George Ellery Brosius ^{1 2 3 4}

   Cause of his death was P38 Airplane crash (WWII).

  General Notes:

Second Lieutenant George Ellery Brosius was reported missing in action over the Celebies islands on 5 Jun 1945 by the War Dept.
I was cultivating potatoes on my fathers farm north of Rifle , Colo with a team of horses called Jack and Nig when my sister came out to the field by the red house to tell me of the telegram.
Ellery always told me never to worry as if he got shot down he'd 'Walk Back". I never grieved until it was painfully evident he was never coming back. The War Dept declared him dead a year later.
Scotty as his friends in the service called him had 69 combat missions to his credit with his P38 airplane and was due to be rotated back to the states when asked to ferry some new planes to the combat zone. His plane developed engine failure in one engine and the feathering mechanism wouldn't engage causing the plane to circle. His wing commander stayed with him until low fuel forced him and the others to go on.--I'm just sure he told them to ''Go on I'll walk back". They were over open water near the Island of Barneo and there was a tropical storm raging . In those days the P38 was called the flying coffin because it was almost impossible to bail out of it.It was only later they developed the ejection seat.--------Will Brosius

Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Brosius received a telegram from the War Department Thursday morning, stating that their son Second Lieutenant George Ellery was missing in action as of June 5, somewhere in the South Pacific.

Lt. Brosius was based in the Philippines as a pilot on a P-38. The last letter the parents received was written about May 30. In this letter he states he had 70 hours and 30 minutes combat flying time to his credit.

In February of 1943 while he was attending A M College at Fort Collins he was called to the service and sent to the Army Air Force technical training at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri. Finishing this course he was sent to Calif. for advanced training and graduated at Chandler Field, Ariz. in April 1944.

His parents went to Ariz. to see their son receive his wings and also to attend his wedding. He brought his bride here for a visit during his furlough, following graduation. The wife then went to the home of her parents at Garnavillo, Iowa. On March 16 a son was born to Lt. Brosius and his wife. Mrs. Herbert Brosius left Saturday night for Garnavillo, to spend the next few weeks with the young wife and baby.

A number of our boys who were reported missing in action, were later reported safe. We truly hope this will be the case with this young man, who so bravely went to fight for our country.

Monday morning the Brosius family received word from the War Department to the effect that Lt. Brosius had gone down over the Celebese Island. The P-38 is a one man fighter plane.

He was called by his middle name, Ellery, by the family. His wife called him Georgie. Another of his nicknames was Bumps.

These comments were added to Ellery's page on Prichard/Love, Ancestry.com by Joseph_Marak on 17 Jun 2010:

George Ellery Brosius from Joe and Trish Marak of Grand Junction, CO Research

Second Lieutenant (2Lt.) George Ellery Brosius, son of John Herbert and Clara Margaret (George) Brosius, was born on September 17, 1922 at Rifle, Colorado, in Garfield County. George's forefathers mined the mountain region near Leadville, Colorado in the late 1800's.

In the "Great War," George's father John, a farmer from Rifle, was inducted into the U.S. Army where he served as a corporal in the Field Artillery Corps. After the war, John returned home to Garfield County where he returned to farming the fertile Colorado River Valley near Rifle.

George attended Rifle schools and following graduation in the spring of 1940, went on to study at Mesa College in the fall of 1940. The college was located in nearby Grand Junction, Colorado, in Mesa County. While a sophomore, George lived at 208 Grand Avenue in Grand Junction. Also during his sophomore year, George enrolled in the Civil Aeronautics Authority Civilian Pilot Training Program in the winter of 1942. He graduated from Mesa College on Friday, May 29, 1942.

When war came, George volunteered for duty as an aviation cadet in the U.S. Army Air Corps at Colorado. He completed flying school and was promoted to second lieutenant and got his wish---fighters. Second Lieutenant George Brosius, Service No. O-773553 was assigned to the 68th Fighter Squadron, 347th Fighter Group. The Fighter Group was part of the U.S. Thirteenth Army Air Force which operated in the Pacific Theater of Operations.

At 1400 on June 5, 1945, Second Lieutenant George Brosius departed Morotai Airdrome (APO 926) in his Lockheed P-38L-5 Lightning, Aircraft Serial No. 44-26305 as part of a flight of seven P-38 Lightning fighters on a routine ferry mission. The flight set out on a course of 308 degrees enroute their home station at Puerto Princesa, Palawan (APO 719-1). As the flight pushed forward, the weather conditioned worsened and the flight leader, with George on his wing, attempted to break through the clouds into what looked like a clearing. Poor discipline caused the five other P-38s to break up and scatter, but Lieutenant Brosius stayed tight like a leech on his wingman, First Lieutenant Frederick A. Roos, Service No. O-708759.

The two climbed upwards to about 22,000 feet when George began reporting mechanical difficulties. First, his airspeed indicator froze up; then his left engine and prop began to act up. It appeared his electrical system went out as his prop ran away and his engine began detonating---throwing black smoke out the turbo charger. He lost control of the plane, broke away from Roos and began to spiral earthwards. At 1510 hours local time, George made his last radio contact to Roos stating, "I'm bailing out."

When Lieutenant Roos finally broke out of the clouds about 80 miles northeast of Morotai, he contacted the second Emergency Air Rescue Search Squadron and gave them the dope on Lieutenant Brosius' last known location in the vicinity of the Sangihe Islands, more commonly known today as the Sangir Islands. The islands are located northeast of Sulawesi in the Celebes Sea, roughly halfway between Sulawesi and Mindanao, in the Philippines.

On June 6, 1945, the Air Rescue Search Squadron searched the area with negative results. The following day, First Lieutenant Roos took up six planes and conducted a second detailed search of the area, again---negative results. After a total of four days of searching, Missing Air Crew Report (MACR)-14654 initiated June 6, 1945, reported Second Lieutenant George Brosius missing in action June 5, 1945 over the Sangihe Islands. The report attributed mechanical failure as the sole reason for the tragic event. Back at home, the War Department notified the Brosius family by telegram at Rural Route 1; regretfully informing them George was missing in action---presumed dead. Later, George was later officially declared dead, remains non-recoverable.

Today, Second Lieutenant George Ellery Brosius is forever memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery in Manila, The Philippines.

  Additional Information:

• Military Service: as 2nd Lieutenant, US Army Air Force, P38 Pilot: the South Pacific. ^{6 7 8}

• Physical Description: 5FT 11 185 lbs, all muscle , very handsome.

Scotty married Betty Lou Moellering, daughter of Arthur W. Moellering and Lucy M. Bandow, in Apr 1944. (Betty Lou Moellering was born on 31 May 1923 in Garnavillo, Clayton County, Iowa, died on 2 Mar 2018 in Guttenberg, Clayton County, Iowa and was buried in Garnavillo Community Cemetery, Garnavillo, Clayton County, Iowa.)