Raymond E Hess
Military ROLL OF HONOUR388th BG - 562nd BS
Standing Left to Right: Lowell Watts (P), Robert M. Kennedy (CP), Emmett Murphy (N), Edward J. Kelley (B)
Kneeling Left to Right: Joseph B. Ramsey (FE), Raymond Hess (WG), Ivan Finkle (R/O), Robert Sweeney (BTG), Harold A. Brassfield (TG), Donald W. Taylor (WG)
466th BG Historian
On the return from a mission to Klein Machnow, Berlin on 6 Mar 1944, B-17G #42-37886 'Blitzin' Betsy' was severely damaged by attacks from several FW190s causing it to collide with another 388th B-17, exploding in mid-air and crashing near Emmen, Holland. Killed in Action (KIA).
AM w/ 3 Oak Leaf Cluster
Ramsey was pinned to the side of the fuselage with Raymond Hess pinned on top of him when the aircraft went into a spin. When the aircraft exploded, Ramsey and Hess were blown clear of the fuselage. Ramsey, though seriously injured was able to open his parachute. Hess was found away from the wreckage with an unopened parachute.
Connections
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Units served with
- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
- Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
People
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 388th Bomb Group 562nd Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 15382852
- Highest Rank: Technician Third Grade
- Role/Job: Tail Gunner
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 388th Bomb Group 562nd Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 16150159
- Highest Rank: Technician Third Grade
- Role/Job: waist gunner, Tail Gunner
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 388th Bomb Group 562nd Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: O-742396
- Highest Rank: First Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Pilot
Aircraft
Missions
- Date: 6 March 1944
Places
- Site type: Airfield
Events
Event | Location | Date | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Born |
29 October 1922 | ||
Buried |
BURIED at: Netherlands American Cemetery LOCATION: Margraten, Netherlands PLOT: B, ROW: 10, GRAVE: 4 | ||
Other Killed in Action (KIA) |
6 March 1944 | WILMORE - Staff Sgt. Raymond E. Hess, 21, was killed on a bombing raid over Holland on March 6, the War Department notified his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Logan Hess of Wilmore. He previously had been reported missing. The airman was engineer and gunner on an Eighth Army Air Forces Flying Fortress and held the Air Medal and Oak Leaf Cluster for outstanding meritorious achievement in aerial combat against the enemy. He was on his 25th mission when he lost his life. Sgt. Hess jioned the Army Air Forces on October 8, 1942. In civilian life, he was a service station attendant. Besides his parents, he leaves these brothers and sisters: James Hess, Wilmore; Walter Hess, on duty with the armed forces in England, and Pearl, Hilda, and Ruth Hess, at home. The airman was a grand-son on the late Silas Plummer, Civil War Veteran, who died at the age of 92 in 1940. |
Revisions
ABMC, MACR 3089, Losses of the 8th & 9th Air Forces / Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 3089 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database