Soon after V-J Day, men who had served with the 3rd Bomb Squadron were finally on their way back home, but members of a six-man aircrew were still listed as missing in action. Cpl. James J. Ryan Jr. had been radio-gunner in the top turret of a rocket-equipped B-25J-2, A/C #722, that went missing on May 16, 1945. It had failed to return from a bombing and strafing raid against the Japanese-held airfield at Ichang. Details of the mission and the fate of its crew were not confirmed until long after the end of hostilities.

May 16, 1945, began as many other days, but its events lived on in the memories of the 3^rd Bomb Squadron members for many years. In the early morning hours, six B-25 crews were briefed at Liangshan on separate targets in the Ichang, Chingmen, and Shashih triangle in western Hubei Province for the purpose of hitting enemy troops and supplies on low-level bombing and strafing raids. Typical of the Chinese-American Composite Wing at this time, three aircrews were made up of all-Chinese members, and three crews were entirely Americans. Tragically, one of these bombers did not return. Aircraft #722 was hit by enemy fire over Japanese-held Ichang and crashed, burning as it went down. Five members of the crew died in the crash, and a sixth was injured as he bailed out. Captured by the enemy, he died soon afterward. The fate of these heroes was not discovered until after the war had ended.