Robert Otto Behrens
MilitaryUploaded
Shot down 25 April 1944 in B-24 #42-52335 'Admirable Little Character'. Evaded with the help of French citizens and members of the Résistance. After landing near Ponthion, he was sheltered, fed, clothed, transported at and to different places. After reaching Toulouse, then Paris and Bordeaux, he crossed the Pyrénées mountains at the Franco-Spanish border, arriving in Spain on 3 June 1944. He reached Gibraltar on the 19th and left Gibraltar by air on 23 June 1944, arriving in England the following day. Escape & Evasion Report #770.
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: 458th Bomb Group 754th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: O-688166
- Highest Rank: Second Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Bombardier
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 458th Bomb Group 754th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 14114918 at enlistment, then O-742065
- Highest Rank: Colonel
- Role/Job: Pilot
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 458th Bomb Group 754th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 16057259 at enlistment, then O-682183
- Highest Rank: Second Lieutenant
- Role/Job: Navigator
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 458th Bomb Group 754th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 32745523
- Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
- Role/Job: Tail Gunner
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 458th Bomb Group 754th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: 33580391
- Highest Rank: Staff Sergeant
- Role/Job: Top Turret Gunner
Aircraft
- Aircraft Type: B-24 Liberator
- Nicknames: Admirable Little Character
- Unit: 458th Bomb Group 754th Bomb Squadron
Missions
- Date: 25 April 1944
Places
- Site type: Airfield
Events
Event | Location | Date | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Born |
11 August 1922 | Hedrick, Keokuk County, Iowa | |
Enlisted |
9 November 1942 | Peoria, Illinois | |
Other bailed out |
25 April 1944 | from B-24 # 42-52335 "Admirable Little Character" | |
Other evaded capture |
25 April 1944 - 19 June 1944 | with the help of French citizens and members of the Résistance. He was back in England on 24 June 1944 | |
Died |
6 January 1997 | ||
San Diego, California | |||
Buried |
Robert Behrens rests at the East Side Cemetery in Dodgeville, Wisconsin |
Revisions
MACR 4342
WWII Enlistment records
WWII Draft card
Escape & Evasion Report E&E 770
VA Gravesite Locator
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 4342 / MACR 4342 & Page 273 of the book LIBERAORS OVER NORWICH by Mackay, Bailry & Scorza, 2010, D790G4582010 &
href="http://www.458bg.com/crew44combs.htm">http://www.458bg.com/crew44combs.htm> / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database