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Military
Swissvale, PA POWs at Stalag VII
Names of pictured POWs from Swissvale PA. Johnnie Euwer, Ed Thorne, Jimmy Schroeder, Parker Finney
Parker Finney's POW diary. Miscellaneous pages at the back list names, events, food that they wanted to eat, and places that he heard about that he wanted to visit. This was probably written on and off from Aug 1944 to Apr 1945.
Assigned to 68BS, 44BG, 8AF USAAF. Shot down by fighters after falling out of formation and crashed near Eisenbach, GR on a mission to an a/c factory at Gotha, GR on 24-Feb-44 in B-24 41-24225 'Flak Alley'. Prisoner of War (POW). MACR 2922
"Remained POW until liberation 1945. Dad was NOT repatriated as stated in the Flak Alley (Capt. Bell) bio. George Hall, bombardier was repatriated with both eyes damaged. Hall's life was saved by my father (he donned chute, assisted out)."
Awards: AM, POW, WWII Victory, EAME.
Military | Second Lieutenant | Bombardier | 44th Bomb Group The Flying Eightballs
Assigned to 68BS, 44BG, 8AF USAAF. Joined the 44th on 31-Jan-44 and was shot down 3 weeks later. Shot down by fighters after falling out of formation and crashed near Eisenbach on a mission to an A/C factory at Gotha on 24-Feb-44 in B-24D 41-24225 ...
Group
The 44th Bombardment Group (Heavy) was activated 15-January-1942 at McDill Field, Florida and equipped with B-24Cs. The Group moved to Barksdale Field, Louisiana and acted as a training unit for the 90th 93rd and 98th Bomb Groups and flew anti...
Squadron
B-24 Liberator
Took part in Operation Tidal Wave, the raid on Ploesti on 1 August 1943.
...
1 August 1943
Operation TIDAL WAVE. B-24D Liberators attack the oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania. The bombers flew low to avoid radar detection and dropped time delayed bombs. Out of the 177 B-24s that took part in the raid 167 managed to attack their targets. 57...
24 February 1944
BIG WEEK resumes with full intensity against the German aircraft industry. Bomber tactics are changed slightly in that each Air Division will be directed at more widely dispersed primary targets which it is thought will frustrate concentration...
Military site : airfield
Shipdham was built in 1941-1942, the first US heavy bomber airfield in the English county of Norfolk. It was a standard design, with T2-type hangars and a domestic site dispersed to the south east. Improvements were carried out to increase the number...
Other location
Other location
| Event | Location | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Born | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA | 29 July 1920 |
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Son of Thomas Barkley and Martha [McGowan] Schroeder. |
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| Based | Shipdham | 1944 – 24 February 1944 |
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Assigned to 68BS, 44BG, 8AF USAAF. |
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| Prisoner of War (POW) | Moosburg, Germany | 24 February 1944 – May 1945 |
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Shot down by fighters after falling out of formation and crashed near Eisenbach, GR on a mission to an a/c factory at Gotha, GR on 24-Feb-44 in B-24 41-24225 'Flak Alley'. Prisoner of War (POW). |
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| Died | 16 May 1990 | |
| Buried | Homewood Cemetery Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, PA | 19 May 1990 |
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Homewood Cemetery |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
|---|---|---|
| 17 November 2021 21:14:34 | Al_Skiff | Changes to middlename, service number, biography, awards, events and place associations |
| Sources | ||
https://www.fold3.com/record/624899360/james-schroeder-1920-veterans-aff... |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 22 June 2018 22:29:53 | cfinney | Changes to media associations |
| Sources | ||
Name appears in Parker Finney's POW Diary 1944 - 1945 Stalag III Sagan Germany and Stamlager VIIA Moosberg Germany |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 15 June 2018 08:15:07 | cfinney | Changes to media associations |
| Sources | ||
Picture of Swissvale "delegates" from my father's, Parker Finney, records. The story that I heard is that my dad (shot down Aug 1944 was walking through Stalag VII and he heard "Hey Swissvale!". I have no idea how this picture was taken or ended up in my dad's collection. |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 19 October 2016 02:54:12 | BG44-daughter | Changes to biography and events |
| Sources | ||
Directly from my father and Charles Freeburgh, Flight Engineer on Flak Alley 2-24-44. |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 19 October 2016 02:47:02 | BG44-daughter | Changes to service number and highest rank |
| Sources | ||
Dad advanced to 1st Lieutenant after liberation (my mother's report). |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 07 April 2015 19:01:09 | Al_Skiff | Changes to awards, events, unit associations and mission associations |
| Sources | ||
AAM Database |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 27 September 2014 18:14:06 | AAM | AAM ingest |
| Sources | ||
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 2922 / MACR 2922, Losse of the 8th & 9th Air Forces / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database |
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