Marion Blaney was the youngest child of William Oliver and Hannah Bruce Blaney. All of the Blaney children were born in the Dabney area of Van Buren County, Arkanas but Marion was born in Caney, Atoka County, Oklahoma, on May 7, 1914. Based on tax records the Blaney family lived in this area of SE Oklahoma for a brief period before moving back to Arkansas. Death took several siblings of Marion. His sister Hazel died in 1918 and his brother Lone died in a tragic accident in 1924. Shortly after his death the Blaney family moved to the Fort Cobb, Oklahoma area about 1925. Several of Marion's older married siblings also moved to this same area from Arkansas with their families. Most of the family pictures of Marion are from this area of Oklahoma. Several of Marion's nieces remembered him as being "their favorite uncle" no doubt because he was so close to their age. His brother Wayne Blaney was only two years older and the boys along with their nephew Cecil Pack lived with William and Hannah and helped to work on their small Oklahoma farm.
Marion and his brother Wayne attended a small country school called Crescent for a few years until they graduated from 8th grade. Crescent was only a few miles from their farm. Marion was noted as being an A student. He excelled in math and ran track. After graduated from 8th grade they moved on to Fort Cobb High School which was about 4 miles from the family farm. At Fort Cobb High School Marion played football, sang in the Boy's Glee Club, and no doubt was active in other school activities. Marion graduated from Fort Cobb High School on May 1933. We know Marion attended the Fort Cobb Alumni Banquet in 1941. This banquet was held about a week before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Marion's life of living in the Ozark mountains of Arkansas and the prairie of SW Oklahoma was about to change.
We don't have all the records and locations of Marion's military career but we know he enlisted in the military on August 5, 1942 at Oklahoma City. His brother Wayne had already been actively serving in the Philippines by this time and had returned home permanently disabled. Wayne's injuries occurred prior to the beginning of WW II. He graduated from the Army Air Force Flexible Gunnery School at Fort Myers, Florida in the Spring of 1943. Before that he graduated from the Radio Mechanics School at Chicago. He is listed as a member of 392nd Bomb Group flight crew from Topeka, Kansas. The date isn't complete on the crew list but I believe it is June 1943. The 392nd crew went to Europe in August of 1943 and there are several mission records available. All but one member of this original crew would eventual move to the 482nd Bomb Group and be involved in the fatal crash that took Marion's life.
Marion wrote letters to one of his nieces sharing there had already been several close calls with the aircraft because of the bad weather in Europe. On Jan 29, 1944 Marion's aircraft collided with another during formation on a bombing mission and eight men on his aircraft were killed, including him. All ten of the men in the other aircraft were killed. A tail gunner on another aircraft witnessed the collision and stated that Marion's aircraft was cut in half by the impact. Based on his location in the aircraft as a gunner he was probably killed instantly.
Written by Doug Turney, Marion's Great Great Nephew.
The following information on the crash was shared by the original creator of this memorial.
S/Sgt Blaney was a gunner on B-24 #42-7669 piloted by 1st Lt James N Taylor and based at RAF Tibenham. Tibenham is 15 miles southwest of Norwich and 99 miles northeast of London.
On 29 Jan 1944, during a mission to bomb Frankfurt, Germany, Lt Taylor's plane, with Command Pilot Major Clyde T. Gray, was the radar-equipped pathfinder for the mission. At 14,000 feet and one mile south of Tibenham during form up, Lt Taylor's plane collided with another B-24 piloted by Lt. William Usry. Everyone in 1/Lt Usry's plane was killed; Maj. Gray and seven others in the PFF plane were killed. The wreckage of both planes fell near the English villages of Gissing and Tivetshall, Norfolk.
