Original Item - One-of-a-Kind. June 12th, 1943 was likely one of the worst days of Sadie R. Crowder’s life. It was the day she received word via Western Union telegram that her son, Sergeant Leroy Dean Bailey, had been captured as a Prisoner of War of the Japanese Government. This group contains that very telegram, as well as some other ephemera relating to Bailey’s service during World War II, including a letter confirming his recipiency of the Bronze Star.

Leroy Dean Bailey was born on April 6th, 1911, in Wetumka, Oklahoma. He was 29 years old when he went into the U.S. Army Air Corps’ 19th Bombardment Group, 30th Squadron, as an airman in 1940. The day after Pearl Harbor, he was bombed on Luzon, Philippines. After his unit’s planes were destroyed, he was transferred to the Mindanao forces, but during a second bombing raid, he was captured by the Japanese at Malaybalay, capital of the Bukidnon Plateau. Bailey was imprisoned at Dapacol prison in the Philippines for two years, four months. The newspapers with the group go into further detail about his time as a POW. Bailey was finally liberated on September 2nd, 1945, deciding to stay overseas for a while longer and gain his weight back. He finally returned home and was awarded a Bronze Star in 1985 for his time as a POW.

The group includes:

- The Western Union Telegram Bailey’s mother received in 1943 notifying her of his imprisonment.
- A Red Cross letter acknowledging receipt of a letter sent about Bailey by his mother.
- A small photograph of Bailey, likely pre-war.
- Special Order GB-476 dated 13 August 1985 awarding Bailey the Bronze Star Medal.
- Air Force Letter that accompanied award elements relating to his Bronze Star, 1985 dated.
- 2001 Newspaper with story about Bailey’s 90th Birthday with much information about his service.

19th Bombardment Group
The 19th Observation Group was constituted as part of the United States Army Air Corps on 18 October 1927, without personnel or equipment. In 1929 its paper designation was changed to the 19th Bombardment Group, and it came into being with its activation at Rockwell Field, California, in June 1932. Two of its four squadrons, the 23rd and 72nd Bomb Squadrons, were permanently detached for service in Hawaii with the 5th Composite Group. The two squadrons at Rockwell, the 30th and 32nd Bomb Squadrons, were equipped with Keystone B-3A bombers.

The unit flew training missions along the California coast for coastal defense between 1932 and 1935. On 1 March 1935, all aviation combat units of the AAC in the United States were reorganized into General Headquarters Air Force, the first centralized control of the air striking arm of the United States. The 19th BG moved to March Field, California, in October 1935, as part of the 1st Wing, commanded by Brig. Gen. Henry H. Arnold.

In 1940, the group was equipped with the new B-17B Flying Fortress, the first production version of the B-17. The unit made aviation history on the night of 13–14 May 1941 when they ferried 21 B-17s from California to Hawaii to equip the new 11th Bomb Group, landing on schedule within 30 minutes of each other and in the order they took off. The crews returned to the United States by ship and relocated to Albuquerque AAF to train navigators.

The 19th BG redeployed two of its three squadrons (the 30th and 93d) to the Philippines between 16 October and 4 November 1941. The 26 bombers, traveling individually and at night on their longest leg, flew a trans-Pacific route from Hamilton Field, California; to Hickam Field, Hawaii; Midway Island; Wake Island; Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea; Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia; and Clark Field, Luzon, a distance of over 10,000 miles, nearly all of it over water. The route had been pioneered between 5 and 12 September 1941 by the 14th Bombardment Squadron, which was attached as the group's third squadron after its arrival.

The 28th Bombardment Squadron, a squadron that had long been based in the Philippines with the 4th Composite Group (being broken up and disbanded), but now rostered by pilots fresh out of flight training, was also attached to the group as its fourth squadron and began transition training to the B-17. The 19th BG had an inventory of 6 B-17C and 29 B-17D, although one B-17D was out of commission during its entire overseas service when it broke off its tail in a collision with a parked aircraft while landing in a typhoon after its flight from the United States on 12 September.

The 19th in World War II
The unit was based at Clark Field as the bomber command of the Far East Air Force when the Japanese attacked on 8 December 1941, inflicting numerous casualties and destroying two-thirds of the 19 B-17s at Clark in the attack. The 14th and 93d Squadrons, with 14 B-17D and two B-17C bombers, had been ordered to Del Monte Airfield on Mindanao just two days prior and escaped unharmed.

During December 1941, the 19th began reconnaissance and bombardment operations against Japanese shipping and landing parties until 17 December when badly in need of depot maintenance, it began displacing south to Darwin. By the end of the year, ground personnel joined infantry units defending the Philippines, while the air echelon in Australia continued operations, including transport of supplies to the Philippines and evacuation of personnel. On 29 December 11 of the survivors moved forward to Singosari Airfield near Malang, Java, to continue combat operations.

The group flew B-17s, B-24s, and LB-30s from Java against enemy airfields, shipping, and ground installations during the Japanese offensive against the Netherlands East Indies during early 1942, and was again evacuated on 2 March to Australia. It participated in the Battle of the Coral Sea, in May 1942, and raided enemy transportation and communications targets as well as troop concentrations during the Japanese invasion of Papua New Guinea. The group bombed enemy airdromes, ground installations, and shipping near Rabaul, New Britain in August 1942. Capt. Harl Pease, who had been with the group since the start of the war, was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for a mission flown on 7 August 1942.

By late 1942, the USAAF decided that no more B-17s would be sent to the Pacific, and that units would be withdrawn or re-equipped in the Pacific in favor of the longer-ranged B-24 Liberator. In addition, the combat losses by Eighth Air Force in Europe were reaching such magnitudes that the entire B-17 production was urgently needed for replacements and training in that theater. The 19th Bomb Group was withdrawn from Australia and returned to Pocatello Army Air Base, Idaho in December to be a replacement training organization for II Bomber Command. However, weather in the northwestern United States was not conducive to training missions, and the 19th was moved to Pyote Army Airfield, Texas in January where it performed a training mission until November 1943.