The story
From Kingsport to Glatton and home
Scroll through his service. The map follows him from East Tennessee through training, across the Atlantic, and over Europe, one mission at a time.
Staff Sergeant · 750th Bomb Squadron · 457th Bomb Group · Eighth Air Force
James Harvey Long
The squadron's own lists and reports establish twenty-five combat missions as a B-17 waist gunner from Glatton, England, between 22 February and 19 June 1944, the morning of D-Day among them; promotion to Staff Sergeant; the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with three clusters; and his return home that July.
750TH BOMBARDMENT SQUADRON · STATION 130, APO 634February 24, 1944
LWGLongJamesH14160682AAG
His line on the squadron's loading list for his second mission: left waist gun, serial number, assistant armorer-gunner.
- Missions
- 25
- Aircraft flown
- 11
- Decorations
- DFC · Air Medal, 3 clusters
- Serial
- 14160682
Missions
Twenty-five missions
Every mission he flew, from the group's records. Pick one to see the target, the airplane and who was aboard, or play the tour in order.
Base map from Natural Earth. Each line joins Glatton to the target as the crow flies; the routes flown are not recorded here. Lines fade to the missions outside the current filter.
What each mission cost
The group's calendar
The crew
Ten men in a B-17
The Fischer crew as the squadron listed it on 24 February 1944, the day of Harvey's second mission. Choose a position to meet the man in it.
Who flew with Harvey
Each square marks a mission on which the man was listed in the same airplane as Harvey. No loading list survives for 18 June. Select a row to see that man on the diagram.
The airplanes
Eleven Fortresses
Crews flew whichever airplane the squadron assigned that morning. The loading lists give the last three digits of each serial; the group's aircraft records supply the rest.
6 June 1944
Invasion Day, hour by hour
The group's own account of the morning, step by step. Harvey flew in Local Mission; the records do not say whether it was in the First or the Third Force.
Positions along the track are schematic; the times and events are the group's own account of the morning.
The records
Documents
The original Army lists that name him, and the Kingsport papers that followed him. Open one to zoom in, read a transcription, and find his line.
Army records
The Kingsport papers
How this was reconstructed
The records behind the story
What each record supplied
What the records do not settle
Maps
Corrections
Sources
Where this comes from
Every statement on this site rests on one of these records. Links open the original pages.