Bronis D. Lipskas was born at Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts on February 19, 1922. His surname is Lipsky, but this was changed to Lipskas in military records. His parents were Dominik George Lipsky (15 May 1883 – unk) and Catherine (Mazukitis or Marshukaitis) Lipsky (abt 1885 – unk). His parents were both born in Lithuania and immigrated to America about 1911. His father was employed by the Boston Elevated Railway Company. He had two sisters: Nelle Angelina (aka 'Nellie Annie') Lipsky (13 May 1915 – unk), and Augenia Catherine Lipsky (4 Mar 1920 – unk). In 1940 the family lived at 684 East 6th Street, Boston, Massachusetts, his home of record.

He completed four years of high school and worked as a machinist. He was single, without dependents, when he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps at Boston, Massachusetts on July 15, 1941. He was 5 feet 11 inches tall, weighed 153 pounds, had gray-green eyes and brown hair, and wore size 9D shoes. On July 18, 1941 he was assigned to the 45th Bomb Group (Light), an Atlantic coastal defense training unit that flew the Douglas B-18 'Bolo' and Douglas A-20 'Havoc' aircraft. From August 1, 1942 to September 8, 1942 he was assigned to Tyndall Field at Panama City, Florida, where he completed Army Air Forces aerial gunnery school. On September 13, 1942 he was assigned to the 79th Bomb Squadron at Cunningham Field, Cherry Point, North Carolina. The 79th Bomb Squadron was part of the 45th Bomb Group, which was then a medium bombardment group flying antisubmarine missions using the Lockheed 'Ventura' twin-engine medium bomber. On November 29, 1942 the 79th Bomb Squadron (Medium) was designated the 8th Antisubmarine Squadron (Heavy) of the 26th Antisubmarine Wing, and was equipped with the B-24 'Liberator' heavy bomber. The 26th Antisubmarine Wing was headquartered at Miami, Florida. Its Squadrons flew B-24 antisubmarine patrols from bases in Florida, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Trinidad, British Guyana, Suriname, Brazil, and Ascension Island.

On October 1, 1943 the 8th Antisubmarine Squadron was designated the 839th Bomb Squadron, and was assigned to the newly formed 487th Bomb Group. The Squadron moved temporarily to Pueblo, Colorado; and on November 17, 1943 it moved to the 487th Bomb Group's base at Bruning Army Air Base, Nebraska. In December 1943 the 839th Bomb Squadron moved with the 487th Bomb Group to Alamogordo Army Air Base, New Mexico. Some of the veterans of antisubmarine patrol were assigned to the other three Squadrons in the Group. S/Sgt Lipskas was assigned to the heavy bomber crew of Lt Edward J. Brodsky in the 838th Bomb Squadron of the 487th Bomb Group. The Brodsky crew completed B-24 crew training at Alamogordo, and deployed with the 487th Bomb Group to England in March 1944. The crew flew B-24H 42-52581 via the southern Atlantic ferry route—a journey of about 10,000 miles—and arrived in England by mid-April 1944. The 487th Bomb Group was based at Army Air Forces Station 137 near Lavenham, Suffolk, England, and was part of the 8th U.S. Army Air Force in Europe.

On May 11, 1944 S/Sgt Lipskas flew as tail gunner on then Captain Edward J. Brodsky's lead crew in B-24H 42-52763, in the deputy lead position of the 838th Bomb Squadron.

The primary target for this mission was the railroad marshalling yards at Chaumont, France, southeast of Paris. The secondary target was Troyes. While en route to the target, navigational error resulted in the Squadron flying over accurate German flak guns guarding the airfield at Chateaudun, France. Brodsky's plane was hit by flak in the number 3 engine, which caught fire. The aircraft peeled off to the right. After losing number 4 engine it dove down, and Capt Brodsky successfully crash landed the aircraft on farmland belonging to a Mr. Hubert Bourjois near the village of Gaubert, commune of Guillonville, France, about fifteen miles east of Chateaudun. One crew member, Lt Lee G. Johnson, bailed out safely before the landing. Brodsky and his copilot, John W. Roberts, escaped from the aircraft on the ground, but were unable to suppress a wing fire. Six crew members, including S/Sgt Lipskas, were trapped in the aircraft and died when the fire spread and the fuel tanks exploded, engulfing the aircraft in flames.

The remains of S/Sgt Lipskas were never recovered, and he is still listed as missing in action. There is no evidence that his remains were ever removed from the burned aircraft wreckage. Here is a statement in his Individual Deceased Personnel File: "Due to explosion and burning of the entire plane, it is very possible that remains of one of the crew may have been entirely cremated."

One other crew member, ball turret gunner S/Sgt Elton Tollett, is also still missing in action. He was thrown from the plane during the landing. Captured German records reveal that he suffered a severe head injury, and died at a German Air Force hospital in Orleans, France on May 12, 1944. He was buried at the Memorial Cemetery ("Heroes Cemetery") in the row for prisoners of war, Section K, at Orleans, France. After the war, a search failed to identify his remains.

S/Sgt Lipskas is memorialized on the Wall of the Missing at Brittany American Cemetery in Saint-James, France.

B-24H 42-52763 crew:
• Brodsky, Edward J – Capt – Pilot – POW
• Roberts, John W – Capt – Copilot – POW
• Weiss, Lester – 1/Lt – Navigator – KIA
• Johnson, Lee G – 2/Lt – Navigator – POW
• Pearce, Thomas W – 1/Lt – Bombardier – KIA
• Simoni, Walter – T/Sgt – Engineer – KIA
• Nance, Clifford P – T/Sgt – Radio Operator – KIA
• Tollett, Elton – S/Sgt – Ball Turret Gunner – MIA
• Lipskas, Bronis D – S/Sgt – Tail Gunner – MIA
• Murphy, William J – S/Sgt – Top Turret Gunner – KIA

Source of information: Paul M. Webber, www.findagrave.com