Navigator of the B-24 “Lonesome Lady” which took off from Yontan Airfield, Okinawa on 28 July 1945 on a bombing mission against the Japanese battleship Haruna anchored in Kure Harbor by Hiroshima. After dropping their bombs, the plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire and went into a vertical dive, crashing in a field near the town of Ikachi. The entire crew was able to bail out. Petersen was not heard from again. On 3 Jun 1948 his parents were informed that he was buried in the US Armed Forces Cemetery in Yokohama, Japan. His remains were repatriated to Iowa in 1949.

From Find a Grave:
USAAF WORLD WAR II
2nd/Lt. Roy M. Pedersen Jr. KIA
Hometown: Iowa
Squadron: 866th 494th Bomb Group
Service#
Awards:
Pilot 2nd/Lt. Thomas C. Cartwright POW

Target: mission against Battleship Haruna anchored in Kure Harbor.
Mission Date: 28-Jul-45
Serial Number: #44-40680
Aircraft Model B-24J-175-CO
Aircraft Letter:
Aircraft Name: "Lonesome Lady"
Location:
Cause: FLAK

Took off from Yontan Airfield on bombing mission #139. This B-24 flew in the #2 position in the formation, behind B-24 #980 at 10,000' altitude on a bombing mission against Battleship Haruna anchored in Kure Harbor.

A few moments after dropping their bombs at 12:48, this bomber was hit by anti-aircraft shell that hit near the pilot tube and appeared to pass through the nose between the pilot and navigator's position and exit from the upper life raft compartment. All the crew were able to bail out successfully, except for Pedersen who was seen to exit.

Cartwright recalls in "Date with the Lonesome Lady"
"In quick succession my plane was hit but we could still fly. I did not realize how badly we were damaged and planned to head for the open sea where there was hope that our Naval seaplanes would spot us and pick us up if we ditched and survived. We started losing altitude and the controls were becoming less responsive and I could not head out to sea---the plane flew back toward land on it own."

Although not burning, the B-24 went into a vertical dive into overcast at roughly 34 degrees 3' N, 132 degrees 9' E. Crashed into a field, outside Hiroshima near the village of Ikachi.

Fates of the Crew
Captured, the crew were taken prisoner by the Japanese. All were interned at the Chugoku Military Police Headquarters Kempi Tai (Military Police) at Hiroshima. They died on August 6, 1945 during the atomic bomb as this location was near the epicenter of the bomb.

Cartwright recalls in "Date with the Lonesome Lady"
"All of the crew were able to bail out and were scattered for miles along an area south of Kure Harbor in a mostly wooded, sparsely populated area. We were all captured and after some harassment taken to a city [Hiroshima] We were always blindfolded when out of a prison cell. I saw all of our crew there except Pete [Pedersen] and Bill Abel, the tail gunner."

Abel was captured and taken to Kure where he was interned and survived the war. He was liberated at the end of the war from Tokyo POW Camp (Shinjuku) and survived the war.

Carwright was taken to Tokyo on August 1, 1945 and interrogated and questioned intensely after the atomic bombing and placed into solitary confinement. When the war ended, he was marched to Omori POW Camp and was liberated on August 28 and departed via Tokyo POW Camp Branch #2 (Kawasaki).

In 1983, Carwright returned to Hiroshima after a business trip. In 1985 he got a letter from Keiichi Muranaka, who had lived close to where the Lonesome Lady crashed and presented him with a small aluminum piece of wreckage from the crash site. In 1999, he attended the dedication of a memorial for the nine POWs killed by the atomic bomb.

"Lonesome Lady" Crew
2nd/Lt. Thomas C. Cartwright Pilot POW
2nd/Lt. Durden W. Looper Co Pilot KIA
2nd/Lt. Durden W. Looper Co Pilot POW/KIA
2nd/Lt. Roy M. Pedersen Jr. Navigator
KIA
2nd/Lt. James M. Ryan Bombardier POW/KIA
Sgt. Buford J. Ellison Engineer POW/KIA
Sgt. Hugh H. Atkinson Radio Op. POW/KIA
CPL John A. Long Jr. POW/KIA
CPL John A. Long Jr. POW/KIA
S/SGT. Ralph J. Neal POW/KIA