One longtime search had ended, resulting in maybe an much more troublesome search.
Gardner native Maj. Harry H. Musinski took off from Kunming Airfield in China on Jan. 25, 1944, for a routine flight to Chabua Airfield in India. He was commanding the B-24 bomber dubbed “Haley’s Comet” as a part of the 425th Bombardment Squadron, 308th Bombardment Group, 14th Air Pressure.
Sarcastically, the person for whom the aircraft was named, Lt. Roger F. Haley, was not aboard the flight that day. As a substitute, Musinski piloted the aircraft as his substitute with 11 different males on board — the aircraft by no means arrived at its vacation spot and Musinski and his crew have been declared lacking in motion.
That is the continuation of the sequence Remembering Native World Conflict II Heroes, together with a portion of a narrative that beforehand appeared in The Gardner Information on July 26, 2012.
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Harry H. Musinski was born in Gardner on Dec. 19, 1918, the son of Polish immigrants Konstanty and Josephine (Stankevich) Musinski. He was the eldest of a small household that additionally included a sister, Mary, who was born the next 12 months.
Rising up at 9 Ford St. within the predominantly Polish neighborhood often called “the Patch,” a mere foul ball away from Pulaski Playground, Musinski honed his athletic expertise there with fellow neighbors Vic Starzynski, Stanley “Ticket” Daeglis, Chet Pacocha, Ed Zoldak, Chet Zablonski, John Czehatowski and Frank Michniewicz.
As soon as he reached Gardner Excessive College, Musinski joined his buddies on the Gardner Excessive soccer and baseball groups coached by the legendary Phil Tarpey, in addition to the swim groups of coach Invoice Footrick. Following his 1936 commencement from Gardner Excessive College, he attended American Worldwide School in Springfield and labored summers at Heywood-Wakefield Co.
Instantly after his commencement from AIC within the spring of 1940, Musinski entered army service as an air cadet, coaching at Lakeland, Fla., and Maxwell Area in Ala., the place he was commissioned a second lieutenant. After receiving advance coaching in Texas, he went abroad in 1942 and was stationed at Dakar, West Africa, throughout the invasion of North Africa.
With the U.S. Military Air Corps within the Southeast Asian theater, Musinski commanded a squadron of B-24s that led Allied air raids on Bangkok, Thailand. He accomplished greater than 76 missions.
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By January of 1944, Musinski had finished most of his time within the service and was wanting ahead to returning house to Gardner. With most of the battles he waged in his previous, he commanded a routine ferry flight originating from Kunming Airfield in China to Chabua Airfield in India on Jan. 25.
The flight was one which Musinski made ceaselessly, however on this given day there was a heavy fog. As well as, as a result of the realm was a dense jungle, any flight that will have wandered off target might discover itself in a deadly state of affairs.
The Haley’s Comet mission was led and piloted by Musinski and included 11 different troopers on board: co-pilot 2nd Lt. Toney W. Gochnauer (Arlington, Va.), 2nd Lt. John B. Frazier (Winnebago, Unwell.), 2nd Lt. George R. Maupin (Sharling, Colo.), Tech. Sgt. Joseph P. Kurta (Berlin Heart, Ohio), Tech. Sgt. Wellington W. Hull (Casselton, N.D.), Employees Sgt. John W. Karns (Everett, Pa.), Employees Sgt. Donah L. Adams (Lakeview, Texas), 1st Lt. Charles P. Mortimer (Detroit, Mich.), Tech Sgt. Edward W. Higgins (Philadelphia, Pa.), Tech Sgt. Jack R. Ferguson (Sulphur Springs, Texas) and Employees Sgt. Robert O. Watson (Dallas, Texas).
Shortly after takeoff, Haley’s Comet disappeared and was not heard from once more. Musinski was declared lacking in motion on Jan. 26, 1944, however two years later the Conflict Division designated him as presumed lifeless after the battle ended, his age listed as 25.
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Again house in Gardner, information of their son’s disappearance devastated the small Musinski household. Musinski’s father, Konstanty, was disconsolate; and a few 4 months later, the worker of Florence Range Co. died on the age of 47 of a brief sickness. Most individuals would attribute it to a damaged coronary heart.
Tragedy continued to beset the household. In 1946, Musinski’s sister, Mary, a nurse who was the spouse of Ricker Dockum of Fitchburg, died of tuberculosis on the age of 27.
Sarcastically, Harry’s mom, Josephine, who buried her complete household within the 1940s, would linger on via a protracted and stout life for 5 extra many years. Residing at her house at 9 Ford St. nearly to the tip, she died on March 30, 1998, on the age of 105.
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In 2012, Jana Churchwell, a North Carolina genealogist who researches World Conflict II aircraft crashes, contacted St. Joseph’s Church in Gardner hoping to find descendants of the Musinski household.
The request got here to church historian Steven Babineau, who contacted one of many parish’s matriarchs, Gladys (Starzynski) Hunter, who in flip contacted me with this data.
The need for which members of the family have been wanted was as a result of on Jan. four, 2011, Clayton Kuhles of miarecoveries.org in India situated the positioning of Musinski’s B-24 crash web site practically 11,000 ft up within the mountains of Chabua.
As well as, human stays have been situated there, so anybody with a connection to the Musinski household wanted to be notified in order that DNA samples could possibly be submitted to Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command.
Sadly, as a result of the Musinski household was so small, it was troublesome finding direct descendants. Harry by no means married; his sister, Mary, was childless earlier than her loss of life in 1946.
Their father, Konstanty, on the time of his loss of life in 1944, had a brother, Andrew, who lived in New Jersey, and a sister, Tanya Zalutkiewicz (additionally spelled Jalutkiewicz), who lived in Gardner at the moment.
Tanya’s husband, Konstanty Zalutkiewicz, died in 1942, and he or she remarried Adam Pilkovsky, who died in 1963. Tanya would dwell in Gardner earlier than her loss of life in 1979 on the age of 90. She and Konstanty Zalutkiewicz (Jalutkiewicz) have been the mother and father to 2 sons, Konstanty Jr. and Harry, and three daughters, Mary Kowalewski, Anna Manomi and Alice Reilly.
Harry’s mom left no survivors on the time of her loss of life in 1998. As well as, there have been variations of the spelling of the household surname, with it generally known as Musnicki.
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The Musinski household plot at Wildwood Cemetery off decrease West Road in Gardner has 4 names listed on the headstone, with solely three our bodies buried beneath it. Konstanty and Josephine Musinski are there together with their daughter, Mary.
Sadly, it isn’t believed any relative of the Musinski household got here ahead with the mandatory DNA match to assist establish Maj. Harry Musinski’s stays and have him, in the end, reunited with them.
Ought to there be somebody who’s a relative of the household, data ought to be directed to Churchwell at janachurchwell@carolina.rr.com.
Feedback and ideas for Remembering Native World Conflict II Heroes may be despatched to Mike Richard at mikerichard0725@gmail.com or in writing to Mike Richard, 92 Boardley Street, Sandwich, MA 02563.
