My Dad, William L. Cabaniss was the gunnery officer and ball turret gunner on the B-17G 'BTO in the ETO' - #42-38202. While he didn't talk much about his experiences. Rarely would he give me glimpses into what he went through and witnessed during his time in England and during his time as a POW. His first mission was on D-Day, 6 June 1944, and his plane was shot down less than two weeks later while on his 8th mission. When my Dad first landed back in the States after a week onboard a ship, eating as much as he could, he weighed only 93 pounds! In his notes (found after he died), Dad wrote that his plane was shot down at Brest Litsovisk, Poland. After bailing out, Dad broke his leg upon landing. Two of his crewmates, Jack White and Arnold Shumate, were captured along with him as they were trying to get Dad over to where the Polish Underground was waiting with the rest of his crewmates. Those seven were delivered across the battle lines to the Soviets in Poltava, Ukraine. In 1945, Dad and everyone else at Stalag Luft IV was marched across Poland and Germany in the infamous "Death March" of the winter and spring of 1945.



Shot down by fighters and crashed near Swory on 6/21/44 in B-17 'BTO in The ETO'. Prisoner of War (POW).