Gilbert Jones

Burnell Bowers was an early member of Marine Night Fighting Squadron 531. After completing Stateside training at Cherry Point, North Carolina, the squadron deployed to the Pacific to take part in the ongoing campaign for the northern Solomon Islands. Banks and his crew – First Lieutenant Thaddeus M. Banks manning the radar, and Staff Sergeant Burnell C. Bowers on the guns – flew regular patrols, hoping to be “vectored” onto an enemy aircraft and join the growing number of “Grey Ghost” crews with confirmed kills.

As the squadron prepared for its various night missions on 19 February 1944, Banks was instructed to search for a Japanese barge reported in the vicinity of Green Island. The crew boarded PV-1(N) #33089 and took off without incident at 2115 hours, disappearing into the dark for what should have been a routine search mission. No radio contacts were received after that, and all calls to the Banks plane went unanswered. When they failed to return at the appointed time, the squadron sent out search missions.

First Lieutenant Marion M. Pierce was the first to spot signs of the lost Privateer: a cabin tank, a wheel, and two parachutes in the water about fifteen miles south of Green Island. A nearby base sent out a crash boat, which identified some floating debris as belonging to the Banks crew – however, they were unable to find any trace of the men, alive or dead. Banks, Bowers, and Jones were reported missing in action effective 20 February 1944; all three were ultimately declared dead on 21 February 1945.