Donald G. Fanelli

Aviation Radioman Third Class, U.S. Navy

Service Number: 08159573

Unit: Patrol Bombing Squadron VPB-104

Entered the service from: New Jersey

Died: May 19, 1945 — Missing in Action or Buried at Sea

Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery, Manila, Philippines

Aviation Radioman Third Class Donald G. Fanelli was born in New Jersey in 1924 to Michael and Josephine Fanelli. When the census was taken in 1930, the Fanelli family had purchased a home on Atco Avenue in Atco, Waterford Township, NJ. Michael Fanelli was working in a broom manufacturing mill. Qualifying for flight duty after entering the Navy, Donald Fanelli served as a member of VPB-104, a United States Navy patrol bombing squadron that flew the B-24 Liberator. These bomber crews flew often alone on searches extending 800 to 1,000 nautical miles across an empty and unforgiving ocean. VPB-104 was the only patrol squadron in World War II to receive two Presidential Unit Citations.

Donald Fanelli was killed in action in the Pacific on May 19, 1945, when his plane, a PB4Y-1 (Bureau No. 38890) piloted by Lieutenant Richard S. Jamison, went down in the area of Luzon, Philippines. His death was reported in the July 6, 1945 edition of the Camden Courier-Post. He was survived by his parents and brothers Michael and Leonard A. Fanelli.

Source: American Battle Monuments Commission

VPB-104 was relocated from Guadalcanal to Munda Field, New Georgia, on February 6, 1944. The squadron was later reformed at NAAS Kearney Field, California, and departed for NAS Kaneohe, Hawaii, on July 28, 1944. On October 30, 1944, VPB-104 departed Kaneohe for Morotai in the Dutch East Indies. The squadron subsequently operated from Tacloban Airfield in the Philippines and Clark Field, Luzon, flying search and offensive reconnaissance patrols, strike missions on enemy shipping, night patrols, and special tracking missions covering the China Coast.

The squadron record at the end of its first combat tour stood at 30 enemy aircraft destroyed or damaged and 51 ships sunk or damaged, with 1,252 sorties in a seven-month tour. VPB-104 was the only patrol squadron in World War II to receive two Presidential Unit Citations.