Born in 1925 in St. Augustine, Florida, Walter Adell “Rick” McClellan moved to Pensacola with his parents in 1932. Upon graduation from Pensacola High School in 1943, Walter enlisted in the US Army Air Corps that November and was trained as a radio operator aboard a B-17 bomber. Upon completion of his training he was assigned to the 366th Bomb Squadron, 305th Bomb Group of the 8th Air Force stationed at the Royal Air Field at Chelveston in Huntingtdonshire, England. The war was entering its final weeks as the Allies increased their bombing operations to bring Hitler’s Third Reich to its knees. One target was the industrialized center at Dresden, Germany. During a three-day period in February 1945 over 1,000 Allied bombers dropped thousands of tons of explosives on the hapless city killing 25,000-100,000 citizens.
On April 17th TSgt. Walter A. McClellan took off aboard his B-17 bomber nicknamed the “Towering Titan” heading for Dresden to strike their railway center. Even though they were flying in a tight formation to concentrate their firepower, a German jet aircraft dove from above at 21,000 feet, striking Walters bomber and sending it into a death spiral. Only one parachute was seen exiting the bomber. As Walter pulled the ripcord he drifted down southwest of the target, in Brux (Most), Czechoslovakia. Upon landing he was captured by local SS soldiers and taken to Burkhardswalde where he was interrogated, tortured then executed. He was buried in the town of Sportplatz.
Later, the young Pensacolian was exhumed by the townspeople and reburied in their church cemetery. After the war, the Americans were unable to search the area because the area the bomber had crashed was now located in the Soviet Union section of Germany. On May 28, 2007, a German citizen from Burkhardswalde reported the presence of a grave in the local church cemetery that bore the marker "Hier ruht ein unbekannte alliierte Flieger" (Here rest an unknown Allied Flier). Three months later, a recovery team exhumed the body and successfully identified Walter’s body.
On April 23, 2010, Tech Sergeant Walter Adell “Rick” McClellan was escorted home to Pensacola where he was buried with full military honors in the Barrancas National Cemetery. Sadly, by this time his parents Robert Harry and Amy Elizabeth “Bessie” Raley McClellan had already passed away and never knew of their son’s homecoming.
Walter Adell McClellan 1925-1945
Pensacola News Journal Article 11-19-1944
Crew of the B-17 "Towering Titan" with TSGT Walter A. McClelland kneeling 2nd from left
April 2010 Burial in Barrancas Cemetery, Pensacola, FL
Grave of a Pensacolian Finally Brought Home