-------------------------------------------------
Gunner S/Sgt. Marion L. Blaney KIA
Hometown: Oklahoma
Service # 38181483
Squadron: 814th BS 482nd Bomb Group
Awards: Purple Heart
Pilot 1/Lt James N. Taylor RTD
Target: Frankfurt Germany
CASUALTIES NOT LISTED IN MACR
Date Lost: 29-Jan-44
Serial Number: #42-7669
Aircraft Model B-24J
Aircraft Letter:
Aircraft Name:
Location:one mile south of Station 124 (Tibenham)
Cause: mid air collision crew of 11 8KIA 3RTD
Briefings were held between 0330-0400 and at 0800 hours, (30) aircrews began take-offs. An unfortunate mishap occurred during form up, which began the aircrews' mission badly, when Lieutenant W. F. Usry's aircraft, #005 of the 577th, had a mid-air collision with one of the PFF ships, #669, pilot 1st Lieutenant J. N. Taylor of the 432nd Bomb Squadron and one of the former original crews of the 392nd. All of Lt Usry's crew were killed. In Lt Taylor's ship, Major Clyde T. Gray, Commander of the 576th Squadron was killed as well as all but (3) of Lt Taylor's crew.
Maj. Clyde T. Gray, 576th Sqdn, was mission command pilot in the lead Pathfinder aircraft from the 482nd Bomb Group. Everyone in that crew but Denby had previously been assigned to the 392nd Bomb Group, 577th Sqdn, and had flown several missions with the 392nd. During form-up, 1Lt Usry's plane and the PFF plane collided at 14,000 feet approximately one mile south of Station 124 (Tibenham). Everyone in 1/Lt Usry's plane was killed; Maj. Gray and seven others in the PFF plane were killed. The wreckage of both planes fell near the English villages of Gissing and Tivetshall, Norfolk. On U.S. overseas burials, 2/Lt Turner and Sgt Goodman are interred at CAMBRIDGE in Graves C-1-70 and E-5-76, respectively. Turner's home of record was given as Washington, DC, and Goodman's as Mississippi. Both are noted to have been awarded one Air Medal and the Purple Heart. S/Sgt Matta is interred at Woodlawn National Cemetery in Section F, Site 4193.
Crew of #42-7669
Major Clyde T. Gray Command Pilot
1/Lt James N. Taylor Pilot
2nd/Lt. Robert R. Stout Co Pilot
2nd/Lt. William J. Pautz Navigator
2nd/Lt. Edward M. Lange Bombardier
T/Sgt. Winfred K. Albee Engineer
T/Sgt. Benjamin J. Zdnarvich, Radio Op.
S/Sgt. Aubrey V. Keller Gunner
S/Sgt. Marion L. Blaney Gunner
S/Sgt. David B. Heneby Gunner
S/Sgt. Donald W. Gray Gunner
Marion and his brother Wayne attended a small country school called Crescent for a few years until they graduated from 8th grade. Crescent was only a few miles from their farm. Marion was noted as being an A student. He excelled in math and ran track. After graduated from 8th grade they moved on to Fort Cobb High School which was about 4 miles from the family farm. At Fort Cobb High School Marion played football, sang in the Boy's Glee Club, and no doubt was active in other school activities. Marion graduated from Fort Cobb High School on May 1933. We know Marion attended the Fort Cobb Alumni Banquet in 1941. This banquet was held about a week before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Marion's life of living in the Ozark mountains of Arkansas and the prairie of SW Oklahoma was about to change.
We don't have all the records and locations of Marion's military career but we know he enlisted in the military on August 5, 1942 at Oklahoma City. His brother Wayne had already been actively serving in the Philippines by this time and had returned home permanently disabled. Wayne's injuries occurred prior to the beginning of WW II. He graduated from the Army Air Force Flexible Gunnery School at Fort Myers, Florida in the Spring of 1943. Before that he graduated from the Radio Mechanics School at Chicago. He is listed as a member of 392nd Bomb Group flight crew from Topeka, Kansas. The date isn't complete on the crew list but I believe it is June 1943. The 392nd crew went to Europe in August of 1943 and there are several mission records available. All but one member of this original crew would eventual move to the 482nd Bomb Group and be involved in the fatal crash that took Marion's life.
Marion wrote letters to one of his nieces sharing there had already been several close calls with the aircraft because of the bad weather in Europe. On Jan 29, 1944 Marion's aircraft collided with another during formation on a bombing mission and eight men on his aircraft were killed, including him. All ten of the men in the other aircraft were killed. A tail gunner on another aircraft witnessed the collision and stated that Marion's aircraft was cut in half by the impact. Based on his location in the aircraft as a gunner he was probably killed instantly.
