Howard Griffith Mertens
Military ROLL OF HONOURMertens Family Collection
Howard 'Howie' Griffith Mertens was the second son and youngest child born to native Californians, Ferdinand C Mertens and Margaret Mary (Griffith) Mertens, but his paternal grandparents were German immigrants. Howie graduated from Mission High School in San Francisco and was apprenticed to his father, a renowned local cabinet-maker when he enlisted in the US Army Air Corps. He never married. He received his flight training at Luke Airfield, Glendale, AZ.
On this, his 28th mission, Howie served as the Co-Pilot on the B-17G, #446140 'Miss Lace,' on 30 Nov 1944 when it encountered heavy flak over the target, the Brabag Synthetic Oil Plant just northeast of Zeitz, Germany. After a near explosion of flak, the plane lost its right wing and entered a vertical spiral while ablaze. It broke into two sections: the tail/waist section, which landed near Threna, Germany, and the nose, which crashed into District 7 of the Oberholz Forest near Großpösna, Germany. In this debris field, German citizens recovered partial and complete human remains and military identification tags for some crew members seated in the nose section of the plane, but Howie's military ID tag was not located. The citizens of Großpösna placed five sets of remains in individual coffins that later were buried in their town cemetery. Howard's identity remained unknown to the Germans.
In late June 1945, the US Army exhumed the crews' remains from the Großpösna Cemetery. One set of remains eventually was identified as those belonging to Howard after a laundry tag marked with his name was found inside the remnants of clothing buried with his corpse. In 1949, his remains were brought back to the United States and re-interred in the Golden Gate National Cemetery, San Bruno, CA, at his parents' request.
Connections
See how this entry relates to other items in the archive by exploring the connections below.
Units served with
People
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 379th Bomb Group 527th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: O-822790
- Highest Rank: Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Pilot
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 379th Bomb Group 527th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 33758785
- Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
- Role/Job: Waist Gunner
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 379th Bomb Group 527th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: O-772108
- Highest Rank: Second Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Bombardier
Aircraft
Places
Events
Event | Location | Date | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Born |
San Francisco, California, USA | 22 June 1921 | |
Died |
Großpösna, Germany | 30 November 1944 | |
Buried |
Großpösna, Germany | Großpösna Village Cemetery according to German records. | |
Other Re-interrment |
San Bruno, CA, USA | Golden Gate National Cemetery, San Bruno, California, Grave -- Section O, Site 1033 |
Revisions
Individual Deceased Personnel File for Howard G Mertens; Missing Air Crew Report #11126; German "Report of Downed Enemy Aircraft, KU 3401;" ancestry.com research of Janine Hunter, Reagan, TN; recollections of the Mertens Family, Y Shore, Jul 2016.
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 11126 / MACR 11126; 379th Bombardment Group Anthology, pg 326 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database