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James Butler Fagan
On Thursday September 21, 2006, JAMES B. FAGAN lost his courageous and lengthy
battle with cancer. He was 83 years old. A devoted family man.
He was born, November 12, 1922 in Ohio, the son of the late Samuel M. and Alice
M. (Butler) Fagan.
He grew up in Craigsville and graduated in 1940 from Worthington-West Franklin
High School, Worthington, Pa. Jim's kindness, humor, generosity and quiet
heroism deeply touched all who knew him and he will be greatly missed.
A highly decorated Air Force officer of 33 years, he answered his country's call
as a young Second Lieutenant piloting B24 Liberator bombers during World War II.
During a particularly dangerous mission, his plane was shot down into the
Pacific by enemy fire over the Marianas Islands. Jim recovered from a broken
back and went on to fly numerous additional missions in the Pacific theatre. He
bravely elected to further serve his country during peace and war, including the
Korean and the Vietnam conflicts, and retired a full Colonel in 1974. He led a
productive and happy retirement growing beautiful roses, baking breads and
enjoying friends, family and the occasional martini.
He is survived by his wife of 49 years, Rochelle A. Fagan, his daughter, Alicia
D. Fagan, as well as nieces and nephews in Ohio, Virginia and Pennsylvania.
He was preceded in death by his parents; two sisters, Cora Eileen Fagan and Mary
Elizabeth Everson.
Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, October 24, at 9 a.m. at the Old Post
Chapel at Ft. Myer, Virginia, to be followed immediately by military honors and
interment at Arlington National Cemetery.
Those who wish to may join the funeral procession to the chapel by convening at
GEORGE P. KALAS FUNERAL HOME, (301-567-9424), 6160 Oxon Hill Road, Oxon Hill,
Maryland 20745 at 7:15 a.m. The Old Post Chapel is at the corner of Lee and
McNair Roads, Ft. Myer, Virginia 22211.
Interment in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Va.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations in Jim's honor be made to
the V.A. Affairs Hospice Fund, 50 Irving Street, NW, Washington DC 20422.
Arrangements by George P. Kalas Funeral Home, Oxon Hill, Md.
Circa: January - February, 1945.
CRAIGSVILLE PILOT CRASH LANDS B-24 AFTER A WOBBLY FLIGHT HOME FROM IWO JIMA
Lt. James B. Fagan steers disabled Craft 670 miles with throttles only.
(From mid-1944 to July 1945 the Seventh Air Force attempted to prevent the
Japanese air attacks on the Mariana Islands by attacking Iwo Jima and other
Japanese-held islands and providing fighter protection for the Marianas.)
A 7th Army Air Force Bomber Base victim of a freak accident in the Marianas
which sent her own bombs splintering through her aluminum underside, and into
the controls, the 7th AAF Liberator Bomber. "Bird of Paradise," piloted by
Lieutenant James B. Fagan of Craigsville, wobbled 670 miles back from Iwo Jima,
only to crash uncontrollably into the sea within sight of an airstrip here.
The Liberator had encountered heavy and accurate ack-ack fire over the target.
Flak ripped scores of holes in the wings. But, accordingly to Lieutenant Fagan,
a well-aimed anti-aircraft shell caught the bomber's cluster of fragmentation
bombs just as they were released.
"The freakish hit detonated at least one of two of the bombs spraying the belly
of the plane with the explosives that, a moment before, were headed in the other
direction," he said.
"Our hydraulic system was knocked out, and our rudder and aileron controls were
cut. The elevator cables were hit, too, but were operative."
Steering the bomber by throttles, Lieutenant Fagan swerved away from the
islands. Other planes of the flight stayed with the crippled Liberator, but flew
sufficiently at a distant to avoid its weaving path.
Gasoline leaked from punctured fuel cells, but before the loss became too great,
a crew member drained the fuel into empty tanks. He also spliced the shredded
control cables, but even after hacking though a heating pipe with a knife to get
at the aileron wires on the wing these vital cables still remained out of
reach.
As their base came into view the crew decided to ride the "Bird" in for a sharky
landing rather than ditch her offshore. When the damaged hydraulic system
frustrated the first attempt, Lieutenant Fagan circled away while the wheels
were cranked down by hand.
On the second approach Lieutenant Fagan called for the flaps. A crew member
began cranking them down, but suddenly the plane slid off on its right wing into
a turn.
The pilot and co-pilot slammed power to the right engines, at the same time
calling for the crew to prepare for ditching. Fifteen seconds later they
crashed.
The huge plane broke in two upon impact, the tail portion sinking at once. The
open waist yawning out of the water for a few seconds, enabling the men to leap
into the water.
Lieutenant Fagan was thrown through the windshield, while others shoved through
the escape hatch. Within a few minutes a PT boat pulled the survivors from the
water. Three members of the crew are missing.
"I borrowed "Bird of Paradise" from a crew that's back in Hawaii at a rest
camp," Lieutenant Fagan said, somewhat ruefully. "And now she's sitting out in
the water. They can't say I didn't try to get her back through."
Lieutenant Fagan is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Fagan of Craigsville. He
attended Worthington-West Franklin high school and the Pittsburgh Institute of
Aeronautics, and prior to entering the AAF in November, 1942, was employed as an
aircraft trouble shooter at Middletown Air Depot in Middletown, Pa. |