Written by Doug Turney, Marion's Great Great Nephew.
The following information on the crash was shared by the original creator of this memorial.
S/Sgt Blaney was a gunner on B-24 #42-7669 piloted by 1st Lt James N Taylor and based at RAF Tibenham. Tibenham is 15 miles southwest of Norwich and 99 miles northeast of London.
On 29 Jan 1944, during a mission to bomb Frankfurt, Germany, Lt Taylor's plane, with Command Pilot Major Clyde T. Gray, was the radar-equipped pathfinder for the mission. At 14,000 feet and one mile south of Tibenham during form up, Lt Taylor's plane collided with another B-24 piloted by Lt. William Usry. Everyone in 1/Lt Usry's plane was killed; Maj. Gray and seven others in the PFF plane were killed. The wreckage of both planes fell near the English villages of Gissing and Tivetshall, Norfolk.
-------------------------------------------------
Gunner S/Sgt. Marion L. Blaney KIA
Hometown: Oklahoma
Service # 38181483
Squadron: 814th BS 482nd Bomb Group
Awards: Purple Heart
Pilot 1/Lt James N. Taylor RTD
Target: Frankfurt Germany
CASUALTIES NOT LISTED IN MACR
Date Lost: 29-Jan-44
Serial Number: #42-7669
Aircraft Model B-24J
Aircraft Letter:
Aircraft Name:
Location:one mile south of Station 124 (Tibenham)
Cause: mid air collision crew of 11 8KIA 3RTD
Briefings were held between 0330-0400 and at 0800 hours, (30) aircrews began take-offs. An unfortunate mishap occurred during form up, which began the aircrews' mission badly, when Lieutenant W. F. Usry's aircraft, #005 of the 577th, had a mid-air collision with one of the PFF ships, #669, pilot 1st Lieutenant J. N. Taylor of the 432nd Bomb Squadron and one of the former original crews of the 392nd. All of Lt Usry's crew were killed. In Lt Taylor's ship, Major Clyde T. Gray, Commander of the 576th Squadron was killed as well as all but (3) of Lt Taylor's crew.
Maj. Clyde T. Gray, 576th Sqdn, was mission command pilot in the lead Pathfinder aircraft from the 482nd Bomb Group. Everyone in that crew but Denby had previously been assigned to the 392nd Bomb Group, 577th Sqdn, and had flown several missions with the 392nd. During form-up, 1Lt Usry's plane and the PFF plane collided at 14,000 feet approximately one mile south of Station 124 (Tibenham). Everyone in 1/Lt Usry's plane was killed; Maj. Gray and seven others in the PFF plane were killed. The wreckage of both planes fell near the English villages of Gissing and Tivetshall, Norfolk. On U.S. overseas burials, 2/Lt Turner and Sgt Goodman are interred at CAMBRIDGE in Graves C-1-70 and E-5-76, respectively. Turner's home of record was given as Washington, DC, and Goodman's as Mississippi. Both are noted to have been awarded one Air Medal and the Purple Heart. S/Sgt Matta is interred at Woodlawn National Cemetery in Section F, Site 4193.
Crew of #42-7669
Major Clyde T. Gray Command Pilot
1/Lt James N. Taylor Pilot
2nd/Lt. Robert R. Stout Co Pilot
2nd/Lt. William J. Pautz Navigator
2nd/Lt. Edward M. Lange Bombardier
T/Sgt. Winfred K. Albee Engineer
T/Sgt. Benjamin J. Zdnarvich, Radio Op.
S/Sgt. Aubrey V. Keller Gunner
S/Sgt. Marion L. Blaney Gunner
S/Sgt. David B. Heneby Gunner
S/Sgt. Donald W. Gray Gunner
Marion Blaney was the youngest child of William Oliver and Hannah Bruce Blaney. All of the Blaney children were born in the Dabney area of Van Buren County, Arkanas but Marion was born in Caney, Atoka County, Oklahoma, on May 7, 1914. Based on tax records the Blaney family lived in this area of SE Oklahoma for a brief period before moving back to Arkansas. Death took several siblings of Marion. His sister Hazel died in 1918 and his brother Lone died in a tragic accident in 1924. Shortly after his death the Blaney family moved to the Fort Cobb, Oklahoma area about 1925. Several of Marion's older married siblings also moved to this same area from Arkansas with their families. Most of the family pictures of Marion are from this area of Oklahoma. Several of Marion's nieces remembered him as being "their favorite uncle" no doubt because he was so close to their age. His brother Wayne Blaney was only two years older and the boys along with their nephew Cecil Pack lived with William and Hannah and helped to work on their small Oklahoma farm.
Marion and his brother Wayne attended a small country school called Crescent for a few years until they graduated from 8th grade. Crescent was only a few miles from their farm. Marion was noted as being an A student. He excelled in math and ran track. After graduated from 8th grade they moved on to Fort Cobb High School which was about 4 miles from the family farm. At Fort Cobb High School Marion played football, sang in the Boy's Glee Club, and no doubt was active in other school activities. Marion graduated from Fort Cobb High School on May 1933. We know Marion attended the Fort Cobb Alumni Banquet in 1941. This banquet was held about a week before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Marion's life of living in the Ozark mountains of Arkansas and the prairie of SW Oklahoma was about to change.
We don't have all the records and locations of Marion's military career but we know he enlisted in the military on August 5, 1942 at Oklahoma City. His brother Wayne had already been actively serving in the Philippines by this time and had returned home permanently disabled. Wayne's injuries occurred prior to the beginning of WW II. He graduated from the Army Air Force Flexible Gunnery School at Fort Myers, Florida in the Spring of 1943. Before that he graduated from the Radio Mechanics School at Chicago. He is listed as a member of 392nd Bomb Group flight crew from Topeka, Kansas. The date isn't complete on the crew list but I believe it is June 1943. The 392nd crew went to Europe in August of 1943 and there are several mission records available. All but one member of this original crew would eventual move to the 482nd Bomb Group and be involved in the fatal crash that took Marion's life.
Marion wrote letters to one of his nieces sharing there had already been several close calls with the aircraft because of the bad weather in Europe. On Jan 29, 1944 Marion's aircraft collided with another during formation on a bombing mission and eight men on his aircraft were killed, including him. All ten of the men in the other aircraft were killed. A tail gunner on another aircraft witnessed the collision and stated that Marion's aircraft was cut in half by the impact. Based on his location in the aircraft as a gunner he was probably killed instantly.
Written by Doug Turney, Marion's Great Great Nephew.
The following information on the crash was shared by the original creator of this memorial.
S/Sgt Blaney was a gunner on B-24 #42-7669 piloted by 1st Lt James N Taylor and based at RAF Tibenham. Tibenham is 15 miles southwest of Norwich and 99 miles northeast of London.
On 29 Jan 1944, during a mission to bomb Frankfurt, Germany, Lt Taylor's plane, with Command Pilot Major Clyde T. Gray, was the radar-equipped pathfinder for the mission. At 14,000 feet and one mile south of Tibenham during form up, Lt Taylor's plane collided with another B-24 piloted by Lt. William Usry. Everyone in 1/Lt Usry's plane was killed; Maj. Gray and seven others in the PFF plane were killed. The wreckage of both planes fell near the English villages of Gissing and Tivetshall, Norfolk.
-------------------------------------------------
Gunner S/Sgt. Marion L. Blaney KIA
Hometown: Oklahoma
Service # 38181483
Squadron: 814th BS 482nd Bomb Group
Awards: Purple Heart
Pilot 1/Lt James N. Taylor RTD
Target: Frankfurt Germany
CASUALTIES NOT LISTED IN MACR
Date Lost: 29-Jan-44
Serial Number: #42-7669
Aircraft Model B-24J
Aircraft Letter:
Aircraft Name:
Location:one mile south of Station 124 (Tibenham)
Cause: mid air collision crew of 11 8KIA 3RTD
Briefings were held between 0330-0400 and at 0800 hours, (30) aircrews began take-offs. An unfortunate mishap occurred during form up, which began the aircrews' mission badly, when Lieutenant W. F. Usry's aircraft, #005 of the 577th, had a mid-air collision with one of the PFF ships, #669, pilot 1st Lieutenant J. N. Taylor of the 432nd Bomb Squadron and one of the former original crews of the 392nd. All of Lt Usry's crew were killed. In Lt Taylor's ship, Major Clyde T. Gray, Commander of the 576th Squadron was killed as well as all but (3) of Lt Taylor's crew.
