Shot down 3 November 1943 in B-17 #4229852 'Fireball. ' Killed in Action (KIA).Last Known Activity

According to enlistment records at the National Archives, Lt Harold E. Bergman was born in 1921 in Dickey County, North Dakota. He enlisted at Lisbon, North Dakota on April 1, 1941; however, the record states he entered from the Dakota National Guard as a Corporal in the Field Artillery. It has not been discovered how or when he received pilot training and a commission in the Army Air Corps.



He first appears in official records as a co-pilot with the 511th Bomb Squadron of the 351st Bomb Group operating from RAF Station Polebrook, England. He was credited with 21 missions, but not for 1 that had been recalled. He served as co-pilot on a B-17 whose crew was headed by 1 Lt Elmer J. Nardi.



On November 3, 1943, this crew was scheduled for a raid on the submarine docks and facilities located at Wilhelmshaven, Germany. The bomb run was made successfully, but just after bomb release, the formation was attacked by fighters. The pilot of a lower squadron aircraft was killed, and his aircraft pitched upward, colliding with Lt. Nardi's plane. Severely damaged, the aircraft fell out of formation and began a downward spiral. It crashed near Mellum Island, just north of Wilhelmshaven.



Six of the crew managed to bail out and land successfully, but were captured by the enemy troops. Four of the crew were killed either by the attack or in the resulting crash. Only three bodies were ever recovered.



Lt Harold E. Bergman is remembered on the Walls of the Missing at the American Cemetery in Margraten, Holland.