Shot down by fighters and crashed near Macquenoise, Belgium on a mission to Frankfurt am Main on 8 Feb 1944 in B-17G #42-31499. Evaded capture for a couple months but was captured and executed on 22 April 1944.



From a letter written by George's parents to the other crew's families to inform them what had happened to their sons: 'The eight fliers were living in a hut that belonged to a Belgian farmer, who was helping the boys by sending them food and clothing. This farmer's son and another Belgian stayed in the camp with the boys the night of the 21st and, of course, were captured with the boys. The boys had just finished breakfast when they were captured. It was about 8:00am. The boys were taken to the second floor of a school house in Chimay and were stripped of all their identification. When the boys were captured, they all had their dog tags and were in civilian clothes with the exception of our son, George, who had on his Army pants, Army shirt and Air Corps leather jacket and Benninger, who had on Army pants and Air Corps shirt. The boys were questioned two or three hours in the school house. About 2:30pm on 22 April 1944 the boys were put in a truck guarded by Germans and taken back to a section of the woods where they were ordered to line up single file at the edge of the woods. Two Germans with pistols were behind each boy. The boys were ordered to march into the woods with the Germans behind them. After they had gone about 500 ft in the woods, each boy was ordered to take a separate direction, the two Germans still behind each boy. At a predetermined signal, the Germans shot each of the boys through the back three or four times and then left them dead in the woods.'



After the war the German on-scene Commander was tried in a war crimes court and executed.