Maj. Clyde T. Gray, 576th Sqdn, was mission command pilot in the lead Pathfinder aircraft from the 482nd Bomb Group. Everyone in that crew but Denby had previously been assigned to the 392nd Bomb Group, 577th Sqdn, and had flown several missions with the 392nd. During form-up, 1Lt Usry's plane and the PFF plane collided at 14,000 feet approximately one mile south of Station 124 (Tibenham). Everyone in 1/Lt Usry's plane was killed; Maj. Gray and seven others in the PFF plane were killed. The wreckage of both planes fell near the English villages of Gissing and Tivetshall, Norfolk. On U.S. overseas burials, 2/Lt Turner and Sgt Goodman are interred at CAMBRIDGE in Graves C-1-70 and E-5-76, respectively. Turner's home of record was given as Washington, DC, and Goodman's as Mississippi. Both are noted to have been awarded one Air Medal and the Purple Heart. S/Sgt Matta is interred at Woodlawn National Cemetery in Section F, Site 4193.
Crew of #42-7669
Major Clyde T. Gray Command Pilot
1/Lt James N. Taylor Pilot
2nd/Lt. Robert R. Stout Co Pilot
2nd/Lt. William J. Pautz Navigator
2nd/Lt. Edward M. Lange Bombardier
T/Sgt. Winfred K. Albee Engineer
T/Sgt. Benjamin J. Zdnarvich, Radio Op.
S/Sgt. Aubrey V. Keller Gunner
S/Sgt. Marion L. Blaney Gunner
S/Sgt. David B. Heneby Gunner
S/Sgt. Donald W. Gray Gunner
Marion and his brother Wayne attended a small country school called Crescent for a few years until they graduated from 8th grade. Crescent was only a few miles from their farm. Marion was noted as being an A student. He excelled in math and ran track. After graduated from 8th grade they moved on to Fort Cobb High School which was about 4 miles from the family farm. At Fort Cobb High School Marion played football, sang in the Boy's Glee Club, and no doubt was active in other school activities. Marion graduated from Fort Cobb High School on May 1933. We know Marion attended the Fort Cobb Alumni Banquet in 1941. This banquet was held about a week before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Marion's life of living in the Ozark mountains of Arkansas and the prairie of SW Oklahoma was about to change.
We don't have all the records and locations of Marion's military career but we know he enlisted in the military on August 5, 1942 at Oklahoma City. His brother Wayne had already been actively serving in the Philippines by this time and had returned home permanently disabled. Wayne's injuries occurred prior to the beginning of WW II. He graduated from the Army Air Force Flexible Gunnery School at Fort Myers, Florida in the Spring of 1943. Before that he graduated from the Radio Mechanics School at Chicago. He is listed as a member of 392nd Bomb Group flight crew from Topeka, Kansas. The date isn't complete on the crew list but I believe it is June 1943. The 392nd crew went to Europe in August of 1943 and there are several mission records available. All but one member of this original crew would eventual move to the 482nd Bomb Group and be involved in the fatal crash that took Marion's life.
Marion wrote letters to one of his nieces sharing there had already been several close calls with the aircraft because of the bad weather in Europe. On Jan 29, 1944 Marion's aircraft collided with another during formation on a bombing mission and eight men on his aircraft were killed, including him. All ten of the men in the other aircraft were killed. A tail gunner on another aircraft witnessed the collision and stated that Marion's aircraft was cut in half by the impact. Based on his location in the aircraft as a gunner he was probably killed instantly.
Written by Doug Turney, Marion's Great Great Nephew.
The following information on the crash was shared by the original creator of this memorial.
