Abe A Helfgott
MilitaryRadio Operator, Laux crew. 381st BG, 532nd BS, 8th AF. Damaged by fighters on the return from mission #67 to the marshalling yards at Frankfurt am Main, GR on 11 Feb 1944. B-17G #42-31099 'Tenabove' crashed near Poix-de-Picardie, FR after the crew bailed out. MACR 2431. Evaded. EE Report 524. Returned to England by 24 Mar 1944.
Sgt Helfgott met up with other members of his crew while evading. He returned with Lt's Laux, Wright and Sgt Glennan.
Chicago, IL
Awards: AM, POW, WII Victory, EAME.
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 532nd Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 37059494
- Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
- Role/Job: Radio Operator/Togglier
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 381st Bomb Group 532nd Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 34602703
- Highest Rank: Sergeant
- Role/Job: Tail Gunner
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 381st Bomb Group 532nd Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 39104963
- Highest Rank: Technician Third Grade
- Role/Job: waist gunner
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 381st Bomb Group 532nd Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: O-746646
- Highest Rank: Second Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Bombardier
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 381st Bomb Group 532nd Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 18131846
- Highest Rank: Sergeant
- Role/Job: waist gunner, Radio Mechanic
Aircraft
- Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
- Nicknames: Tenabove
- Unit: 381st Bomb Group 532nd Bomb Squadron
Missions
![A bomber crew of the 381st Bomb Group with their B-17 Flying Fortress on the 4 February 1944. Passed for publication 12 Feb 1944. Handwritten caption on reverse: '4-2-44.' Printed caption removed from reverse. Censor no: 304545. On reverse: Associated Press, US Army Press Censor ETO and US Army General Section Press & Censorship Bureau [Stamps].](https://assets.americanairmuseum.com/s3fs-public/styles/teaser_thumb_x2/public/freeman/media-413520.jpg.webp?itok=8ZB41rSN)
- Date: 11 February 1944
Places
- Site type: Airfield
Events
| Event | Location | Date | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Born |
Chicago, Illinois, USA | 11 August 1919 | Son of Sam Helfgott. |
|
Enlisted |
Chicago, IL | 4 August 1941 | |
|
Based Evaded |
Ridgewell | 26 December 1943 - 11 February 1944 | Assigned to 532BS, 381BG, 8AF USAAF. |
|
Other Shot Down/Evaded |
Poix-de-Picardie, France | 11 February 1944 - 24 March 1944 | EE Report 524 Sgt. Richard C. Hamilton’s file combines his report with his crewmate Sgt. Rudolph Cutino. Their bomber was attacked on February 11, 1944, as it was returning to England after a bombing raid over Frankfurt. Hamilton, the ball turret gunner, stated that he “was last out of fuselage. Opened chute at once.” Upon landing near Amiens, a couple of Frenchmen hid him, but two Germans found him and took him to a shack. Hamilton tripped one and hit the other in the cheek and dove through a row of trees, where the Frenchmen were waiting for him. After staying in a safe barn for a few days, Cutino, the bomber’s right waist gunner, arrived. Five days later, three more crew members—Sgt. Thomas Glennan (left waist gunner), Sgt. Abe Helfgott (radio operator), and Lt. Philemon Wright (navigator)—were brought in. All the Americans were taken to Paris, where they got false papers and met the pilot of their plane, 2nd Lt. Robert Laux. All the crew had gotten out of the plane by parachute. Six of the 10 successfully made it back to England. After a train ride to Quimper in Brittany, they (along with other Americans and Canadians) were taken to the coast and put on boats bound for England. |
|
Other Discharged USAAF |
4 November 1945 | Honourable discharge. | |
|
Enlisted |
26 April 1948 | ||
|
Other Discharged USAF |
20 February 1950 | Honourable discharge. | |
|
Died |
Riverside, CA | 7 July 1954 | |
|
Buried |
IOBA Cemetery Association Waldheim Cemetery Co. Forest Park, Cook County, IL | 15 July 1954 | IOBA Cemetery Association Waldheim Cemetery Co. Forest Park, Cook County, Illinois, USA |
| Chicago, IL | 1403 S. Kamensky | ||
|
Other Patient in Hospital |
Dyersburg Army Airfield, TN | Gall Bladder Inflammation |
Revisions
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 2431 / MACR 2431, Losses of the 8th & 9th Air Forces / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database / www.381st.org/UnitHistory/Data/Roster.aspx