![]() ![]() A four-day trip of walking and sometimes riding got them to a town where they were evacuated back to their base in Italy. When he came down, he landed among a half dozen buildings and older women and children who picked up his chute and took him inside.Īfter dark some men came and escorted him across the mountain to a village and reunited him with the rest of his crew. Al said it seemed like forever for his chute to open. As nightfall approached, the pilot turned the plane over the mountains of Yugoslovia and gave the order to bail out. On Pa’s plane there was the pilot, engineer and assistant engineer with him, and the pilot turned the plane on a heading to Italy. Almost immediately the navigator, nose gunner and bombardier bailed out over target and the bombardier was killed on the way down, the other two were captured. They remained at altitude until they dropped their bombs but immediately radioed the deputy lead that they could not maintain altitude and had to drop out of formation.Īs their plane was dropping down the deputy lead slid into position too soon and came down on their number one engine cutting the deputy lead plane in two and it went down killing all on board. Al’s plane was the lead plane on this mission and as they neared the target they lost three super-chargers on their engines. ![]() On that day he was on his 25th mission over Germany, the number that many flight crews never reached. 17, 1944, remains young in his thoughts.Īlbert was a 19-year-old belly turret gunner on a B-24 bomber. He is along in years, he will be 94 in April 2019, but that day of Dec. Family calls him Papa, Dad, Grandpa, Great Grandpa or Uncle. For the past 50 some years I have called him Pa, or Pa-in-law. His name is Albert, but over the years I have heard many call him by his nickname Al. In addition he has four grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren. George, Utah.Īlbert is survived by three brothers, Joe Decaria, Victor Decaria and Jess Decaria two sisters, Mary Decaria and Teresa Decaria a son Stephen Decaria and a daughter Teena Moore. He then married Deanna Shelton and lived in Heyburn until 2011 when they moved to St. When he came home he married Donna Houser and they later divorced.Īlbert moved from Ogden, Utah, to Heyburn, Idaho, in 1965 where he established his own business in the housing industry. He graduated from Ogden High School and joined the Army Air Corps during World War II. Albert Decaria was born April 25, 1925, to Dominick Decaria and Assuntina (Villilla) Decaria in Ogden, Utah. ![]()
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