S/Sgt Blaney was a gunner on B-24 #42-7669 piloted by 1st Lt James N Taylor and based at RAF Tibenham. Tibenham is 15 miles southwest of Norwich and 99 miles northeast of London.
On 29 Jan 1944, during a mission to bomb Frankfurt, Germany, Lt Taylor's plane, with Command Pilot Major Clyde T. Gray, was the radar-equipped pathfinder for the mission. At 14,000 feet and one mile south of Tibenham during form up, Lt Taylor's plane collided with another B-24 piloted by Lt. William Usry. Everyone in 1/Lt Usry's plane was killed; Maj. Gray and seven others in the PFF plane were killed. The wreckage of both planes fell near the English villages of Gissing and Tivetshall, Norfolk.
-------------------------------------------------
Gunner S/Sgt. Marion L. Blaney KIA
Hometown: Oklahoma
Service # 38181483
Squadron: 814th BS 482nd Bomb Group
Awards: Purple Heart
Pilot 1/Lt James N. Taylor RTD
Target: Frankfurt Germany
CASUALTIES NOT LISTED IN MACR
Date Lost: 29-Jan-44
Serial Number: #42-7669
Aircraft Model B-24J
Aircraft Letter:
Aircraft Name:
Location:one mile south of Station 124 (Tibenham)
Cause: mid air collision crew of 11 8KIA 3RTD
Briefings were held between 0330-0400 and at 0800 hours, (30) aircrews began take-offs. An unfortunate mishap occurred during form up, which began the aircrews' mission badly, when Lieutenant W. F. Usry's aircraft, #005 of the 577th, had a mid-air collision with one of the PFF ships, #669, pilot 1st Lieutenant J. N. Taylor of the 432nd Bomb Squadron and one of the former original crews of the 392nd. All of Lt Usry's crew were killed. In Lt Taylor's ship, Major Clyde T. Gray, Commander of the 576th Squadron was killed as well as all but (3) of Lt Taylor's crew.
Maj. Clyde T. Gray, 576th Sqdn, was mission command pilot in the lead Pathfinder aircraft from the 482nd Bomb Group. Everyone in that crew but Denby had previously been assigned to the 392nd Bomb Group, 577th Sqdn, and had flown several missions with the 392nd. During form-up, 1Lt Usry's plane and the PFF plane collided at 14,000 feet approximately one mile south of Station 124 (Tibenham). Everyone in 1/Lt Usry's plane was killed; Maj. Gray and seven others in the PFF plane were killed. The wreckage of both planes fell near the English villages of Gissing and Tivetshall, Norfolk. On U.S. overseas burials, 2/Lt Turner and Sgt Goodman are interred at CAMBRIDGE in Graves C-1-70 and E-5-76, respectively. Turner's home of record was given as Washington, DC, and Goodman's as Mississippi. Both are noted to have been awarded one Air Medal and the Purple Heart. S/Sgt Matta is interred at Woodlawn National Cemetery in Section F, Site 4193.
Crew of #42-7669
Major Clyde T. Gray Command Pilot
1/Lt James N. Taylor Pilot
2nd/Lt. Robert R. Stout Co Pilot
2nd/Lt. William J. Pautz Navigator
2nd/Lt. Edward M. Lange Bombardier
T/Sgt. Winfred K. Albee Engineer
T/Sgt. Benjamin J. Zdnarvich, Radio Op.
S/Sgt. Aubrey V. Keller Gunner
S/Sgt. Marion L. Blaney Gunner
S/Sgt. David B. Heneby Gunner
S/Sgt. Donald W. Gray Gunner
Gravesite Details
Entered the service from Oklahoma.
Family Members
Siblings
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Mary Ann Blaney Pack
1890–1954
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James Edward Blaney
1894–1955
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John William Blaney
1894–1948
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Robert Link "Bob" Blaney
1897–1967
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Addie Catherine Blaney Forrester
1899–1997
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Witt Talmadge Blaney
1901–1979
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Jeney E Blaney
1906–1906
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Lone Oliver Blaney
1907–1924
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Hazel S Blaney
1910–1918
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Wayne G. Blaney
1912–1972
