The following entry from the RCAF Gander Daily Diary of 5 May 1941 describes the arrival of the first US personnel at Gander ..

    "Strength eighty officers and six other ranks at 5-5-41.
Pending instructions from AFHQ, RCAF Station was opened this date with G/Capt Lewis as CO and F/O RNF Walley as Adj. It was necessary to take this step in order to facilitate liasion with the American Air Corps who have arrived on the scene.  The advance party of Americans came in by Digby aircraft from Miami, Florida, USA and was comprised of three officers and three NCO's. They have been quartered with our personnel.  Great strides are being made by contractors in order to provide accommodation for the American and our personnel in buildings completed, and being completed within the next few days are barely sufficient for all personnel and it will be necessary to crowd all ranks until other buildings are finished.   #10 Sqn presently occupying 4 hangar moved to #6 Hangar in the RCAF area allowing the US personnel to take over the former.    Sqn CO is W/C Carscallan . No flying due to bad weather which has been over the area for the past ten days.  Mud is very heavy and great difficulty is being experineced in gettign around.  1st DRO published"
 

    The first Americans casualties to be buried in the RCAF Gander cemetery were killed in the crash of an American Export, (S44) Sikorski flying boat at Botwood  on .3 Oct , 1942 which took the lives of  11 of the passengers and crew.

    Four civilian crew members and one US Military Officer  were buried in the Gander Cemetery
Lt/Col Whitaker
M.C.J. Doyle
C.L. Laning
D. Tipole
Q.D. Redmond

 
    On 9 Feb 1943 Liberator AL591 of the Return Ferry Service and operated by a BOAC crew,   crashed while attempting a landing at Gander.  Of the 21individuals on board, 20  were killed  including three American civilian pilots, employees of RAF Ferry Command.
F.A.Duggan
J. Stanger
R. M Lloyd

    Information on the following US personnel was provided by Darrell Hillier of Gander whose web site   http://home.thezone.net/ainal/     is an excellent source on military and civilian information relating to aviation in Nfld. 

   On 27 Oct 1943, a US  A-20 (Boston) aircraft piloted by Maj. Sobey F. Allen, plus two crew members and one passenger  was in a preauthorized.  photographic manouvers exercise with an RCAF Hurricane of 126 Sqn. A mid-air collission occurred and the Boston crashed and all four occupants were killed.  The Hurricane pilot parachuted to safety.  The names of the two crew and passenger, ( who may have been a photographer) are not known
 

A  B-17G , piloted by 1st Lt. Bruce E Ryan,  . (married with two children) crashed on take-off from Gander on 29 December 1943. The remaining crew were:
2nd Lt. Stephen A. Wooten, co-pilot
2nd Lt. John J. Gentile, Nav
Sgt. Charles Thayer, Eng
Cpl. Fred A. Norton, R/O
2nd Lt. Ballard D. McCain, passenger
2nd Lt. Paul J. Linehan, passenger
S/Sgt. Thomas R. Killela, passenger
Sgt. Howard N. Hightower, passenger
Sgt. Daniel L. Boucher, passenger
 

On 4 August 1944 another B-17 G crashed on take-off. The crew were:
2nd Lt. Saul J. Oppenhimer, pilot
nd Lt. Chester C. Wempler, co-pilot
F/O Malcolm H. Hild, Nav
2nd Lt. David L. Herzog, Bombardier
Sgt. Warren G. Faulconer, AEG
Cpl. Gordon T Lawson Jr., ROG
Cpl. William Ruggeri, AG
Cpl. Keith M. Shelly, AROG
Cpl. Maurice E. Leathers, AG
Cpl. Forrest G. Taylor
 

On 16 October 1944 a B-24 crashed shortly after take-off. #1 engine cut and the
a/c requested an emergency landing. It made an apparent undershoot and was
endeavoring to correct by going around again but could not maintain altitude.
The crew were:
1st Lt. James S. Cozzens Jr.
F/O John F. Thompson
Capt Norman P. Sturtevant
Sgt. Hugh E. Dean
S/Sgt. Newton L. Porter Jr.

On 12 December a B-24L departed Gander en route to the Azores and crashed on
the south side of Gander Lake. The crew were:
1st Lt. Robert W. Drew
F/O John W. Ralstin
1st Lt. Robert H. Forsythe
S/Sgt. Victor B. Dann
T/Sgt. Frank J. Sroka
 

On 14 February 1945 a B-24M came in over the field and was cleared for landing.
Visibility had closed in so the a/c cleared the field and disappeared. The
wreckage was located in March and the remains brought to Gander. The wreck is
in an isolated area but I have been to it twice, each time by helicopter. The
crew were:
Colonel William C. Dolan
2nd Lt. John S. Barry
2nd Lt. Charles E. Tophan Jr.
2nd Lt. Edmund H. Breschini
Cpl. Charles F. Parsons Jr.
Cpl. Nicholas Brande
Cpl. John W. Tarpey
Cpl. John E. Baker
Private Mark G. Lentz
Private Harry Karpick

    It appears  there at least 52 US personnel buried in the cemetery . In Nov 1945  the bodies were exhumed and first taken to Ft Pepperrell in St John's and later returned to the USA.