Gilbert Jerome Schlesinger
Military ROLL OF HONOURCrew photograph from Howard G Mertens Family collection. Cropped.
Gilbert 'Gil' Jerome Schlesinger was the second son and youngest child of Samuel M and Celia Schlesinger, who practiced the Jewish faith. Gil never married and produced no known heirs.
Gil began flying missions with the 379th Heavy Bombardment Squadron, Kimbolton, England, on 10 Sep 1944. He served as the Pilot on this, his twenty-seventh mission, when his B-17G, #446140 'Miss Lace' encountered heavy flak over the target, the Brabag Synthetic Oil Plant, located just northeast of Zeitz, Germany. After one near explosion of flak, the burning plane lost its right wing and entered a vertical spiral. It broke into two sections: the tail/waist section, which landed near Threna, Germany, and the nose, which crashed into District 7 of the Oberholz Forest near Großpösna, Germany.
German citizens recovered partial and complete human remains and military identification tags for Gil and other crew members seated in the nose section of the plane from its forest debris field. The citizens of Großpösna placed five sets of remains in individual coffins, which were buried in their town cemetery. The US Army exhumed these remains in late June 1945.
The earlier presence of Gil's remains in the Großpösna Cemetery and the US Army identification of those remains as belonging to him was made solely upon the presence of his military identification tag, which the Germans had placed within a coffin with very limited partial human remains. A comparison of military dental records could not be completed since the remains lacked a skull or mandible.
At the request of Gil's parents, his identified remains were re-interred in the Adath Jeshurun Jewish Cemetery in West Roxbury, MA. His government issued headstone is located in Section 31, Lot 11, Grave 1.
Connections
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Units served with
People
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 379th Bomb Group 527th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: O-767319
- Highest Rank: Second Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Co-Pilot
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 379th Bomb Group 527th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 33758785
- Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
- Role/Job: Waist Gunner
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 379th Bomb Group 527th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: O-772108
- Highest Rank: Second Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Bombardier
Aircraft
Places
Events
Event | Location | Date | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Born |
Mattapan, Boston, MA, USA | 8 September 1922 | |
Died |
Großpösna, Germany | 30 November 1944 | |
Other Killed in Action (KIA) |
Großpösna, Germany | 30 November 1944 | |
Buried |
Großpösna, Germany | ||
Other Re-interrment |
West Roxbury, Boston, MA, USA | Adath Jeshurun Jewish Cemetery, Section 31, Lot 11, Grave 1. |
Revisions
Individual Deceased Personnel File for Gilbert J Schlesinger; Missing Air Crew Report #11126; German "Report of Downed Enemy Aircraft -- Ku-3401;" ancestry.com research of Janine Hunter, Reagan, TN.
Individual Deceased Personnel File for Gilbert J Schlesinger, Past Conflicts Repatriation Branch, US Army.
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 11126 / MACR 11126; 379th Bombardment Group Anthology, pg 326 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database