James Mills Howie was born in Chester, Illinois on June 12, 1919, in Randolph County. His father was Marquis Lewis Howie (1868-1948) and his mother was Minerva Theoday Waters Howie (1877-1955). James was actually one of fourteen siblings. Yes you heard that correctly. His siblings are listed at the bottom of this write-up.

James was 21 years old in 1940 when he registered for the US military draft. He was working for the International Shoe Company in Chester, Illinois at the time, stood 5 foot 6 and 160lbs. He is reported to have had brown hair and blue eyes when he was drafted. He was also married sometime before his deployment to Irma Clausen Howie of Chester, Illinois. They had one son together named James Louis Howie (b. 1943; d. 2010), who was born in November 1943, just a few months after his father was killed in Romania.

James would join the US Army Air Forces (USAAF) and make his way onto a bomber crew, where he was assigned to the 345th Bomber Squadron of the 98th Bombardment Group (Heavy). He then was made a radio operator on the B-24, and often shared the role of right waist gunner.

Unit Context: The 98th Bombardment Group was formed on January 28th, 1942, and officially activated on February 3rd, 1942. The initial crews of the bombardment group began training with B-24 Liberator aircraft. The B-24 is known as one of the most widely produced combat aircraft in US history to this day at nearly 18,500 produced between 1940 and 1945. The aircraft was considered a heavy bomber, held a crew up to 10, and was flown in all theaters of the war by American, British, and Canadian flight crews.

T/Sgt Howie and the 98th BG deployed with their B-24Ds to the Mediterranean theater between July and August 1942, where they would be assigned to the 9th Air Force of the USAAF. They entered combat as soon as they arrived in theater, completing their first missions in August ‘42.

It was on these raids that they bombed shipping installations and port infrastructure along the coastlines of Greece, Crete, Libya, Tunisia, Sicily, and targets further into Italy and Romania. They maintained these operations for a full year until one infamously costly mission, the Ploesti raid, held on August 1, 1943.

Operation Context: Known as Operation Tidal Wave, American bombers of the 9th Air Force took off from bases in Italy and Libya. Operation Tidal Wave saw five different bombardment groups in action: the 98th, the 389th, the 44th, the 376th, and the 93rd.

They flew north east, towards the towns of Floesti and Ploesti, Romania, which are about 60-65km north of the city of Bucharest (37-40 miles). The two towns were about 12 miles apart, with Floesti being the northernmost town. The 98th BG was designated to bomb the refineries at Floesti in the north.

As a note, according to veteran pilot testimonials, Operation Tidal Wave was designed by non-experienced officers, with minimal hours flying B-24D aircraft. Leadership dictated the 8th and 9th Air Force fly in at treetop level or as low as possible to avoid detection (They were literally told: “just don’t strike any camels” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6tkTqUmi9I).

This put the aircraft in formation, flying well within range of machine gun and rifle fire as well as flak and other anti-aircraft fire. In a time where radar and early aircraft detection was very rudimentary, this tactic may not have been needed. It definitely contributed to the high casualty count of the raid.

So, the primary objective of Tidal Wave was to hit the Axis oil refining operations in Ploiesti, as well as storage and logistical targets in the area. It was considered that one-third of the axis liquid fuel operations and storage were located here.

On August 1, 1943, T/Sgt James Howie and 178 B-24s took off from Benghazi, Libya under the command of Brigadier General Uzal Ent. T/Sgt Howie was placed on an unfamiliar aircraft with a new crew for the first time, as a radio operator. The crew of nine men knew each other well and this was their tenth combat mission together. The aircraft was piloted by 1st Lt. James Andrew Deeds and 2nd Lt. Clifton Conroy Foster, and their aircraft serial number was 42-40991, nicknamed “Kate Smith.” (Note: there is some confusion online about whether “Kate Smith” was actually 42-40991, or it was numbered 42-40645. There are varying sources - Search "Kate Smith" for more info here

I believe Deed's crew with Howie was shot down on 42-40991, and 42-40645 was damaged shortly before the Ploesti raid. Deeds' crew was given a new aircraft where they put the same name "Kate Smith" on it just before their mission on August 1, 1943

They flew north to the Island of Corfu, at around 4000 feet. Corfu was at the time occupied by the Germans and is assumed by some of the veterans to have been the location of the spotters that tipped off the local defenses in Romania, including an armored train, who were waiting for the bombers near Ploiesti.

