Military
Shot down 4 February 1943 in B-17F 41-24544 'Pennsylvania Polka' while serving as Ball Turret Gunner. Killed in Action (KIA)
Air Medal, Purple Heart
Military | First Lieutenant | Pilot | 91st Bomb Group The Ragged Irregulars
Assigned to 323BS, 91BG, 8AF USAAF. Failed to Return (FTR) Hamm, Germany in B-17 41-24544 'Pennsylvania Polka' 4-Feb-43; attacked by fighters, crashed in North Sea near Terschelling Island. Killed in Action (KIA). MACR 3557 & 4635
Awards: AM, PH.
Group
The 91st Bombardment Group (Heavy) was activated at Harding Field, Louisiana on 15-April-1942 and went to MacDill Field, Florida for the first phase of training from 16-May-1942 to 25-June-1942. The Group was then assigned to 2nd Air Force at Walla...
Squadron
B-17 Flying Fortress
B-17F 41-24544 "Pennsylvania Polka" was assigned 323BS/91BG [OR-O] Bangor 10-Sep-42; Bassingbourn 26-Oct-42; Shot down 4-Feb-43 by fighters 12 miles NW of the tip of Terschelling Island, Holland while on a mission to bomb the railroad marshalling yards...
4 February 1943
The marshalling yards at Hamm, Germany are again designated as the primary target for this mission follwing the abortive attempt of 2-Feb-43. However, weather and extreme cold frustrate this operation also. The main attacking force consists of 65 B-17s...
Military site : airfield
Now home to a museum all about the aifield and its USAAF residents (http://www.towermuseumbassingbourn.co.uk/) , Bassingbourn opened in 1938 as part of the RAF's pre-war expansion programme. The RAF continued to use it until late in 1942 when its long...
| Event | Location | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Born | Texas | |
| Killed in Action (KIA) | 4 February 1943 | |
|
Killed when aircraft was shot down by German fighters and crashed into the North Sea. His remains have never been recovered. |
||
| Commemorated | Netherlands American Cemetery, 6269 NA Migraten, Netherlands | 1945 |
|
Commemorated on the Wall of the Missing, Netherlands American Cemetery |
||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
|---|---|---|
| 27 January 2015 20:23:00 | Lee8thbuff | Changes to events |
| Sources | ||
Lee Cunningham 27-Jan-2015. Corrected Commemorated event . |
||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 27 January 2015 20:20:54 | Lee8thbuff | Changes to biography, awards, events, place associations and mission associations |
| Sources | ||
Lee Cunningham 27-Jan-2015. Added decorations and Commemoration event per American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) record; added KIA event per MACR 3557 & 4635; made connections to PLace and Mission within existing website data. Added crew position to Biography. |
||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 27 September 2014 18:04:37 | AAM | AAM ingest |
| Sources | ||
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 3557 / MACR 3557& 4635, Losses of the 8th and 9th AFs Vol. I by Bishop and Hey p. 72, ABMC web site / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database |
||
