George Walter Harper
MilitaryShot down 5 November 1943 in B-17 #4230142 'Pistol Packin' Mama. ' Prisoner of War (POW).
POW
Held at Stalag Luft VI in what is now Siluté, Lithuania. Was then evacuated to Stalag Luft IV near Gross Tychow, Poland. SSGT Harper then was part of the Black March, when Stalag Luft IV was evacuated. He survived the Black March.
SSGT Harper was liberated and returned to the US, where he lived in Birmingham, Alabama. He worked for the US Postal Service. He married Eleanor Jeanne Simmons of Bessemer, AL, and they had three sons...George, Ronald, and Robert, who are still alive as of 3/18/2020. SSGT Harper passed away on May 12 1965.
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
Aircraft
- Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
- Nicknames: Pistol Packin Mama
- Unit: 384th Bomb Group 544th Bomb Squadron 388th Bomb Group 560th Bomb Squadron
Events
| Event | Location | Date | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Born |
Bessemer, Alabama, USA | 22 August 1917 | |
|
Enlisted |
6 May 1942 | Enlisted at Fort McClellan, Alabama | |
|
Other Prisoner of War (POW) |
Netherlands | 5 November 1943 | |
|
Buried |
Elmwood Cemetery, Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama |
Revisions
NARA file verified Purple Heart awarded under GO 31, Miami District HQ AAF Pers Distr Command, 12 Oct 1945. No Bronze Star Medal is in the NARA files listed, but it could mean bronze service stars on the Eastern-African-Middle-Eastern Campaign Medal or he received a Bronze Star Medal prior to 1965. His tombstone lists the PH on it. He earned the American Campaign Medal and more than likely the Army Good Conduct Medal, but his separation documents could verify those awards. Had he lived, he could have applied for the Prisoner of War Medal. His ASN is on the PH file and the MACR.
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 3123 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database