media-20012.jpeg UPL 20012 T/SGT Trall Werner Wertz
Date of Birth: 10/29/1916, Jeannette, Pennsylvania
Date of Death: 03/06/1944, Killed in Action on mission to Berlin/Genshagen
BURIED AT: Arlington National Cemetery
At 1553 hours, B-24 Liberator 42-64457 of the 453 Bomb Group from Old Buckenham, Norfolk, crashed in the sea off Corton, at a position 3 miles NE of Lowestoft. Damaged in the flak barrage over Berlin, the B-24 was further damaged by fighters on the return flight, and finally abandoned by the crew as they neared the Suffolk coast. RAF HSLs (High Speed Launches) from Gorleston and Lowestoft were quickly on the scene, along with an ASR Walrus aircraft, but of the 10 crew, only 5 survivors and the body of Trall Wertz were pulled from the icy water. Four crewmen were never found. The remains of Trall Wertz were temporally interned in the Cambridge Cemetery in England. On or about July 20, 1948 his remains and 56 others were interned at Arlington National Cemetery Fort Myer Virginia.
The mother of Trall Wertz, Adele (Della) Werner Wertz, was born in German Bohemia and emigrated to the U.S. at age 16 in 1898. Trall grew up bilingual speaking German and English.

Information provided by grand-nephew of Trall W. Wertz, Bruce B. Wertz