LOUIS J. FALLERA conversation I (Bob Meli) had with 84 year old Donald Faller, |
In 2008, I had spoken to Chuck Faller who had worked for my father Tom Meli who owned Englewood Lumber Co. back in the 1960’s. Well, two years went by and I had forgotten about it when, after apologizing for not getting back to me for personal reasons, Chuck Faller called me and gave me Donald Faller’s phone number, the brother of The New Milford VFW and the New Milford book by Teresa Martin or the newspaper articles of the day all reported Louis Faller had died while flying a mission off of Hawaii and his plane went down somewhere in the Pacific. After talking to Donald, his brother, there is more to add to the story but the basic fact of Here is what Donald Faller shared with me on October 12, 2010: Donald Faller said that Louis had been moved to Canton Island where they ran patrols looking for any Japanese buildup and movement. Canton Island is near Fiji island near Australia and when they were in the air they could not have any radio contact because they did not want the Japanese to pick up their signal and find out the air strip location etc. Donald said his B26 plane had been in for repairs but that was common and there is no way of knowing if that had anything to do with Louis Faller never returning. He was patrolling in dangerous enemy waters in a new style plane at the outset of the war with no radio contact for guidance or support. Louis Faller and the pilots he flew with were similar to those pilots defending England at the outset of war. They had to take all the risks because they were the first and only line of defense and information gathering we had up until that time in the Pacific Theatre. Donald Faller after searching for a time to find out more information about his brother's death spoke to an officer 10 or 15 years after the war who had been on a committee investigating the many crashes of B26 planes and other planes in different locations in the Pacific Theatre, including the area where Louis had gone down. The officer told Donald that they had recovered the tricycle landing gear which was common only to the plane that Louis was flying and it had his plane's serial number on it. A fisherman had recovered it some time after the incident was reported he was not sure how long after. They found the tricycle landing gear North of the Solomon Islands about 800 miles from where he was reported having gone down. They felt that there report of where he had gone down was accurate because the water currents would have taken the part they recovered in the direction in which it was recovered. The commitment to the war effort by every member of a family during World War II is clearly revealed when having a conversation with a man of the times such as Donald Faller. Although he did not serve because the war was coming to a close by the time he was graduating high school in 1944, the effects of what happened to his brother seems to still abide in his thoughts today all these many years later as to what exactly happened. Let us never forget the soldier's sacrifice. |