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John C Cochran

Military

Crashed at Falkengesass on 8/14/44 in B-17 'Hard Luck' #42-3413, Prisoner of War (POW).

POW

Service

People

  • Benjamin Baldasano

    Military | Technical Sergeant | Radio Operator | 100th Bomb Group
    Assigned to 350BS, 100BG, 8AF USAAF. Don Cielewich crew. Failed to Return (FTR) Mannheim/Ludwigshaven in B-17 42-3413 'Hard Luck!' 14-Aug-44; Shot down by flak. Prisoner of War (POW). MACR 7899 Awards: POW, WWII Victory, EAME.

  • Clifford Brown

    Military | First Lieutenant | Navigator | 100th Bomb Group
    Assigned to 350BS, 100BG, 8AF USAAF. Don Cielewich crew. 3 x combat missions. Failed to Return (FTR) Mannheim/Ludwigshaven in B-17 42-3413 'Hard Luck!' 14-Aug-44; Shot down by flak*. Prisoner of War (POW). MACR 7899 ...

  • Donald Cielewich

    Military | Second Lieutenant | Pilot | 100th Bomb Group
    First mission returned with 197 holes in aircraft from bullets/shrapnel. Shot down over Germany on 14 August 1944 in B-17 #42-3413 'Hard Luck' on third mission. Captured by a German farmer who turned him over to the SS. The farmer gave him a raw egg...

  • John Funkhouser

    Military | Staff Sergeant | Ball Turret Gunner | 100th Bomb Group
    Assigned to 350BS, 100BG, 8AF USAAF. Crashed at Falkengesass on 14-Aug-44 in B-17 'Hard Luck' 42-3413, Prisoner of War (POW). MACR 7899 Awards: POW, WWII Victory, EAME.

  • Herbert Klepp

    Military | Staff Sergeant | Right Waist Gunner, Waist Gunner | 100th Bomb Group
    Crashed at Falkengesass on 8/14/44 in B-17 Kismet #42-3413, Prisoner of War (POW). POW

  • Lenard Moen

    Military | First Lieutenant | Co-Pilot | 100th Bomb Group
    Assigned to 350BS, 100BG, 8AF USAAF. Don Cielewich crew. 3 x combat missions. Failed to Return (FTR) Mannheim/Ludwigshaven in B-17 42-3413 'Hard Luck!' 14-Aug-44; Shot down by flak*. Prisoner of War (POW). MACR 7899 ...

  • Cyrenne Ropson

    Military | Technical Sergeant | Top Turret Gunner | 100th Bomb Group
    Assigned to 350BS, 100BG, 8AF USAAF. Don Cielewich crew. 3 x combat missions. Failed to Return (FTR) Mannheim/Ludwigshaven in B-17 42-3413 'Hard Luck!' 14-Aug-44; Shot down by flak. Prisoner of War (POW). MACR 7899 Awards: POW, WWII Victory, EAME.

  • Henry Sytnik

    Military | Staff Sergeant | Tail Gunner | 100th Bomb Group
    Assigned to 350BS, 100BG, 8AF USAAF. Don Cielewich crew. 3 x combat missions. Failed to Return (FTR) Mannheim/Ludwigshaven in B-17 42-3413 'Hard Luck!' 14-Aug-44; Shot down by flak. Prisoner of War (POW). MACR 7899 Awards: POW, WWII Victory, EAME.

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Units served with

  • 100th Bomb Group

    100th Bomb Group

    Group
    "The Bloody Hundredth", so-called because of a reputation for losing a high number aircraft and crews, flew B-17s from Thorpe Abbotts, Norfolk. Their losses were not the highest of any Eighth Air Force Group but on several occasions the Group lost many...

  • 350th Bomb Squadron

    350th Bomb Squadron

    Squadron

Aircraft

  • 42-3413 'Hard Luck !'

    B-17 Flying Fortress
    Delivered Dallas 10/6/43; Dow Fd 18/8/43; Assigned 350BS/100BG [LN-V] Thorpe Abbotts 20/8/43; on mission to Berlin 7/5/44 with Loren Van Steenis, Navigator: Harry Becker (Killed in Action), Bombardier: Lester Torbett Wounded in Action, (8 Returned to...

Associated Place

  • Thorpe Abbotts

    Military site : airfield
    Home of the 'Bloody Hundredth’, a Bomb Group with a reputation for high casualty rates, Thorpe Abbotts was under USAAF control from June 1943 to the end of the war. Some of the airfield survives today, and the control tower houses the 100th Bomb Group...

  • Stalag Luft III

    Other location

Events

Event Location Date
Born Columbus, Ohio, USA
Prisoner of War (POW) Zagan, Poland 14 August 1944

Stalag Luft 3 Sagan-Silesia Bavaria (Moved to Nuremberg-Langwasser) 49-11
Nationality
American
Nickname
Not yet known
Service numbers
O-703360
Highest rank
Second Lieutenant
Role/job
Bombardier
Awards
Not yet known

Revisions

Date Contributor Update
02 June 2021 15:54:52 acbernstein1 Changes to person associations and place associations
Sources

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/91043864. (MACR 7899)
Date Contributor Update
30 April 2021 20:03:14 jmoore43 Changes to service number, events, unit associations and place associations
Sources

Added POW Camp info to the POW event and a S/N from WW2 POW records at the National Archives (NARA).
Added an association to Stalag Luft 3 per WW2 POW records at the National Archives (NARA).
Added an association to the 100th BG listed in the A/C #42-3413 description section.
Date Contributor Update
30 April 2021 19:02:52 jmoore43 Changes to biography
Sources

Added a "-" to the A/C tail # in the "Summary biography" to aid clarity & consistency.
Date Contributor Update
27 September 2014 18:15:45 AAM AAM ingest
Sources

Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 7899 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database

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