Thank you for this wonderful resource! My name is Anne St. Clair, and I am the granddaughter of James W. St. Clair, who was a co-pilot with the Streicher crew for the 718th Squadron of the 449th Bomb Group. I would love to connect with anyone who may have photos or stories of him or his crew.
I am told that my grandfather, James St. Clair, flew B24 Bomber missions to the south of France the days before D-Day to make the German Army think the D-Day invasion was going to be much further south in France than the Normandy Beaches. On D-Day, he flew a mission to the Polesti Oil Fields in Romania, one of his many missions to the Polesti Oil Fields that supplied the German Army with gasoline. James St. Clair was credited with flying 51 B24 missions, a very high number. Early in WWII, a bomber crew was allowed to go home after 25 missions. Later in WWI, a bomber crew member had to be credited with 50 missions before he could return home. The crew got extra credit for a mission if their plane was hit with flak or enemy fire.
I would be eager to learn more. Thank you to all of you and to all of these brave men for their dedicated service.
Sincerely,
Anne St. Clair
