Prisoner of War (POW) Crashed near Boppard on 10/14/44 in B-24 'The Jolly Roger' 42-50864; a/c hit by flak. With no. one engine smoking, crew bailed out; all survived and became Prisoners of War.



"On 14 October 1944, during an attack on Cologne, the B-24 of pilot William Klusmeyer jr. was hit by flak at ca. 12.35 hrs, engine # 1 started burning and the aircraft left the formation. When it was getting more and more difficult to keep course and they were near the Rhine River, the pilot ordered the crew to bail out. After that the B-24 continued its flight alone and empty until it crashed into a wooded area in the Gehlert District near Kell where it was totally destroyed. Only the tail section could still be recognized as such. One of the bent wings remained lying there for two years. Lead navigator Miller had been badly wounded in the right part of his face by flak shrapnel. Bombardier Sands put a chute on him to which a cord was attached that would make sure it opened automatically and threw him out. Sands landed on the south banks of the Rhine River, others came down on the north bank. Some crewmembers had already left the ship near Bad Ems (ball turret gunner Carlisle, top turret gunner Hanes, tail gunner Fricks). Sands was walking to the south for seven days and nights. When he had reached a large river (the Moselle?) and was about to steal a boat, he was discovered and apprehended.



The wounded Miller and waist gunner Fohler didn’t land much apart from each other in a field near Boppard. As Fohler was able to speak German fairly well, he made sure that his wounded comrade was taken to hospital. Later an operation there saved his right eye. Navigator Ferrell landed in a garden and was taken captive by a farmer and marched to the marketplace in Boppard where eventually also pilot Klusmeyer and co-pilot Wright were taken. It didn’t take long before a threatening lynch mob formed which was fortunately kept under control by a soldier who had hurried to the scene. After a few hours in the building of the local fire station the three men were picked up by the military and transported to Frankfurt"