John Brogden, 2nd American Volunteer Group

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John Brogden, gunner for the 2nd AVG?

[The story told in this clipping from the Newport News of Newport, Pennsylvania, is about as wild as they get, but between the lines I think I can see John Brogden being recruited by CAMCO in the fall of 1941, sailing to Asia on Noordam or Bloemfontein, being diverted to Australia after the events of December 7/8, and there rejoining the US Army, perhaps after a stint working for CAMCO as it assembled planes Down Under. Hat tip: Wade Fowler of the News-Sun, as the paper is now named. Millerstown is about seven miles from Newport PA. The article was published on March 9, 1944. Blue skies! -- Daniel Ford]

Former Millerstown Boy Killed in Action

Mr. and Mrs. C. P. Brogden, of Akron, Ohio, received word that their son, S[taff]. Sgt. John P. Brogden, 25, was killed in action. They were formerly of Millerstown.

The following is a report as given in a newspaper from Akron, Ohio. "After daring death many times in his career as a 'Flying Tiger' with Gen. Clair Chennault's outfit in the early days of the war, Sgt. Brogden lost his life in a Flying Fortress raid over Germany, his parents were notified Wednesday.

Brogden's plane was one of 59 American ships which failed to return from the January 11 raid. His parents had high hopes that he would be found a prisoner of war.

Sgt. Brogden left the regular army in 1941 to join that daring band of men who pioneered in the conflicts over China. The Akron man was en route over the Pacific to join the outfit, when Pearl Harbor was attacked. Sent to Rangoon, his squadron was forced down in the Java jungles. Somehow the fliers made their way to the coast and were picked up by an Australian vessel which took them to Australia.

From then on, Brogden flew with the Tigers until that outfit was disbanded. Then he returned to the states and joined the U.S. Air Forces. Before being sent to Europe he spent a week at his Wildwood Ave. home last October.

The sergeant leaves one brother, Pvt. William L. Brogden, who is serving with the Army in Iran.

[Brogden rejoined the U.S. Army on April 20, 1942. He was a member of the 532nd Squadron, 381st Bomb Group, based in Ridgewell, England. He went missing on January 11, 1944, on a mission over Oschersieben, Germany, in one of eight B-17s to go down that day, each with a crew of 10 young men. He was evidently the radio operator on the plane flown by 2nd Lt. Robert Saur.]

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