Delivered Cheyenne 3/6/44; Kearney 16/6/44; Grenier 30/6/44; Assigned 832BS/486BG [3R-B] Sudbury 3/7/44; 3m Missing in Action Hamburg 4/8/44 with Harvey Walthall, Co-pilot: Bill Myers, Bombardier: Howard Graham, Radio Operator: Ken Faber, Ball turret gunner: Jim Danno, Waist gunner: Bill Dold, Tail gunner: Bill Lambertus (all seven shot by Pvt Erich Langer, whose relatives had been killed in other US raids on Hamburg, the incident designated as murder); Navigator: Quentin Ingerson, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Kazmer Rechak (2 Prisoner of War); flak & mid air coll with 43-38145, force landed Nordstrand, Borkum, near Rotenburg, Germany.



B-17 #43-37909, was hit by flak, nosed over and collided with another plane. After landing the remaining 7 crew members were captured ordered to march through the town of Borkum, with their hands up. During this march they were abused and assaulted by civilians. A German soldier, a private of the Wehrmacht, who had lost his family during an earlier raid on Hamburg, heard of the column of American airmen making its way through town. He was filled with rage and saw an opportunity to avenge the deaths of his wife and three children. He shot all 7 men, without being intervened by the guards that accompanied the crew.



Missing Air Crew Report 7711.