He served with the 8th, 12th and 15th USAAF's, 97th BG (Heavy), 341st BS. He arrived in England in June 1942, but didn't begin missions until 1943 when they moved to N. Africa. He was stationed in N. Africa from 1 January to 13 September 1943. His combat mission record indicates that he flew with the 414th at least once on 4 Apr 1943, Naples, Italy. He flew his first 26 missions on the B-17F "Flying Patch" & his last 25 aboard the famed B-17F "Thunderbird" (41-24437). Total of 51 Daylight Combat Missions in the MTO. He was reported MIA 18-21 June 1943 along with the rest of the crew of "Thunderbird". One of only twenty-seven WWII Aerial Bomber Gunner Aces in US military history. He spent his active career with his name misspelled as "Myshall" instead of "Myshrall". After returning to the States it took over a year to get the military to correct his records before his discharge in July 1945. So you will see his name most often as "Myshall." Unfortunately after the war both opportunities had passed. He married Lucille Paris of Bloomington, IL (while he was stationed at Chanute Field. He often said the moment he saw Lucille "Lu" Paris he knew he was going to marry her), they moved back to Maine where he attended Colby College in Waterville, ME playing all 3 sports, then they moved back to Bloomington where Rod attended and graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University, he also starred on the baseball team that featured 3 future major leaguers, including the great Arizona State head coach and major league manager Bobby Winkles. He graduated in 1952 and went to work for State Farm Insurance. They Moved to Baton Rouge, La in 1960. President of Fairwood Country Club and it's Men's Golf Association. Volunteered many years promoting the LSU-Fairwood Women's Collegiate Golf Tournament. Hit a hole-in-one ! He played in the New Orleans Open Pro-Am with Tom Watson. He retired from State Farm in 1995 after 43 years of service. He died 2 February, 2013 at Our Lady of the Lake Hospital (92 years old) and Lu followed in 2015. He and Lucille were married for 67 years. They had 4 children, 13 grandchildren, 17 greatgrandchildren ... and counting ...
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Millinocket Man Downs Two Nazi Planes Off Sicily
An Associated Press dispatch from Allied Headquarters in North Africa reports Tall Gunner Sgt. J. R Myshrall of Millinocket got two German fighter planes in an attack on Messina in which the Flying Fortress "Thunderbird" was reported missing, but limped to safety on two of its four engines.
The Thunderbird, with 140 holes in its green metal body, reached the safety of Pantelleria Island after setting a record for bombers in the North African war theatre by destroying five of 15 ME-109's which attempted to send it flaming into the sea. The Thunderbird had been officially reported missing after being badly damaged during an attack against Sicily's chief communications center last Friday.
Sgt. Myshrall was recently awarded two oak leaf clusters and an air medal in addition to a campaign ribbon.
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The ground crew of Thunderbird
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The crew of Thunderbird heading out on a mission
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Rod (on the left) receiving the DFC
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The Crew of B-17 "Thunderbird" |
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| Pilot Co-Pilot Navigator Bombadier Radio Operator Engineer/Top Turret Ball Turret Gunner Left Waist Gunner Right Waist Gunner Tail Gunner |
2nd Lt Eugene C Wayman, Little Rock, AR 2nd Lt R. I. Sims, Los Angeles, CA 1st Lt H. S. Jones, St Paul, MN 2nd Lt Donald J Malloy, Dayton, OH Sgt J. E. King, Hartford City, IN S/Sgt Melvin C “Bud” Bahnmiller, Ann Arbor, MI S/Sgt Daniel E “Danny” Gabel, Platteville, WI Sgt Benjamin E “Benny” Irvin, Pascola, MO Sgt Eugene “Gene” “Flash” Light, NY City, NY S/Sgt Joseph R “Rod” Myshrall, Millinocket, ME |
Rod flew his last 25 missions in Thunderbird
If anyone has photographs of these planes or men, please email me
The Crew of B-17 "Flying Patch" |
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| Pilot Co-Pilot Navigator Bombadier Radio Operator Top Turret Gunner Ball Turret Waist Gunner/Engineer Waist Gunner Tail Gunner |
Capt H.P. McConkle (McCorkle) Lt Ed Neff Jr. Lt Puglis Lt Robinson T/Sgt R. Troxell T/Sgt Melvin "Bud" Bahnmiller S/Sgt Danny Gable (Gabel) S/Sgt Benny Irvin S/Sgt Eugene "Flash" Light S/Sgt Joseph "Rod" Myshrall |
Rod flew his first 26 missions in Flying Patch
| It would seem that all the gunners from Flying Patch moved on to Thunderbird together - without the rest of the crew. Maybe they all decided to do another tour together. Also interesting is that it looks like Bahnmiller took over Irvin's job as Engineer. |
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Victories Include :
5 / 10 / 0 Originally credited with 3 confirmed kills, two were confirmed after the war. From John : "We knew he had 3 confirmed kills and 12 unconfirmed. However, in my research I found some new information thanks to Jan Safarik. He told me during the war both sides greatly exaggerated their number of kills. After the war historians from every country poured over the records to reach a consensus. One area of interest were gunners on bombers, they found only 27 gunners on bombers reached "ace" status. After the dust cleared, dad had 2 of his unconfirmed kills moved into the confirmed category to give him 5 confirmed kills. He had no idea. Being a bit hard of hearing, when I told him that he was an "ace", he looked real hard at me and said, "did you just call me an ass?" After we all quit laughing I explained and showed him again what I'd found. His reaction was mixed. He was honored, but also sad to find that two enemy pilots deaths had been confirmed, which he took no joy in." |
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Thanks go out to
Terri & John Myshrall for the photos & infos !
On these pages I use Hugh Halliday's extensive research which includes info from numerous sources; newspaper articles via the Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation (CMCC); the Google News Archives; the London Gazette Archives and other sources both published and private.
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