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Benjamin Michael Baldasano

Military

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.

Service

People

  • 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 Cochran

    Military | Second Lieutenant | Bombardier | 100th Bomb Group
    Crashed at Falkengesass on 8/14/44 in B-17 'Hard Luck' #42-3413, Prisoner of War (POW). POW

  • 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 IV

    Other location

  • Dulag Luft 12

    Other location

Events

Event Location Date
Born Morristown, Pennsylvania 4 September 1919

Joseph and Accursia Mary [Ciaccio] Baldasano.
Based 1944 – 14 August 1944

Assigned to 350BS, 100BG, 8AF USAAF.
Prisoner of War (POW) Tychowo, Poland 14 August 1944 – May 1945

Prisoner of War (POW). Stalag Luft IV.
Discharged USAAF 19 November 1945

Honourable discharge.
Died Scottsdale, AZ 26 July 2008
Buried Happy Homestead Cemetery South Lake Tahoe, El Dorado County, CA

Happy Homestead Cemetery
South Lake Tahoe, El Dorado County, California
Nationality
American
Nickname
Not yet known
Service numbers
33053006
Highest rank
Technical Sergeant
Role/job
Radio Operator
Awards
  • European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal
  • Prisoner of War Medal
  • World War II Victory Medal

Revisions

Date Contributor Update
09 June 2021 13:02:10 Al_Skiff Changes to middlename, service number, biography, awards, events, unit associations and place associations
Sources

https://www.fold3.com/image/28661605
https://www.fold3.com/image/545449092
https://www.100thbg.com/index.php?option=com_bombgrp&view=personnel&id=1...
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/95827845/benjamin-baldasano
Date Contributor Update
02 June 2021 15:46:06 acbernstein1 Changes to person associations
Sources

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/91043864. (MACR 7899)
Date Contributor Update
30 April 2021 19:49:23 jmoore43 Changes to service number, events and place associations
Sources

Added a POW event and a S/N from WW2 POW records at the National Archives (NARA).
Added an association to Stalag Luft 4 per WW2 POW records at the National Archives (NARA).
Date Contributor Update
30 April 2021 19:41:31 jmoore43 Changes to biography, unit associations and aircraft associations
Sources

Added an association to the A/C #42-3413 listed in the "Summary biography".
Added a "-" to the A/C tail # in the "Summary biography" to aid clarity & consistency.
Added an association to the 100th BG listed in the A/C #42-3413 description section.
Date Contributor Update
27 September 2014 18:04:24 AAM AAM ingest
Sources

100th Bomb Group Foundation Directory, 2000 - 2001, MACR 7899 / Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia

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