Brendon J Murphy; B-25 Radio/Gunner. Brendon was living in Niagra County, NY and enlisted on 10 Dec.1942 directly into the AAC. He enlisted at Ft. Niagra, Youngstown, NY and was born in NY in 1923. He was a College Graduate of the University of Buffalo, NY. and was woking as a Plumbing/ Gas/Steam Fitters and was still single at enlistment.

"Brendon Joseph Murphy was born in Niagara Falls NY in 1923. His father lost everything during the depression, so hard work became a way of life. He joined the US Army Air Force and began active service on Feb 26, 1943 as a Staff Sergeant. He was in the 445th Bombardment Squadron, 321st Bombardment Group as a Radio Gunner. He was honorably discharged on November 4, 1945.
When he returned from the war he put himself through premed school at the University of Buffalo. For practical reasons, he took a job with the Upjohn Pharmaceutical Company as a Salesman, and left school. He met June Wullen who was a popular singer at the time, and they married and had 4 girls.
Bren Murphy was a gentleman, a philosopher, and a mentor to all who knew him. He was the ground all his family and friends stood on. He expressed to his wife shortly before he died 5 years ago, that he was disappointed that his girls never asked him about the war. So this is for Brendon Murphy. "We know now." Amy Murphy DeMeo, Brendon's proud daughter.

Brendon Murphy was a RADIO/Aerial Gunner in the 321st Bomb Group, 445th Bomb squad in the Mediterranean Theatre during WWII….

He flew in the Spirit of Poetchester #44-28722 J (Tail #) N-18, late in 1944 and 1945.

Brendon J. Murphy was trained as a Radio Man which means he knew how to contact the home base and be able to switch channels using high frequency signals, not an easy task. The aircraft would maintain radio silence in order to keep the Germans from tracking their position as they proceeded to the targets. In addition he was trained as a Gunner and had gone to Gunnery School to learn how to fire the 50 caliber machine guns B-25's carried. There was one on each side of the fuselage, the Radio Gunner fired one and the regular gunner fired the other and in the tail the rear gunner sitting on a bicycle seat fire two from the rear. There was also an engineer on board who also served as a mechanic for in flight emergencies and he also was a Turret Gunner. The turret was in the middle of the fuselage above the wings and he mounted the turret which had a arc of approximately 150 degrees from side to side and a deflection device which prevented him from shooting his own tail off. There were two 50's in the nose, one fixed and the other flexible and fired by the navigator or bombardier when not on the bomb run. The B-25 was heavily armed and enemy fighters avoided her for the most part because they could bring ten 50's per airplane to bear upon him, and they flew very, very close formation which made the fire power even more concentrated.

11 June, 2012 … Brendan's daughter ( AmyMurphy-DeMeo ) will be helping now with pictures and stories, welcome aboard AMY! :)

321st Bomb Group Historical Research Team, John (Butch) T Fitzgerald, Patti Johnson and Historian Barbi Ennis Connolly. PRINCESSBARBIB25@msn.com_