Leonard P. Grabuski was born on February 7, 1924, in Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Benjamin and Constance Grabuski. He graduated from Mount Carmel High School. He worked at the Sun Ship Building and Drydock Company before enlisting in the U.S. Army on March 26, 1943. After training at Camp Crowder, Missouri, and radio school in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, he earned his Aerial Gunner’s Wings at Laredo, Texas, and was assigned to the 826th Bombardment Squadron, 484th Bombardment Group of the 15th Air Force in Italy. Promoted to Sergeant, he served as the right waist gunner on B-24 #42-51882.

On February 20, 1945, 2Lt Orgene V. Colvin and his crew took off from Torretto Airfield in the Foggia Complex, Italy, as part of a mission to bomb the marshalling yards at Bolzano. During the attack, their B-24 was struck by six direct hits of enemy flak in the waist section. The blasts ripped the fuselage apart just behind the bomb bays, tearing the aircraft in two. The ball turret broke away and fell, while the forward section, still carrying its bombs, plunged into a dive, ignited near the ground, and exploded against the side of a mountain. The toll was devastating: four crewmen were killed instantly by the flak. Two others died when their parachutes failed to open, and three more perished later from exposure or starvation after bailing out. Only the pilot survived and was taken as a prisoner of war.

Sgt Grabuski was Killed in Action and is now buried in the Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Arlington County, Virginia, USA.

Source of information: www.fold3.com, 484th.org/index.htm