George James Leary was born on June 14, 1920, in Kent County, Michigan. He was the son of Clayton Norman Leary and Dora Leona Miller Leary. He was the husband of Virginia L. Leary. George served in the 445th Bomber Group, Heavy, as a Second Lieutenant and was a passenger on the B-24 #42-50347 at the time of his death.

On October 18, 1944, their airplane was flying from the repair depot in Greencastle, Ireland to Tibenham on a familiarisation flight over Britain. Onboard were 24 replacement crewmen who had been sent to the 445th Bomb Group after the unit had suffered heavy losses on the Kassel mission in September that year. During the flight, the aircraft broke up in mid-air and crashed near the village of Landican, near Birkenhead on the Wirral peninsula in England. All 24 passengers and crew were killed in the crash.

2Lt Leary is now buried in the Fairplains Cemetery, Grand Rapids, Kent County, Michigan, USA.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, https://aviation-safety.net, www.americanairmuseum.com