WASHINGTON –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced today that U.S. Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. James G. Pirtle, 31, killed during World War II, was accounted for May 8, 2025.
Pirtle served as the tail gunner aboard a B-24 Liberator bomber with the 858th Bombardment Squadron, 492nd Bombardment Group, Eighth U.S. Air Force, in the European Theater of Operations. The unit participated in Operation CARPETBAGGER, a series of secret missions in which several specially designated bomb groups dropped supplies, arms, equipment, leaflets, and U.S. Office of Strategic Services and French agents to resistance groups operating in northern France. On Sept. 16, 1944, Pirtle’s crew was scheduled to fly its final mission to drop supplies to resistance forces 40 miles east of the Moselle River. The 115th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Gun Battalion, an American artillery unit stationed near Lebeuville, France, mistook Pirtle’s B-24 for an enemy aircraft and shot it down. Of the eight crew, two successfully parachuted to safety. The other six crewmembers were killed, including Pirtle.
This is an initial release. The complete accounting of Pirtle's case will be published once the family receives their full briefing.
For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving their country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil or on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa, https://www.linkedin.com/company/dodpaa, https://www.instagram.com/dodpaa/, or https://x.com/dodpaa.