Flight Officer Harold A. Houghtaling was a Pilot with the 310th Bombardment Group; 381st Bombardment Squadron; Stationed in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations, (MTO)

His Hometown was Red Hook, Duchess County, New York, where his Mother and Step-father, Mary and Albert Doyle resided; and Poughkeepsie, Duchess County, New York, where his father resided.

Saturday, 3 July 1943
381st BS War Diary: (No non-mission information)
381st BS Mission Summary: (Ops Order ---/mission ---) Group Mission # 120: MILIS AIRDROME, SARDINIA Group Mission # 120 2 Flights 18 B-25’s Sqdrn. Mission # 86 Escort 36 P-38’s. Take Off 10:40 Bomb Load: 1st Flight 6(6 x 500) 2nd Flight 6(8 x 399) Target 12:53 Bombs Dropped: All. 32,400# Down 14:45 Average Altitude: 10,000 Total Time: 4 Hrs. 5 Min. REMARKS: No enemy aircraft were encountered, but heavy flak over the target moderate to intense and extremely accurate. Most of our aircraft were hit, and F/O Houghtaling’s Mitchell caught on fire in its port engine, causing him to make a landing in the sea 15 minutes off the target. Two of the flight’s navigators pinpointed the location, and the Air-Sea Rescue Service was notified promptly.

381st BS: Extracts from Missing Air Crew Report # 341:
A/C B-25' No. 42-32422; MACR-341; ditched at sea)
P Anderson, George (NMI), 1Lt - MIA, DED
CP Houghtaling, Harold A., F/O - MIA, DED
N None
B Gawron, Joseph (NMI), S/Sgt - MIA, DED
E None
R VanKosky, Wilbur J., S/Sgt - MIA, DED
G Turville, Robert Lamar, Sgt - MIA, DED
F None

ALL 5 Crew members were Declared Dead, on 04 July 1944, One Year and One Day after they went Missing in Action.

Harold A Houghtaling