Pilot    Wesley E. Dickinson, O-404165
Co-Pilot  2nd. Lt. Theodore G. Wuerple, O-431590 (KIA)
Bombardier  Sgt J. A. Webb, 6383911
Gunner  Sgt John A. Gibson (RAAF), 405549 (MIA/KIA)
Gunner  Cpl. Richard M. Haley, 11014921 (MIA/KIA) (NH)
Passenger  Cpl. Earl R. Sevene, 11015350 (KIA)
Crashed  May 23, 1942
MACR  16001

Crew History
Pilot Dickinson was nicknamed "Wes". Co-pilot Wuerple was a Mexican-American. Earl Sevene was a ground crew member, who asked the pilot to join them on the combat mission. Pilot Dickinson was born 1918, and married an Australian woman and worked in the computer industry until the 1970s, then retired in San Jose, California.

Mission History
One of a six plane formation that took off from Port Moresby to bomb Lae Aerodrome.  One aborted the mission, and only five proceeded to the target.  Attacked by Zeros of the Tainan Kokutai over the target.  When the B-25 reached the Buna area on the way back, a Zero which remained undetected due to haze attacked this B-25 head-on, hitting the right engine and killed two crew members: Wuerple and Sevene.  Pilot Dickinson ordered the remaining crew to bail out, holding the plane level long enough for any to escape.   Sgt Webb bailed out first, followed by Dickinson.  The others aboard were all dead.

Pilot Dickinson Saga
Dickinson landed near Fufuda village and was assisted by villager named Hangiri, and brought to Gona Mission Station, where he waited for a missionary boat to take him back to Port Moresby. There, he befriended Father Benson and Mavis Parkins. When the boat arrived, he proceeded towards Port Moresby. On board the boat, he met Webb who had landed in a nearby village further down the coast. In the late 1990s he corresponded with the son of Hangiri, Malchus Hangiri.

Bombardier Webb Saga
Webb bailed out and was assisted by natives and made his way to a missionary. He was reunited with Dickinson, and both took the same boat back to Port Moresby together.  He passed away around 1985.

Post War Searches
In December 1946, Keith Rundle searched for this aircraft, and met with Father Benson, but deemed the aircraft to be unrecoverable.

Wreckage Today
According to Fufuda villagers, the B-25 crashed in a swamp near the bank of the Kumusi River.  It was known to them for several years after the crash, but today is gone, either covered over by sediment or swept out to sea during seasonal flooding.

Memorials
There is a American Legion post named for him in New Hampshire.

References
90th Bombardment Squadron history, page 38. Wesley Dickinson published a book, I Was Lucky in 2002.  Father Benson writes about Dickinson in Prisoner's Base and Home Again. Interview with Malchus Hangiri, September 7, 2005. Thanks to Edward Rogers for RAAF Searcher report.

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