Winter, J. Crew, Cambridge AMC
A gentleman by the name of Bill Cullen has spent many years researching for his book “Flying Fortress Gunner,” (FFG) the story of B-17 belly-turret gunner Bob Harper’s 35 combat missions with the 381st BG of the 8th Army Air Force. He admits that after finishing it up he wanted to  “scratch some itches.” that he found whilst researching.

One such itch was to find out more about the gunner who was killed on Bob Harper’s first mission. Upon returning to base from Fismes, France, that day Bob was told at his debriefing that his crew had had a lucky start, “a real milk run.” It hadn’t felt that way from where Bob was sitting down in the ball turret. Here is an abbreviated version of that day from FFG:

“June 28, 1944 -Our first combat mission, a trip to Fismes, France, turned out to be a milk run. Or at least they called it that. We flew as close to each other as we could to keep the fighters from flying through our formation, but we didn’t see any that day. Other than clearing my guns down in the ball turret, I didn’t fire them again during the entire mission. Though it was light, the flak seemed accurate enough; some of those bursts of flak weren’t too far from our plane. But the flak didn’t last long; we dropped our bombs and then headed home. Everything was going perfectly! But then I looked over at our wing man, and an 88 (artillery shell) had gone right through the tail gunner’s position, blown off part of its rudder.

“I will never forget the sight of those ammunition belts pulled straight out from the tail guns and flapping in the slipstream, flapping like crazy, like the tail of a kite. It happened near the French coast, so all the way back to England we could see those ammunition belts flapping . . . and we knew their tail gunner must have been hit. We couldn’t imagine that he had survived. It was a shocking sight that stuck with me for a long time, those ammunition belts, and a hole where the gunner should have been… Never did find out his name.” -Bob Harper

 

Little information was shared among the crews given that they might be shot down and become POWs subject to interrogation on a future mission, perhaps even the next day. June 28th would be no exception to the “need-to-know” life on the base: Bob’s crew never found out the name or the fate of the gunner on their wing

"I managed to discover the name of the gunner (it had been misspelled in one combat report and I hadn’t looked hard enough). So here is a little about Sergeant William “Bill” Bursaw, one of the 619 airmen of the 381st Bomb Group that made the ultimate sacrifice during World War Two:

On June 11,1944, five days after D-Day, Sergeant Bursaw arrived at Ridgewell with the O’Dell crew and was assigned to the 381st’s 533rd Bomb Squadron. After two weeks of orientation (possibly flying a combat mission with a different lead pilot during that period) the O’Dell crew flew three consecutive combat missions in support of the Allied invasion of France:

June 23rd: attacked pilotless plane launching sites in the Pas de Calais.

June 24th: attacked the steel railway bridge over the Loire River west of Tours, France.

June 25th: attacked the airdrome at Toulouse, France.

Then after a couple of days rest, on June 28th, the men of the O’Dell crew plus thirty-five other crews were woken at 1:30 am to prep for an early mission, departing from the base at 4:15 am to attack a key bridge in Fismes, France. My Devotion B-17 42-102423 formed up next to Bob’s unnamed B-17, 42-97589.

 

 The 242nd Medical Detachment served the 381st Bomb Group and their chief surgeon, Major Gaillard, kept a very accurate combat diary of their missions which was eventually printed after the war. The story of Sergeant Bursaw’s demise is detailed in Major Gaillard’s entry for that day:

“28 June 1944 – Thirty-six aircraft from this command were dispatched at 04.15 hours to bomb a railway bridge near Fismes, France, northwest of Paris. Bombing altitude was 24,800 ft and outside temperature minus 34 degrees Cent. Bombing was done visually and the target was not hit. There was a heavy overcast in and out.

The flak was meagre and accurate, while no hostile fighters were seen and there was ample fighter support. All ships returned to the base, with no missing or wounded but one man was killed.

Sgt William Warsaw (note: actually Bursaw) 533rd tail gunner was killed in action by a direct flak hit which hit off the tail of the ship. It penetrated his neck and perforated the jugular vein.”

 

I continued to look around for additional information about Sgt Bursaw but it was scant pickings, probably due to his short stay at the base. I discovered just the basics about the young man’s life: Bill Bursaw was born on December 17, 1923, in Buffalo, New York. He was single and working as a house painter living outside of Boston when he enlisted in 1943. Though I searched for a service photo of Bill (his immediate family had all passed away), I could only find this one of his grave stone located at the beautiful Cambridge American Cemetery, Cambridge, England.

Sgt. Bursaw was awarded the Purple Heart and Air Medal. Of the original O’Dell crew that arrived on June 11th, all would survive the war except Bill and their bombardier, 1st Lieutenant Peter Kowalski, who was killed on March 22, 1945. Lieutenant Kowalski had been wounded twice on previous missions yet volunteered for a second tour.

That was the best that I could do. Sergeant Bursaw was only 20 years old when he died suddenly and violently in those frozen skies five miles above the earth. RIP Sergeant Bursaw, your service and sacrifice is noted and honored here"
Thank you to Bill Cullen for his permission to share this information.