On this particular mission, veteran pilots have been quoted saying they were in “loose formation” and fairly spread out as they crossed the various borders to get to Romania, including the Pindus Mountain range. They flew through thick cloud cover over mountains in Albania and Bulgaria, and had minimal visibility of their neighboring aircraft in formation. This caused a major rift in the formation, creating two distinct groups. One group was made of the 376th and the 93rd Bomb Groups, and the other contained the 98th (T/Stg Howie’s group), the 44th, and the 389th Bomb Groups. Their strategy of a single bomber stream had dissipated with the strict mandated radio silence and low visibility.

The two groups crossed the Romanian border with no resistance or issue. Copilot 2nd Lt. Clifton C. Foster has stated that they flew in quietly in “Kate Smith,” on path to the target at about 200 feet in altitude. All was silent as they flew over already-burning oil facilities. Lt. Foster had a conversation with the Pilot, 1st Lt. James Deeds, just 3 minutes prior to a flak shell entering and bursting literally inside the cockpit. Lt. Foster believes the pilot, Lt. Deeds was killed immediately. He says they were directly over the target at 200 feet when this occurred.

The plane caught fire almost immediately at around 1430. 2nd Lt. Foster bailed out and opened his chute as soon as he could, suffering loss of consciousness, burns, and broken limbs. He was the only one of ten men from the crew to survive, where he was captured as a POW. Lt. Foster stayed in the service and was promoted to Major before being tragically killed in an in-air collision in 1952. His report is the backbone of this story (see missing air crew report in sources).

The downed crew was found by Romanian civilians and buried in a part of Ploesti they called “Hero’s Cemetery.” Interestingly enough, a list of the crew of “Kate Smith” was published by the Romanians, with only eight names listed. 2nd Lt. Foster was missing from their list of course, and so was T/Sgt Howie, who was the radio operator for the flight. Again he was also not a regular crew member of 42-40991.

So he is not verified to have been with the crew. It was even said that he initially survived the crash with Lt. Foster, but later died in a Romanian hospital (Ploesti, Dugan and Carrol, page 174, 2002)

T/Sgt Howie’s B-24 was last seen and noted at coordinates 44°56' N 26°02' E - Which is inner-city Ploesti today, and on the eastern edge of the city in 1943. They likely crashed over an urban and populated area, already flying at a low altitude. Bailing out was not an option.

By perfect luck of the Axis planning, they had stationed an armored train in the area, set up on a track to run parallel with the anticipated approach of the low level bombers flying toward the Ploesti refineries. This train was already at speed, and behind its main engine were flatcars armed with anti-aircraft weaponry and soldiers firing small arms. This train was soon to shoot down 22 of 48 aircraft in the 98th on that mission.

These 22 B-24s were shot down between the time they made the final approach into Ploesti, and the target itself (see map in gallery). That is close to 200 men killed, missing, or captured within minutes. 57 total B-24’s were shot down in Tidal Wave, totaling to 532 Airmen

T/Sgt Howie was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal, and a Purple Heart.

He is honored and remembered at the Florence American Cemetery in Florence, Italy, on the Tablets of the Missing. He was 24 years old.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency considers T/Sgt Howie one of 82,000 American military and civilian personnel missing in action from World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Cold War. The majority of the missing died in World War II. He is considered part of Unaccounted-for Remains, Group A, 1941-1975

NOTE: The remains of T/Sgt Adolph Olenik from T/Sgt Howie’s aircraft were found in January 2022, and his family was notified of his accounted for remains in the same month, bringing further closure to this story.