Merle L. "Mose" Pickup was born in 1917. He resided in Utah County, Utah prior to the war. Merle served as a Corporal, 373rd Bomber Squadron, 308th Bomber Group, Heavy, U.S. Army Air Force during World War II. Merle enlisted in the Army on September 8, 1942 in Salt Lake City, Utah. He was noted, at the time of his enlistment, as being employed as a Driver and also as Single, without dependents. He was a passenger on B-24J #42-100184, 373rd Bomber Squadron, 308th Bomber Group, Heavy, U.S. Army Air Force.

B-24J #42-100184 took off, with a crew of 7 and 3 passengers, from Yangkai, China on a ferrying mission to Chabua, India. The last heard from them was a radio transmission noting they were 30 minutes east of Chabua. They crashed, for an unknown reason near Cheppe, Arunachal Pradesh, India during the war. He was declared "Missing in Action" on May 25, 1944 and is commemorated on the Walls of the Missing, Manila American Cemetery, Taguig City, Philippines. He also has a cenotaph located in Provo City Cemetery, Provo, Utah County, Utah.

Cpl Pickup was one of over 2000 Americans who lost their lives defending China from their Japanese invaders from 1941-1945. He is commemorated on the The Monument to the Aviation Martyrs in the War of Resistance Against Japan in Nanjing, China.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, www.abmc.gov