Roland Magee
MilitaryMagee Family
Roland Magee was Tail Gunner on B-17 #41-24465 'Montana Power', shot down 5 April 1943 in Belgium. Prisoner of War (POW). He had lost his eye to a Flak fragment during the attack. After landing in parachute, he was hidden by a farmer near Loenhout (12km East of the crash place in Kalmthout, Belgium), where the Germans brought his Pilot Robert Seelos to identify him. Also captured, he was sent to a German field hospital, from where he left around the end of April 1943 to the Luftwaffe Interrogation Center at Dulag Luft, Oberursel. From there, he was sent to Stalag 17B, in Braunau Gneikendorf, near Krems, Austria, where he was in Barrack 36B. NARA POW records : “Returned to Military control 27 01 1945”. As many other wounded POWs, he was part of a prisoner exchange program. Sent to Stockholm, Sweden, he boarded the “Gripsholm”, a Swedish liner transformed into an hospital ship and arrived in New York on 16 February 1945 as one of 463 US, 70 Canadian and more than 600 civilians repatriated from Europe. After being transferred to the Halloran Hospital, Staten Island, New York, he got a furlough and was ultimately honorably discharged. Sadly, he died a few months later, apparently in a motorcycle accident in California.
Connections
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Units served with
- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
- Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
People
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 306th Bomb Group 368th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 34258894
- Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
- Role/Job: Waist Gunner
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 306th Bomb Group 368th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 14071743
- Highest Rank: Technical Sergeant
- Role/Job: Radio Operator
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 306th Bomb Group 368th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 16022965
- Highest Rank: Technical Sergeant
- Role/Job: Ball Turret Gunner
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 306th Bomb Group 368th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 16035409 and O-661851
- Highest Rank: Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Co-Pilot
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 306th Bomb Group 368th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 11021749 and O-732757
- Highest Rank: Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Navigator / Bombardier
Aircraft
- Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
- Nicknames: Montana Power
- Unit: 306th Bomb Group 368th Bomb Squadron
Missions
- Date: 5 April 1943
Places
- Site type: Airfield
- Known as: Bedford
Events
Event | Location | Date | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Born |
Idaho | 21 October 1913 | |
Other Prisoner of War (POW) |
Braunau Gneikendorf, near Krems, Austria | 5 April 1943 - 27 January 1945 | Hit by a Flak fragment, he lost an eye, was treated by the Germans and sent to Stalag Luft XVIIB (17B) in Austria. Was repatriated in a prisoner exchange program. NARA POW records : “Returned to Military control 27 01 1945”. |
Died |
Menlo Park, San Mateo County, California, United States | 20 November 1945 | |
Emmett, Idaho, United States |
Revisions
MACR 15534
NARA WWII Enlistment records
NARA WWII POW records
Research on plane and crew for website www.evasioncomete.org
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 15533 / MACR 15533, Losses of the 8th & 9th AFs Vol. 1 by Bishop and Hey pp. 99-100, First Over Germany by Russell Strong pp. 81-82, NARA POW record / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database