the right side and also from the rear. Six 20 mm shells came into the fuselage about six inches from my toes, then the ship went into a flat spin. I was thrown to the floor and pinned there due to the centrifugal force of the spin. Then the ship exploded and broke into several parts, leaving me in the rear section and 1st Lt. James in the front part. As soon as my parachute opened, I hit the ground and I never saw any member of the crew from then on. It is my belief that a shell exploded in the front of the plane and killed everyone up there, thus causing the flat spin, for I know that if 1st Lt. James was alive he would have recovered from the spin."