Stanford Gene Wolfson

Military ROLL OF HONOUR

A Minor League Baseball player, he entered military service on October 15, 1942 to train as a bomber pilot. He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in November, 1943, and received further training as a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress pilot. In December 1943, he was assigned to the 335th Bomb Squadron of the 95th Bomb Group, Eighth Air Force, and deployed to Horham Airfield in Suffolk, England. On November 5, 1944, he was co-pilot on a B-17G (43-38814) heading to Ludwigshafen, Germany. The bomber successfully dropped its payload on the target but was badly damaged by anti-aircraft fire. The pilot, Second Lieutenant Richard H. Wright, Jr., gave the order for his crew to bail out and Wolfson was seen safely descending by parachute. But that was the last his crewmates ever saw of him. [MACR 10308]. The pilot, together with the bombardier who had not bailed out, nursed the crippled bomber back to France, where it managed a belly landing near Nancy. The rest of the crew had parachuted to safety - albeit captivity - near the Pfalzer Wald forest about eight miles southwest of Kaiserslautern, and met with a hostile reception from local civilians before being turned over to German authorities. Wolfson, of Jewish extraction, handed himself in to local civilians and was picked up by members of the Criminal Police from Kaiserslautern. On the journey to Kaiserslautern, in a wooded area on the outskirts of the city, he was murdered by his captors. Presumably because they had discovered he was Jewish. [www.flugzeugabstuerze-saarland.de] It was not until after the war ended that the fate of Stan Wolfson was discovered.



See more at: http://www.baseballsgreatestsacrifice.com/biographies/wolfson_stanford…

Connections

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Units served with

The insignia of the 95th Bomb Group.
  • Unit Hierarchy: Group
  • Air Force: Eighth Air Force
  • Type Category: Bombardment

People

  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 95th Bomb Group 335th Bomb Squadron
  • Highest Rank: Lieutenant
  • Role/Job: Pilot

Aircraft

  • Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
  • Nicknames: No No Nannette : Cadet Nurse the 2nd
  • Unit: 95th Bomb Group 336th Bomb Squadron

Events

Event Location Date Description

Born

St. Louis, MO, USA 23 February 1922 Son of George E and Mollye [Fry] Wolfson.

Enlisted

St. Louis, MO, USA 15 October 1942

Other

Baled out

Saarbrücken, Germany 5 November 1944 Failed to Return (FTR) Ludwigshafen, Germany. A/C hit by flak, baled out successfully. Handed himself into local civilians and was picked up by members of the Criminal Police from Kaiserslautern.

Died

Near Kaiserslautern, Germany 6 November 1944 On November 5, 1944, he was co-pilot on a B-17G (43-38814) heading to Ludwigshafen, Germany. The bomber successfully dropped its payload on the target but was badly damaged by anti-aircraft fire. The pilot, Second Lieutenant Richard H. Wright, Jr., gave the order for his crew to bail out and Wolfson was seen safely descending by parachute. But that was the last his crewmates ever saw of him. [MACR 10308]. The pilot, together with the bombardier who had not bailed out, nursed the crippled bomber back to France, where it managed a belly landing near Nancy. The rest of the crew had parachuted to safety - albeit captivity - near the Pfalzer Wald forest about eight miles southwest of Kaiserslautern, and met with a hostile reception from local civilians before being turned over to German authorities. Wolfson, of Jewish extraction, handed himself in to local civilians and was picked up by members of the Criminal Police from Kaiserslautern. On the journey to Kaiserslautern, in a wooded area on the outskirts of the city, he was murdered by his captors. Presumably because they had discovered he was Jewish. [www.flugzeugabstuerze-saarland.de] It was not until after the war ended that the fate of Stan Wolfson was discovered.

Buried

67657 Kaiserslautern, Germany 7 November 1944 Interred Kaiserslautern cemetery

Buried

7570 Olive Blvd, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA 27 February 1949 Re-Interred Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery University City, MO.

Other

Completed flight training

Georgia, USA Commissioned 2nd Lieutenant Nov-43.

Based

Horham 5 November 1944 Assigned to 335BS, 95BG, 8AF USAAF.

Revisions

Date
Changes
Sources

Updated personal, biographical details and media by courtesy of Gary Bedingfield at http://www.baseballsgreatestsacrifice.com/biographies
MACR 10308

Date
ContributorAAM
Changes
Sources

Combat Sup / Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia