Lawrence Rafferty

Lawrence E. Rafferty was credited with 50 bombing missions in 1944. He was killed in March of 1951 in a military plane crash after his reserve group out of O'Hare were reactivated for service during the Korean War.

My dad's listing of bombing missions' shows that the first one was on June 3, 1944 and his final one was on September 3, 1944. The first mission was to Solit, Yugoslavia and the final mission was a Railroad Bridge in Szajol, Hungary. He was involved in the July 15, 1944 mission to Ploesti, Romania. He was a pilot and started out as a 2nd Lt. and when he left he was promoted to Captain. I have one document that has a crew number of # 3116 and it lists the men in that crew. On September 27th, 1944 he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for action on his July 21st, 1944 mission. I have the document that outlines why he was given the medal and it also lists some other men who were awarded the Silver Star and DSC. I also have documents that state he was awarded the 2nd Oak Leaf Cluster for a flight on 8/24/44 and the 1st, 3rd, and 4th clusters were recommended, but I do not have a record of the these clusters being awarded.

As to the 1951 crash, we don't have as much information. In 2001, I was able to find the complete government crash report and it was very interesting. It was not declassified until approximately 1995! He was a passenger on a military C-124 that went down about 600-700 miles off the West Coast of Ireland on their way to England from Maine. The aircraft was part of the 302nd Troop Carrier Squadron and 441 TC Wing out of O'Hare Field in Chicago.

His group was reactivated and he left Chicago on March 10, 1951 and was to report to Walker AFB, in Roswell, New Mexico. He was part of the 715th bombardment Squadron, 509th Bombardment wing, Medium, out of Walker AFB. From there they made their way to Limestone, Maine where they took off for England. The first telegram that my mother received was dated March 23, 1951 and the last telegram was dated April 1, 1951. I have a copy of the document from the Air Force, officially declaring him dead on August 1, 1951. In 1960, my mother received a letter from the Air Force that stated that his mission that day was to take part in 90 days temporary duty for the purpose of participating in a Strategic Operational Training Mission in Schulthorpe, England.

1st Lt. Lawrence E Rafferty was assigned to the 459th BG 759th Squadron.

The following information on Lawrence Rafferty is gathered and extracted from military records. We have many documents and copies of documents, including military award documents. It is from these documents that we have found this information on 1st Lt. Rafferty. These serviceman's records are nowhere near complete and we are always looking for more material. If you can help add to Lawrence Rafferty's military record please contact us.

	Rank	General Order	Date	Award
Lawrence Rafferty	1st Lt	2813	08/24/1944	AM/2OLC
Lawrence Rafferty	1st Lt	3454	09/17/1944	AM/3OLC
Lawrence Rafferty	1st Lt	3454	09/17/1944	AM/4OLC
Lawrence Rafferty	1st Lt	3674	09/25/1944	DFC