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Paul S. Melia

Posted: Sun May 03, 2015 4:01 am
by DallasMVeneto
Image

Meet my (assumed- must confirm this with grandparents) great uncle, Paul .S Melia, a Ball gunner of a B-17 bomber that served over Europe in the 401st Bombing Squadron. His first mission was on December/24/1943, in which his crew took to the skies at 12:00 AM. His officer leading the bombing run was Major William .T Seawell. There were no casualties and the Bomber squadron sited and/or bombed a V-1 rocket site near Gorenflos, in Pas de Calais region of France (have not gotten a lot of detail). They returned at 1604 hours or 4:04 pm. I could imagine a joke was gonna be made if they made it back at 4:01. His last and possible luckiest mission was on July/8/1944 which was led by Capt. R.H. Kaufman "E". The clouds made it hard for the Bombers to make out the targets but they still had good hits. An ME-110 was spotted near the group by my great uncle who kept his eyes and dual 50. cals on it. However the German pilot i guess was too chicken to attack and the flak that was firing was terribly in-accurate thanks to the cloud cover. The results were no casualties, only some scratched paint and maybe a thin gash in one of the bomber's lower fuselage. SGT Paul .S Melia was debriefed a few weeks later and was sent home (or so i have been told). I do not know about that because i never really did get allot of detail.

Here is what the Bomber that he served on would have looked like:Image

Re: Paul S. Melia

Posted: Sun May 03, 2015 4:22 am
by DallasMVeneto
I also have a few other ancestors who served in the US Military.
One of them was a sailor in the US Navy who served in a shipyard in Okinawa. His biggest injury was shrapnel that flew through his lower leg, leaving a big but survivable wound. He managed to fire 6 or 7 rounds out of his M1-Grande that he shot at a Jap and killed that Jap with. He was awarded purple heart and a few other medals before he was sent home after the war.
If anyone can find a picture of him i would be very grateful for he died a year ago and i could not find any pictures of him.

Re: Paul S. Melia

Posted: Sat May 23, 2015 11:47 pm
by peggy Marotta
Dallasmveneto
How are you related to S/Sgt. Paul S. MELIA
He is father to my two grandchildren in Yonkers, NY

Re: Paul S. Melia

Posted: Sun May 24, 2015 3:48 am
by peggy Marotta
CORRECTION..
Paul S. Melia was my daughter's father in law
He was grandfather to my two Melia grandchildren
His son Gregory lives here in Yonkers, NY
He has two sons and two daughters

Re: Paul S. Melia

Posted: Sun May 24, 2015 3:48 am
by peggy Marotta
CORRECTION..
Paul S. Melia was my daughter's father in law
He was grandfather to my two Melia grandchildren
His son Gregory lives here in Yonkers, NY
He has two sons and two daughters

Re: Paul S. Melia

Posted: Sun May 24, 2015 8:04 am
by peggy Marotta
On his 24 mission. S/Sgt. Paul S. Melia's B17 was shot down and captured in Germany. He was a POW for two years in Stalag17b---He was liberated by the Russians.

Re: Paul S. Melia

Posted: Tue May 26, 2015 9:50 pm
by Anthony Melia
Hello, I am Paul S. Melia's oldest son, my name is Anthony Melia I am 67 years old, Paul had 3 other children, Paula 64, Gregory 62 and Mary 60 we all grew up in Yonkers, NY. Paul's fathers last name was Italia, he was married to Mary Guadigno they had a son Paul, they were divorced and she remarried. I would like to speak to you about your great uncle Paul. Paul was quit a decorated war hero, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) twice and the Air Medal twice, he flew 24 missions from England to Germany as a B17 Belly Gunner, please contact me amelia5@sc.rr.com. Thank you great post, I can fill in all your missing peices!

Re: Paul S. Melia

Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2015 11:39 pm
by FredtheFrench
News about this story?

Re: Paul S. Melia

Posted: Wed Apr 13, 2016 11:57 pm
by mmeliariale
Hi FredtheFrench! Sorry this took so long to respond to. I don't really come on this site. I communicated with him through email and came to find that we are not related.