SSgt Merril E. Brewer, radio operator of the B-24 Liberator 42-50603, took off from Harrington, UK at 2230 on a mission to resupply Resistance fighters as part of Operation Carpetbagger. Unbeknownst to them due to its late arrival, the CO out at the control tower to monitor the departure of aircraft in bad weather, his staff assuming the information was not vital, and the late arrival of said information from the unit in question, a battery of US AA guns were positioned along their flight path. The device used to distinguish friend from foe, the IFF, was turned off on the advice of Group Command due to German fighters honing in on them. Thus, they were shot at four times by that American AA battery. All four hits registered on the aircraft and caused it to crash, killing all but two crew members due to a string of human error by all parties involved.

From the DPAA:

he Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced today that U.S. Army Air Forces Staff Sgt. Merrill E. Brewer, 26, of Monticello, Maine killed during World War II, was accounted for Dec. 20, 2024.

Brewer’s family recently received their full briefing on his identification, therefore, additional details on his identification can be shared.

In the fall of 1943, Brewer served as the waist gunner aboard a B-24 Liberator bomber with 858th Bombardment Squadron, 492nd Bombardment Group, Eighth Air Force. The unit was engaged in Operation CARPETBAGGER, a series of secret missions in which several specially designated bomb groups dropped supplies, arms, equipment, leaflets, and U.S. Office of Strategic Services and French agents to resistance groups operating in northern France. On Sept. 16, 1944, Brewer’s crew was scheduled to fly its final mission to drop supplies to resistance forces 40 miles east of the Moselle River. 115th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Gun Battalion, an American artillery unit stationed near Lebeuville, France, mistook Brewer’s B-24 for an enemy aircraft and opened fire upon it. Of the eight crewmembers aboard, two successfully parachuted to safety while the remaining six, including Brewer, died when the aircraft crashed.

On the morning of Sept. 17, 1944, American soldiers recovered remains from the crash site, along with identification tags belonging to four of the crewmembers, including Brewer. They were subsequently buried in a common grave at U.S. Military Cemetery (USMC) Andilly, France. In 1949, official confirmed the group identification of the remains based on the presence of the identification tags and in 1951, they were repatriated to the U.S. and interred together in one casket at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri.

In 2013, a DPAA investigative team visited Bainville-aux-Miroirs, France, where they gathered information from local informants and surveyed the area where the B-24 crashed. From Oct. 16 through Nov. 16, 2021, DPAA partner Geoscope Services, Ltd. excavated the site and recovered new remains and evidence, all of which was accessioned into the DPAA laboratory.

To identify Brewer’s remains, scientists from DPAA anthropological analysis, as well as material evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA, Y chromosome, and autosomal DNA analysis.

Brewer’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Lorraine American Cemetery, along with others still missing from WWII. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Brewer was buried in Bridgewater, Maine, in September 2025.

He is also remembered on a grave at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, Grave: Section: 82 ~ Site: 38E.