Harland Vernon Sunde
Military ROLL OF HONOUR
ARowe95
Object Number - UPL 31043 - F/O Harland Sunde. 381st BG, 535th BS. Photo credit to USAAF Class Book Project ABMC American Cemeteries.
Pilot, Sunde crew. 381st BG, 535th BS. Shot down 1 December 1943 in B-17 #42-31097 'Mission Belle'. Mission #46 to the chemical plant at Leverkusen, Germany. MACR 1661. Killed in Action (KIA). Buried in the Netherlands AMC.
Minnesota
Upon ditching the aircraft in the Rhine there was only one rescue dinghy. F/O Sunde, who was wounded, refused it and began swimming for shore. He was last seen yelling for help with his head covered in blood.
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: 381st Bomb Group 535th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 32410832
- Highest Rank: Sergeant
- Role/Job: Radio Operator / Gunner
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 381st Bomb Group 535th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 17065322 and O-739541
- Highest Rank: First Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Navigator
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 381st Bomb Group 534th Bomb Squadron 535th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 35722592
- Highest Rank: Sergeant
- Role/Job: waist gunner
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 381st Bomb Group 535th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 38168075
- Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
- Role/Job: Top Turret Gunner; Flight Engineer
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 381st Bomb Group 535th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 32335119
- Highest Rank: Sergeant
- Role/Job: Tail Gunner
Aircraft
- Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
- Nicknames: Mission Belle
- Unit: 381st Bomb Group 535th Bomb Squadron
Missions
- Date: 1 December 1943
- Date: 26 November 1943
Places
- Site type: Cemetery
- Known as: Netherlands American Cemetery, Margraten, The Netherlands
Events
| Event | Location | Date | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Enlisted |
Fort Snelling, Minnesota, United States | 10 July 1940 | as a Private in the Air Corps |
|
Other Killed in Action (KIA) |
Nieuw-Lekkerland, Holland, The Netherlands | 1 December 1943 | According to the testimony of a crew member, when the aircraft was ditched, having only one serviceable dinghy, Lt Sunde refused to use it (probably so as not to overload it) and tried to swim to shore, but he drowned before that crewman could reach him. His body was recovered by the Germans when they searched the débris of the ditched plane some months after the crash. |
|
Born |
Minnesota, Unired States | ||
|
Buried |
Plot O Row 9 Grave 12 | ||
| Stevens County, Minnesota, United States |
Revisions
381st Bomb Group Memorial Association, March 1999; MACR 1661 / Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 1661 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database
